Chilton Violet

After having seen a great number of filling systems on Japanese pens, both imported from the West (::1::, ::2::, etc.), and originated (::1::, ::2::, ::3::, to name just a few) in Japan, it will be no surprise to find yet another one.

This time, the pen –by the name of Violet— implements the pneumatic filling system initially created by the Chilton Pen Company in 1925. This Japanese pen, however, was manufactured in the early 1950s.

On the barrel, '"VIOLET" / TRADE MARK / Fountain Pen'. And a very Parker clip.

As for the rest, the nib is made of steel and does not carry any reference to the pen brand, which raises the concern of whether this nib was the original unit of this pen. However, that is not the relevant feature of the Violet.

The nib, made of steel, carries the following inscription: "WARRANTED / EASY / BEST / PEN / 1". This unit could be a replacement.

These are its dimensions:

Length closed: 121 mm
Length open: 105 mm
Length posted: 142 mm
Diameter: 11 mm
Weight (dry): 11.5 g

The barrel extended, the pen ready to be filled.

The hole at the barrel end typical of pneumatic fillers.

This pseudo-Chilton Violet is a rare pen even in Japan, but it illustrates the great variety of filling systems explored by Japanese makers long its more than 100 years of history.

My thanks to Mr. Sunami.

Pilot Bamboo – Nagasawa Bokkô

Bruno Taut
Nakano, August 8th, 2015
etiquetas: Chilton, Violet, soluciones técnicas

Prototypes

Prototype pens, proofs of concept, are some of the holy grails of collecting almost anything. The reasons are clear: they are rare –very few units were indeed made-, and they were not supposed to be sold. So, rarity, the added value of any collectable, speaks loudly through prototypes.

Last week, at the annual Mitsukoshi “Fountain Pens of the World” Festival, nibmeister Nagahara Yukio was on duty fixing pens despite the very sad family news. And he had his personal pen case with him.

Nibmeister Yukio Nagahara's pen case.

Few of the pens in there were standard—one of them was the following cross nib.

An unusual cross nib.

Cross nibs, in the Nagahara tradition, are two-fold nibs based on a Naginata Togi. Over it, then, a second set of tines are welded. That is called an “over-cross” nib. This prototype is, on the contrary, an “under-cross” nib. The noble side, engraved, is a flat regular nib, and the crossing half-nib is nested between that one and the feed.

The clean-looking upper side of the "under-cross" nib. Note the two-fold tip of the nib.

The result is a cleaner looking nib, although it does not really ad that much to the well-known over-cross unit. So, this might only be a prototype... or maybe a test for a future change in the geometry of Sailor’s cross nibs. In any event, this nib shows that Sailor has ideas under development. Experiments are indeed needed, and nibmeister Nagahara Yukio is alive and well.

Clear enough--Yukio Nagahara's personal pen. But many would be happy to own such a signed experiment.

And this under-cross pen would be a most valuable possession for mostly any collector.

Pilot Ladypearl – Parker Quink Blue

Bruno Taut
Nakano ward, March 12th, 2015
etiquetas: Sailor, soluciones técnicas, evento, nibmeister Nagahara Yukio, plumín

Feeds

The world of pens, nowadays, is full of reactionary obsessions. It could not be otherwise, for fountain pens are obsolete tools. Consequently, once this point is accepted and understood all cravings are allowed—-ancient materials, old filling systems, outdated manufacturing techniques…

One of the debates involves the material out of which the feed is manufactured. Old pens, before 1950s, used ebonite (vulcanized hard rubber) and around that time different plastics made their way as the material of choice for feeds as it is today. Ebonite, though, is still used today mostly on high-end pens. This is often used as a selling argument, although Montblanc’s flagship pen, the 149, uses plastic feeds. Many a stylophile are happy to buy that argument and swear by ebonite as the ultimate material to provide a good (and generous) flow of ink to the nib.

But, is the feed material that important for the final performance of the pen? Or, in other words, what are the differences between these two materials, plastic and ebonite?

The main difference lies in the way the ink interacts with those two surfaces. Ebonite is hygroscopic and favors capillarity and circulation of the ink along the ink channels.

On the other side, on plastic ink forms drops and its flow becomes more difficult. There are some ways to correct this issue: by making the surface rougher (“unpolishing” it) the specific surface of the channels increases and the ink smears along them. Another strategy was to add some hygroscopic layer to the feed.

But the final conclusion might be that due to that problem –the ink not wetting the plastic feed— ebonite should be the obvious option. However, ebonite carries its own problems to the production line—it is more expensive than plastic and needs to be cut. Ebonite oxidizes in the wrong environment, and its purity (or the presence of impurities in it) plays an important role in the final quality of the manufactured good. The final result is that it is not unusual to see deformed, bent or cracked pieces of ebonite, in feed or in other pen parts.

