By looking at a Ramie pen in the flesh I can offer some more information. The mother company was called Hayashi Manufacturing Co., and was located in Tokyo. It adopted the certification system of the Japanese Ministry of Industry and, therefore, it was active in the mid 1950s.
On the barrel, not visible on the picture, there is an engraving: "RAMIE / HAYASHIMFG / GUARANTEED".
The engraving on the nib reads WARRANTED / RAMIE / (JIS logo) / 14 K / GOLD / <1>". And note the TS monogram at the low end of it.
This pen in particular is a lever-filler in urushi-coated ebonite. The nib is a size 1 in 14 K gold with the brand name engraved on it. The barrel carries the imprint of the mother company together with an inscription about the occasion in which the pen was awarded to an honor student at Hosei High School in Tokyo.
Its overall condition is very good. It construction quality, pen-wise, makes me question the alleged low quality of Ramie pens as stated online. The urushi finish, however, is certainly not top class.
These are its dimensions:
Length closed: 130 mm.
Length open: 111 mm.
Length posted: 152 mm.
Diameter: 13 mm.
Dry weight: 14.4 g.
Ink deposit: 0.8 ml
The Push, celluloid lever filler – Diamine Graphite
Bruno Taut
Chuo (Tokyo), January 22nd, 2013
etiquetas: Ramie
Bruno Taut
Chuo (Tokyo), January 22nd, 2013
etiquetas: Ramie
4 comments:
Hello Bruno, recently acquired a Ramie same model as yours, the only difference is in the engraving:
Ramie
H.M.C. Pen
My pen may be an older batch as I saw on the internet a latter Ramie pen with the same markings with the above pen. Condition is also not that good, clip and band have tarnished, the clip may have moved around the cap as the urushi finish is blemished. Same with the barrel where cap finishes when posted. Then the bladder may be deteriorated as I can't pull down the lever fully.
I may try to restore but I can't seem to see where the section meets the barrel, would you happen to notice that in your pen.
Anyway, it was great to find your site and find maybe the only reference to the pen I acquired.
Enjoying your other posts and going through the Archives...
Regards,
Joel
Josavi,
Thanks for your comment. On my pen I see that the section and the barrel are connected just below the threads, on the side closer to the nib. Now, I do not know whether that is a friction connection or threaded; therefore, I would start by unscrewing it.
One more thing--I would not force the lever in any way. Probably it cannot move due to the hardened rubber sac inside.
Cheers,
BT
Hello BT,
Finally able to separate the section from the barrel, indeed the sac has deteriorated and they were the stuff I was hearing when I shook the pen. Will continue the restoration and hope to write with it soon.
Thank you for the warning on the lever and I was cautious when I first attempted to pull it down.
I noticed one more difference between our pens, after cleaning the nib a bit, I noticed that the number etched under 'GOLD' is -<3>-. Do you know the meaning of this codes? Have not pulled out the nib and feed, in fact I really have no plans in doing so as water flows well when I was washing it. Then I dip tested it and it still writes okay, though the point is quite small, this may be EF or F Japanese nib.
Thanks again and enjoying your blog, still going through the archives...
Regards,
Josavi
Congrats, Josavi.
That number 3 you see is understood as the nib size, but those are number are often quite arbitrary. It would only mean that this nib is bigger than a 2... within the Ramie family of nibs.
Cheers,
BT
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