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What is the first modern fountain pen ?


KandyPenz

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What would be the first modern fountain pen?

To be considered modern it should at least have some concepts that match up with a pen thats in production.

 

Example:  Waterman 12 eyedropper would have roughly the same set of components that are found on a current cheap eyedropper pen. Parts like the feed / cap would be very basic compared to now but thats ok.

 

If the requirement is relaxed to have some concepts found on a pen from 1970s or newer will the answer change?

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1907 Sheaffer, first lever filler.  1925 piston filler patented.  Adopted by Pelikan 1929.

Add lightness and simplicate.

 

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I've always thought of the Parker 45, as being the first "modern" fountain pen. Easily swapped nib unit, and cartridge / converter filler. 

 

Prior to that, would be the first lever filler. 

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I agree with mallmal1. Before the Parker 45, pen companies expected a dissatisfied user to send the pen to a customer service center, which the pen company supplied with spare parts, tools, service manuals, and trained repair specialists. An owner was expected to refill their pen -- from a bottle of the pen company's ink, of course -- but to do nothing more. In the early 1950s, a Parker booklet suggested that an owner flush their Parker pen now and again, but nobody but Parker service would take a fountain pen apart.

 

The Parker 45 was the first successful "do it yourself" fountain pen. An owner could swap the nib with another, helpfully hanging from a card in a pen store or even in a drug store or 5&dime (in the US). The owner could pull the 45's squeeze filler for a Parker cartridge. All the parts were interchangeable.

 

Compare the P-45, offered in 1960, with the Parker 61 from the late 1950s or the Sheaffer PFM. They were the last of the classic fountain pens.

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but nobody but Parker service would take a fountain pen apart.

 

I don't know that I agree with that comment.  The Parker repair manuals, even as late as the 90s, suggest otherwise.  There are parts catalogs, and there are also repair instructions for Sheaffer pens, along with the catalogs too.  I have them.  Granted many of the pen repairs involve just replacement of assemblies today, but in the 50s?  No. Parker people took pens apart to repair them. 

 

Sheaffer nomenclature had ballpoints, roller balls, pencils, and pens.  Pens referred to fountain pens, and fountain pens only.  I have many parts for the modern fountain pens, including feeds, bushings, clutches...  all kinds of stuff. 

 

No, they repaired them.

 

Sheaffer had cartridge pens in the early 60s. 

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On 10/28/2021 at 5:56 AM, mallymal1 said:

I've always thought of the Parker 45, as being the first "modern" fountain pen. Easily swapped nib unit, and cartridge / converter filler. 

 

Prior to that, would be the first lever filler. 

Not at all, Esterbrook pen company in 1940-50´s years offers swapped nibs unit with a lot of points sizes, something similar with Pelikan pens.

Regards.

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4 hours ago, Ron Z said:

Sheaffer had cartridge pens in the early 60s. 

 

Waterman had them in the 30's (1936), with glass cartridges.

Vintage. Cursive italic. Iron gall.

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4 hours ago, Ron Z said:

 

 

 

I don't know that I agree with that comment.  The Parker repair manuals, even as late as the 90s, suggest otherwise.  There are parts catalogs, and there are also repair instructions for Sheaffer pens, along with the catalogs too.  I have them.  Granted many of the pen repairs involve just replacement of assemblies today, but in the 50s?  No. Parker people took pens apart to repair them. 

 

Sheaffer nomenclature had ballpoints, roller balls, pencils, and pens.  Pens referred to fountain pens, and fountain pens only.  I have many parts for the modern fountain pens, including feeds, bushings, clutches...  all kinds of stuff. 

 

No, they repaired them.

 

Sheaffer had cartridge pens in the early 60s. 

 

That's the point, Ron. Nobody but a repair center repaired pens: Parker for Parker pens and Sheaffer for Sheaffer pens. The Parker 45 was released in 1960, and I got one that Christmas. Sheaffer followed Parker, and, by about 1963, Parker had issued its top-line 75 as a cartridge-converter pen...about the same time Sheaffer gave up on the PFM.

 

**

 

While Esterbrook made its fountain pens with a replaceable nib unit, the Estie was a lever-filler: "buy one pen and three points -- it's like buying three pens". That was the advertising blurb.

 

**

 

Whenever Waterman made some fountain-pens with a glass cartridge, whether the 1930s or the early 1950s, the idea did not catch on. For that matter, Waterman went out of business.

 

**

 

The P-45 was the first successful cartridge/converter pen, and all of the 45's parts could be swapped around by an owner. That makes the 45 in 1960 a break from how fountain pens had been designed, sold, and serviced. Perhaps now that a fountain pen is more of a hobby and no longer a mainstream writing instrument, perhaps now some small company will try to re-invent an old-fashioned filling system, but it is unlikely that a pen company will recreate the business process on which the P-51 and Snorkel were based.

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Read Parker’s Modular Pen patent or the article about them. 

