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Kritikson Bros" Security Pen, A Challenging Repair !


fountainbel

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Hi all !

I've just finished the repair of a pen I've never seen nor heard off before, a Kritikson Bros "security pen " dating from around 1925.

This surely was a valuable OS pen at that time, beautiful mottled HR material and an exceptional - and complex! - lever filling system.

The owner insisted to restore the pen with the original mechanism.

I could not knock the completely rusted transversal pen trough, finally cut it inside the barrel and carefully pulled/tweaked the two parts out from the inside of the barrel.

Same problem with the central screw completely rusted in the filling knob - heat ,soaking in WD40 , nothing helped - it simply broke off

The filling mechanism condition was even more dramatical : the special pivoting pressure bar was missing and the pivoting actuating lever was deeply rusted and part of it broke off and was missing.

Being intrigued by this strange filling system I took the challenge and decided to make both a new pressure bar and a new pivoting actuating lever in 0.5mm 316 stainless steel.

I also made the central screw replacement in brass, so all the new parts can't rust over time.

For dimensioning the missing parts I've used the length ratios measured on the patent drawing.

This was a serious job, measuring , sketching, drawing the shape on the sheet ,drilling, sawing, filing, and bending/shaping using a jig I had to make.

Mounting the system back in the barrel proved to be extremely difficult.


First I've mounted only the assembled lever mechanism in the barrel, without the filling knob and the central screw.

I could at least see and position the pivoting lever

Not easy at all, but I finally succeeded, first hurdle taken !

I then screwed the filling knob on and tried to get the central screw in, hopeless !

The screw head just passes the transversal pin so when introducing and lightly touching the pin, the screw falls off

I then glued the screwdriver slot of the screw with crazy glue on the screw driver , perfectly in line and waited 5 minutes so the glue was hardened.

Carefully introduced the screwdriver centrally in the barrel , searching for the slit of the pivoting lever and the central taphole in the filling knob, and... bingo, I was able to screw the central screw firmly in. Once the screw was firmly tightened i could pull the screw driver easily loose.

Since I had to disassemble the filling system again - to optimize the pivoting stroke - I suddenly realized that installation of the screw would be much simpler if the screw was longer.

A longer screw would allow to enter the screw already in the filling knob before the filling knob was screwed on the barrel.

This implied however also the taphole in the filling knob should be drilled and tapped deeper.

So I made a longer screw and made the taphole in the filling knob proportionally deeper.

This made installation of the central screw effectively much easier : introduce the screw through the -now visible - pivoting lever slot, screw the screw a few turns in the loose filling knob, screw the filling knob on the barrel and then screw the central screw fully in.

Mission accomplished , but what a job, took me in total 12 hours of intensive work ......


The clip was also missing, but I will not proceed making an "original" clip for this pen, to much work involved...

And finding a replacement clip looks not realistic to me.

Further on i don't know how the original clips works and even then I can't do the original "security" inscription on it.

As you can see on the picture I do have a nice GP ring clip which fits perfectly between the cap and the cap enclosure top.

Hope this clip will suit the owner......

Under cap-top is a remarkable patented feature, the "Check Protector". This is a series of 7 "pounce wheel" type of rollers that when rolled over the signature and written check value produces a series of perforated lines , aiming to prevent altering the signature and the value !

Never seen such a feature, astonishing no?

Thanks for reading so far !

Regards,

Francis









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  • fountainbel

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Very interesting! (A.) That screw-operated lever is a very odd filling mechanism, all right. It must be a little slow to operate. On the other hand, it does keep your hands away from the ink, and I'm sure no sac will be able to resist the force it can generate ;-) . (B.) Beautiful fabrication job -- congratulations!

Edited by Tweel

fpn_1375035941__postcard_swap.png * * * "Don't neglect to write me several times from different places when you may."
-- John Purdue (1863)

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Very interesting! (A.) That screw-operated lever is a very odd filling mechanism, all right. It must be a little slow to operate. On the other hand, it does keep your hands away from the ink, and I'm sure no sac will be able to resist the force it can generate ;-) . (B.) Beautiful fabrication job -- congratulations!

Thanks for your comments Tweel & Markiv !

@Tweel : To the contrary, the system is very fast : unscrewing the filling knob 2-3 turns compresses the sac completely!

Francis

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  • 1 month later...

Hi, i have one of these pens. I was wondering how it fills? The end nob screws out, but i dont dare pull on it. You did a heck of a job on the one you repaired. Mine is in tact, all but the cap that covers the roller. I dipped it once to see how it would write, it was fantastic. I'll get some pictures for you. Thank you, kim

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  • 3 years later...

Amazing job Francis. I was lucky to find a Security pen where the mechanism works. When I removed the section to replace the sac, I verified that the pressure bar moved all the way back and forth when turning the knob. I soaked it in WD-40 anyway for a while just for prevention and lubricated with liquid Vaseline the knob thread.

Then I fitted a Nº 14 sac, a larger sac would not go freely into the barrel. When I tested the filling performance I noticed that it only takes a few drops of water, which I could not understand because the pressure bar moves all the way to the opposite side of the inside wall of the barrel.

The pen has a beautiful broad 1 mm wide nib so I am afraid it won't do a lot of writing before it needs re-filling...

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Amazing job Francis. I was lucky to find a Security pen where the mechanism works. When I removed the section to replace the sac, I verified that the pressure bar moved all the way back and forth when turning the knob. I soaked it in WD-40 anyway for a while just for prevention and lubricated with liquid Vaseline the knob thread.

Then I fitted a Nº 14 sac, a larger sac would not go freely into the barrel. When I tested the filling performance I noticed that it only takes a few drops of water, which I could not understand because the pressure bar moves all the way to the opposite side of the inside wall of the barrel.

The pen has a beautiful broad 1 mm wide nib so I am afraid it won't do a lot of writing before it needs re-filling...

 

Thanks for your comment sztainbok !

Being already 4 years ago since I'v posted , I already forgot I ever did this repair…...

The first thing you should check is if the pressure bar is laying fully against the inner barrel wall when the filling knob is fully screwed in. if this is not the case you could put an approperiate spacer ring over the actuating screw between the lever end and the filling knob. But this implies the complete disassembling of the filling system and unscrewing the actuation screw….

Wishing you succes !

Francis

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

Thanks for your comment sztainbok !

Being already 4 years ago since I'v posted , I already forgot I ever did this repair…...

The first thing you should check is if the pressure bar is laying fully against the inner barrel wall when the filling knob is fully screwed in. if this is not the case you could put an approperiate spacer ring over the actuating screw between the lever end and the filling knob. But this implies the complete disassembling of the filling system and unscrewing the actuation screw….

Wishing you succes !

Francis

Thanks for your advise Francis. The mechanism is working well and it is laying fully against the inner barrel wall. I now think it is a perception issue. The bar moves slowly because it is screw driven and that is why I see drops of water instead of a water jet when I empty the pen. Greetings, Victor.

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