Jump to content

What are these odd nibs I just found?


lowme55

Recommended Posts

I just bought out an estate of about 50 pens. There are some very nice pens but I'm having trouble identifying some "nibs". I use nibs loosely because they don't look like nibs. The first are Two inkographs with just a straight skinny tube for writing. Now here comes the hard one. I got a pen that has an external slide on the barrell marked made in japan on the slide. The tip however has 4 or 5 tubes that come out and twist/taper to the point. I've only been collecting for a year and this is new to me. Paid 12.50 at auction for this pen so even if it's worthless I'll enjoy it, if I can get the thing apart. Any help please?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 9
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • lowme55

    3

  • lovemy51

    2

  • DanF

    2

  • Ink Stained Wretch

    1

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

welcome to FPN!!

 

i dunno but it sounds like a multifunction pen rather than a fountain pen???!!!!! pix would help.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just bought out an estate of about 50 pens. There are some very nice pens but I'm having trouble identifying some "nibs". I use nibs loosely because they don't look like nibs. The first are Two inkographs with just a straight skinny tube for writing. Now here comes the hard one. I got a pen that has an external slide on the barrell marked made in japan on the slide. The tip however has 4 or 5 tubes that come out and twist/taper to the point. I've only been collecting for a year and this is new to me. Paid 12.50 at auction for this pen so even if it's worthless I'll enjoy it, if I can get the thing apart. Any help please?

Are you sure it's not a mechanical pencil?

 

As lovemy51 said, some graphic evidence would help a lot.

On a sacred quest for the perfect blue ink mixture!

ink stained wretch filling inkwell

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First of all, welcome to FPN.

 

Sounds like the first two are rapidograph design, for technical drawing. The last one sounds like a glass nib crescent filler, probably by Spors. I bet it looks something like this:

 

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l279/T-Caster/P1020180.jpg

 

If so, the crescent shaped piece sticking out of the side is the counterpart of a lever in a lever fill. One rotates the black plastic band until the gap is just below the crescent. Now press the crescent down, and a bar inside pushes the air out of the sac. Releasing the crescent allows the sac to fill. The ink flows down the ribs in the nib to transfer to the paper. If the nib is scratchy, it can be polished with the finer grits of micromesh, but go very easy, and don't use regular sandpaper, it's much to rough.

 

The Spors pens aren't worth much, but are fun to have, and make very good dip pens. $12 sounds about right.

 

Dan

Edited by DanF

"Life is like an analogy" -Anon-

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l279/T-Caster/DSC_0334_2.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds like the first two are rapidograph design, for technical drawing.

That's very close. The Inkographs are stylographic pens. They work on the same principle as technical pens, but are made for writing, with the pen held at a normal writing angle.

 

-- Brian

fpn_1375035941__postcard_swap.png * * * "Don't neglect to write me several times from different places when you may."
-- John Purdue (1863)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First of all, welcome to FPN.

 

Sounds like the first two are rapidograph design, for technical drawing. The last one sounds like a glass nib crescent filler, probably by Spors. I bet it looks something like this:

 

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l279/T-Caster/P1020180.jpg

 

If so, the crescent shaped piece sticking out of the side is the counterpart of a lever in a lever fill. One rotates the black plastic band until the gap is just below the crescent. Now press the crescent down, and a bar inside pushes the air out of the sac. Releasing the crescent allows the sac to fill. The ink flows down the ribs in the nib to transfer to the paper. If the nib is scratchy, it can be polished with the finer grits of micromesh, but go very easy, and don't use regular sandpaper, it's much to rough.

 

The Spors pens aren't worth much, but are fun to have, and make very good dip pens. $12 sounds about right.

 

Dan

 

riiiiight!!! tubes that go around and taper to the point with slide bar......... i think you hit the nail in the head, Dan!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi,

 

The Japanese glass-nib pens can be fun to write with. I'm no expert on them, but I did restore one last week (a lever-filler rather than a crescent-filler), so the experience is fresh in my mind.

 

For me, the hardest part of the restoration was getting the section free of the barrel. When these pens were originally marketed, the sales materials actually called out, as a "feature," the fact that the section was permanently glued in place...making it impossible for ham-fisted consumers to mess up the pen's inner workings. I can attest to the fact that the section was awfully stubborn; the section/barrel joint was virtually seamless, feeling more "fused" than friction-fit. Removing the section required several applications of heat, and a fair amount of work with the section wrench. The section didn't come out in slow stages, as many do; it popped out "all at once" when the adhesive finally let go. Very dramatic, but - happily - there was no damage.

 

I also found that the glass nib's smoothness varied greatly depending on which "facet" (not the right word, but hopefully it conveys the idea) was contacting the paper. So when I reassembled the pen, I experimented to find the "facet" that afforded optimum smoothness, and inserted the section so that that "facet" was rotated 180 degrees from the lever (the crescent would work the same way). Now, when I pick up the pen to write, I simply make sure that the lever is facing up, and I know that the smoothest "facet" will be touching the paper. It's an intuitive process, because it's a fairly standard practice, in the U.S. at least, to install the section so that the top of the nib aligns with the lever.

 

Anyway - not sure any of that is useful, but there it is. For me, the novelty of being able to write with this pen was well worth the effort of restoring it.

 

Cheers,

 

Jon

 

PS Another "feature" called out in the original sales materials was the fact that the pen cleaned itself very efficiently, because pressing the crescent (or lever) could shoot a jet of water very forcefully from the nib end. That also seems to be true; it's extremely quick and easy to flush this pen. (I assume the absence of a traditional feed is the relevant design element here.)

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Univer--- Thanks for the additional info. I have three of these I picked up on eBay in a group, tried to restore one, but couldn't get the section off. I guess I'll keep trying.

 

Dan

"Life is like an analogy" -Anon-

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l279/T-Caster/DSC_0334_2.jpg

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
      33501
    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...