Ebonite feed from a Platinum pen from around 1935.

Section, nib and feed of a Super T Gester from ca 1960. This feed, made of ebonite, was bended and could not drive the ink to the nib efficiently.

Plastic, on the contrary, can be molded into the desired shape, and is very stable chemically. So, plastic is cheap, fast and reliable.

Two plastic feeds by Platinum from the late 1950s. The one on the left was misstreated, whereas the one of the right has never been used. Both preserve the original shape.

Well designed feeds, on their side, do work well and are able to provide fairly big flows of ink. Case in point—the Nagahara’s two- and three-fold specialty nibs are attached to plastic (ABS) feeds. There are no complaints in the pen community about their reliability, and they show that a proper design does the job despite the limitations of the material.

Plastic feed of a cross-music nib by nibmeister Nagahara. But in fact, all feeds are the same for a given nib size in the Sailor catalog.

Some argue that plastic feeds have not passed the test of time and that we cannot really asses whether they might degrade with time. And they go further into saying that we can also find perfectly preserved ebonite feed after many years of use or storage. But we also know –and that is the point here— that ebonite feeds are vulnerable.

After all these considerations, personal preferences and romantic ideas come. And they are welcome, for writing with these tools is in itself romantic and anachronic.

Pilot Custom 74, music nib – Gary’s Red-Black

Bruno Taut
Nakano, August 15th, 2014
etiquetas: soluciones técnicas

Bulb Fillers

On the Chronicle describing the Surat pen, I mentioned that the bulb filling system was well known in Japan. That system, let us remember, consists in an ink deposit ended with a flexible rubber sac, and with a breathing tube inside.

From top to bottom, a Worla, a Surat (a Nakahara system, but that is a variation of the bulb system), a Tomei, and a SSS.

Today I am showing some examples from mostly unknown companies: Tomei, Worla, Meizen. The much better known SSS and Sailor also manufactured this filling system. And many others as well, most likely.

A Meizen pen in red urushi. This model was made after 1953, as the nib is marked with the JIS logo. Meizen was a brand active in Tokyo until the late 1950s or early 1960s.

A Sailor bulb filler from the early 1950s.

Albeit there are few, if any, indicators of the age of these pens, it is reasonable, given the construction style, to assume they were made around 1950.

Pilot Vpen – Diamine Graphite

Bruno Taut
Shinjuku, July 23rd 2014
etiquetas: Tomei, Worla, Meizen, SSS, Sailor, Surat, soluciones técnicas.

Cheaper

Some months ago, over a year now, the Italian brand Delta launched a strange nib. Strange, but with a lot of hype on the benefits of its unusual structure.

The Delta Fusion is, in actual terms, a steel nib topped with a gold hat. This combination, Delta advertisement claimed, provided an improved flow because the interface steel-gold raised the temperature of the ink, this rendering it more fluid…

Delta's Fusion nib, made by Bock.

The reverse side of the very same nib--an untipped stub. These two pictures are courtesy of KMPN.

Really?

If so, any gold plated steel nib should provide the same effect. Let us remember that interfacial effects only involve some few layers of material –of gold and steel in this case— and no especially thick coatings were needed.

Two "fusion" nibs by Pilot.

But on top of this fallacy there another one—Delta’s nib is not even a novelty! A long time ago in a galaxy far away Wearever created another hybrid nib. On this case, however, the writing material –or that supporting the writing point—was gold, and steel was used to attach the nib to the feed and to the section.

A "hybrid" nib by Wearever. The steel plate holds the gold nib in place.

Both cases follow the same argument—how do we reduce the gold content of the nib while preserving the added value of the gold nib itself? A number of strategies have been attempted along the history of pens. Delta’s is simply the last one—and the most ridiculous of the lot.

My thanks to Wagner member Shokubutsuen and to KMPN, whose pictures of the Delta Fusion nib are greatly appreciated.

Pilot Custom 74, music nib – Gary’s Red-Black

Bruno Taut
Shinjuku, July 23rd 2014
etiquetas: plumín, Delta, Wearever, soluciones técnicas, Bock

Nakahara-shiki (中原式)

I finished the previous Chronicle with the picture of an interesting but mostly unknown pen—a Surat. Now, given the reactions that picture triggered it seems that further information is in order.

I discovered this pen through a fellow stylophile from Kansai (Osaka region). Mr. Mochizuki had found a big number of them at some flea market. And, even better, many of them were complete with box and papers—like the one I am now presenting.

On the manual, the pen is described as featuring an original filling system names as Nakahara-system (中原式, Nakahara-shiki). However, upon opening the pen we only see a bulb filler –a rigid cylinder closed with a rubber sac. Nothing new as bulb fillers were one of the earliest self-filling systems and can easily be found in American, European and Japanese pens.