San Francisco International Pen Show - The next “Funnest Pen Show” is on schedule for August 23-24-25, 2024.  Watch the show website for registration details. 
 

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Some would say the Parker fliteliner for its leakproof design. 

 

To my thinking, there are many innovations, some even from the 19th century, that could lay claim to the title.

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Parker jack-knife safety could also count as the first modern cap for a pen ? although eagle is the first cartridge pen, John Hancock (1920s) would be the first more modern-like design.
 

 

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That's the point, Ron. Nobody but a repair center repaired pens: Parker for Parker pens and Sheaffer for Sheaffer pens.

 

No, that's not the point.  The parts manuals and repair manuals were available for independent shops.   There was a time when Parker (and I assume Sheaffer) had training classes for pen repair people,  not just the factory repair shops.

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On 11/3/2021 at 1:58 AM, silverlifter said:

 

Waterman had them in the 30's (1936), with glass cartridges.

Eagle had them in the 1890's

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On 11/5/2021 at 9:17 AM, Ron Z said:

 

No, that's not the point.  The parts manuals and repair manuals were available for independent shops.   There was a time when Parker (and I assume Sheaffer) had training classes for pen repair people,  not just the factory repair shops.

 

With the P-45, nobody took the converter anyplace for repair. They bought a new converter. They bought cartridges if they liked cartridge systems, but nobody took a 45 to a repair specialist to switch from Converter to cartridge or the reverse.  I kept a cartridge in my bag just in case I ran out of ink. Nobody needed a repair shop to replace a P-45 nib...they could get one at the local 5&10.

 

The P-45 system was entirely different from the system that repaired a PFM or a Parker 51, and the new design of the 45 reduced the need for the old parts / manual / repair system. That's what makes the Parker 45 the first modern fountain pen. 

Washington Nationals 2019: the fight for .500; "stay in the fight"; WON the fight

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Modern vs Modular ?

 

If the ability to replace filling system becomes a requirement, then it will basically exclude all current production high end pens with piston filling system.  In this case piston filling system is not user replaceable or user repairable. Lower and mid range models from the same series of pens with converters will in this case count as modern.

 

How much would you consider as user replaceable. If its just the nib unit then what about some thing like the Esterbrook renew points. would you consider parts like the sac on a lever filler same as the washers on a piston filler. or O rings? if they are likely to last the warranty period of the pen (or expected lifetime , although pens will last way more than that) will that count as needs replacing?

 

Also what about a disposable pen such as one of the old Manos pens from Austria? Something that is not at all repairable.

 

Is reliability a measure of being modern?

 

Other way to look at it would be on reliability. Can it dry up, will there be hard starts, will there be leaks etc. If that is the case, it will come down to quality control rather than how modern the pen is.

 

Is it about efficiency?

 

Is it about minimizing ink wastage, ensuring that nearly all that is put in to the pen can be put out in to paper. Essentially no ink is wasted in feeds , barrel , etc. that is not usable for writing. what type of ratio will it need to be? It it also about how long a pen can be kept filled without it causing issues etc. 

 

It is about the looks?

 

There are some timeless designs. Some pens have kept their styling through out the days. how will that work in this case. e.g. a pelikan from early days , one from 80s , one from now.

 

 

tricky thing to answer :(

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1 hour ago, KandyPenz said:

Is reliability a measure of being modern?

 

I say yes it is.

 

1 hour ago, KandyPenz said:

Is it about efficiency?

 

I say yes here too.

 

There are other factors, such as ergonomics, durability, and economic production amongst other to consider as well.

 

To me, modern means something that has reached a level of refinement in function and durability that previous attempts did not have.  For instance, electric cars were in existence in the earliest decade of the 20th century.  The technology is not new, but I dare say a Tesla is 'modern'.  It is efficient and reliable.  What is modern is subject to change with time and technology as well.  We only need to look at the mobile phones of the middle 1990s and what we have today for an example.  Another example I suggest is that my Conway Stewart 476 was state of the art in 1940, and thusly modern, while my late wife's grandmother's turn of the century Mabie Todd eyedropper was state of the art -- and modern in 1910.

 

Admittedly, this is merely my opinion.

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Just a comment, of course the definition of modern is unclear, although to my way of thinking reliability, convenience of filling, and durability are the definition. I think the first rubber sac pens of an earlier age meet all of these. Probably the example of all of this earliest in a mass produced pen would be Conklin's crescent filler started production around 1899 I think. Of course has nothing to do with the present day Conklin co. Several other "self fillers" sprung up not much later.

Regards, Glen

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All pens depend upon capillary flow to be functional.  This covers the entire fountain pen time frame.  There have been differences in filling methods, nib types/designs, etc., but where can one say "this is the first modern pen"?  I have pens from the '40's to the present, and they all write.  Some are more convenient to fill.  Some are prettier.  Some are expensive.  Some are not.  But I like them all.  

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