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Arthur
August 24th, 2017, 12:08 AM
I have noticed that my old fountain pens seem to fill and feed better (smoother, more consistent lines, fewer skips) if the filling lever is more or less aligned with the nib center. Is this a real thing, or am I just imagining it?

I just got a "skinny" black plastic Flat Top from a yard sale. The pen was assembled in haste (or maybe just jammed together, who knows?) and the fill lever was opposite the nib. And the Shaeffer didn't suck up ink as it should. The lever felt like there was nothing behind it when I raised and lowered it. First thing I did was to take the pen apart and examine the parts. Ink sac was present and pliable. When I squeezed it filled with ink. So I emptied the pen, put it back together--this time aligning the fill lever with the nib. And then I felt resistance as I raised and lowered the fill lever, and it filled as a good Sheaffer should!

Anybody have any ideas why this should happen? To my wee brain, it shouldn't matter from which direction the sac gets squeezed to empty or to create that partial vacuum for filling. That being said, my old Shaeffers and Watermans all behave better when everything's aligned. (Parkers, of course, are always perfectly aligned! Ha Ha Ha)

Thanks for any insight.

Regards,
Arthur

jar
August 24th, 2017, 04:46 AM
About the only thing I noticed related to where a lever is aligned is that it should not be aligned with the pocket clip when closed. And welcome home. Pull up a stump and set a spell.

Roger W.
August 24th, 2017, 10:51 PM
First off the alignment of the lever to pen is just aesthetic. Two makers I know something about is Sheaffer and Wahl. Sheaffer levers are aligned with the nib and Wahl levers are aligned 180 degrees opposite of the nib. That is universal with Sheaffer and I've noticed it a lot with Wahl but, I don't know them as well as Sheaffer so maybe they didn't always leave the factory that way. I'd say your Sheaffer probably had some blockage that shifted by the time you put it back together as there is no reason alignment would interfere with filling.

Roger W.