Pens that changed the landscape.

[jar]

I was thinking the other day about pens that came along and totally changed the landscape for many manufacturers and was surprised that I could only identify a few.

There was the Parker Duofold which I think was the first fountain pen to be offered with a basic color (not overlay or japanning) other than Black or mottled hard rubber. It was RED, no doubt about it that is not a black pen red. From then on fountain pen companies adopted colored pens.

There was the Sheaffer Balance. After the Balance all other pens simply looked old fashioned.

But then there seems to be a quiet period where few new really revolutionary changes take place, changes that other companies adopt.

The Parker "51" is the next trend setter I can think of and then the Waterman plastic cartridge pens (Aurora actually offered plastic cartridge pens before Waterman but was not as well known) and Montblanc adopting what became the International Standard specification.

The idea of cartridges was adopted by almost all other makers and the MB cartridge gradually came to dominate designs, but that latter was slow and gradual.

Then we enter another quiet period until the Aurora Hastil that ushered in a whole generation of slim flat ended fountain pens from Pelikan and Montblanc and Waterman and Sheaffer and Parker and ST Dupont and Caran d'Ache and Graf von Faber Castell and ...

But since then I can't think of any really revolutionary, influential examples.

So it is a really short list.

Parker Big Red Duofold.
Sheaffer Balance.
Parker "51".
Waterman cartridge pens.
Montblanc cartridge pens.
Aurora Hastil.
...?

Maybe others can mention such pens and explain how the influence of that model spread throughout the industry.

AbE:

Pelikan 100 piston filler added since many other companies adopted screw based piston filling and most modern converters are screw based piston filled.

Seven pens on the list now.

Sheaffer 1912 lever fill mechanism.

and then there were eight. It's still a remarkably short list.

[carlos.q]

I would add the Pelikan 100 that introduced the piston filling mechanism to a world dominated by lever and button fillers.

[jar]

I would add the Pelikan 100 that introduced the piston filling mechanism to a world dominated by lever and button fillers.

I thought about that but not all that many other companies adopted the piston filling system, particularly if you compare that to how cartridges changed the landscape.

It could well be on the list though.

[stub]

Walter A. Sheaffer's lever-filler, introduced in 1912, was a game changer, but that isn't associated with a specific model. But the whole industry had to adapt to that and that really usher in the sac-based self filler era but the Conklin crescent-filler came before and was the first mass-produced self-filling pen as well as the first mass-produced pen to use a rubber ink sac.

The Sheaffer Balance, though, really just feels like the dawn of the modern pen. Most pens before that all sort of have that 19th C blocky feel and look old timey. Post Balance pens look like pens. heh.

Heck even one of it's imitators became iconic. (though I still prefer the Balance the MB pens).


Conklin Crescent filler
Parker Big Red Duofold
Pelikan 100
Sheaffer Balance
Parker 51
Waterman C/F

is maybe what I would do.

?

[jar]

Walter A. Sheaffer's lever-filler, introduced in 1912, was a game changer, but that isn't associated with a specific model. But the whole industry had to adapt to that and that really usher in the sac-based self filler era but the Conklin crescent-filler came before and was the first mass-produced self-filling pen as well as the first mass-produced pen to use a rubber ink sac.

The Sheaffer Balance, though, really just feels like the dawn of the modern pen. Most pens before that all sort of have that 19th C blocky feel and look old timey. Post Balance pens look like pens. heh.

Heck even one of it's imitators became iconic. (though I still prefer the Balance the MB pens).


Conklin Crescent filler
Parker Big Red Duofold
Pelikan 100
Sheaffer Balance
Parker 51
Waterman C/F

is maybe what I would do.

?

Yes, I thought about the lever fill and yes, others had to adapt to it but so many companies provided filling mechanisms that were not lever fill that I was not sure it would really be fair to say it changed the landscape.

It could well be added to the list and then there were eight.

[stub]

Waterman's whole line was lever fill forever and a day! Parker's button fill is just a lever fill with the lever changed to a button.

I'd still tend to give Conklin Crescent filler the nod, but as you noted with the cartridge pens, it isn't always about who comes first, it is who makes the game change and as much as the Conklin Crescent filler deserves it's props, if you could go back in time it was the lever than made other pen manufacturers crap their pants.

[katherine]

Vanishing Points seem to be the only "clicky" pen -- which makes them "unique", but doesn't really seem to have changed how other companies make pens.

[jar]

Vanishing Points seem to be the only "clicky" pen -- which makes them "unique", but doesn't really seem to have changed how other companies make pens.

Correct, it is perhaps innovative but does bot seem to have made much impact on the landscape.

[penwash]

Due to my newness to the hobby, this is more of a question than a contribution:

1. Nakaya (or somebody else before) set the trend for Urushi lacquered pens?

2. Lamy Safari sets the trend for colorful sets of pen releases (I always think of it as the VW Beetle of the fountain pen world)

[jar]

Due to my newness to the hobby, this is more of a question than a contribution:

1. Nakaya (or somebody else before) set the trend for Urushi lacquered pens?

2. Lamy Safari sets the trend for colorful sets of pen releases (I always think of it as the VW Beetle of the fountain pen world)

Nakaya is a real new comer on the fountain pen scene and Urushi and Makai-e pens have been around far longer. Many non-Japanese companies adopted or co-opted the techniques; Dunhill sold rebranded Namaki pens and in fact still does, ST Dupont, Caran d'Ache and others incorporated urushi decorations but there was no major change to the landscape of fountain pens that ran across the board like the prior examples.

I think the same can be said for Lamy, with their lower cost colorful pens they created a comfortable niche but again, all the other companies did not say "We need something like that!"

