Platon

A Japanese pen, with a name of a Greek philosopher, and whose logo is a Jewish symbol… Such were Platon pens.


Platon Bungu company was founded in 1919 by Toyozô Nakayama with the initial name of Nihon Bungu Seizô. The company produced assorted stationery goods including ink and pens with several filling systems, mostly made of hard rubber (ebonite). In the 1930s, its catalog included pens made of celluloid. Platon Bungu stopped its activities in 1954.

The inscription on the nib says "WARRANTED / 14 K / GOLD / (Platon logo) / PLATON". Hidden in the section a number 5 shows the size of the nib.

This Platon pen has its name engraved only on the nib, made of 14 K gold. As for the rest, it is an eyedropper with shut-off valve made of ebonite with some decoration on cap and barrel.


This pen dates, probably, from the 1920s.

My thanks to Mr. Niikura.

(Muji aluminum pen – Diamine Teal)

Bruno Taut
March 4th, 2012
[labels: Platón, Japón]

At the Museum (IV)

(As seen at the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Modern Literature).

On this chronicle I am presenting the pens that belonged to another female writer –NAKAZATO Tsuneko (中里 恒子, 1909-1987). She was the first woman to be awarded with the Akutagawa price in 1938. However, the price had just been established in 1935.

Nakazato´s pens. At least, those shown at this exhibit.

The golden nib of the New Clip jumbo pen.

Her pens, as shown at the Museum of Modern Literature in Yokohama, were mostly Western, with the sole exception of a New Clip jumbo (manufactured by Fukunaka Seisakusho), with an ink deposit suitable for a very long novel. The rest were a Sheaffer snorkel, a Pelikan 120, and a couple of identical French-made Watermans.

The Pelikan 120. Nominally, a student pen.

The snorkel in the feed of the Sheaffer pen.

The two identical French Watermans.

A user or a collector? It does not really matter… User she was, and successful at that! Collector, maybe.

(Aurora 88 – Pelikan 4001 Blue black)

Bruno Taut
March 11th, 2012
[labels: New Clip, Waterman, Pelikan, Japón, evento, estilofilia, Sheaffer]

¥350

Despite being mostly unknown outside Japan, SSS pens was one of the leading manufacturing companies in Japan before the Second World War. “The only perfect pen in the Orient”, such was its motto, stopped its production in the 1950s.


Nowadays, SSS pens are relatively easy to find in the second hand market in Japan. They are not regarded as high quality, and their prices are affordable.


The pen I am showing here is a small one. It implements a size 1 nib made of steel and is gold plated. Its most interesting feature is the filling system—a blow filer. The pen tail unscrews from the barrel to allow access to the top part of a rubber sac. Inside it, a snorkel eases a more efficient filling.


The pen combines plastic and metal as the construction materials. It is well made and does not look cheap. Its price, the sticker says, was JPY 350. My estimation is that this pen was made after the War, in the late 1940s or early 1950s.

The size 1 nib made of steel. The inscription reads "S. S. S. / RUSTLESSPEN / IRIDIUM / POINTED / -<1>-".

These are its dimensions:
Diameter: 9 mm.
Length closed: 124 mm.
Length open: 108 mm.
Length posted: 143 mm.
Weight (dry): 8.4 g

(Muji aluminum pen – Diamine Teal)

Bruno Taut
March 7, 2012
[labels: SSS, soluciones técnicas]

Hybrid

NOTE added on December 11th, 2012: My interpretation of how this hybrid pen worked was totally mistaken. A (more) correct explanation can be read on this newer chronicle: Nomikomi-shiki (呑込式).


Early Pilot pens used a variety of filling systems: eyedropper, lever, plunger, safety… Today´s report is on a pen with an interesting hybrid filling system.

This Pilot pen, closed and open.

On this pen, the barrel is attached to the section by friction. Inside, a transparent cylinder, screwed onto the section, works as the ink deposit. Its filling was performed with an eyedropper (or, nowadays, with a syringe). The feed, a very long feed, goes out of the section well into the ink deposit, almost all along its length; and this creates a problem: how much ink should we pour into the cylinder without overflowing it when inserting the feed? But this might have been a very minor inconvenient at the time.

On this picture, the barrel is detached from the section. The ink deposit, with the feed inside, is now exposed.

This filling system is indeed original and advanced for its time. It seems a hybrid between an eyedropper and a refillable cartridge, and the fact that the barrel could easily be disassembled from the section makes this pen really innovative for its time. The barrel is engraved with the old company logo –the N encircled by the lifebuoy--, which shows this pen was manufactured before 1938. And indeed this pen was marketed, according to the data available at the Pen Station (Pilot´s pen museum in Tokyo) in 1938.

The long feed, exposed, enters the ink deposit, the orange cylinder, that screws onto the section. The slits on the feed are clearly visible on the picture.

