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Additional Pen Information

Friday, April 25, 2014

Sheaffer Student Cartridge Pen

Introduction

Sheaffer Student Cartridge Pens c.1955 - 1970
Sheaffer Student Cartridge Pens c.1955 - 1970

The Sheaffer Student Cartridge pen was an innovative pen that introduced features that have found their way into the design of modern pens[1]. The pen was produced from the mid 1950s to around 1970 1980[2]. The basic design was still being used for calligraphy pens into the current century, albeit without the transparent barrels and slim profile.

I chose to write about this pen because I used it during almost the entire time it was made. I stumbled upon the Student Cartridge pen when I started high school in 1957. This was a time of transition from the ubiquitous use of fountain pens to the adoption of “modern” ballpoint pens. Like most of my fellow students I used a ballpoint[3] for a while and couldn’t afford a “fancy” fountain pen. The Sheaffer Student Cartridge pen was priced cheaply enough that if you could afford a ballpoint pen you could afford one of these too. They cost about a dollar and a pack of five ink cartridges cost 49 cents[4].

I usually kept two of these pens in my shirt pocket, one containing washable blue ink and the other containing red. Sometimes I switched to a permanent black ink cartridge instead of the red one. I kept one or two spare cartridges[5] in my pocket in case the pen ran out of ink during an exam.

Because it took so little pressure to write with a fountain pen and my penmanship looked better when I wrote with one, I used a Student Cartridge pen all the time. Ballpoints of that era had a nasty habit of clogging and either refusing to write or producing thick, ugly blobs of ink. Nowadays we think of ballpoints as always writing without a problem and the refills lasting for ages, but that was not the case in the 1950s.

Converting to an Eyedropper

A Sheaffer Student pen converted to an eyedropper
A Sheaffer Student pen converted to an eyedropper

The section of a Sheaffer cartridge pen screws into the barrel using a very fine thread that takes many turns to close. I imagine this is because the end of the section that goes into the barrel has a blunt syringe-like point that has to penetrate the thick plastic ink cartridge to start the ink flowing. The fine threads and slow progress with each turn gives excellent leverage to pierce the cartridge end with a neat, small hole that lets the ink flow into the section to the feed without spilling any ink into the barrel[6].

It occurred to me that this design is also optimal for an eye-dropper conversion[7]. All I had to do was coat the threads with silicone grease, fill the barrel with Noodler’s Dragon’s Napalm ink, and screw the section into the barrel. I’ve been writing with the pen for several months and it’s still half full. It has never leaked. As usual with this model, the ink flows consistently and the pen is entirely free of problems.

Sheaffer Student Cartridge Pen History

Sheaffer Student fountain pen
Sheaffer Student fountain pen

The history of the Sheaffer Pen Company goes back to 1912 when W. A. Sheaffer patented the first lever filling pen. I’ll save the detailed history for a separate post just as I did with the equally important Parker Pen Company. I want to talk specifically about the history of the Student Cartridge pen because there seems to be so little written about it. I suppose that’s because it was at the bottom of the Sheaffer pricing hierarchy. Nevertheless, this is an important pen historically because it contained many of the characteristics that we find in modern intermediately priced pens[1].

Before the Student Cartridge pen, demonstrators were, in fact, demonstrators meant for salesmen to show the inner workings of a pen. They were not meant to be used by the customers. The Student Cartridge pen changed that perspective: the concept was that customers like to see the inner workings of their pen. When combined with an ink cartridge using a translucent shell to show the ink remaining, these pens became the first pen to solve the historic problem of how to keep the pen owner informed of how much ink is left in his pen. Previous attempts used a tiny clear area just above the section or, as in the case of the Vacumatic, a barrel that was difficult to see through—and then only when the ink hadn’t coated the inside of the barrel.

