Ferme (I)

Ferme was a minor brand of fountain pens and other writing tools about which not much is known. Andreas Lambrou and Masamichi Sunami, on their Fountain Pens of Japan (2012), simply say that this company had been founded in 1928 in Tokyo, made some good quality pens, collaborated with the company Ishikawa Kinpen Seisakushô, struggled with a small production of pens by the late 1960s and 1970s, and went out of business around 1985.

This W was the logo of the brand Ferme.

On the graphic part, Mr Sunami (who was the actual author of most of the book) shows a Ferme pocket pen with a beautiful three-tined music nib among half a dozen examples of this brand, all of them dating from 1969 on. All of them are cartridge-converter fillers.

The Ferme 59.

The JIS engraved nib. It is probably made of steel, but I have not been able to disassemble it from the section.

But it is possible to find older Ferme pens, although there are never common finds. The following is a Ferme 59, a regular size, aerometric filler. It uses a (presumably) gold plated nib imprinted with the Japan Industrial Standards (JIS) logo. The size and the general structure of this pen is half way between the Parker 51 and some Pilot Super models of the late 1950s.

The filling system is aerometric. The pressing plate is engraved with the brand name.

These are the dimensions of the Ferme 59:

• Length closed: 134 mm
• Length open: 124 mm
• Length posted: 144 mm
• Diameter: 11 mm
• Weight (dry): 16.0 g
• Ink deposit: 0.7 ml

Pilot Custom 742, falcon nib – Sailor 土用 (Doyô)

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, January 21st, 2014
etiquetas: Ferme

Platinum Changes

Platinum has released what seems to be just a new presentation of its traditional line of inks—that is, those that are not pigmented not belonging to the Mix Free gamut. Up to now, Platinum offered three inks –red, black and blue-black—in 30 ml inkwells for JPY 400 (plus tax). The blue-black ink, might be worth to mention, was an iron-gall formulation.

The by now old 30 ml inkwells of Platinum ink. Only the red ink is missing from the picture. The blue-black is an iron-gall ink. The price of these inks was JPY 400, plus tax.

The new presentation are 60 ml inkwells with the same design as those of the remaining inks (pigmented and “Mix Free”), albeit with the novelty of an inner cup to help using the last milliliters of ink in the inkwell. The price of this new presentation is significantly more expensive—60 ml of ink for JPY 1200 (plus tax). This price represents a 50% hike over the old 30 ml inkwell presentation.

The new inkwells of 60 ml at a price of JPY 1200, plus tax. Are these inks the same as those on the previous picture?

Now, are these inks the same as before? Hard to say, as Platinum incurs in several contradictions on its website and on the new packaging.

On one hand, on its website, Platinum speaks (look for reference INK-1200; as read on January 15th 2014) of these inks as dye inks—“dye stuff ink”, it literally says. However, in the past and even today, Platinum had already stated that the blue-black ink was a ferro-gallic ink (as read on January 16th 2014).

The new, or not so new, black ink together with the pigmented "Carbon Ink".

The "water-based pigmented" blue-black ink together with the "Pigment Blue" ink, both by Platinum.

And on the other hand, the new packaging the company labels these new inks as water-based pigmented inks. Inside, it also mentions they should not be mixed. And in the case of the black ink, there is an additional note saying it contains a “special resin component for improved water and light resistance”.

The notes on the box speak of a "special resin component" included for the black ink.

The new/old inks are not to be mixed, the box says.

So, what should we believe? Are these dye-based inks or pigmented? We might need to perform our own experiments, although this 50% price increase is a discouraging argument to buy this –or any— Platinum ink.


NOTE ADDED ON JANUARY 17th, 2014: Commentator Gary added some insight to the basic question of this Chronicle. In his opinion, the whole problem is due to a confusion between the terms dye and pigment when translated from Japanese to English. The experiments he described on his blog showed that the "new" blue-black ink is still an iron-gall formulation.

But then, the price hike --that unjustifiable 50% increase-- can hardly be understood.

Pilot Capless (1998 model), steel nib in M – Pilot Black

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, January 16th, 2014
etiquetas: Platinum, tinta, mercado.

