Parker Vacumatic Blind Cap colour/pattern matching barrel?

[R77C]

Hello all, just a quick question: when a Vacumatic left the factory back in the 40s would the blind cap pattern/colour have matched that of the barrel? I keep coming across nice examples for sale but the mismatch of the blind cap against the barrel puts me off. Or is it meant to be like that?!

 

Eg.

 

This is beautifully matched https://i0.wp.com/pastpens.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/parker-vacumatic-major-silver-striped-new-old-stock-price-sticker-pk242vvv-1600x1200.jpg?fit=1600%2C1200&ssl=1

 

But the blue one here is not: https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5349ba13e4b095a3fb0ba65c/1427162306217-0XZ77WYJBWEFLOVDJIMQ/My+Four+Vacs?format=1000w

 

Neither is this: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/u8cAAOSwqa5hrOpP/s-l1600.jpg

 

Any help would be appreciated, as I don't want to buy one that has either had a replacement, non matching blind cap, or one that's been discoloured. I'd like one as true to how it came out of the factory as possible, but I wasn't sure if Parker actually made them this way!!

 

 

[mitto]

At least I don't see any mismatch in pens in the pictures. 

[R77C]

The pattern on the blind cap on the blue example is a lot darker than on the barrel. The blind cap pattern on the brown one is a lot brighter/lighter than the corresponding pattern on the barrel.

[joss]

Ink staining may lead to different grades of ambering of the transparent parts of Vacumatic barrels.

I think that the colour difference on the blue pearl pen rather results from non-optimal lighting when the pens were photographed. This may intensify minor colour differences that you would not readily observe in normal daylight.

 

[R77C]

I'm really not sure that it's non-optimal lighting. 

 

Here is a Vacumatic that I own, taken in the same lighting and I've just rotated the pen on the spot to show how the blind cap doesn't match in parts:

 

In the first photo it matches gloriously, but then when I rotate the pen there are sections of the blind cap that are much darker and thus looks odd against the continuous, bright pattern on the barrel. (Do ignore the 149 in the pictures!)

 

This is fine, but I just don't know if Parker designed it like this that's all. 

[Ron Z]

Minor variations in color or pattern are not uncommon, and do not indicate a flaw or necessarily a replacement.

 

The barrel and blind caps were not made from the same piece of stock, nor were they turned together.   Individual parts were, cap, barrel, blind cap. internal threads and seat for the pump made, blind cap drilled an tapped, all done in separate machine operations.  Just cutting the threads means that even if the original profile had been done at one go, the color changes and bands would not line up the same.

 

The NOS blind caps for vacs and vac 51 that I have are usually slightly oversize.  One assumes that once the barrel had a pump and diaphragm installed, the blind cap was put on the pen, and then turned down to match the barrel.  This would insure a seamless and nearly invisible transition from blind cap to barrel.

[R77C]

That is extremely helpful Ron, thank you 😃

[VacNut]

2 hours ago, Ron Z said:

Minor variations in color or pattern are not uncommon, and do not indicate a flaw or necessarily a replacement.

 

The barrel and blind caps were not made from the same piece of stock, nor were they turned together.   Individual parts were, cap, barrel, blind cap. internal threads and seat for the pump made, blind cap drilled an tapped, all done in separate machine operations.  Just cutting the threads means that even if the original profile had been done at one go, the color changes and bands would not line up the same.

 

The NOS blind caps for vacs and vac 51 that I have are usually slightly oversize.  One assumes that once the barrel had a pump and diaphragm installed, the blind cap was put on the pen, and then turned down to match the barrel.  This would insure a seamless and nearly invisible transition from blind cap to barrel.

Ron,

Thank you for the clarity on the NOS parts. I see why the parts were alway slightly a larger diameter. I always thought it was from barrel shrinkage - which may also happen. 

On another note, “NOS” part?!?!? I am envious. 
 

[FarmBoy]

If one looks closely you will notice the blind cap alternates between colored and black while a barrel alternates between clear and colored. 

[VacNut]

There is a short YouTube video about an Italian celluloid pen maker. I forget the name of the maker, but there is a section of the video that shows a barrel being fabricated by molding a flat sheet of celluloid around a cylindrical die. The barrels were made from sheet stock, where as the caps were made from solid stock. It make sense as it saves on the amount of material, if the part is essentially a tube without much of a taper.

The PCA has a great archive showing all the parts of a Vacumatic. I found out more about the inner cap inside the outer cap by reading through the service manuals.
I wonder though how they make the one-piece section+barrel on the first Vacuum Fillers. I don’t think these barrels were made from stock, as the laminations are misaligned. The Sections must be welded(?) to the barrel as they are not transparent.

