A glossary of nib designs?

[antarmukhee]

I am familiarizing myself with different designs of nibs, and wish to make a list of popular nib designs. By designs, I do not mean the size or the various types of tips (italic, stub, fude etc); rather, what is visible outside when the cap is opened. Some example designs I am familiar with are:

• (1) conventional nibs seen in most pens (does this design have a specific name?),
• (2) inlaid nibs,
• (3) conical nibs,
• (4) hooded nibs, etc.

Are there any other designs that you can add on to the list?

I wonder why there are not many fountain pens today with aesthetic nib designs like the inlaid nibs or the conical nibs?

 

[shalitha33]

Overfeed nibs
If you are not limiting to modern / recent pens, you can also get overfeed nibs.

These are not hooded / semi hooded nibs. compared to a modern pen they just have the feed up side down.

I have seen 3 types of nibs in them so far.
 

1. Normally curved overfeed nibs
these looks more like dip pen nibs. some have a rougher part at the bottom of the nib, some don't. There are some nibs that are mostly flat but curves at the very edge.


 

 

2. Totally flat overfeed nibs

These nibs are completely flat and fits in to a cutout in the feed. Once i have seen so far are narrower inside the feed than what's outside.

There are some nibs that comes with a air vent hole but are still overfeed nibs (and also totally flat).  
 

 

 

3. Angled V shaped nibs
These ones have a ridge in the middle and slopes out.

 

 

 

 

Not exactly different designs but there is also the over-under feed pens. Its not exactly a different nib, just a diffrent feed.

You can also find different shapes like the falcon point, various cutouts in modern nibs to increase flexibility and the leaf style nibs.

 

 

There are also some pens with nibs centered right in the middle almost like a pencil.  

 

[shalitha33]

Also would this one count?  One on the right, Eversharp adjustable nib.

 

[A Smug Dill]

4 hours ago, Savit said:

(1) conventional nibs seen in most pens (does this design have a specific name?),

 

Sometimes referred to as “open nibs”; and, since this does not imply flared shoulders in the nib geometry,

 

4 hours ago, Savit said:

(4) hooded nibs, etc.

 

it is possible that, in some pens with hooded nibs, the geometry of the nib — i.e. the piece of metal, not the feed or the hood — may be the same as that used in a pen with an open nib, and not different or modified to suit the space constraints inside the hooded grip section. You see less of the nib (again, specifically the piece of metal) when you uncap the pen, yes; but that's a difference in pen design, with a hood to partially obscure the nib for aesthetic and/or functional reasons, and not necessarily a difference in nib design, any more than changing the feed design implies a different type of nib. A Platinum Preppy has a feed that is very unlike that in other fountain pens, yet it still has an apparently open nib; as does a Monami Penna, which (differently yet again) employs a wick as part of its feed system supporting its open nib.

 

1 hour ago, shalitha33 said:

Not exactly different designs but there is also the over-under feed pens. Its not exactly a different nib, just a diffrent feed.

 

The Naginata Emperor nib employs a metal tab in the same material as nib itself, to serve as a sort of overfeed, or in situ ink reservoir; and the tab on a Naginata Emperor (or a Naginata Concord Emperor, etc.) is usually considered an integral part of the nib, as opposed to the feed.

 

Then there are stacked nibs, such as the Naginata Cross Music and King Eagle nibs.

 

Nibs with cross slits, such as that on the Sailor Trident.

 

Do open nibs with multiple slits in the same dimension, such as that on Pilot and Platinum Music nibs, count as a different design from the far more common two-tined open nib?

 

[MuddyWaters]

Wow @shalitha33those are some nice pens. Can you identify the ones in your last two pics?

[shalitha33]

24 minutes ago, MuddyWaters said:

 Can you identify the ones in your last two pics?

 

From top
 
Caw's Dashway   
Challange 
Sherman  
Paul e Wirt  (later 2 line imprint)

 

Pens capped 



The two waterman pens 22 and 24 (star nib and the later falcon point ? )

 

 

 

The two Eversharp dorics (smaller one is the one with the adjustable nib)

 

[PithyProlix]

Flat, triangular nibs, designed to write on both sides, such as the Platinum PKW-5000, Sheaffer Stylist, and Parker 180.

 

 

[Waltz For Zizi]

360 nibs, designed to write in every way you rotate it, like the on on the Sailor Trident

[Paul-in-SF]

On 10/20/2022 at 4:07 PM, A Smug Dill said:

it is possible that, in some pens with hooded nibs, the geometry of the nib — i.e. the piece of metal, not the feed or the hood — may be the same as that used in a pen with an open nib, and not different or modified to suit the space constraints inside the hooded grip section.

 

I have something that might be considered an example of this, although the nib is not an open nib per se, but the principle is the same. 

 

Here is a nib from a Montblanc 254 (from the series 252, 254 and 256, basically the same pen but of graduated sizes). I think the nib is called a folded nib. You can see the different geometry from a typical open nib. 

 

 

And here is a nib from a Montblanc 22, which I believe is a later pen, where they used the same nib geometry but just covered up a lot of it with a semi-hooded grip section. I have seen arrangements like this called a "fingernail nib," and there are different shapes on other pens for the semi-hooded covering of the nib. I have a Platinum pocket pen from the 70's with a similar arrangement. `

 

[hermesrouge]

On 10/20/2022 at 4:59 PM, shalitha33 said:

Overfeed nibs
If you are not limiting to modern / recent pens, you can also get overfeed nibs.

These are not hooded / semi hooded nibs. compared to a modern pen they just have the feed up side down.
…

 

Not exactly different designs but there is also the over-under feed pens. It’s not exactly a different nib, just a diffrent feed.

You can also find different shapes like the falcon point, various cutouts in modern nibs to increase flexibility and the leaf style nibs.

 

 

 

 

@Paul-in-SF, or others, I wondered if you might help with this over-under… It is a lovely old BHR eye dropper by JFC London, but has an I’ll-fitting replacement nib that allows the ink to run straight though and I’d love to find it another that’s more appropriate - but not really sure what I’m looking for and found this post. There is a very large gap between over and under. (The pictures aren’t great but may give some idea. I can try to focus in on a particular part if it helps). 
 

Also is anyone familiar with JFC? I’ve seen a couple recently but couldn’t find any history. Thank you

[AAAndrew]

Very interesting to see the variations. Of course almost all fountain pen nibs trace their basic design back to the dip pens of prior years. 

 

Here's my glossary of dip pen dip styles. It's not all-inclusive in that it's focused on United States nibs. There were more variations that came from other countries, especially the European Continental companies. They could get quite fanciful. But for US-made nibs, it covers pretty much everything. 

 

https://thesteelpen.com/2018/12/07/pen-shapes-a-proposed-glossary/