Ultra (I)

One of the most memorable pens ever made by Pilot is the Super Ultra 500 model released in 1959. It was the top of the line pen of the Super series, Pilot’s workhorse of the time. This pen was a very expensive to produce, and it was short lived—barely a couple of years. We all know how scarcity makes goods more valuable –that is the basic argument of all those limited editions— and the Super Ultra 500 became a mythic pen even among Japanese stylophiles—loved, desired, sought-after,…. and elusive.

Pilot, on its side, is not any different from other companies and some thirty six years later a reissue of this pen was released as –did I need to say this?—a limited edition of just 350 units. The price was JPY 60000, and the name was simply Ultra (catalog reference FU-6MR-BM).

As is the case with many a reissue of past glories, this new Ultra was a cartridge-converter pen instead of the sac-based quarter-switch filler (called hose-system in Japan). The rest of the pen is very similar to the original, including the urushi coating caps and barrels. The external differences lay on the cap ring, wider on the reissued pen, and on the top part of the section—the cap of the newer pen closes the pen with a tight fit with this rubber ring.

The section of the 1995 version of the Ultra pen. There was only one nib point option--M.

Although the shape and size of both pens are very close, the reissued pen is remarkably heavier:

	Super Ultra 500 (1959)	Ultra (1995)
Length closed (mm)	139	140
Length posted (mm)	147	153
Diameter (mm)	12.0	12.2
Weight (g)	18	30.5

On another chronicle I will speak about the implications of the filling systems of these two pens.

Parker 51, Canadian – Parker Quink Blue

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, January 13th, 2013
etiquetas: Pilot

Family Portrait (V)

As of today, only Platinum-Nakaya and the elitist Hakase manufacture pens in celluloid in Japan. But that was not the case in the past. Here I am showing a small collection of celluloid pens made by Pilot between the 1930s and 1950s.

A collection of celluloid pens by Pilot. Their filling systems are, from top to bottom, lever filler (green striated pen), eyedropper with shut-off valve (black with small vertical lines), A-shiki (green pen with metallic tail), lever filler (dark green), eyedropper with valve (brown), eyedropper with valve (black with sticker), eyedropper with valve (small black pen), and lever filler (bright red).

Most of them are eyedroppers with shut-off valve, but there are also some lever fillers and an example of the pulsated piston called A-shiki (A-式). The picture is far from being complete. There were multiple models and variations in the Pilot catalog over the years (see for instance a nomikomi-shiki pen from 1938 and another eyedropper from the mid 1930s), but not anymore. The last Pilot pen made of celluloid was produced in 1984.

Platinum 3776 (1978) – Sailor Yama-dori

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, January 10th, 2013
etiquetas: Pilot

Honest 66 Cartridge

In 1956, Platinum introduced the ink cartridge in Japan. To do so, the company marketed a modified version of the model Honest, an aerometric filler, under the name Honest 60, and the cartridge was labeled as Honest Cartridge. Many a pen brand adopted it for its pens and thus it became a standard. That was the case, for instance, of Mitaka and of Nobel’s, the later being another brand worth to write about.

The picture shows the initial Honest 60 cartridge, on top, and the current Platinum cartridge, on bottom. Note the differences in the area where the cartridges attached to the section.

That initial cartridge immediately went through some minor changes in the opening. By 1960, a further evolution of the Platinum pen, now called Honest 66, provided a larger and longer barrel where a bigger cartridge could fit. That was the Honest 66 cartridge. Unfortunately, this was short lived, and only the smaller version is available today.

Both cartridge/converter Platinum Honest pens. The Honest 66 (1960) on top, and the Honest 60 (1956) on bottom. The nipple of the former is well inside the section, thus allowing more room for the longer cartridge.

Both cartridges and the current converter. This has a capacity of 0.6 ml (0.53 ml according to the Platinum catalog).

The Honest 66 cartridge had a capacity of 1.7 ml, while the regular Platinum cartridge only holds 1.2 ml.

Pilot 53R in red celluloid – Pelikan 4001 Royal blue

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, January 6th, 2013
etiquetas: Platinum, conversor, Mitaka, Nobel

Sírvase usted mismo

De vez en cuando me pregunto por qué el mercado japonés de plumas estilográficas es tan activo y tan atractivo. No tengo respuestas claras y determinantes, tan solo conjeturas. Sí veo que es muy sencillo encontrar estilográficas en las papelerías y en los grandes almacenes de este país. Es, de hecho, habitual darse de bruces con expositores de plumas a disposición de los clientes. Así que probar cómo escriben en un papel casi siempre decente, sin la mirada vigilante y controladora de un vendedor desconfiado es una experiencia casi trivial.

Las siguientes fotos muestran un procedimiento muy atractivo de dar a conocer y de vender plumas Pelikan: ¿qué modelo y con qué plumín desea probar la pluma? Sírvase usted mismo, por favor.

Las fotos fueron tomadas en los grandes almacenes Odakyu en Shinjuku (Tokyo), cuya sección de papelería está gestionada por Itoya, el pasado mes de noviembre.

