Wasn't the Lever Fill Pretty Much the Best Idea?

[Estycollector]

5 hours ago, txomsy said:

 

Could it be because people tend to over-tighten when screwing in things just in case it unscrews itself and causes a mesh? This means in the not-so-long run, the threaded part, which is spiral and thinner, suffers from fatigue and ends up cracking.

 

I know. Nowadays we tend to treat pens carefully, but back then, I'd carry them in a pocket or a backpack loose with many other items, books, whatever. It was not rare that the cap or the body would loosen and risk making a mesh, and sometimes did.

 

BTW, I always wondered why pen makers didn't add a cylindrical elastic gasket, level with the rest of the surface, that would prevent it while allowing over-tightening for safety. Getting something as (today) simple as a gasket wasn't so easy back then, in pre-DIY times. I can see where any implement that makes unwanted unscrewing harder would also make wanted unscrewing harder. But I would have accepted it willingly for the peace of mind of knowing the pen wouldn't make a mesh.

 

I've carried on a pocket a cheap Chinese clone of the Delike clone of the Kaweco Sport. I had that issue a few times at the beginning (the cap unscrewing, and even the body afterwards), but its plastic threads in the cap allow me to over-tighten the cap as much as I need and I have rarely had a problem since. And they are so cheap I do not care if ever that plastic piece wears out.

 

So, there, maybe it is not screwing on/off but over-tightening for fear it might get loose. Something that perhaps may be tackled with a plastic gasket.

 

My first Parker 21 was from a person whose father had given it to her as a HS strudent. The plastic had not cracked. Maybe she was careful. I have heard however that the 21 was considered a student grade pen even though the plastic was not lucite. 

[TgeekB]

As a fountain pen user, I do not do repairs, I hate lever fillers. They seem to be made for tiny people, not someone with an average or above average size hand. Perhaps for a child they are ok but not an adult. 

[Sailor Kenshin]

16 minutes ago, TgeekB said:

As a fountain pen user, I do not do repairs, I hate lever fillers. They seem to be made for tiny people, not someone with an average or above average size hand. Perhaps for a child they are ok but not an adult. 

 

Even the Estie J... Or my big fat Federal.... Guess that also includes the Duofold.

[TgeekB]

19 minutes ago, Sailor Kenshin said:

 

Even the Estie J... Or my big fat Federal.... Guess that also includes the Duofold.

Absolutely. Please understand, this is my interpretation. Fortunately there are many exceptional non-lever choices for those who don’t like lever fillers. 

[bunnspecial]

On 8/26/2021 at 12:07 PM, sirgilbert357 said:

 

The only way I would improve upon Parker's design is to make the aerometric portion of the pen screw into the section. This would make it easy to swap if and when the sac goes bad, and it would eliminate the need for adhesive. But that's a small thing...

 

Parker was transitioning to cartridges pretty heavily in the late 50s/early 60s, and for a long time the standard Parker converter was basically a 51 Aeromatic filler that screwed in just as you described.

 

A while back, I bought an NOS 65 C/C that had this style converter in the box. On the newer end of the spectrum, I bought a first gen(Mk1) "well loved" Duofold International that came with that style converter. When I mentioned how much I liked those, the seller tossed a spare in. Just this past week I've bought another Mk 1 Duofold, this one a Centennial, although it came with a piston(slip fit). I haven't checked to see if an aeromatic style converter will screw into it.

 

These converter really and truly look like you chopped the filler unit off a 51 and made it into a converter. They are a cylindrical tube with an oval cut out mostly covered by the pressure bar. They're not like the 21/51 Special/English Duofold "pinch" Aeormatics.

[Sailor Kenshin]

10 hours ago, TgeekB said:

Absolutely. Please understand, this is my interpretation. Fortunately there are many exceptional non-lever choices for those who don’t like lever fillers. 

 

I do understand....and I have a thing about wanting to see my ink level.  Most lever fillers don't provide that.

 

(This is also why I don't do eyedroppers.  I can see myself unthreading the pen to 'check the ink level' and—-😱)

[Bo Bo Olson]

If one grew up in big fat Large pen era, light and nimble normal sized standard pens and medium-large pens that one posts, so they have much, much greater balance than clunky large pens (Outside the Snorkel and second generation P-45) will be too small; if unposted.

Tiny hands.....Big hands.....geeee I have Quarterback sized hands....to my surprise, of course I grew up using a standard sized pen from 4th grade back in B&W TV days. (I do like a medium-large 600 sized pen, or an Osmia 76, thin Geha 725..............but it's not more than a standard sized one like a Estie DJ, or P-75 one of the great well balanced pens or a 400/200.)

 

I actually find my 800, Persona, 146s a bit too small unposted, but then again I use the forefinger up method of grasping a pen.

The fairly light 146 is adequately balanced posted.....not too clunky.

 

The 1000 and 149 could use a bit more length......un-posted. Posted they are too long and clunky.

 

I do remember way back when,  the P-51 being considered a large pen.

And I remember never seeing a PFM in real life....the first fat clunky Large fountain pen with lousy sales.....lots of ads, on TV, and better magazines. ....Especially around Father's day, and Christmas. There was a time when ads for fountain pens were normal, even on TV.

But there was a time when folks wrote all day long with a well balanced standard or medium-large fountain pen. If it lacked balance it never sold....like the PFM.

 

When fountain pens almost died....big blingy conference table fountain pens saved fountain pens...so Large  pens became the norm.

And one didn't write all day with it, just used it as a signature pen or a conference room must.

So it didn't matter if it lacked balance, in it had Bling.

 

But if you grew up with fat clunky pens, you don't know about balance in the first place.

 

[Bristol24]

2 hours ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

But if you grew up with fat clunky pens, you don't know about balance in the first place.

 

This is a very supportable assertion, if not a truth.  I have a WWIi era 875 Balance that merely needs a new sac to be back in service.  I've always thought of it as being small compared to my Parker "51s" but then consider the Balance in the context of its predecessors, which were generally larger.

 

I am a bit perplexed by where this thread keeps trying to go, however.  The original question was stated in the past tense: "Wasn't the lever fill pretty much the best idea?" The answer in the context of fountain pen development is yes.  If the question had been, "Isn't the lever fill still the best idea?" then my answer would be a qualified "no" because there are, as has been very well debated, all sorts of considerations that take in far more than just filling options.   Notwithstanding the captivating smile of "Miss Congeniality" working the counter at the dry cleaners, I prefer fillers that allow for one hand to be on the pen and the other to be in control of the ink bottle or sample vial.  This rules out levers, pistons, screw converters and the like for me in terms of personal preference but my answer remains "yes" to the original question.  Regardless,  I think I will re-sac that Sheaffers 875 Balance with the military clip and use it for a while...

 

 

Cliff

[Ron Z]

I don't know.  The lever filler certainly  was the better idea compared to the eyedropper, and was revolutionary.  There were patent wars over it, and every conceivable method to get around the patents was invented.  But the weakness is, and has always been, the sac.  They fail.   There are issues with every sac material made, though a PVC sac that doesn't come in direct contact with plastic is likely the best.

 

If I were to argue "best ever" I would back the piston filler.  They are about the best in terms of reliability.  Even the ones with cork seals are likely to outlast a sac.  A little lubricant from time to time (the originals had paraffin oil and wax) and they go for years.  Dead sac keep me in business.