Basic parts of the Surat. In the middle, the "magic center", or breathing tube. Note the conic piece on the left end. It works as a valve against the section of the pen.

The Surat, though, does present an original detail. Inside the ink deposit, the breathing tube is not attached to the feed. On the contrary, this breathing tube –named “magic center” by the manufacturer— can move back and forth inside the deposit. The conic piece on the front part works like a valve to avoid emptying the deposit when depressing the rubber bulb. In this regard, this system reminds of two Pilot’s creations: the pulsated piston A-shiki, and the current CON-70 converter. The system works efficiently and the deposit is filled up in about 10 strokes of the bulb. This means that the ink enters the deposit through the “magic center” despite not being attached to the feed.

On its side, the manufacturer also claimed that this “magic center” balanced the internal pressure and prevented ink leaks. Whether this is real or just hype is at anybody’s guess.

The blind cap displays, on this picture, the black button that touches the rubber bulb enough to release a drop of ink out of the feed. A clear mistake in the design.

The Surat also displays an unsettling detail—the blind cap protecting the bulb has some sort of push button at the end. Its movement is not wide enough to depress the rubber bulb in any efficient way and, therefore, it cannot be used to ink the pen. But it does touch the bulb enough to release a small drop of ink through the feed. The manual simply mentions the existence of this button and does not comment on its actual function. This problem is just a flaw in the design, but does not affect the writing performance of the pen.

Finally, the deposit can be unscrewed from the section and the pen could also be filled with an eyedropper or a syringe.

These are the dimensions of the pen:

• Length closed: 129 mm
• Length open: 115 mm
• Length posted: 151 mm
• Diameter: 12.5 mm
• Weight (dry): 12.1 g
• Ink deposit: 2.2 ml

All in all, this pen seems another experiment in filling systems carried out in Japan in the last 100 plus years.

The nib is an extra-fine point with a hint of flexibility. It is made of stainless steel and carries the following inscription: “WARRANTED / HARDEST / IRIDIUM / STAINLESS / SPECIAL / PEN”.

The pen is also signed on the barrel (“SURAT / TRADE MARK / PATENTED 6564”). The instruction sheet speaks of Tokyo Suishindô as the manufacturing company. No address is provided.

And nothing else we know so far. This is just another pen that would rarely make its way in any book on pens despite its interesting features. But a detailed description of the technical evolution in pens would allow for some way of dating it. My best guess is that this Surat was manufactured around 1950.


My thanks to Mr. Mochizuki and to Poplicola-san.

Universal, music nib – Pelikan 4001 Brilliant Brown

Bruno Taut
Nakano & Shinjuku, July 2014
etiquetas: Surat, soluciones técnicas

Last Piston by Platinum

If some time ago I spoke about the first piston filler made by Sailor, the original Sailor Realo, it might also be worth to speak about the last piston filler made by Platinum.

This pen was released by Platinum in 1989 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the company. Several models –or rather several costumes— were made in different materials —celluloid, ebonite, wood— and colors. The example here shown is a jade green celluloid. The filling system is, as I already mentioned, an integrated piston operated from the tail.

Platinum 70th Anniversary in jade green.

The nib is made of 14 K gold and resembles the unit currently implemented on the President model, albeit the latter is made of 18 K gold. The feed in this commemorative pen, as can be seen on the picture, is made of hard rubber.

The nib is made of 14 K gold. The inscription reads "14 K - 585 / PLATINUM / 70 / S*N logo / SM". This is a soft medium (SM) nib.

These are the dimensions of the pen:

• Length closed: 142 mm
• Length open: 125 mm
• Length posted: 159 mm
• Diameter: 14 mm
• Weight (dry): 21.1 g

The beautiful ebonite feed.

On these Chronicles I have already described another piston filler nominally by Platinum. That was the Platinum Regent—a student pen with steel nib. But this was manufactured by Senator in Germany. Therefore, in actual terms, the 70th Anniversary Platinum remains as the last self-filling pen made by this company. It is also one of the very few examples of such in the Platinum catalog since 1956, when the company adopted the cartridge as its system of choice, save for those Platinum pens marketed overseas by other companies (see labels Hifra, Joker and Presidente).

The piston is operated from the tail. On the barrel it can be read the following inscription: "TRADE MARK / PLATINUM (S*N logo) SINCE 1919 / TOKYO JAPAN".

The booklet includes this blueprint. Despite how it might look, the piston is operated from the tail and there is no blind cap to access the handle.

