pelikan 140?

[Wil D]

I bought a Pelikan 140 with box. However today I grabbed another one, without box. To my surprise my first pen is a bit longer than the newer one. Also the knob is different. I looked at pictures on the web and the first 140 has the knob (and size) of a 400. But the cap of a 140. Were there 140's made with a 400 knob and size?

[mana]

Just checking, was it a Pelikan 400 knob (square’ish) instead of a 400NN one (torpedo shaped/conical)?
 

If square’ish, that is a frankenpelikan, a Pelikan 400 pen with a Pelikan 140 cap.

 

If the knob is conical then it could be two things:

• a frankenpelikan with a 140 cap and 400NN pen (any markings on those, like ’Pelikan 140’ on the cap trim ring, and ’Pelikan 400’ on the barrel?), or…
• a Pelikan 300 (it would be marked ’Pelikan 300’ then).

[Wil D]

50 minutes ago, mana said:

Just checking, was it a Pelikan 400 knob (square’ish) instead of a 400NN one (torpedo shaped/conical)?
 

If square’ish, that is a frankenpelikan, a Pelikan 400 pen with a Pelikan 140 cap.

 

If the knob is conical then it could be two things:

• a frankenpelikan with a 140 cap and 400NN pen (any markings on those, like ’Pelikan 140’ on the cap trim ring, and ’Pelikan 400’ on the barrel?), or…
• a Pelikan 300 (it would be marked ’Pelikan 300’ then).

Thank you. it is a 400 knob (squarish). I did wonder if it might be a 400 with a 140 cap, but I did not know if that cap would fit. Today I found a question on the board about this. And there it said a 140 cap does fit a 400. So it looks like I have a frankenpelikan. Too bad really, because of this frankenpelikan, which was sold to me as a 140, I bought the other 140. Because I liked it so much. The frankenpelikan writes better than the real 140 😉  

[mana]

Ok  Yeah, all of the caps for the 140 & 400-series pens do fit each other as the threads and barrel diameters are the same, with the 140 section being a bit shorter.
 

That can cause some issues though, depending on the combination. Namely, if you use a 140 cap on a 400, and depending on how deep the nib has been set, the cap can actually clash with the nib due to spacing and size differences (both the section and the nib are a bit shorter in the 140).
 

On the nibs, agree, the 400-series nibs are a bit bigger and as a result can write better than their 140-series counterparts. Finding funkier nib widths (B, BB, etc.) is also easier with the 400-series pens.

[Bo Bo Olson]

On 2/18/2024 at 6:20 AM, mana said:

he 400-series nibs are a bit bigger and as a result can write better than their 140-series counterparts.

I had had two 140's and seven 400's (one don't count being a nails nail D nib) and a maxi-semi-flex 30 degree grind of a 500.

One of my OF 400nn's is a maxi also.

 

The 140's nib...IMO is not that much smaller (I have a couple #2 Omsia nibs that seem a bit smaller than my 140...and being smaller don't mean anything. MO)** and that really makes no difference that I ever noticed.

Had a OB, still have a F in 140.....and have vintage green stripped, 400's in EF, F, KF, OB and OF maxi 400nn, and , light tortoise 400 B, darker 400nn EF tortoise,  and eyeballed maxi OBBB 500 also a tortoise.

Some 400's have a maxi-semi-flex nibs.

 

I have that in my 400nn OF tortoise,and in my 500.

 

It is more common to find maxi-semi-flex nibs in Osmia supra nibs...not always but often, say the two with 30 &50 Osmia's.

I have @16 maxi-semi-flex nibs, in Pelikan, MB, Geha, Osmai and a few other lesser brands....some in steel nibs and Osmai steel nibbed ones too.

 

I had read from others that some 140's were more 'springy' than others....so that fella had a maxi.

 

I discovered the flex rate maxi-semi-flex, some 8 or so years ago. The start of my flex rating system...that one has to have a regular flex/Japanese 'soft' nib to start with.

I had a Rupp nib that was remarkably more flexible than my normal semi-flex nibs. Walked around in a daze for three days, muttering that certainly is a maxi-semi-flex nib.

I then tested my twenty semi-flex pens and found 5 were maxi. The Rupp nib remains the most flexible of my maxies.

 

I have a number of superflex nibs, so am not confusing them.

 

By me normally a semi-flex or maxi, only goes 3X width more than a light down stroke. Maxi takes half the pressure needed to flex to a max of 3 X than a semi-flex to 3X, which needs half of what is needed to mash a regular flex out to 3 X. Regular flex, like a 200, or a '82-97 400 or Japanese 'soft'. 

 

Semi&maxi's are flair nibs....not calligraphy nibs.

 

Anything more than 3 x is nib abuse and will lead to a sprung nib, sooner or later.

Richard Binder has a great article on metal fatigue.

 

Wow, sometime in the last couple of years I added three '50-65 400's....and hadn't remembered.