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In one of those lots of vintage pens in varying condition that people like me sometimes aquire I found a St. Regis. It is almost exactly like the St. Regis bulb Filler on Pen Hero - it's just green instead of grey. The pen looks like it has never been touched, never mind never been used - the surface finish has no patina at all. (Maybe polished, maybe never used - of course I cannot kjnow for sure.) I have unscrewed it and got most of the desiccated sac out, and I've seen the breathing tube, but I have a few questions about the pen itself and how to deal with it. As far as I can tell, this is similar to an eyedropper in that nothing holds the ink away from the walls of the pen. Is it the breather tube that is intended to keep it from burping, or is it just going to belch as it heats up and empties no matter what? The part where the back screws on is brass, and this brass is exposed to the ink, obviously designed this way. I thought exposing metal and ink to each other was a bad idea. Is this ok, or just how they did it in the thirties, or should I do something about it? The nib and feed were broken off flush with the section, and I cannot get the section off so far. Can I safely soak the section up to where it meets the barrel and a touch beyond in cool water to see if that helps, or should I go directly to gentle heat and section plyers? I read that the breathing tube is attached to the feed, I think - so what do I do about the fact that this thing needs a new feed and there is no St. Regis parts department with 80-odd year old parts to call and order one from? I am going to the Long Island pen show next weekend and that's probably the best chance I will have of picking up a new nib and feed so I can get it working. It is in beautiful condition and I think if I can take care of these little things I will probably like it, unless this sort of pen is just one long ink-belch-fest. Thanks for any info! T