Is This A Snorkel Fountain Pen?

[gammada]

I just bought what to my eyes appears to be a Snorkel fountain pen, but am not sure what it really is. As of this moment the pen is awaiting to be shipped to me, so I have no way of verifying my suspicion.

 

The seller just stated that the pen was an "Old Sheaffer Canada 14k Nib Suction Fountain Pen", but looking at the Snorkel photo thread on this forum, it looks quite similar in shape and nib. If this is jot the case, can you help me identify the pen and tell me if I got a good deal at $60?

 

Thanks!

[Vintage_FPens]

The Snorkel has a thin tube extends through the feed and moves forward when you unscrew the plunger. If there is no such tube, it is perhaps Sheaffer Thin Model (ТМ) Touchdown Pen but not a Snorkel. I don't see this tube in your pen.

Edited October 9, 2018 by LokiOS

[BaronWulfraed]

Not enough contrast of the feed to tell if a snorkel is there... If not, the odds are good it is a Statesman TM Touchdown (white dot, open nib -- the models above it have a Triumph nib, and the ones below it don't have the white dot).

 

Suction filler is also a bit of a misnomer -- since every self-filling pen relies on suction at some point. The Touchdown filler, in a way, relies upon pressure. Pull the tube up, insert nib into ink (if a snorkel, only the snorkel needs to be in ink), then rapidly/firmly push the tube back into the body. This uses air pressure to compress the sac, when it hits the bottom of the stroke, a vent lets the air out, and the expanding sac draws in the ink.

Edited October 9, 2018 by BaronWulfraed

[Vintage_FPens]

Not enough contrast of the feed to tell if a snorkel is there...

 

There is no the tube in the feed. Here is the edited image

 

[Penman222]

Great deal at $60. It is touchdown obviously, but is it a fat TD or a TM TD? The fat ones were made in '49-50 and the TM in '50-51 right before the start of the snorkel line. I have attached a picture of my 1950 Valiant TD TM as an example.

[inkstainedruth]

Yeah, agree with everyone else -- looks like a Touchdown (although I'm not up on all the different models and sizes of those). And definitely NOT a Snorkel. Even if it was missing the tube, there would still be the hole in the feed for one (saw one like that just the other day when I went antiquing up in Franklin, PA).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Vintage_FPens]

... is it a fat TD or a TM TD?

If I'm not mistaken, the early Touchdowns (1949-1950) had a Visulated Section. But how it seems to me in this pen the section is not Visulated.

[Penman222]

If I'm not mistaken, the early Touchdowns (1949-1950) had a Visulated Section. But how it seems to me in this pen the section is not Visulated.

Great call! They are, as you can maybe see in my picture. Snorkel are not tho...

[BaronWulfraed]

Pretty sure my Valiant is a TM as it matches the later Snorkel in diameter (and I even swapped the caps as a test).

 

I had to hold it up to a bright light to reveal that the quarter inch nearest the cap-threads was translucent (think it is ink-stained, and will never go really clear).

[gammada]

Great deal at $60. It is touchdown obviously, but is it a fat TD or a TM TD? The fat ones were made in '49-50 and the TM in '50-51 right before the start of the snorkel line. I have attached a picture of my 1950 Valiant TD TM as an example.

 

 

Not sure. It is about the same diameter as my Parker 51 pens. Any idea what could it be?

 

Also, while flushing the pen I came across a tutorial for disassembling the pen and turns out the sac was replaced recently!

 

The pen is in great condition.

[gammada]

If I'm not mistaken, the early Touchdowns (1949-1950) had a Visulated Section. But how it seems to me in this pen the section is not Visulated.

Do you refer to the see-thru plastic just below the metal ring?

[BaronWulfraed]

Also, while flushing the pen I came across a tutorial for disassembling the pen and turns out the sac was replaced recently!

 

The pen is in great condition.

 

Hope those instructions also told how to re-seal the pen, since an air-leak at the section/body interface will prevent filling.

[jmccarty3]

Looks like a wonderful pen. I like touchdowns just as much as snorkels.