[Ron Z]

2 hours ago, FarmBoy said:

If one looks closely you will notice the blind cap alternates between colored and black while a barrel alternates between clear and colored. 

 

Color difference, or that the material is cut thinner so light goes through.  I favor the later.

[jchch1950]

On 12/6/2021 at 7:50 PM, Ron Z said:

Minor variations in color or pattern are not uncommon, and do not indicate a flaw or necessarily a replacement.

 

The barrel and blind caps were not made from the same piece of stock, nor were they turned together.   Individual parts were, cap, barrel, blind cap. internal threads and seat for the pump made, blind cap drilled an tapped, all done in separate machine operations.  Just cutting the threads means that even if the original profile had been done at one go, the color changes and bands would not line up the same.

 

The NOS blind caps for vacs and vac 51 that I have are usually slightly oversize.  One assumes that once the barrel had a pump and diaphragm installed, the blind cap was put on the pen, and then turned down to match the barrel.  This would insure a seamless and nearly invisible transition from blind cap to barrel.

+1

[R77C]

Thank you all, a very informative answer that will no doubt help others in the future. Many thanks. 

[bunnspecial]

Just as a little side-note on this-

 

I have a striped Duofold, where of course a mis-match is quite telling.

 

Ron actually did a fair bit of work on it for me, including rebuilding the diaphragm seat, and before I sent it to him it was bulged around that area. After the repair, he turned/smoothed it all down and the blind cap fit is nearly seamless but of course doesn't match.

 

I don't know if the blind cap is a later replacement, but I'd think not as the colors(black, red, and gray-green) are a perfect match for the pen body.

 

There's no possible way I can turn the cap, however, where all of the stripes and colors align. Even if the stripes seem to align on one side, flip the pen over and they'll be way off on the other. As he finished it, a couple of stripes align, and the rest are nowhere close, and I think that's just how the pen is.

 

Not too long ago, I did swap the barrel on a black Vac for one from a parts pen I had that was clearer. I'm actually quite proud of the blind cap fit on it, as you have to hunt for the seam, but then it's also solid black so it was easy to make it disappear.

 

Lamy manages to match the finish on the 2000 turning knob perfectly to the body, but I suspect that's because the final lined finish is applied after the body is assembled. When you're dealing with laminated celluloid parts produced separately, them lining up perfectly seems more an amazing coincidence than design.

[VacNut]

There are makers like Harumi Tanaka who make each pen individually one at a time, but the reality is that a major mfr like Parker will make similar components at the same time from different stock rods and have bins of each component ready for assembly by workers.

 

I love the rope twisted around the shaft to control the speed for finer work. Thank you to M.T. Shue for posting the video.

[bunnspecial]

1 hour ago, VacNut said:

There are makers like Harumi Tanaka who make each pen individually one at a time, but the reality is that a major mfr like Parker will make similar components at the same time from different stock rods and have bins of each component ready for assembly by workers.

 

 

I have a Ranga 9B in their "premium ebonite" which is marbled with a couple of colors. Mine is primarily red/burgundy with a decent bit of green, some gold, a few lines of lighter red/pink and plenty of other colors if you look close enough.

 

AFAIK, these are entirely made by hand and I seem to recall that they are turned on a drill and the maker uses his thumbs to measure.

 

It's a beautifully executed pen and the joints are all very tight. It's obvious to me that it all came from the same rod stock(someone more familiar with the company can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that they essentially treat every rod of ebonite they receive as unique and can only supply a handful of pens from it) but the patterns on it do not match...I'm fine with that, but I think it goes to show that even if an entirely hand made pen from a single piece of material doesn't match, how can mass produced pens made from parts in a bin match?

[VacNut]

I have read that waterman took great care to align the pattern in their early rubber “ripple” pens so that the pattern aligned between the cap and the barrel.

I do not know if modern celluloid pen mfrs always drill out the caps and barrels from solid stock vs wrapping the thinner sheet stock around a die, but the various available videos all show drilled stock. 

I recently learned Parker also spiral wrapped their pens around a cylindrical die rather than simply wrapping it around the due. I believe this type of construction is more evident in the Mabie Todd snake patterns. I don’t envy the engineer tasked with standardizing that process.

 

If you search this forum there was a post about a “Golden Web” (Brown Vacumatic) with a dramatically misaligned pattern. It would probably have been considered defective when it was first manufactured, but it brought a very high auction price in 2021.

[VacNut]

Here are pics of the Vacumatic Spiral wrapped cap. The seam is being repaired by a person who is not considered a “Parker Pen Expert”.  It would almost be impossible to align the patterns between the cap and barrel. The blind cap is black.