Madras

Contrary to that of the previous text, this story is well known and little can be added. My one and only point, then, is to illustrate it with some pictures of real pens.

India has always been a big market for fountain pens, and home to many small producers. In the 1950s Pilot wanted to increase its presence in this market and installed a factory in Madras (nowadays Chennai, in the state of Tamil Nadu). Initially, this plant only produced ink and assembled pens out of parts shipped from Japan. These were, mostly, the 53R model in celluloid. From 1955 on, the plant was able to manufacture complete pens.

Two Indian-made Pilot pens in celluloid. Pure eyedropper pens.

The feed, clearly visible on this picture, shows no seat for any shut-off valve, as is the case on most Japanese eyedropper pens.

The steel nibs of those celluloid eyedroppers. The engraving reads "PILOT / MADE IN / INDIA / -<2>- / HARDEST ". Presumably the hidden word is "IRIDIUM", plus the manufacturing date.

Technical problems associated to the durability of rubber sacs in the hot and humid local weather made Pilot to change their designs. Consequently, their sac based 53 and Super models were transformed in eyedropper pens. But contrary to the usual fashion in Japanese pens, these Indian-made Pilots had no shut-off valve.

Two Indian-made Super models.

The nib in detail. It is made of 14 K gold.

In fact, Indian pen companies produce mostly eyedropper pens—a basic and reliable pen, albeit not without drawbacks—the large ink deposit and the little need for maintenance is at the expense of occasional ink blops when the ink level was low.

The other unit is an Indian version of the G-300 model. On both cases, the nibs are made of 14 K gold.

Both cap and barrel are labeled as coming from India.

The Japanese version is a cartridge-converter pen, not labeled with any country of origin. Its nib is also made of 14 K gold.

Indian-made Pilot nibs are often dated with an F (foreign) before the digits showing the manufacturing date.

The Madras plant was active until 1978.

My thanks to Paco-san, Mr. Niikura, Mr. Sunami and FPN member Hari317.

Gama eyedropper pen (Gem Pens and Co.) – Indian-made royal blue ink

Bruno Taut
Machida, January 6th, 2014
etiquetas: India, Pilot

Koreana

The books –or maybe just The Book Fountain Pens of Japan— speak clearly about Pilot pens made overseas, in India, Burma, Thailand, and Brazil. But few sources mention the case of Korean Pilot pens.

This is, in fact, a totally different business. The South Korean Pilot Company (Pilot Pen Co.) is not operated by the Japanese counterpart (Pilot Corporation) but simply licensed the use of the Pilot brand. This license allows the commercialization of these South Korean products in Asian markets, but prohibits its sale in Japan.

Several Korean-made Pilot pens. On one of them, the company logo is the same Pilot used in Japan in the 1970s.

The Korean Pilots are, in principle, different to those made by the Japanese company, although both companies share some elements—converters, nib and feed designs, some logos… The Korean quality seems to be clearly lower.

This nib shows the usual logo of Korean-made Pilot pens. What looks like a circle is, in fact, a P.

This feed is very close --if not the same-- to those used by Pilot Japan in models like Prera, Cocoon/Metropolitan, Kaküno, etc.

The converter CON-20 is also used on Korean Pilot pens. Consequently, all Pilot converters and cartridges could also be used on those Korean-made pens, provided there was enough room inside the barrel.

There are, however, some better quality Korean Pilots. The Pilot Art Craft Silvern pen of the late 1960s had its counterpart in Korea. On the picture we see the very characteristic inlaid nib of said model clearly engraved as made in Korea.

This Art Craft Silvern had its original Korean nib, broken as we can see on the picture, replaced with another unit made in Japan.

This license scheme started in 1960 and is still active today. Pilot in South Korea has its headquarters in the city of Seongnam, in the outskirts of Seoul.

My thanks to Mr. Niikura and Mr. Sunami.

Platinum black pocket pen, manifold nib – Platinum Violet

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, January 5th, 2014
etiquetas: Corea del Sur, Pilot

Universal (Japan)

Music nibs are rare finds in the wild, save for the obvious exception of those currently on production. From a purely statistical consideration, those we could find should mostly belong to those made by any of the big companies. But it is also known that minor companies also manufactured three-tined music nibs.