I don’t know if the Student Cartridge pen was the first pen to use disposable ink cartridges, but it was among the pioneers[5]. Early models had a cigar shape with both ends rounded in a way similar to the fountain pen style of the 1930s. Later models had the ends squared-off so that they were more cylindrical, reminding one of 1920s fountain pens, such as the original Parker Duofold.

Description

Sheaffer Student Cartridge and a Parker Duofold Centennial
Sheaffer Student Cartridge and a Parker Duofold Centennial

As in previous posts, I’ve used a modern Parker Duofold Centennial for comparison. The Sheaffer Student Cartridge pen is noticeably shorter and thinner, although still much larger than a Kaweco Sport.

The weight and size of the pen are given in the table below

Sheaffer Student Cartridge pen compared to a Parker Duofold Centennial
Measurement Units Sheaffer Student Pen Duofold Centennial
Weight g 10 29
Length capped mm 134 138
Length uncapped mm 120 127
Length posted mm 147 172
Max Barrel Diameter mm 10 13
Section Diameter (middle) mm 9 11


Details

Student pen nib
Student pen nib

The has a firm medium steel nib. The grip is rounded and tappers slightly towards the nib. It is comfortable to write with although I usually prefer a slightly wider grip.

Student pen clip
Student pen clip

The clip carries the Sheaffer name and is strong and firm. There is very little chance that a student will spring[8] this clip. Because the process of gold-plating used today creates a very thin coating of gold over base metal, it is not as durable as the older gold-filling process used on the 1920s Conklin Crescent. The clip may be polished repeatedly without fear of exposing the base metal beneath. The clip is attached to the cap by a stiff metal rod that provides the spring action when you press on the back.

Writing Sample

I usually don’t include a writing sample because they tend to show as much about the ink and paper as the pen. However, since this pen is already inked, and with Dragon’s Napalm at that, I’ve provided a brief sample.

Writing sample using a Sheaffer Student Cartridge pen filled with Noodlers Dragons Napalm ink
Writing sample using a Sheaffer Student Cartridge pen filled with Noodler’s Dragon’s Napalm ink

Summary

Light shining through the barrel of a Sheaffer Student Cartridge pen filled with Noodlers Dragons Napalm ink
Light shining through the barrel of a Sheaffer Student Cartridge pen filled with Noodler’s Dragon’s Napalm ink

The Sheaffer Student Cartridge pen was a tough, sturdy, inexpensive fountain pen that could stand up to almost anything a student might inflict on it. I’ve dropped them from a height of five feet without ever causing any permanent damage.

There are tons of these pens still around more than 40 years after they stopped being made, which is a tribute to both their toughness and the inexpensive price at which they sold. You can find them at flea markets, pen shows, and on eBay. As an experiment, I bid on a few of these pens as they came up for sale on eBay. I wound up with three of them at an average price of about $13 including shipping. All worked perfectly. In fact, there are no delicate parts to break on this pen. Perhaps you could damage the nib if you dropped it point down on a hard surface. These pens compare quite favorably with modern pens. They are cheaper than almost every well made modern pen and if grease the threads with silicone you can use them as eyedroppers with an ink supply that writes for three or four times longer than an ink cartridge.


  1. Specifically, the Student Cartridge pen had a transparent or translucent body, a metallic cap, filled with an ink cartridge, and had a solid, reliable, well-made nib that was good enough to bear the Sheaffer name.  ↩

  2. Thanks to Penemuel for providing the information that the Sheaffer Student Cartridge pen was still being produced into the early 1980s. I couldn’t find any information online about the dates of production.  ↩

  3. Strange as it might seem, in the mid 1950s it was by no means clear that these cheap, throwaway ballpoint pens were anything more than a fad and that the fountain pen would be superseded by these inelegant pens. There was a lot of concern that the ink used in ballpoints would fade after a few years and documents written with them would fade away to blank paper. People were counseled to make out and sign checks with a fountain pen because ballpoint ink might not last.  ↩

  4. I wound up with a lot of these pens because there was frequently a special where a pen and two five packs of cartridges were sold for little more than the cost of the cartridges.  ↩

