The International Cartridge

[Synthy Pelikan]

What's the story behind the 'international' cartridge?

 

Which company came up with it? How old is the design? Is it really a product of an international standard?

 

Does anyone know any interesting facts about it and its history?

 

Edit: Revised title; added this line

Edited March 7, 2014 by Synthy Pelikan

[welch]

No definite history here, but I started "cursive" writing about 1957 or '58 with a Sheaffer cartridge "school pen", as we called them. IN 1961, I got one of the first Parker 45's...a cartridge / converter pen. Other kids used Wearever cartridge pens, which sold as a blister-pack of cartridges with a "free" pen. Esterbrook had a cartridge pen, but I don't remember seeing one.

 

The point? Every pen-maker used their own proprietary cartridge. Parker was the biggest pen-maker in the world, and Sheaffer must have been close behind. Wearever is said to have sold more pens than any other company, although they sold low-end pens.

 

I had never seen an "international standard" cartridge until about ten or fifteen years ago, and I used to wonder about a "standard" that did not include Parker, Sheaffer, Aurora, Lamy, Cross, Pilot, Sailor, or almost any pen-maker I recognized. Mont Blanc? (I don't have a Mont Blanc cartridge pen, but I'd doubt it...knowing that MB makes ballpoint refills that cannot, by patent or something, be used in any other brand)

 

I think most Chinese pens use the "international standard", maybe Pelikan, and most of the small companies making fine pens. Edison, Onoto, Bexley, for instance.

 

It would have been nice if Sheaffer and Parker had adopted the same cartridge about 55 years ago; the Parker format is better. However, Sheaffer released their school pen before the Parker 45, and all companies seem to have wanted to lock their customers into their own refill. Maybe we should be happy that Parker has had the good engineering sense to keep the same format.

 

Now, if I ran the Waterman or Parker divisions of Newell, I might make one ink line, and offer cartridges with a Parker and a Waterman end. But...then I would also re-issue Parker Penman Saphire and other Penman inks to compete with the "luxury" inks from Pilot and Pelikan.

[WirsPlm]

I believe that either Pelikan or Mont Blanc came up with the 'international' cartridge connector, but you're right that it's not really a standard.

Edited March 14, 2014 by WirsPlm

[Synthy Pelikan]

It's interesting to note that Japanese companies call it the 'European style cartridge'.

 

I'm thinking Pelikan might be behind it... The first Pelikano was released in 1960 and it used the cartridge; it was a big part of its appeal and marketing.

 

http://i.imgur.com/w7TIDGN.jpg

 

I think I'm correct in stating that Pelikan made ink before expanding to pens, so I wonder if Pelikan, already having a stable, if not strong, standing in the bottled ink market, wanted a cartridge that could become a standard, and therefore a cartridge that could make a bigger profit, and what not, than a proprietary one would. Hm.

 

Pelikan, to my knowledge, have always used open refill formats, and their ink is famous in its own right, after all. It all does rather make sense.

 

http://i.imgur.com/KXDx7Yq.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/kAm8Quc.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/DejUK9C.jpg

 

I wonder if this dominance is what (could've) made Lamy choose to use proprietary refills across its range?

[welch]

Interesting that Pelikan chose Parker's ballpoint refill as the Pelikan standard. Now if Parker had patented their ballpoint refill, as Mont Blanc did theirs...then we'd have many, many unique, and now useless, ballpoints.

[Pterodactylus]

The term "International Cartridge" I only know since a very short time, about 30 years ago we only said "Pelikan Patrone" (Pelikan Cartridge).

And almost everybody used them in school (beside some very few which used Lamy).

The Montblanc CC pens also use them.

Edited March 14, 2014 by Pterodactylus

[jar]

Waterman also adopted the "International standard" throat measurement but only after they pushed yet another version, the "CF" for their early cartridge pens.

 

ST Dupont initially used the Parker standard but when they introduced the Ellipsis line they switched to the International standard.

[welch]

Good info, Jar.

[HDoug]

You can call something a "standard" if more than one company (at least) agrees to the specifications. The idea is really good, but lacking a controlling committee (like the Motion Pictures Experts Group that publishes "mpeg" specs) you might not get broad adoption or anything that standardized. Is my thinking. Which is frequently wrong...

 

Doug

[jar]

You can call something a "standard" if more than one company (at least) agrees to the specifications. The idea is really good, but lacking a controlling committee (like the Motion Pictures Experts Group that publishes "mpeg" specs) you might not get broad adoption or anything that standardized. Is my thinking. Which is frequently wrong...

 

Doug

And we see just that in today's "International standard" cartridges. While the inner and outer diameter of the throat is pretty consistent, the length and profile of the throat tends to vary between marques.

[Anne-Sophie]

I grew up in France using Stypen and other generic plastic pens, they used no-name "international cartridges" which were bought in bulk, in supermarkets or the seasonal back to school aisle of department stores.

 

 

Waterman school pens were metal and more durable, at the beginning of the year one box of long cartridge was bought for exam season, which took place at the end of each trimester.

 

The cartridges were refilled with a pipette with Waterman Florida Blue.

 

Both Florida Blue and the ink inside the no-name international cartridges were erasable with an ink-eraser.

 

Stypen and Pelikan made and distributed ink-erasers in France.

 

 

In suspect that the "international cartridge" is the generic of a patented Pelikan design.

 

The bulk cartriges that were offered might have been Pelikan factory reject, they sometimes had little aesthetic defects like tiny plastic ears that would stick out, while the Waterman were always perfect.

 

School pens, typically used from elementary to high school, were not offered with converters, Lamy seems to have kept this tradition with the Safari.

 

 

All the nicer graduation pens included converters.

 

The Waterman Phileas was more of an high school or university pen, hence it included a converter and a nice looking design.

 

 

The Lamy Studio includes a converter as well.

 

Lamy, to this day, lists the Safari, Vista and All-Star in their "young writing" category.

 

The Studio is the family of high quality writing instrument, a fact I can attest to.

Edited March 18, 2014 by Anne-Sophie

[tryphon]

It was indeed introduced by Pelikan with the "Pelikano" school pen. Of course, it was preceded by many other cartridge formats. In Italy, the LUS Atomica was a very popular pen with its own cartridge standard,