Pilot 53R, red celluloid – Pelikan 4001 Royal blue

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, 7 de enero de 2013
etiquetas: mercado, Pelikan, Japón

Naginatas

Sailor’s Naginata Togi nibs are characterized by being longer than regular nibs—or so they say at Sailor. They are the starting point for the specialty nibs by nibmeister Nagahara. According to Sailor’s way of sizing their nibs, the usual Naginata comes in size big (大型) —neither the super-big (超大型) of the King of Pen nor the medium (中型) of the Profit Standard series of pens.

Naginata Togi nib (medium fine) in the regular big size (大型).

However, Naginata Togi nibs exceptionally come in those other two sizes, as can be seen on the picture.

Naginata Togi nibs in three sizes. From top to bottom, in a King of Pen (super big, 超大型) in medium; in a big size (大型) as a cross-music nib; and in medium size (中型) as a fude nib.

Super T Gester 40 – Sailor Yama-dori 山鳥

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, January 3rd 2013
labels: Sailor, plumín

Double Flow

I often wonder how special the Japanese fountain pen market was. There were, in this market, a large number of unique technical solutions—hoshiawase, shut-off valve, hose filler, A filler (A-shiki), easy drink filler… Japan seems, at times, a large laboratory for new solutions, although most of them never left the country.

The very rare Double Flow Fountain Pen.

Such is the case of today’s pen—a Double Flow Fountain Pen. Apparently, it is just a BCHR pen in the very traditional shape of Japanese eyedroppers, often called Onoto shape. Usually, the tail operated the shut-off valve. But that is not the case of this pen.

The engraved marks on the section are similar to those of a hoshiawase pen.

The pen has two concentric ink deposits--the innermost is attached to the section on the picture. The ourtermost is the barrel (on the background), as is the case on all eyedropper pens.

On this picture, both deposits are dettached from the section.

This pen is still an eyedropper, but it lacks any shut-off valve. In exchange, it has two concentric ink deposits inside the barrel, and the section has separate channels for each deposit. On the outside, the gripping section has some engraved marks—similar to those in a hoshiawase pen—to select the deposit from which the ink would feed the nib. Three are the options: outer, inner, and a mixture of both. Needless to say, the inks used with this pen had to be compatible; that is, mixable as the mixture would take place directly in the feed.

This picture shows the back of the section. The wider thread attaches the barrel; the smaller, the inner deposit for the second ink. Two feeding holes are visible--the central for the innermost deposit, and the lateral one for the outer reservoir.

The Double Flow Fountain Pen together with a copy of the instruction sheet.

In summary, this Double Flow Fountain Pen, such was its name, is a dual eyedropper with an ink selecting mechanism. Very few units of it are known, and on the one here shown, the nib is a later replacement. There exist, however, some instruction sheets. On it, the manufacturer explains that this dual flow system had been patented in Japan (patent number 36005), and that applications had been filed for patent in Britain, USA, France, and Italy. It dates back from the mid 1920s.

Indeed another original solution of the Japanese laboratory.

My thanks to Mr. Sugimoto.

Platinum 18K full size pen (ca. 1970) – Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, December 31st, 2012
labels: soluciones técnicas, Japón, Double Flow, tinta

Duets

Ban-ei (挽栄) pens have shown up on these chronicles several times and their double history –as mostly anonymous and as limited edition pens commissioned by the American company Danitrio—is well known. But how do those pens from different times and different initiatives compare?

The differences are indeed minor, as we can check on the following pictures. The first example is a pair of pens made of black urushi. There are some small differences on the dimensions but, the main one lies on the nib. The original Ban-ei’s nib is signed by Kabutogi Ginjirô’s (兜木銀次郎) initials (GK). This was, in actual terms, the only reference to the authorship in the whole pen.

On top on both pictures, the Danitrio-commissioned pen. On bottom, the previous, unsigned (save for the nib) unit. The most obvious difference is the engraving on the cap band of the later model.

The second pair is decorated with a subtle urushi-e pattern. In this case, there is a very obvious difference—the cap ring present on the Danitrio-commissioned unit where the brand Ban-ei and the serial number were engraved. And as was the case with the black urushi pens, only the old Ban-ei nib is engraved with the initials of the nibmeister.

The pre-Danitrio pen does not have any band on the cap, and its nib has a heart-shaped breathing hole. This nib is also engraved with the initials GK of Kabutogi Ginjirô just below the JIS mark.

As it is known, Danitrio-era Ban-ei pens were limited editions of less than 500 units. However, the old pens, made in the seventies and eighties, are in my experience harder to find in the market. These older pens are also known as Tsuchida pens, after Tsuchida Shuichi (土田修一), who was in charge of the final assembly of the pen.

My thanks to Mr. Shimizu.

Platinum sterling silver pen, 14 K nib – Platinum Brown

Bruno Taut
Madrid, December 25th, 2012
etiquetas: Ban-ei, Danitrio, nibmeister Kabotogi Ginjirô, urushi, urushi-e