  5. During the mid 1950s to early 1960s other companies, in addition to Sheaffer, used ink cartridges in their lower priced models. Parker used a disposable cartridge in the Parker 45. Esterbrook created a cartridge pen during this time in a desperate, but unsuccessful attempt to fend off bankruptcy.  ↩

  6. This design works so well that you can refill a cartridge many times with a syringe without enlarging the hole in the cartridge each time the section is screwed into place.  ↩

  7. Modern pens, such as the Kaweco Sport, copy this design and also make ideal pens for an eyedropper conversion. If fact, if you gave the Kaweco Sport transparent model a medal cap with a clip, it would look and function a lot like a mini Sheaffer Student Cartridge pen.  ↩

  8. A clip is said to be sprung if it is bent away from the cap so that it doesn’t grip the shirt pocket tightly. It usually took very little force to spring the clip of a cheap pen. However, a pen meant for students, such as the Student Cartridge pen, had to be tougher than the average pen. In this case the clip was made of heavy-duty steel and firmly attached to the cap. It would be very difficult to spring the clip of a Student Cartridge pen.  ↩

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Post 004 Conklin Crescent Model 20

Introduction

After reading Ed Jelley’s excellent review of the new Conklin Mark Twain Crescent Filler pen, I thought it would be interesting to do a review of the original Conklin Crescent pen. It is obvious that the current Conklin Pen Company wanted to pay tribute to the iconic crescent filler made during the early part of the Twentieth Century[1].

The new Conklin Mark Twain Crescent Filler—from Ed Jelleys review
The new Conklin Mark Twain Crescent Filler—from Ed Jelley’s review
Conklin Crescent Filler c.1920
Conklin Crescent Filler c.1920



As usual, Richard Binder’s website has an excellent summary of the history of crescent fillers from the original Conklin to several modern crescent fillers.


Conklin Pen Company History

The Conklin Pen Company was founded in 1898 by Roy Conklin in Toledo Ohio. Their best know pen was the crescent filler, which was so popular that, for a brief time in the 1920s, the company was one of the Big Four[2].

The early Conklin pens had a slip cap. The screw on cap was introduced in 1910. Crescent filler pens were made of hard rubber, sometimes with gold or silver filagree overlays like the Peter Pan pen discussed in the previous post. Other models had solid gold or silver coverings with elaborate embellishments. The last crescent fillers were made in 1928.

By the middle 1920s it became clear to most pen manufacturers that plastic pens would supplant hard rubber. Conklin introduced its Endura[3] model in 1926. These lever filling plastic pens were made until 1932. They came in several colors and patterns similar to the Parker Duofolds of that era.

One of the most beautiful pens Conklin ever made was the Nozac[4], which was made from 1932–1938. The pens were either round or 10 sided in the early years, but later models had 12 or 14 sides. A nice innovation was the word gauge. A measuring scale was engraved on a transparent section of the barrel. The scale was calibrated in thousands of words remaining so that you could tell how much longer the pen would write before running out of ink. I have a few of these later model Nozacs in my collection. One of these will be the subject of a future post.

The depression of the 1930s took a severe toll on the Conklin Pen Company and they were virtually bankrupt by 1939. The company was sold to a syndicate in Chicago that made cheap pens and wanted to capitalize on the prestigious Conklin name. However the Conklin pens made in Chicago were so bad that most vintage pen collectors avoid them. The Conklin Pen Company limped along until it went out of business in 1948.

Description

Conklin Crescent Filler and a Parker Duofold Centennial
Conklin Crescent Filler and a Parker Duofold Centennial

As in previous posts, I’ve used a modern Parker Duofold Centennial for comparison. The pictures shows that the two pens are about the same length when posted. The Duofold is noticeably wider and the massive 18K nib outshines the smaller Conklin 14k nib. However, the Conklin nib is a very flexible nib, which is just about perfect for writing with significant line width variation.

