Jump to content


welch

Member Since 17 Apr 2011
Offline Last Active Nov 18 2023 07:01 PM
-----

Posts I've Made

In Topic: Mont Blanc #12 Body and Tail Repair, a Challenge!

28 August 2016 - 12:37 AM

Great work, Greg! Any idea how the nib was broken / carved like that?


In Topic: A big giant Parker in black hard rubber from the Raleigh Pen Show 2016

24 June 2016 - 02:35 AM

Who bought and used the Black Giant Parkers? Were they meant for lawyers, doctors, or baseball players? (Note: Hillerich and Bradsby told Ted Williams that they made a 54 ounce bat for Babe Ruth. Was this the fountain pen equivalent?)


In Topic: Skyline Eye Candy: Modern Stripe

24 June 2016 - 02:31 AM

Just a bump because I think David's and Pat's Skylines, up top, are works of art. Plain beautiful...especially that blue.


In Topic: Hong Kong based Sheaffer fan

11 September 2015 - 09:27 PM

From a true Sheaffer family! Welcome! 

 

Sheaffer is harder to understand / reconstruct than Parker: there are websites devoted to Parker in general, and to the Parker 51 and the Parker 75 pens. There are "coffee table" books about three famous Parker pens. Sheaffer information is a bit more scattered.

 

Two places to look:

 

- Vacumania.com, by David Isaacson ("David I" above) has descriptions and pictures of many Sheaffer pens

 

- Pendemonium.com was located in Ft Madison, Iowa, which was Sheaffer HQ. They have had a fair amount of Sheaffer "stuff" in addition to pens and inks. I have a couple of Sheaffer 3-ring binders ("Sheaffer: The Proud Craftsman") from them. 

 

If you can share photos of anything Sheaffer-ish, it helps us get a feel for working at a place like Sheaffer.


In Topic: inventions for cleaner pen filling

11 September 2015 - 09:11 PM

I liked, and still admire, the Parker cartridge / converter introduced about 1960 with the Parker 45. It was simple and allowed me to fill each morning from a bottle (Sheaffer'S Washable Black #62), and to carry a cartridge or two of Quink just in case my pen ran dry.

 

You can find a YouTube TV commercial for Sheaffer'S PFM, one that includes about 15 seconds explaining why the snorkel filling system is great: it is cleaner. I was a school kid in 1960...we never saw anyone using a Snorkel or PFM. They were top-line pens, like the Parker 51 and P-61. Many of us used Sheaffer "school pens", the translucent cartridge pens. Snorkel filling always reminded me of a mosquito bite...not appealing. Incidentally, I have an older Skrip box that advertises the Snorkel: "Takes the dunk out of filling".

 

Other kids might have used Esterbrooks -- squeeze filler or maybe cartridge. Some must have used Wearevers. 

 

In general, parents (in those days, that usually meant mothers) disliked lever-fillers and bottled ink, and were curious about ballpoints. They had grown up during the Depression, when they had used "third-tier" fountain pens or stick pens in school. They all had horror stories of "the time my friend's pen exploded ink all over", or the time my broker tipped over an ink bottle. Rough price, 1960, USD: Parker 51 / 61 and Sheaffer PFM: $12 - $15. Parker 45: $4.98. Parker Jotter: $1.98. The BiC "Crystal" showed up about then: maybe 10 cents? That was the business problem Parker faced. (Amazing that Parker and Sheaffer survived in any form!)