English/British Made Fountain Pens?

[Matlock]

I second that. Great pens and service.

[______Zaphod_Beeblebrox]

I third that!

 

I to have experienced superior customer service from both Onoto directly and thru their only US reseller Vanness pen shop in Little Rock.

 

I have 30 pens in my collection and my absolute favorite pens are my Onoto Pens.

 

I wish I had more of their wood burl boxes to replace the cheap boxes that came with other pens I have bought over the years.

[northlodge]

Finally had a chance to take some (sorry about the quality!) photos of the National Security Autotank.

The pen is 'as found' as I want to learn more about it before I attempt to clean it up and make it operational.

 

P1020119.JPG.

I have had a quick search and found two examples of this type of pen in my collection. Interestingly (whilst clearly Lang made) neither are Summit models, nor National Security. They are both 'own brand' products for industrial companies, and I would hazard a guess that British Carbon Papers acted as middle man in their production. (Structurally identical, the other is a cherry marble colour)

These would seem to confirm that the filling mechanism was simply to unscrew the blind cap and manipulate the ink sac.

 

http://i736.photobucket.com/albums/xx4/northlodge/pens%202012/nov%202013/Bulb1_zpsd403a9bb.jpg

 

http://i736.photobucket.com/albums/xx4/northlodge/pens%202012/nov%202013/Bulb2_zps0d928dda.jpg

 

Whilst discussing National Security pens, here are three other examples that I have recently restored and will be listed on ebay in the new year:

http://i736.photobucket.com/albums/xx4/northlodge/pens%202012/nov%202013/NSx3_zps1b083c41.jpg

Edited December 19, 2014 by northlodge

[Daddy-O]

 

These would seem to confirm that the filling mechanism was simply to unscrew the blind cap and manipulate the ink sac.

 

These are interesting photos. My question is why put a button under the blind cap if one only had to manipulate the ink sac? My pen clearly has a button and what remains of some sort of spring bar.

 

[Cob]

 

These are interesting photos. My question is why put a button under the blind cap if one only had to manipulate the ink sac? My pen clearly has a button and what remains of some sort of spring bar.

 

DSC_0078.jpg

Yes, that's what i wondered - hence my edit to my original post.

 

This pen is so interesting; I hope it has a nice nib!

 

Cob

[Daddy-O]

I haven't tried it yet Cob. It certainly looks nice - a 14 ct Warranted Nib with 1st Quality inscribed on it. Looks to be between a fine and a medium point. You're right though, an interesting pen. Were they all Auto Tanks?

[Cob]

I haven't tried it yet Cob. It certainly looks nice - a 14 ct Warranted Nib with 1st Quality inscribed on it. Looks to be between a fine and a medium point. You're right though, an interesting pen. Were they all Auto Tanks?

No; I have had several National Security lever fillers (these were made by Langs I think) and of course I now have the button filler which has the best nib of all the ones I have owned (one came with a very flexible Mentmore nib fitted, but sadly it was flexible partly because it was cracked!). I believe that some National Security pens had nibs stamped with the name, but most came with warranted 1st Quality nibs. Northlodge I know will have the answers on this point!

 

Cob

 

Cob

[northlodge]

There has been a suggestion that BCP bought up unwanted stock from wherever they could (and of course Lang would have been a good source of surplus stock, being a large scale producer of cheaper pens). It may have been that auto-vac like pen that I photographed and Daddy-o's black one were both short lived 'modifications' that were unsuccessfully trialed by Summit and then sold on via Lang as surplus to requirements.

 

Cob is correct in saying that most Lang made NS pens carry warranted nibs with the standard Lang circular layout. However the company certainly had their own in-house nib making capability and did produce nibs with "autovac" "cadet" and suchlike names. There were certainly some NS pens with National Security nibs, but I cannot say with any certainty that these were produced by Lang.

[Cob]

This piece will not help to solve the mystery of the pen above, but I have just acquired a National Security Vis-a-Tank pen. This one is a bulb filler, and I am delighted with it. Here are some pictures. Note the strange patent-pending feed arrangement where the drilling ffrom the breather tube exits into a spiral which runs up into the feed channel. A little work on the nib and I shall be very pleased.

 

 

Rgds

 

Cob