18, The Vanishing Point and Parker 51 Snorkels

[rhr]

The Snorkel pen is about as close as Sheaffer got to producing a vanishing point, or did it? Maybe it got closer than that.

 

Did you ever wonder whether you could write with the snorkel part of a Sheaffer Snorkel pen? Now, come on, admit it. Okay then, you don't have to speak up, but how about this? Did you ever actually try writing with the snorkel? No? Well, I did, once. It didn't work very well, very scratchy, and very blobby. :-) Well, there IS a Sheaffer patent for a fountain pen with a vanishing nib, and one that's about as close as you'll ever get to writing with the snorkel itself.

 

It's patent no. 2,949,887, and it's a shame it was never put into production. Has anyone ever seen one? The nib is tubular, sort of like a Parker 51 nib, and the snorkel is a concentric tube that fits snuggly inside the nib, just barely sliding within this outer shell, and it acts like the feed for the nib. Both tubes slide out of the shroud together just enough to expose the nib for writing, but not for filling the pen. The snorkel slides out further separately for filling. The images for this patent are gorgeous and highly detailed.

 

Who would have thunk it? A Capless Sheaffer Snorkel Vanishing Point! It's about as crazy as the frankenpen Parker 51 with a snorkel filler that's illustrated in patent no. 2,799,247. It's actually demonstrated being filled from a Sheaffer "Top Well" ink bottle! I can't claim finding this one. Tim Barker found it and pointed it out a few years ago on the Zoss List.

 

These are for all the Sheaffer collectors out there, and all the Vanishing Point enthusiasts out there, and all the Parker collectors as well.

 

George Kovalenko.

 

P.S. I found an interesting related patent for a Parker "61". But instead of posting about it here, I'll start a new thread tomorrow.

 

:ph34r:

Edited March 21, 2007 by rhr

[jonro]

A Sheaffer vanishing point, if only. Perhaps they were going to attempt to compete against the ballpoint. They certainly wouldn't have been able to do it by price. That pen looks like it would have been fairly expensive to produce. I guess the patents have expired on that, so we could use the patent plans to produce one today. Now that would make a really interesting limited edition series, the unmade pens from the Big 3.

[rhr]

Hi Jon,

 

Now, there's a great idea for a real limited edition! If you wanted to use the patent plans to reproduce one of these pens, or any other unproduced pen patent, here's a company that specializes in just the thing, the Kennedy Trimnell Modelshop. Here's their website, which has been active since 1997, http://www.for-inventors.com/. Click on "Inventors Working Prototypes", and you get this webpage, http://www.for-inventors.com/inventors.html. I'd love to see what they would come up with.

 

As I looked through all these patents, I've been tempted a few times, but it would probably be pricey. ;~)

 

George Kovalenko.

 

Edited December 2, 2007 by rhr