Eyedropper Pens: Styles And Variations

[plumon]

Are there variations on the way that eyedropper pens work? on the mechanics? Of course they all based on the same principle, but I've seen some with a small tube coming form the section and into the barrel, others with a longer tube, and the traditional ones with no tubes.

 

I would appreciate any info you would like to share.

plumon

 

ps sorry if this topic has been beat to death in the past.

[Cob]

As you have deduced, the only variations are in feed design. Of course the makers had a problem in getting around Mr waterman's feed patents so inevitably they had to come up with alternatives.

 

Many of the pens made in the first years of the 20th century used over/under feeds (and not only eyedroppers - Onoto amongst others used them).

 

Parker's eyedroppers featured the famous Lucky Curve feed, whilst Mabie Todd the its over/under feeds and some of its competitors had the curious piece of twisted silver wire; I have not yet found out what that did! Later Swans, made from about 1915 (the Safety Screw Cap models) used the familiar ladder-type feed.

 

You might like to see a dismantled Swan 1500 including the silver wire; note the extraordinary length of the over/under feed:

 

On the other hand, here's a pretty eyedropper that I recently acquired. It came without nib and feed. I simply installed a feed from a Croxley and an English Fowler nib; it worked perfectly straight away!

 

Best wishes

 

Cob

Edited February 15, 2015 by Cob

[ehemem]

Don't forget the Japanese eyedroppers...

[flipper_gv]

Romillo eyedroppers are really damn nice looking too.

[hari317]

Are there variations on the way that eyedropper pens work? on the mechanics? Of course they all based on the same principle, but I've seen some with a small tube coming form the section and into the barrel, others with a longer tube, and the traditional ones with no tubes.

 

I would appreciate any info you would like to share.

plumon

 

ps sorry if this topic has been beat to death in the past.

 

Dropper filled pens are found in three broad varieties:

 

• Safety pens with retractable nibs.(No current production, abundant supplies of vintage, look for Waterman's, Moore, etc)
• Dropper filled pens with an additional ink shutoff valve. Derived from the Onoto plunger filler design, this type is favored by Japanese pen makers(Currently found on the very high end pens like the Namiki Emperor and some middle to high end Dani Trio pens).
• Plain Dropper filled pen with no shutoff valve and no safety retractable feature (Majority of modern dropper filled pens and the vintage Wirt, Waterman's etc).

HTH.

 

Now the presence or lack of a breather tube or a ladder or a wick is dependent on the feeder design.