The weight and size of the pen are given in the table below along with the corresponding measurements for the new Conklin Mark Twain and the Parker Duofold Centennial. For the Mark Twain, I used the measurements provided by Ed Jelley in his review[5]. Note that Ed Jelley’s measurement of the Mark Twain’s weight was made with the pen filled whereas my measurements are made when the pens are empty. I would guess that the ink in the Mark Twain weighted about two grams, which would make the weight of the Mark Twain and the Duofold about the same. The Conklin Crescent is a little smaller than the Mark Twain when capped, but a little bigger when posted.

1920s Conklin Crescent compared to a Conklin Mark Twain, and Duofold Centennial
Measurement Units Conklin Crescent Conklin Mark Twain Duofold Centennial
Weight g 15 31 29
Length capped mm 138 142 138
Length uncapped mm 124 127
Length posted mm 172 165 172


Details

The nib is extremely flexible; it takes very little pressure to spread the tines.

Conklin nib
Conklin nib

The clip on the Conklin Crescent is gold-filled and shines brightly. Because the process of gold-plating used today creates a very thin coating of gold over base metal, it is not as durable as the older gold-filling process used on the 1920s Conklin Crescent. The clip may be polished repeatedly without fear of exposing the base metal beneath. The clip is attached to the cap by a stiff metal rod that provides the spring action when you press on the back.

Conklin Crescent clip shines!
Conklin Crescent clip shines!
Conklin Crescent clip attachment
Conklin Crescent clip attachment

Since the crescent is the defining part of this pen here is a picture of each side of the crescent. Notice the important slip ring that grips the barrel and slides between the crescent and the barrel. In the position shown, the slip ring keeps the crescent from squirting ink inadvertently because the crescent can’t be depressed. However, if you turn the slip ring so that its slit is directly under the crescent, then the crescent can be depressed to fill the pen with ink.

Conklin name on the crescent
Conklin name on the crescent
Conklin Trade Mark on the crescent
Conklin Trade Mark on the crescent

The engraved crescent encompassing the word CRESCENT helps to date the pen. These markings were used on the crescent from 1918–1928. There was no design change during these years so it is impossible to refine the manufacture date any closer than this interval. Another constant was the engraving on the barrel.

Conklin engraving in the barrel
Conklin engraving in the barrel
Conklin engraving of the model number 20
Conklin engraving of the model number “20”

Summary

The vintage Conklin Crescent Pen was a great pen in its day and remains a pen that is worth using today. The super flex nib would be fun to use. If you find an old Conklin Crescent with a dried out ink sac, it is generally fairly easy to replace the sac. Replacement sacs are available online and at most large pen shows. It takes a bit of skill to disassemble any pen that uses an ink sac, so practice on a junker before attempting to open a valuable pen like the Conklin Crescent, or find someone who is experienced to do the repairs.

It seems as if the crescent would get in your way when writing, but if the nib and crescent are aligned there usually isn’t a problem. One advantage the crescent fillers have over the more common lever fillers is that they won’t roll off a table!


  1. The original Conklin Crescent filler was made of hard rubber and was decorated with a pattern of wavy lines etched into the surface. This is called chasing. I assume the modern Mark Twain Crescent is made from plastic.  ↩

  2. The Big Four pen companies during the early 1920s included Waterman, Sheaffer, Parker, and Conklin. Sometime in the late 1920s Wahl displaced Conklin from the number four spot.  ↩

  3. Plastic was believed to be more durable than hard rubber. Undoubtedly the name Endura was chosen to indicate that these pens would endure for a long time.  ↩

  4. The Nozac was designed by Louis Vavrik. Once again Conklin chose a name that described the pen. Nozac appears to be a play on the words no sac. The pen used a twist filler mechanism.  ↩

  5. Ed’s review of the Mark Twain gives the weight in metric units and the length in English units (inches). To make the comparisons in the table, I converted the English units to millimeters.  ↩