Definitely an unusual Namiki!

[Licensedtoquill]

I suppose I have been collecting Namiki pens for a few decades and I have certainly never come across this before. I sent some pictures to Pilot in Tokio and they had no idea either.

 

It has a section split into two parts for no apparent reason. The section is blanked off for no apparent reason so that no feed seems to be made for it? The rear part of the two-part section has a cork seal which doesn't seem to do anything.   There is also an extremely complex rear-of-the section part which may resemble the Parker Lucky Curve, which also doesn't seem to do anything in a system with this blanked--off section.

 

Even if the pen is designed for insertion of a quill (instead of a nib) to write Kanji characters, there should be some method in a pen which obviously has a reservoir for feeding ink from the reservoir to the nib? (I have had 1920s Namiki dipping pens which came in a desk set with the ink well. They had a blanked off section but no mechanical parts in the ink 'chamber' which, of course, fed nothing to the nib)

 

I was wondering if Namiki has any record of ever experimenting with the Penner or the 1832 Parker patent shown on page 11 of my first book*. In that completely-forgotten design, there is no feed and no air-based method of feeding ink to the nib. Instead they used a kinda blanked off section but with a piece of cotton thread which went from the reservoir to the nib. (I am pretty  sure nobody used it after 1832, - especially after the air-based Watermans/Mabie Todd/Wirt feed was invented in the 1870s/80s) But as I said, the shtum out of Tokio was overwhelming!

 

Come on pen community. Someone try to give a crack at what on earth this is?

[stan]

Who are you and what is your 'my first book'?

What are what appear to be holes in the side of the section?

[liubrian]

It is a N-type, or "hoshiawase" eyedropper pen.  The section collar rotates to block access to the ink supply.

 

Previous threads:

 

I posted photos of mine in the latter thread, but not of the internal workings.  I'll try to upload those later.

 

[awa54]

That design would probably work acceptably if made with modern o-rings to seal the "knob" portion of the section, but simply relying on two conical surfaces friction fit together is a recipe for inky fingers.

 

very cool, thanks for sharing!

[liubrian]

55 minutes ago, awa54 said:

That design would probably work acceptably if made with modern o-rings to seal the "knob" portion of the section, but simply relying on two conical surfaces friction fit together is a recipe for inky fingers.

 

very cool, thanks for sharing!

 

There's also a cork seal - I think you can see it on the left of the first photo in this thread, where it is wrapped around the narrowest part of the inner rotating core.  Still not really reliable without modern materials, I'd expect.

[awa54]

Even in these days of engineered polymers, cork (and paper) can be a viable material for permanently mounted flat gaskets, but cork has never been ideal for moving parts, just the best compromise available until better materials were developed.

[Licensedtoquill]

Thanks for that. I should have guessed that if it was Japanese, there would be some sort of ink shut-off valve somewhere!     

 

So it shouldn't be too difficult to get a feed in there? And the pieces to the rear of the section only look like they blank off the section?  They don't actually do so? (I also wondered whether those holes could form part of the ink flow, but was assured by someone called Brad Torelli that the section is blanked off)

 

There is very little depth to push a feed in there: Is it likely that what has been identified as a blanking off of the section is the remnants of the feed itself?

 

Jonathan

WWW.VINTAGEPEN.COM

[ajoe]

@Licensedtoquill- just a heads up; your web site appears to have a lot of broken links, missing images, and 404 errors.

[Licensedtoquill]

Thanks for that, - my hosting service went belly-up taking all my files with them and I had to do a quick rebuild!

[liubrian]

On 1/4/2022 at 2:57 AM, Licensedtoquill said:

Thanks for that. I should have guessed that if it was Japanese, there would be some sort of ink shut-off valve somewhere!     

 

So it shouldn't be too difficult to get a feed in there? And the pieces to the rear of the section only look like they blank off the section?  They don't actually do so? (I also wondered whether those holes could form part of the ink flow, but was assured by someone called Brad Torelli that the section is blanked off)

 

There is very little depth to push a feed in there: Is it likely that what has been identified as a blanking off of the section is the remnants of the feed itself?

 

Jonathan

WWW.VINTAGEPEN.COM

 

I don't really understand your questions, but maybe this photo of my disassembled pen, and a link to the patent drawings will help.

 

Referring to the labels on my photo, the long tail on the feed sits deeply within part A, which in turn sits inside (and rotates within) part B. Part B extends into the ink inside the barrel. To turn on and off the ink, you rotate the front bit of A (nearest the nib) so that the two holes marked 1 line up with each other. Ink then flows from the barrel, through 1 and into the tail of the feed. Pin 2 fits into slot 2 to limit the rotation of A to a quarter turn.  As you can see, the feed does need to be sized just right to fit within part A.

 

The original patent can be found here: https://www.j-platpat.inpit.go.jp/?uri=/c1800/PU/JP-60931/ECF82BDF6CE65B07D49436AFCAF498202B265A4301509BA85F1D5E01C74C94B7/15/en but I have attached the drawings to this post.

[Licensedtoquill]

Thanks for that exceptionally helpful answer to my posting. I only thought I understood what this feed/section comprised. I certainly didnt understand  the existence of the tail (what looks like a breather tube,- part numbered 10) coming out from the rear of the feed.

 

What is the angled dotted line just behind the forward part of the feed (4) in the left hand cut-away drawing? It makes the feed look as if it is in two parts, one shaded, the other uncoloured white. (The feed itself in your photo looks like it is in one part?)  Is the feed in two parts, 10 and 4?

 

The feed is the part I have to find.

[liubrian]

I suspect we won't have a definitive answer unless someone can read the explanation in the patent text, but what I can say is that my feed is a single piece.  I suspect that the tail of the feed is labelled #10 in the right hand side drawing, and then in the left hand side drawing, the label #10 indicates an empty space where the tail would be located (without actually drawing the tail).  But this is just a guess.