Ultra (IV)

Kabutogi Ginjirô (兜木銀次郎) is no alien to these Chronicles. His presence in the pen industry in Japan seemed to be more of a reliable supporting actor than playing a leading role. His nibs were either inconspicuous, almost anonymous, or passed as copies of some other designs.

The following inlaid nib belongs to the second category:

The pen carries no name other that a very generic “Super De Luxe” imprinted on the cap lip. But it certainly follows the style of the Pilot Super Ultra 500 of Shigeki Chiba, and does it beautifully. This time, contrary to most non-Pilot Ultra models, the nib is truly inlaid and extends itself along the section and fully around it.

The imprint on the nib read "Steady / K14 / JIS logo / 4622". 4622 is the JIS registry number of Kabutogi's pen operation Seilon.

It is engraved with one of the pen brands associated to Kabutogi –Steady— together with the JIS registry number 4622. This belonged, as well, to Kabutogi Ginjirô, but in connection to another pen brand: Seilon.

The pen uses Platinum-proprietary cartridges which were a de-facto standard in Japan by the late 1950s and 1960s (see the Chronicle on Mitaka). Platinum, may we remember, had been the first Japanese company to produce ink cartridges.

Some units of this pen were manufactured for the department store Daimaru.

These are the dimensions of this pen:
Length capped: 145 mm
Length open: 131 mm
Length posted: 164 mm
Diameter: 11 mm
Weight (dry): 13.7 g

My thanks to Mr. Furuya.

Platinum 3776 (1978 model) – Platinum Blue-black

Bruno Taut
Machida, May 17th, 2013
etiquetas: Steady, Seilon, nibmeister Kabutogi Ginjirô, Platinum, Pilot, marca desconocida, plumín