But nobody seemed to know anything about a pen brand called Universal. It seems, in fact, to be a very normal pen, boring and uneventful… until open.

The pen barrel in engraved with the company logo and the brand name: "UNIVERSAL".

Then, the nib this pen sported made the difference. It is a three-tined music nib made of steel. It is not, though, a refined product. It implements a big iridium point underneath that does not seem very finely cut. The filling system is aerometric.

These are the dimensions of the pen:

• Length closed: 134 mm
• Length open: 114 mm
• Length posted: 145 mm
• Diameter: 11 mm
• Weight: 11.6 g (dry)

The nib shows the company logo plus the word "Iridosmin".

The pen logo, a World globe with some additional decoration to its sides, resembles that of Platinum before 1969. However, there are no records showing Platinum using the name Universal for its pens.

In the West, a similar logo and the name Universal belong to an Italian company founded in 1956 in Torino. This company sells its products under brand names Carioca and Corvina, but no fountain pens seem to have been ever made by it. So, the questions about the Japanese brand Universal remain unanswered.

My thanks to Mr. Shimizu.

Pilot jumbo with Tsugaru-nuri maki-e decoration – Pilot Blue

Bruno Taut
Machida, January 4th, 2014
etiquetas: Universal (Japón), plumín, plumín musical, Platinum, Universal (Italia)

Hawaiian Vacumatic

Many Chronicles ago I described an interesting fake—a so-called Hawaiian pen copying the well known Sheaffer Balance in green celluloid. That fake even carried the white dot of Sheaffer’s lifetime guarantee.

The Hawaiian Balance in green celluloid. An obvious copycat of the Sheaffer Balance.

Not much could I say about that pen or about the manufacturer. And not much can I say now save offering another element labeled as Hawaiian.

In this case, this isolated nib shows a typical Parker decoration—that of the popular Vacumatic model. But the imprint says exactly the same as we had already seen on the Hawaiian Balance: “Hawaiian / PRACTICAL / GOLDEN PEN / -<5>- / S.Y.S Co.”. And as in the previous case, this nib is not tipped.

Another Hawaiian nib, this time with a Parker-inspired decoration.

The untipped nib.

There are apparently no records on this pen company and we cannot even claim it was Japanese as some suspect it was.

My thanks to Mr. Suginaga.

Gama (Gem Pen & Co., Chennai), unknown model – Indian-made royal blue ink

Bruno Taut
Yokohama, December 31st, 2013
etiquetas: Parker, Hawaiian, Sheaffer

Between Parker and Waterman

At the early stages of the development of a new industry there is always a proliferation of small companies fighting for their place under the sun. And also during those early stages, copies of successful products are in order.

The following pen follows those patterns. Brand Rifleman is known as an early name of pens in Japan, but not much more is available. This large unit is very well made.

As many Japanese pens at the time –late 1920s and early 1930s— it is an eyedropper pen with shut-off valve made of ebonite. The nib is made of 14 K gold, and is remarkably large.

The engraving on the nib reads "WARRANTED / K14 / IRIDIUM / POINT / PEN"

The feed is characteristic of pre-war Japanese pens, and it does not resemble the tree-shaped feed of the Parker Duofold.

The external appearance resembles that of the American icons at the time—the Parker Duofold. But do not expect to find any Lucky Curve feed inside. The clip, however, shows a curious engraving: “CAP CLIP”. Was it inspired by Waterman’s “Clip Cap”?

The clip is clearly carries the Waterman-inspired engraving "CAP CLIP".

These are the dimensions of this Rifleman:

• Length closed: 135 mm
• Length open: 132 mm
• Length posted: 177 mm
• Diameter: 15 mm

On the tail of the pen, the blind cap is just the knob to open the shut-off valve instead of hiding the push button to operate the rubber sac of the old Duofolds. The barrel is engraved with the brand name "RIFLEMAN / FOUNTAIN PEN".

My thanks to Mr. Sunami

Pilot Myu 701 – Platinum Black

Bruno Taut
Machida, October 8th, 2013
etiquetas: Rifleman, Parker, Waterman