Platinum has been remarkably loyal to the idea of cartridges, and that despite the current trend of recreating arcane filling systems. Let us remember how the other big two pen companies in Japan have marketed several piston fillers (Pilot Custom Heritage 92, Sailor Realo) and a plunger filler (Pilot Custom 823). But not so Platinum, or its sister company Nakaya. And this Platinum piston filler of 1990 becomes a rare, sought after and expensive relic.

My thanks to Mr. Furuya.

Sailor pocket pen, 18 K, Yamada Seisakusho – Pilot Blue-Black

Bruno Taut
Nakano, July 8th 2014
etiquetas: Platinum, Japón, soluciones técnicas, Pilot, Sailor

Vanco

The Fuente meeting in October is a regular event in Tokyo during the last 20 years. It is more of a social than of a trading encounter, and the highlight of it is the final auction on Sunday afternoon.

The social part is easy to understand: we stylophiles love to be around pens and we enjoy showing our treasures to other like ourselves. At this past Fuente meeting I have seen several wonders. This is one of them:

Already in the 1920s, there existed about 500 pen operations in the city of Osaka. Most of them were small family business. Among them was the Etô family, responsible for the brand Vanco, active until the 1950s. Around 1935, Vanco marketed the following pen:

A brown celluloid...

It is a piston filler made of celluloid. The filling mechanism is a telescopic system, made of brass, to increase the capacity of the ink deposit—a well known technical solution in the hands of Montblanc. But this pen is a mostly unknown Vanco.

The Vanco uncapped. Note the piston half way through the ink window.

The nib is made of gold, although it is not imprinted as such. This claim is supported by electric resistivity measurements—gold is about 10 times better conductor than steel.

The gold nib. The inscription reads "WARRANTED / FINE / VANCO / REG. PAT. OFF. / <6> / POINTED / HARDEST Ir."

These are the dimensions of the pen:

• Length closed: 128 mm
• Length open: 120 mm
• Length posted: 157 mm
• Diameter: 12 mm
• Weight (dry): 24.4 g

The whole piston can be released from the pen by unscrewing it out of the piston knob.

This pen stands firm on any comparison with many Western pens. The beautiful celluloid, together with this filling system make a wonderful combination. A rare treat in a Japanese pen from the 1930s.

My thanks to Mr. Sugimoto. Please, have a look at his blog with several entries on Vanco pens, and very interesting photographs of the piston mechanism (::1::, ::2::, ::3::, ::4::, ::5::, ::6::, ::7::).

Sailor pocket pen, 18 K nib - Daiso red cartridge

Bruno Taut
Chuo (Tokyo), October 27th, 2013
etiquetas: evento, Vanco, soluciones técnicas, Montblanc

Pilot Filling Systems in the 1960s

Armed with the information on the way of dating not just the nibs but the whole pen –even if only during only twenty years—there are a number of observations to be done. One is about the filling systems implemented by Pilot during those critical years.

Let us remember that Platinum had released the first Japanese ink cartridge in 1956, thus opening the path for most Japanese pen companies. At the time (mid to late 1950s), Pilot was using sac-based systems—either the original hose system (also known as quarter switch) or a more traditional aerometric for thinner and smaller pens of the Super series. Later on, already in the 1960s, Pilot created its own ink cartridges while preserving the sac-based systems and even implemented another system—the bellow filler with an accordion sac.

The following chart shows how all these systems coexisted during the 1960s in the Pilot catalog. The data on it are based on my own accounting, and are based on documental evidence. Therefore, they can hardly be final, as there could be earlier and later examples of these systems.

Some notes on the graph:

1. The latest unit I have found of the Hose System was manufactured on September of 1964. Later units of this system could exist.

A Hose System in a Super Ultra 500 from 1959.

2. Few units implemented the Bellows Filler (accordion sac) and therefore it is difficult to establish definitive starting and ending data, which on the graph are set as July 1965 and December 1969. This system seems to have been the last sac-based system implemented by Pilot.

A Pilot Super 500G with a Bellows Filler system.

The Double Spare cartridge.

3. The first Double Spare (DS) cartridge I have seen is associated to a 1963 model of the Capless (C-600MW) dated on April 1964. However, it is safe to assure this ink cartridge existed since, at least, November of 1963, as this was the release date of this model. Earlier pens could also have used this cartridge.

The Single Spare ink cartridge, the current Pilot's standard ink cartridge.

4. The earlier pen implementing the Single Spare or single cartridge (SC) –that is, the ink cartridge currently on production— I have found was manufactured on May 1964.

An interesting conclusion of this chart is the fact that DS and SC were initially marketed almost simultaneously. Consequently, the SC was not the successor of the DS. These two systems coexisted despite their incompatibility for a about six years.

And my text on the Double Spare cartridge was wrong.

Sailor Ballerie pocket pen - Sailor Blue

Bruno Taut
September 13th, 2013
etiquetas: Pilot, soluciones técnicas, cartuchos