As for the rest of the pen, not much of interest can be said. The nib is a size 2 made of steel; the cap screws onto the barrel when closed, and it does not post securely; the clip, in steel, is not engraved with the company name, contrary to the usual policy of Pilot.

The nib is made of stainless steel. The clip, on the back, is not engraved.

These are its dimensions:
Diameter: 13 mm.
Length closed: 134 mm.
Length open: 119 mm.
Length posted: 166 mm.
Weight: 16 g.
Ink deposit: 1.9 ml.

(Muji aluminum pen – Diamine Teal)

Bruno Taut
March 7, 2012
[labels: Pilot, soluciones técnicas]

Waterman's Music

Wagner meetings, I have already mentioned on these chronicles, are always a wonderful opportunity to see great pens in the hands of passionate stylophiles.

The impressive collection. Or part of it...

Nibmeister Yamada is the happy owner of an impressive collection of early Waterman pens. Among them, a model 54 (a lever filler, 5) with a wonderful music nib in size 4.

The Waterman 54 and its nib.

This three-tined nib is really flexible and remarkably wet. The slits are quite subtle, and it takes some attention to realize this is an unusual nib. There is one single breathing hole half-way between the tines, and that makes the nib to have a very normal look.

A sample of the ways of this wonderful nib.

My thanks to Mr. Yamada.

(Aurora 88 – Pelikan 4001 Blue-black)

Bruno Taut
March 4, 2012
[labels: Waterman, evento, plumín]

At the Museum (III)

(As seen at the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Modern Literature).

YOSHIYA Nobuko (吉屋信子, 1896-1973) was an active, and popular, novelist between the 1910s and the 1970s. She specialized in romance novels and was a pioneer in class-S—a very Japanese genre in which a primary argument are strong bonds between girls. She herself revealed her homosexuality in her novel Two Virgins in the Attic (Yaneura no nishojo, 屋根裏の二處女, 1919).

The Parker 51 with her name engraved on the barrel.

A large number of her pens were on display at the exhibit. Some, indeed interesting: from a Parker 51 engraved with her name to a lever filler in green celluloid by Waterman to a safety pen with a silver overlay by the same company.

A Waterman lever filler in green celluloid.

A Waterman safety pen in red hard rubber with silver overlay.

However, the pens that attracted my attention the most were two frankenpens: an all Montblanc pen with body (model 12) and cap not matching, and an improbable combination of a Montblanc 252 body with a Platinum cap. I guess she was really attached to these pens. Maybe they were excellent writers and she kept using them after having misplaced the caps…

A Montblanc 12 with a mismatched cap.

The impossible frankenpen--a Montblanc 252 with a Platinum cap.

Whether Yoshiya was a collector or a user we do not know. A total of eight pens of her were handled to the museum, including those two chimeras. Enough to choose among!

(Muji aluminum pen – Diamine Teal)

Bruno Taut
March 3rd, 2012
[labels: Montblanc, estilofilia, Japón, evento, Waterman, Parker]

No Logo

On a previous chronicle, I tried to analyze the role of Montblanc in the market of fountain pens. Montblanc, I concluded, sells a brand and a symbol of status devoid of mostly any content. The only detail that really matters on a Montblanc pen is the white star on display.


Japanese company Muji (Mujirushi Ryôhin), on the contrary, uses the opposite strategy. Mujirushi Ryôhin means “no brand, quality goods”, and indeed no brand name and no logotype can be seen on any of this company’s products.

On the left hand side of the cap a lip can be seen. It fits perfectly on the grooves on both section and barrel.

Regarding fountain pens, Muji has marketed a number of models. Many of them are remarkably similar to some made by Ohto. Currently (February 2012), there seems to be only one model available. It is a cartridge-converter pen made of aluminum. Its nib is, most likely, made by Bock in stainless steel. Its design, basically a perfect cylinder, is attractive and functional. The section is knurled for a good grip. Barrel and cap fit very tightly and elegantly both when the pen is closed and when is posted—the cap lip slides inside an ad-hoc groove in the section and in the barrel end.

On this picture, the groove on the barrel can be seen. The lip of the cap fits perfectly inside.

The cap, perfectly attached to the barrel on the posted configuration.

Performance-wise, this pen simply does its job. The nib is rigid and uncharacteristic; on the dry side, but without missing a stroke. It lays what looks like an M point, although there is an F engraved on the nib.


All in all, this is an average pen that honors the selling point of Muji: no brand, good quality. This is not a symbol of status. It is just a pen that writes correctly.

These are its dimensions:
Diameter: 10 mm.
Length closed: 13.8 mm.
Length open: 12.6 mm.
Length posted: 16.2 mm.
Weigth (inked): 20.0 g.

It costs JPY 1100 (tax excluded) in Japan.

(Muji pen in aluminum – Diamine Teal)

Bruno Taut
February 26, 2012
[labels: Muji, Ohto, mercado, Montblanc]