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When in the 50s were these ballpoints made and how do I fix them?


3rdlakerobert

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Two questions:

 

1. When exactly in the 50s were these made? I think these were Sheaffer's first retractable ballpoints called "Clickers" and I believe they were introduced sometime in the 1950s. Sheaffer did make an earlier ballpoint called the Stratowriter, but it wasn't a retractable. A while ago I think there was an original magazine advertisement for sale on eBay showing a Snorkel "Triple" or maybe "Trio" that included a Snorkel fountain pen, pencil, and one of these. These ballpoints (in these photos) are trimmed just like a Snorkel pen or pencil: the metal cap version matches the Snorkel Sentinel and the plastic cap version matches the Valiant. The colors are all Snorkel colors. I think they were sold as stand-alone ballpoints as well as part of a Snorkel ensemble.

 

2. How do I fix them? Because I collect Snorkel fountain pens I have maybe a twenty of these ballpoints and six are inoperable because the mechanism is "frozen." I think the ink leaked from the refills, resulting in the internal parts sticking together There is absolutely no give to the green one--it's frozen with the button out. The burgundy one, frozen with the button in, will move 1/16" but no more.

 

There seems no way to disassemble the clicker mechanism.

 

I've tried soaking in naphtha, alcohol, water, and Koh-in-noor Rapid-eze, including cycling them in these solvent in an ultrasonic cleaner. Nothing worked.

 

Any ideas?

DSC_0569.jpg

DSC_0572.jpg

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4 minutes ago, 3rdlakerobert said:

Duas questões:

 

1. Quando exatamente na década de 50 foram feitos? Acho que essas foram as primeiras esferográficas retráteis da Sheaffer chamadas "Clickers" e acredito que foram introduzidas em algum momento da década de 1950. Sheaffer fez uma esferográfica anterior chamada Stratowriter, mas não era retrátil. Há algum tempo, acho que havia um anúncio de revista original à venda no eBay mostrando um Snorkel "Triplo" ou talvez "Trio" que incluía uma caneta-tinteiro Snorkel, lápis e um desses. Essas esferográficas (nessas fotos) são cortadas como uma caneta ou lápis Snorkel: a versão com tampa de metal combina com o Snorkel Sentinel e a versão com tampa de plástico combina com o Valiant. As cores são todas as cores do Snorkel. Eu acho que eles foram vendidos como esferográficas autônomas, bem como parte de um conjunto Snorkel.

 

2. Como faço para corrigi-los? Como coleciono canetas-tinteiro Snorkel, tenho talvez vinte dessas esferográficas e seis estão inoperantes porque o mecanismo está "congelado". Acho que a tinta vazou dos refis, resultando em partes internas grudadas. Não há absolutamente nada para o verde - está congelado com o botão aberto. O vinho, congelado com o botão inserido, se moverá 1/16 ", mas não mais.

 

Parece não haver maneira de desmontar o mecanismo do clicker.

 

Tentei embeber em nafta, álcool, água e Koh-in-noor Rapid-eze, incluindo um ciclo desses solventes em um limpador ultrassônico. Nada funcionou.

 

Alguma ideia?

A suggestion for the second question, apply WD 40.

Regards

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5 hours ago, ParramattaPaul said:

Can you unscrew the top from the bottom?

Yes, and that's as far as disassembly goes.

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These are good looking ballpoints, I would love to see your collection.

 

The first 'clicker' ballpoint was in the 1953 Sheaffer catalog and had a black plastic barrel plus a chrome cap with gold cap band and a repeating pattern of a straight and a wavy longitudinal groove. The 1953 catalog also shows the Snorkel Stratowriter ballpoints but these are absent in the 1955 catalog.

 

The 1955 catalog instead shows two 'clicker' ballpoints that were named "Sentinel" (black plastic barrel, chrome cap with straight grooves, gold cap band) and Valiant (black plastic barrel and cap, gold cap band). So the two ballpoints that you show above are 1955 or later.

 

There is a 1955 advertisement showing a Triumph Valiant Snorkel with accompanying Valiant pencil plus the black Valiant 'clicker' ballpoint. The 1955 catalog shows the Snorkel pens in duo (FP & pencil) and I indeed also think that that the 'clicker' ballpoint was sold as a stand-alone pen that you could ad to accompany a Snorkel set.

 

I have no clue about how you disassemble these ballpoints. If the mechanism is stuck by dried ink however, I would expect that alcohol or Rapido-Eze would dissolve the ballpoint ink. I have successfully used a 1/1 alcohol/water solution to liberate a Parker 51 Jotter ballpoint mechanism from a pile of dried ink. The problem with the green 'clicker' ballpoint is that alcohol plus blue ink will likely lead to a permanent staining (colour change) of the plastic.  

 

 

 

 

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21 hours ago, Switala said:

A suggestion for the second question, apply WD 40.

Regards

I've got them soaking in it now. Thanks!

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8 hours ago, joss said:

These are good looking ballpoints, I would love to see your collection.

 

 

And I love to show them and answer questions if anyone has one.

DSC_0574.jpg

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On 1/17/2021 at 6:21 AM, joss said:

The first 'clicker' ballpoint was in the 1953 Sheaffer catalog and had a black plastic barrel plus a chrome cap with gold cap band and a repeating pattern of a straight and a wavy longitudinal groove. The 1953 catalog also shows the Snorkel Stratowriter ballpoints but these are absent in the 1955 catalog.

 

This is a burgundy 1953 version in an original  box. It lacks a gold bezel on the barrel and has the wavy lines and a white pusher unique to these first versions.

 

The photo of my collection in the preceding post shows a pastel green Sentinel (second from left) without a gold bezel but with a green pusher and straight lines on the cap, so I would call this green Clicker a transition example.

