Pencil Cartridge

[laureat]

Recently I made a deal and could complete my black Parker 25 (first edition FP) with a matching BP and a pencil.

In the pencil is still an original pencilcartridge. The pencilleads seems to be 0.9mm It look very much the same as a ParkerBP filling. I asked around but it seems that Parker quit producing these fillings. I was giving the advice to addapt the pencil as a ballpoint

Is it true? No pencilfillings of that kind available anymore? If this is true... can I refill the pencil? Maybe(carefully)from the exit. Sorry no photo yet. Thanks.

[baz666]

=can I refill the pencil? Maybe(carefully)from the exit. Thanks.

 

Yes you can

 

Regards

 

Paul.

[Joane]

0.9 lead is definitely available.

[ceejaybee]

Yes, they are easy to refill - remove the cartridge and press the black end down firmly onto a hard surface to open up the clutch end and feed .9mm lead in, very simple

[Shaughn]

Hi Laureat,

 

Parker 25 pencils and biros are exactly the same, it's the refill that makes the difference.

 

The original lead for the P25 was 1 mm and the cartridges are out of production. Refilling is easy as described above, but you may find leads falling out.

 

But you may try the Penshop in Nijmegen, http://www.penshopnijmegen.nl/ , sometimes they find the proper refills. A shop like Akkerman in The Hague or Amsterdam, or the Penshop can provide other pencil refills, even Parker, but these will be more permanent, i.e. not easily removed.

 

S.

[laureat]

@ Shaughn, Thanks for the detail of the 1.0mm lead. That size will be difficult to find. I did visit the Akkerman-store in the Hague and they suggested to adapt the pencil into a ballpen due to impossible refilling. I will try the penshop in Nijmegen.

Thanks.

[streeton]

@ Shaughn, Thanks for the detail of the 1.0mm lead. That size will be difficult to find. I did visit the Akkerman-store in the Hague and they suggested to adapt the pencil into a ballpen due to impossible refilling. I will try the penshop in Nijmegen.

Thanks.

 

I have numerous Parker cartridge lead pencils and I use modern 0.9mm leads in them all with no problem. Faber-castell, Staedtler, Pentel and others produce 0.9mm leads. If you use them for drawing and bear down hard the lead can move back inside the cartridge occasionally, but for for standard writing situations this is not a problem. Remember these lead cartridges weren't really designed for reloading through the front (you were expected to go out and purchase another when the leads had all been used) so there can be wear on the clutch where the leads are released with constant re-use of the same cartridge.

[Shaughn]

Well, I suppose Parker made as much different lead cartridges as they made converters... :hmm1:

 

Just for the record, to show a few varieties: the upper two I found in very old P25s and their leads measure 1.0 mm (the second from above found in a red trim pencil). My spokesman in the Pen Shop Nijmegen told me that of the early types there are different lead diameters indeed between 0.8 and 1.0 mm.

 

The third fom above in a green trim pencil, without any Parker markings, and a 'friction fit',reloadable from the rear (eraser) end, the lead obiously less than 1.0 mm

 

Fourth from above a quite recent refill, with Parker marking, reloadable just as is n° 3. A nasty habit of this one is that it is secured by a small metal ring, outside the barrel so you cannot retract it from the barrel. It is, though barely, visible on the barrel shown. They appeared (as I recall) somewhere around the year 2K.

 

(edit: spelling)

Edited February 28, 2011 by Shaughn

[streeton]

I am referring to the first one in your photo - I have one in a P25 right now with Pentel Ain 0.9mm lead. Its as solid as a rock. The second one looks like the 0.7mm lead cartridge which is much rarer than the 1.0mm version. EDIT: whoops - just re-read your post (top two 1.00mm). I have a 0.7 non incremental advance lead cartridge from 1980.

 

Shaughn, those incremental advance cartridges 0.5mm (photos 4-5) have been in Jotters ,Classics, Parker 45's, Parker 180 and others since as early as 1981 and the metal ring that fixes them in place is an absolute b.. to remove without wrecking the pencil tip. Parker were very smart when they fixed the cartridge in place (they could no longer be used as ballpoints) and were even smarter when in c1992 they changed the design of the Jotter pencil cap so the cap could no longer be interchanged with the ballpoint cap.

Edited March 1, 2011 by streeton

[Shaughn]

Thanks for the additional info, Streeton, on the 'newer' cartridges, I didn't know they were available from 1981 and I saw them only around 2K when I needed a pencil refill.

 

So, all in all, there's a fair chance .9 mm leads will work fine, even in an seemingly 1.0 mechanism. So much better for Laureat!

[laureat]

Thanks for the picture. Mine looks exactly like the second one from the top. It says "ends messy lead handling" In the black top 'thingy' is a tiny steel ball. I bought this pencil together with the Parker 25 fountainpen first edition (the one with a hole in the nib)I suppose they were a set once so maybe the pencil is also an early edition. I shook the refill and it rattles so I guess there are still some brother and sister leads inside! Great info here.

[Shaughn]

There is even more info on the P25 range here:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/140116-parker-25-variations/

 

An indication that your pens were (or are) a set is in the engraving om the cap. If they are the same, they are made in (about) the same period.

[laureat]

Flat tops, no engraving, no lettering on the band. So my best guess is that I have a MK1 fountainpen (because of the venthole that is a give-away) of around 1976. The pencil has a flat top, the older leadcartridge and also no lettering. So it's pre-1980 Did Parker put a pencil in the sets available or is the pencil from a later date?

 

@Shaughn what is the diffenerce between the top cartidge and the second? Is it the more pronounced tip/brass end? Does your cardridges have the same message "messy lead" on the side?