Ramie

Little is available in books or in the Net about the pen brand Ramie. It produced, some sources say, low quality ebonite pens in the 1950s. Their filling systems were either eyedropper or plastic-squeeze filler. And there is at least one example of a pen in carved sterling silver. And that is it.

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