 

Brian McQueen, another Sheaffer enthusiast, had one of these 1953 examples before I did and told me about their existence. His I think is black. He succeeded in disassembling a Clicker but there were failures that resulted in loss of a pen.

DSC_0577.jpg

DSC_0575.jpg

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8 hours ago, joss said:

These are good looking ballpoints, I would love to see your collection.

 

The first 'clicker' ballpoint was in the 1953 Sheaffer catalog and had a black plastic barrel plus a chrome cap with gold cap band and a repeating pattern of a straight and a wavy longitudinal groove. The 1953 catalog also shows the Snorkel Stratowriter ballpoints but these are absent in the 1955 catalog.

 

The 1955 catalog instead shows two 'clicker' ballpoints that were named "Sentinel" (black plastic barrel, chrome cap with straight grooves, gold cap band) and Valiant (black plastic barrel and cap, gold cap band). So the two ballpoints that you show above are 1955 or later.

 

There is a 1955 advertisement showing a Triumph Valiant Snorkel with accompanying Valiant pencil plus the black Valiant 'clicker' ballpoint. The 1955 catalog shows the Snorkel pens in duo (FP & pencil) and I indeed also think that that the 'clicker' ballpoint was sold as a stand-alone pen that you could ad to accompany a Snorkel set.

 

I have no clue about how you disassemble these ballpoints. If the mechanism is stuck by dried ink however, I would expect that alcohol or Rapido-Eze would dissolve the ballpoint ink. I have successfully used a 1/1 alcohol/water solution to liberate a Parker 51 Jotter ballpoint mechanism from a pile of dried ink. The problem with the green 'clicker' ballpoint is that alcohol plus blue ink will likely lead to a permanent staining (colour change) of the plastic.  

Joss, thank you for your excellent information. 

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15 hours ago, 3rdlakerobert said:

DSC_0574.jpg

 

That is a very nice collection. I think that some are quite uncommon or plain rare, especially the Vermillion on the right.

There was a Vermillion Clicker for sale a few months ago and it was suggested that it might be a prototype. Your colourful collection suggests that the Vermillion was available as one of the standard Snorkel colours.

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2 hours ago, joss said:

There was a Vermillion Clicker for sale a few months ago and it was suggested that it might be a prototype. Your colourful collection suggests that the Vermillion was available as one of the standard Snorkel colours.

My vermilion IS that example that was sold a few months ago, but I think there are some Clickers out there in the "new" colors. The pen on the left end of the line is a Sage Sentinel.

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34 minutes ago, 3rdlakerobert said:

My vermilion IS that example that was sold a few months ago, but I think there are some Clickers out there in the "new" colors.

 

Ah, okay. It still could be a one off example then.

Did the vermilion come with that black 'clicker' tag? Just curious because you do not expect such a tag with a prototype.

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9 hours ago, joss said:

Did the vermilion come with that black 'clicker' tag? Just curious because you do not expect such a tag with a prototype.

 

No, but it did have a Medium sticker on the barrel that made me think it wasn't a prototype.

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The disassembly of a clicker involves knocking the click mechanism out with a punch.  They are just press-fit.  But, there's an almost-certain chance that you will destroy the mechanism, especially if it is caked with ink.  Naphtha in the ultrasonic worked the best for me to free up one of these mechanisms, but it wasn't the best solution.  The best bet may be to live with it, unfortunately.  I did contrive the idea of a clicker mechanism extractor which pulls it out instead of pushing it out, but don't have the skills to make it.  I have some loose mechanisms, and I will share some photos so you have an idea of what you are up against.

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9 hours ago, RobertNFrappuls said:

I did contrive the idea of a clicker mechanism extractor which pulls it out instead of pushing it out, but don't have the skills to make it.  I have some loose mechanisms, and I will share some photos so you have an idea of what you are up against.

 

It would be great if you could show the loose mechanism!

Simply pulling the barrel and cap apart won't do the trick I guess.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I don't know how to fix a Clicker but I have a demonstrator one and you can see how the mechanism works (it works a bit like a clutch pencil). I hope this will help you.

IMG_4311.jpg

IMG_4312.JPG

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Here is a loose click unit.  It friction fits into the rear of the pen.  The ridged silver area provides the friction.  Sheaffer service manual says to knock it out.  Essentially, you hit the plastic click button with a punch and hammer.  I assure you that doing as the manual says will destroy the click mechanism.  After inspecting this, I think the only safe way to remove one of these mechanisms is to pull it out the front by grabbing the brass disk.  You would need some sort of mechanism to grab it, and a screw mechanism to pull it.  Like an inner cap puller combined with a gear puller.  Even then, if there is an excess of ballpoint ink sludge stuck in there, you may bend or otherwise damage the brass fingers simply by virtue of things getting stuck as they are being pulled.

 

49844286582_828f06ec77_h.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

So this might be a dumb question but I have managed to obtain 2 beat up Sheaffer ballpoints where the clip engages the mechanism.

 

What refills will these take and are said refills for these still available anywhere?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated 

 

Mike

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On 2/10/2021 at 10:29 AM, RobertNFrappuls said:

Here is a loose click unit.  It friction fits into the rear of the pen.  The ridged silver area provides the friction.  Sheaffer service manual says to knock it out.  Essentially, you hit the plastic click button with a punch and hammer.  I assure you that doing as the manual says will destroy the click mechanism.  After inspecting this, I think the only safe way to remove one of these mechanisms is to pull it out the front by grabbing the brass disk.  ...

 

49844286582_828f06ec77_h.jpg

 

I think the plastic clicker button is press fit.  If you pulled on the front disk you would probably just separate the clicker button from the centre rod and pull the centre rod out, leaving behind the collar and brass fingers.  If that happened, I guess you could then use a suitably-sized punch to knock the collar out, so it might work. 

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