I'll carry this Parker Minim

[kernando]

I recently got a black and GF Parker Minim from you-know-where, empty, without even a spring. Am I right to assume these take Jotter refills? Is there anything special about what spring to use?

 

I've been playing with refills and springs from cheap plastic freebies. The cone shaped spring doesn't work, and the straight ones do, though they all get stuck and need a stick to remove, rather than just shaking out. Then the refills seems 1/16 inch or 2mm or however much too short. That could be shimmed.

 

I can get the button to catch in the writing position, but it slips with any force on the ball. Could the rim of the button be worn down too far? I can't tell whether bending the spring inside the cap inward is making any difference.

 

Mark Bacas made some good sketches.

http://www.penpassion.com/minim

[John Danza]

I recently got a black and GF Parker Minim from you-know-where, empty, without even a spring. Am I right to assume these take Jotter refills? Is there anything special about what spring to use?

 

I've been playing with refills and springs from cheap plastic freebies. The cone shaped spring doesn't work, and the straight ones do, though they all get stuck and need a stick to remove, rather than just shaking out. Then the refills seems 1/16 inch or 2mm or however much too short. That could be shimmed.

 

I can get the button to catch in the writing position, but it slips with any force on the ball. Could the rim of the button be worn down too far? I can't tell whether bending the spring inside the cap inward is making any difference.

 

Mark Bacas made some good sketches.

http://www.penpassion.com/minim

 

While I don't know from experience, I'm almost positive that the Minim takes the standard Jotter refill. That would indicate that the standard Jotter spring would work as well.

 

Where did you get the pen, and do they have any more? I'm very interested in getting one.

 

Thanks,

John

 

[kernando]

It's worse with a long spring. Then it doesn't even catch and stay open. It just slips closed. With the shorter spring, as above, it catches and then slips when ball touches paper.

 

I did pop the button out to look at, and it doesn't look like it was ever messed up. Are the rims on these supposed to be bigger than I think? Somebody must have a working one.

[parkercrazy]

I recently got a black and GF Parker Minim from you-know-where, empty, without even a spring. Am I right to assume these take Jotter refills? Is there anything special about what spring to use?

 

I've been playing with refills and springs from cheap plastic freebies. The cone shaped spring doesn't work, and the straight ones do, though they all get stuck and need a stick to remove, rather than just shaking out. Then the refills seems 1/16 inch or 2mm or however much too short. That could be shimmed.

 

I can get the button to catch in the writing position, but it slips with any force on the ball. Could the rim of the button be worn down too far? I can't tell whether bending the spring inside the cap inward is making any difference.

 

Mark Bacas made some good sketches.

http://www.penpassion.com/minim

 

Hi kernando,

 

These Parker Minims can be very touchy at times to get them to work correctly. They do take the standard Jotter refill and barrel spring. They were offered in only four plastic barrel colors, Blue, Black, Red and Grey alone with the 14K gold filled and 14K model. Below are some pictures that may help you understand how they work. The GF Minims had a spring tip bushing as the plastic barrels had a molded stop for the spring at the tip of the barrel and the GF models did not. The picture I am using for demonstration is a prototype Minim that you can remove the outer cap, this is not possible with the production model and shows where the button cap locks into the notch to keep the Refill in place when writing. The cap spring only holds pressure on the button cap so it does not retract. I have found that stretching the barrel spring just a little may help them operate better. Also below is the patent for the Minim. This Parker Minim was designed by Walter Bieger who worker For Parker at the time in the research dept.

 

Hope this helps some, Francis

 

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b11/fjm111/000_2334.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b11/fjm111/000_2332.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b11/fjm111/000_2331.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b11/fjm111/000_2335.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b11/fjm111/000_2153-1.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b11/fjm111/scan-3.jpg