Another "please Identify This Sheaffer Model" Thread

[Paul-in-SF]

Rather plain, black, white dot, just over 5" with cap. It has a plunger filler with a sort of internal barrel which, in my very limited experience, I haven't seen before. Once I know the model I can search out answers for my various servicing questions. Like: how do the bits at the end of the plunger rod fit together and into the end cap (they weren't put together right when I got it); is there supposed to be an o-ring inside that inner barrel (I can't see one nor an evidence of one, but it's hard to see in there). Maybe one or two more. Oh, yes, does the section come off of the internal barrel (I can't see a join).

 

All the inscriptions are quite generic. Barrel just says the usual "W.A. Sheaffer Pen Co." etc. and the nib just says "Scheaffer's Reg. U.S. Pat. Off. Made in USA 14 k." Nothing positive to indicate the model.

[PaulS]

with my limited knolwedge of Sheaffer I could be very wrong, but is there a chance this is an early Balance Vac-Fill with open nib?

I'd suggest you're presently missing a couple of barrel seals - and what have you done with the feed? IIRC the section doesn't separate from the internal ink reservoir, which should clean up as an ink visulator.

 

If I'm correct, this isn't the easiest pens to work on, but you've a head start insofar as this one is in bits to start with. Certainly restoration of the Vac-Fil, as a model, is covered in some detail in the Marshall & Oldfield Repair Manual, so if this is as suggested then said manual is essential reading.

Edited July 5, 2019 by PaulS

[Paul-in-SF]

Thanks. From some reading I thought the internal barrel/ink container was in the later vac fill pens, the earlier pens just used the barrel itself as the ink container (I've seen one of those taken apart).

 

The pen didn't come this way, I took it apart myself. Sorry the feed didn't make it into the photo. I've ordered new barrel seals, I hope they fit and that I understand where and how to put them. Those fiddly bits in the blind cap have me stymied at the moment, apparently I need a split screwdriver to drive the shiny piece fully into the cap while the nut piece is sticking through it. Maybe I can sacrifice an old screwdriver to make one.

[bsenn]

See the D11 tools here for blind cap removal (and other info on plunger fillers):

 

https://pentooling.com/toolssheaffer.html

 

Seeing the tool might give you a starting point to make your own.

 

Brian

[doggle2]

That's definitely not a Balance—it's a post-war Sheaffer, from around 1948. It also has a metal cap band, an obvious indicator if this not being a Balance.

I'm pretty sure it's a Sovereign (

[PaulS]

thanks for the correction.

[Paul-in-SF]

See the D11 tools here for blind cap removal (and other info on plunger fillers):

 

https://pentooling.com/toolssheaffer.html

 

Seeing the tool might give you a starting point to make your own.

 

Brian

 

Well, holy heck, this is rapidly becoming more trouble than it's worth, unless I want to go into this kind of restoration on a regular and ongoing basis. Thank you for the reference, I ordered some stuff from that page yesterday, but I clearly did not scroll down far enough to get as discouraged as I should be.

 

Working with their numbers, I must have the one that requires a D11, because I have a screwdriver that measures 0.036" and it fits into the slot with a little play. I assumed I would be able to screw in the aluminum dingus with the nut sticking through it, into the blind cap, and then screw the rod into the nut, so that a straight tool would do the job and I wouldn't need one with a bend in it. We'll see.

 

Doggle2, thanks for the identification. Richard Binder's site seems to be saying that the Sovereigns had stainless steel caps rather than plastic, although I only find references to that model on the Triumph TM and Snorkel pages, and this pen is neither of those. I don't find any reference to the Sovereign model in the Peyton Street Pens reference. On the Pen Hero site, they say that the Sovereign would have a #3 14 karat two-toned palladium masked open nib, (Richard's site says it was a #5) which could describe this nib. That nib was also used on the Saratoga, Saratogas had plastic caps, so maybe that's what this is? I didn't notice before today, but there's a white dot on the end of the blind cap as well as above the clip. I don't know if that means anything.

 

However, in any case, I don't think it really matters for the repairs. With everyone's help that's been narrowed down enough.

[terim]

We had one and called it a "Transitional Sovereign" because ours had a white-dot-qualifying barrel imprint (875) but lacked the white dot on the clip and lacked a Lifetime nib.

 

https://www.peytonstreetpens.com/sheaffer-875-sovereign-fountain-pen-black-fat-vac-fil-medium-fine-14k-open-nib-superior-restored.html

 

Sheaffer re-used the Sovereign name on a later snorkel model ..... that's the one with the stainless steel cap.