Was the Parker 45 the first cartridge pen?

[Raymond]

Just curious if the Parker 45 was the first cartidge pen.

 

Was it the first cartridge/converter fill pen of any brand. Anyone?

[Johnny Appleseed]

Well, there was the Eagle glass-cartridge pen, circa 1900, and the John Hancock, which used a copper cartridge system. David Nishimura has a good rundown on the history of the early cartridge pens at vintagepens.com. Early Cartridge Pens

 

And for an ad for a John Hancock pen, see FP Ads in the Tech: Part IV The roaring twenties, (1920-1929)

 

John

[tryphon]

The first pen to use a plastic cartridge (that is, the first modern cartridge pen) was the Aurora DuoCart, followed shortly thereafter by the Waterman CF.

The 45 came later.

Check out my modest effort on this month's The PENnant, for more information about the birth of the first modern cartridge pen.

[Johnny Appleseed]

I was hoping you would chime in there, Giovanni. I thought you had the first "Modern" cartridge.

 

But what about question #2 - who had the first cartridge/converter.

 

John

Edited June 30, 2006 by Johnny Appleseed

[tryphon]

I was hoping you would chime in there, Giovanni. I thought you had the first "Modern" cartridge.

 

But what about question #2 - who had the first cartridge/converter.

 

John

Well, you may be surprised.. the first converter pen came one year before the first plastic cartridge pen!

The converter pen was called the D.P.2 (which stood for Diplomatic Patented Pen). And, indeed, it was patented. The inventor, Mr. Del Piero from Naples, did design a fine pen and was granted five separate petents for its design. The pen looked like a cross between a Parker 51 and an Aurora 88 and it came complete with two piston-type plastic converters. It was made for only three years and it is today a rare collectible. I have one of these pens in my collection.

[tryphon]

I was hoping you would chime in there, Giovanni. I thought you had the first "Modern" cartridge.

 

But what about question #2 - who had the first cartridge/converter.

 

John

You may also be thinking about the LUS Atomica, a very successful low cost cartridge pen that was an almost contemporary of the Aurora DuoCart. Research on the patents (Viv did a wonderful study of it) revealed that Aurora was first, followed by Waterman and LUS.

The LUS atomica is featured on my website www.lusatomica.com

The LUS Atomica pen story

[Raymond]

Thanks Guys for enlightening.