Jump to content

Vintage Pens Designed To Compete With The Parker 51?


Paul-in-SF

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 30
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Paul-in-SF

    4

  • Estycollector

    4

  • pajaro

    2

  • praxim

    2

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

That's a comprehensive list.....http://richardspens.com/ref/design/hooded_nibs.htm

 

Great page!

 

I am interested in this one, but I can't figure out to search for it on ebay:

 

Tower, made for Sears by National Pen Products Company

Catalog giant Sears, Roebuck & Company has always been known for selling products under its own brand names. The Tower name was applied to product lines as diverse as binoculars and fountain pens. Superficially similar to the Webster above, this Tower pen is far superior in quality, very solidly made and a very good writer. The Tower also offers an interesting look at the ways in which some makers dealt with their inability to conceal their pens’ feeds.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Estycollector

 

My view is that the major step was the Wing feed which Parker introduced. Hooding helps further.. Without them a pen needed to allow a generous feed of ink which slowly evaporated the chamber contents, if the feed itself did not dry up the flow first.

 

By way of example, Onoto did not add a shutoff valve in 1905 so their pens could be used in high flying aircraft, but to stop undesirable ink flow when the pen was not in use, especially in a pocket. Hence, on opening the valve it takes a few moments for the nib to refresh from the chamber.

 

Yes, Parker added a relatively fast drying ink (or so I have read), which was possible exactly because of the first two innovations to reduce dryout and enable prompt starts. Thus, they had a pen which was reliable, efficient, and characteristically clean.

Edited by praxim

X

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Estycollector

 

My view is that the major step was the Wing feed which Parker introduced. Hooding helps further.. Without them a pen needed to allow a generous feed of ink which slowly evaporated the chamber contents, if the feed itself did not dry up the flow first.

 

By way of example, Onoto did not add a shutoff valve in 1905 so their pens could be used in high flying aircraft, but to stop undesirable ink flow when the pen was not in use, especially in a pocket. Hence, on opening the valve it takes a few moments for the nib to refresh from the chamber.

 

Yes, Parker added a relatively fast drying ink (or so I have read), which was possible exactly because of the first two innovations to reduce dryout and enable prompt starts. Thus, they had a pen which was reliable, efficient, and characteristically clean.

 

Thank you for responding. If I understand your intent, it was not the hood alone?

"Respect science, respect nature, respect all people (s),"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Thank you for responding. If I understand your intent, it was not the hood alone?

Far from it.

 

Clarifying: yes, it was far from being the hood alone.

Edited by praxim

X

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Honorable mention to Camlin 47 / Parker Inflection for inclusion into the comprehensive list being assembled......,......

 

Fred

Give me liberty or give me death.......Patrick Henry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great page!

 

I am interested in this one, but I can't figure out to search for it on ebay:

 

Tower, made for Sears by National Pen Products Company

Catalog giant Sears, Roebuck & Company has always been known for selling products under its own brand names. The Tower name was applied to product lines as diverse as binoculars and fountain pens. Superficially similar to the Webster above, this Tower pen is far superior in quality, very solidly made and a very good writer. The Tower also offers an interesting look at the ways in which some makers dealt with their inability to conceal their pens’ feeds.

 

I have a Sears & Roebuck Tower. It is about the same size as a P-51 Demi. Nice pen that I don't use often enough.

Washington Nationals 2019: the fight for .500; "stay in the fight"; WON the fight

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Esterbrook Phaeton has a hooded nib. Slim pen with a steel cap and a squeeze converter. I had forgotten about Phaeton.

"Don't hurry, don't worry. It's better to be late at the Golden Gate than to arrive in Hell on time."
--Sign in a bar and grill, Ormond Beach, Florida, 1960.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pelikan, my personal favorite brand, made a hooded pen too. The P1 from 1958. A full review from the Pelikans Perch here

...............................................................

We Are Our Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Esterbrook Phaeton has a hooded nib. Slim pen with a steel cap and a squeeze converter. I had forgotten about Phaeton.

 

I have never seen a vintage one.

"Respect science, respect nature, respect all people (s),"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I recently tried a Waterman's Stateleigh 897 Taperite lever-filler model, and I would say they did a good job with it. The body shape and size is very close to the P51 -- the hood is shorter and the nib is only semi-hooded so it extends further, so the length is very comparable. Having a semi-hooded nib allows for some flex in some of the nibs (the one I tried still has a sticker on it that says it is "Fine Flex" but there is no flex at all, so I suspect the nib was changed out at some point over the years). I had to fuss with the nib, the ink wasn't flowing hardly at all, but once that was taken care of it became a pleasure to write with, quite competitive in quality and feel with the P51.

 

I have a Mentmore 46 coming soon, and I'll post about that one after I get it. It's a strange-looking beast if you've never seen one before.

Edited by Paul-in-SF
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33494
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26627
    5. jar
      jar
      26101
  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o
  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More
  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...