Question about an odd looking eyedropper.

[shalitha33]

From the first look this looks like any ordinary broken pen. Although there are few things I'm not sure of. 

 

Nib is missing on this pens as well as what looks to be a large chunk of the section.  Broken off bit is symmetrical. 

 

Strange part is that the surviving front end of the feed doesn't have an opening as with a normal pen.

 

 

 

Next puzzling bit is the feed. It has two cut-ins at the opposite end to each other but its not aligned with the overfeed. I cant see how it could supply ink to the over-feed.



there is a small channel in the overfeed itself but that goes to nowhere. There are tool marks on the broken bit . I'm not sure if this is an attempt to clean out the broken bit.

 

 

 

 

Feed is miss-aligned in this case. I haven't attempted to correct it. Even then I cant see how I can fit a nib to the surviving geometry of the pen. With the flat covered part of the section taking about 1/3 of the barrel and the overfeed taking up about another 1/3 , only a small gap is left for the nib to fit in to. Even a totally flat nib could be fitted i cant see how ink can get to it through the channel at the corner of the nib. 

Has any one seen an intact pen with this design?  

I would be very grateful if any one can share some info on these type of pens / feeds.

 

[I-am-not-really-here]

The three rings just in front of the section make me think of a Paul Wirt. This site may help:

 

https://vintagependoctor.com/feeds/

 

 

[shalitha33]

Unfortunately I don't think its a Paul e Wirt pen  . I have few of them and this ones construction is much more inferior to that of a Wirt pen.
 

A number of manufacturers used 3 rings in their early hard rubber pens including Paul e Wirt, Aiken Lambert, John Holland, Wiedlich/ Wright, Lapham (don't have an example), H.B Barnes, Barnett, and even Parker.

 

There were a number of third even fourth tier makers with no name pens long forgotten. What puzzles me is that I cant see how one could fit a nib to this (based on what's left), and how this surviving feed could work. based on brown rubber dust inside the barrel and threads , this may never have ben inked. 
 

 

[GlenV]

Well I don't know. It does look broken at the section and who can say how it worked.  I love your stunning collection of old pens though and of course the age of experimentation, pre 1890, with early pens were often unsuccessful.  Even beautiful pens with great workmanship  (the Caw pen for example) often didn't work!  Prototypes of these early efforts probably would look very odd.

[ralfstc]

Hello,

 

Does the "needle" part move at all?

 

I am wondering if it could be a type of stylopen with missing parts.

 

Cheers,

 

Ralf

[mallymal1]

Can't help at all, but that's fascinating. 

 

Great collection of 'liquorice sticks'.  👍

[shalitha33]

Sorry about not replying earlier.
 

On 3/27/2022 at 3:11 PM, GlenV said:

 Even beautiful pens with great workmanship  (the Caw pen for example) often didn't work!  Prototypes of these early efforts probably would look very odd.

I'm certainly no caw's pen expert :(.
I only have 3 of them with only 2 being proper eyedroppers.  The two eyedroppers are ok to write with. I can't comment on the nibs as mine isn't original. Feed although looks strange kind of functions ok. I used parker blue Quink on the No:105 . I'm not sure what the other one is as I don't have its original cap both. marked caw's dashway. 
 

 

On 3/28/2022 at 9:57 PM, ralfstc said:

Does the "needle" part move at all?

 

I am wondering if it could be a type of stylopen with missing parts.

It looks to be a fountain pen with a missing nib if i'm not mistaken. needle looking bit is the overfeed with shallow channel in it. it doesn't have any internal components as found in a stylo. That said its probably missing parts. i'm wondering if it would have used a silver wire kind of system to get ink in to the nib. some of these old pens use wired designed. I have one that uses "Horse Hair" 

 

On 3/28/2022 at 11:59 PM, mallymal1 said:

Can't help at all, but that's fascinating. 

 

Great collection of 'liquorice sticks'.  👍

 

Sadly I don't have either the quality or the quantity    I have mostly been collecting parts and anything that comes up cheap. More than just as a pen, what interests me is the story around it. . i.e https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/363552-looking-for-info-on-vintage-fountain-pen/

 

[GlenV]

I found this really fascinating article by a pen enthusiast just prior it appears to the development of the lever, if the link doesn't work you can search google books for "fountain pen, W. J. Ghent"

The Independent - Google Books

[Greenie]

Just "thinking out loud."  It is so perfectly cut that it is not broken.  The longer side of the section appears to be hollow, but with a closed end.  Feed is round internally and ends in the configuration of an overfeed. The style of the pen is that of the overfeed era.  Putting the long section of the feed on the bottom would interfere with writing. I don't see any way for the feed to go any other way.  This is my kind of mystery early experimental pen. Quite strange.  I would guess flat nib?  Maybe the nib slit was supposed to go inside, so ink could flow to the slit?  Apparently didn't really work since no one has seen it in production. So perhaps there really isn't a good way for ink to get out!