The Parker Trench Pen

[Sasha Royale]

The Parker Trench Pen was an inexpensive, simple, eyedropper pen. One end had a cap that unscrewed

to expose a compartment where ink tablets could be stored. Desolved in a few drops of water, the tablet (sacarin tablet size) became liquid ink. WWI soldiers were not allowed to carry bottles of ink, so this feature was ideal for the 1916 era. I have seen the ink tablet boxes. Am I the only one who has heard of the Trench Pen ?

 

I suspect that Trench Pens were discarded when ink sac reservoirs were invented. I have never seen one. Is there a heaven-blessed FPN-er who has one, or even a photo to share ?

 

Thanks to all.

[icardoth]

This topic has been discussed before in this forum. Look here and here.

[John Danza]

Your understanding of trench pens is slightly incorrect. They existed during the ink sac era and were made along side them for a couple of years. They were created primarily for soldiers and for travelers to eliminate the need to care a bottle of ink (there was no prohibition in carrying bottles of ink by soldiers, it was just more convenient to not when they already had a ton of stuff in their backpack).

 

Here are a couple of photos of my trench pen. I'm perfectly comfortable calling these Parkers rare, possibly very rare. I've seen a total of eight over the past 10 years, including the three in the Sachs-Fultz collection. Of the eight, two were red mottled hard rubber and one was red hard rubber. The rest were black hard rubber.

 

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb83/borderboss/trenchpenclosed.jpg

 

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb83/borderboss/TrenchPen2.jpg

 

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb83/borderboss/Trenchpencatalogpage.jpg

Edited May 6, 2011 by John Danza

[algabatz]

The Parker Trench Pen was an inexpensive, simple, eyedropper pen. One end had a cap that unscrewed

to expose a compartment where ink tablets could be stored. Desolved in a few drops of water, the tablet (sacarin tablet size) became liquid ink. WWI soldiers were not allowed to carry bottles of ink, so this feature was ideal for the 1916 era. I have seen the ink tablet boxes. Am I the only one who has heard of the Trench Pen ?

 

I suspect that Trench Pens were discarded when ink sac reservoirs were invented. I have never seen one. Is there a heaven-blessed FPN-er who has one, or even a photo to share ?

 

Thanks to all.

 

http://parkercollector.com/luckycurve.html#trench

[Ernst Bitterman]

Does it tickle anyone else that the orginal instructions speak of the section as "the nozzle"? :clap1:

It leads one to suspect the pen was made specifically for slapstick comedy rather than grim moments of waiting between barrages.

[skybird]

Mine

[algabatz]

Mine

 

In red, no less. Fantastic!

 

/T

[John Danza]

Max's pen absolutely disproves some of the Parker information that the pens would have red blind caps as a distinguishing feature. If a RHR pen has a black blind cap, they all got them.