[penwash]

[QUOTE=jar;164269]

I think the same can be said for Lamy, with their lower cost colorful pens they created a comfortable niche but again, all the other companies did not say "We need something like that!"

Maybe not but I bet some of them thought "I wish I thought of the whole color collecting thing first" seeing the cult-like following of Lamy Safari.

[Giovanni Abrate]

Hey!! That is the theme of a book I am planning to write (together with a good friend and well-known author!!).
There are many, often little known pens that have introduced new, often revolutionary innovations that have changed the landscape, to use your expression!

[scrivelry]

I think the whole color-collecting thing had to wait until consumerism reached a certain point.

From my casual reading it seems like a lot of people in the early to mid 20th century had a fountain pen or two, and that they were given as gifts for milestone occasions, but - and here I have to note I have not gone looking for this, so it might be out there, but I tend to think not - I have not heard of people in the 50's and 60's collecting various colors of Esterbrooks, or Wearevers, or Sheaffer school pens. Maybe they added one of these to a pen "collection" that included a pen they inherited and one they got as a gift which were very nice, or a set they bought themselves to use in business, but even that does not seem from what I've heard to be the case. The very cheap pens were for kids in school, Esterbrooks were for people in certain jobs, etc. People were not yet accumulating things at the rate we do.

People who collect Lamy Safaris are possibly mainly - mainly, not all - people who have matured in an era of relative abundance of material objects, such that having a functional thing in five or fifteen different colors seems fun, rather than wasteful. I think Lamy's marketing makes use of this change in society, but it did not create it.

Again, all this is based on casual observation - I bow to anyone who has done any real research on this.

[Z-Tab]

I don't know which company first put out a limited edition version, but I would say that is a major shift in the market. I'll give credit to the Montblanc Hemingway until someone can correct that assumption.

[HughC]

Wearever. Injection molding changed pen production cost for the benefit of so many.

[pengeezer]

Though the company was relatively small in scope,you could consider the Stephens
pen company as one that changed the genre--temporarily--by a single idea:
a button filler with a cap that remained on the pen and was "activated" by
turning the blind cap to open it. All one had to do was pump the button to
fill the pen.



John

[pengeezer]

I don't know which company first put out a limited edition version, but I would say that is a major shift in the market. I'll give credit to the Montblanc Hemingway until someone can correct that assumption.

I may be wrong,but I believe that the Lorenzo di Medici came before the Hemmingway.


John

[pengeezer]

I think the whole color-collecting thing had to wait until consumerism reached a certain point.

From my casual reading it seems like a lot of people in the early to mid 20th century had a fountain pen or two, and that they were given as gifts for milestone occasions, but - and here I have to note I have not gone looking for this, so it might be out there, but I tend to think not - I have not heard of people in the 50's and 60's collecting various colors of Esterbrooks, or Wearevers, or Sheaffer school pens. Maybe they added one of these to a pen "collection" that included a pen they inherited and one they got as a gift which were very nice, or a set they bought themselves to use in business, but even that does not seem from what I've heard to be the case. The very cheap pens were for kids in school, Esterbrooks were for people in certain jobs, etc. People were not yet accumulating things at the rate we do.

People who collect Lamy Safaris are possibly mainly - mainly, not all - people who have matured in an era of relative abundance of material objects, such that having a functional thing in five or fifteen different colors seems fun, rather than wasteful. I think Lamy's marketing makes use of this change in society, but it did not create it.

Again, all this is based on casual observation - I bow to anyone who has done any real research on this.

Has to be understood that for most people,collecting pens was like collecting wooden pencils--they were
looked upon as being the same(why collect two or more of the same thing?). Add to that fact that fountain
pens were--in ratio to the economy of the time--somewhat expensive for the average person. Finally,they
were the communication tool of the day like computers are today. For most people,if they got a pen & pencil
set,that was enough.



John

[pengeezer]

I was thinking the other day about pens that came along and totally changed the landscape for many manufacturers and was surprised that I could only identify a few.

There was the Parker Duofold which I think was the first fountain pen to be offered with a basic color (not overlay or japanning) other than Black or mottled hard rubber. It was RED, no doubt about it that is not a black pen red. From then on fountain pen companies adopted colored pens.

There was the Sheaffer Balance. After the Balance all other pens simply looked old fashioned.

But then there seems to be a quiet period where few new really revolutionary changes take place, changes that other companies adopt.

The Parker "51" is the next trend setter I can think of and then the Waterman plastic cartridge pens (Aurora actually offered plastic cartridge pens before Waterman but was not as well known) and Montblanc adopting what became the International Standard specification.

The idea of cartridges was adopted by almost all other makers and the MB cartridge gradually came to dominate designs, but that latter was slow and gradual.

Then we enter another quiet period until the Aurora Hastil that ushered in a whole generation of slim flat ended fountain pens from Pelikan and Montblanc and Waterman and Sheaffer and Parker and ST Dupont and Caran d'Ache and Graf von Faber Castell and ...

But since then I can't think of any really revolutionary, influential examples.

So it is a really short list.

Parker Big Red Duofold.
Sheaffer Balance.
Parker "51".
Waterman cartridge pens.
Montblanc cartridge pens.
Aurora Hastil.
...?

Maybe others can mention such pens and explain how the influence of that model spread throughout the industry.

AbE:

Pelikan 100 piston filler added since many other companies adopted screw based piston filling and most modern converters are screw based piston filled.

Seven pens on the list now.

Sheaffer 1912 lever fill mechanism.

and then there were eight. It's still a remarkably short list.

I think you missed one--the Parker Vacumatic. It was the 1st see-through pen and the 1st to
use a vacuum-type approach to filling a pen with ink.



John

[RuiFromUK]

What about safety pens? I am not sure who was the first one to launch them but I have a Mabie Todd Swan.