The gold was 14k and was only made for during the first year of production. You have just dated your pen!
The gold was 14k and was only made for during the first year of production. You have just dated your pen!
Vintage. Cursive italic. Iron gall.
All of the Triumph nib pens i.e. conical nib have the angled cut on the snorkel tube. The open nib pens (which never have a white dot BTW) have the straight cut on the end of the snorkel tube. Pen World has a "Pen Clips" item with the models, cap, colors and nib types listed. I still have to refer to it because I can't keep the names straight. Sheaffer didn't help anything by carrying some names over from earlier pens, or continuing to use the name for a later pen and design.
amk (January 15th, 2020), Chrissy (January 14th, 2020), Sailor Kenshin (January 15th, 2020), silverlifter (January 14th, 2020), stub (January 15th, 2020)
So, if I get this correct, me pen is from 1952?
Oh, also, apart from the different end cuts belonging to various models, is there any actual reason for the difference?
I purchased it in February 10, 2015. Used it a year or so in heavy rotation. Then one day it just wouldn't fill. I contacted you about a repair but never sent it in b/c I assumed that due to my use of risky ink it was my fault and wouldn't qualify for warrantee service. Now I wonder what really happened. I never opened the pen but I used that Iroshizuku ink in a couple Sheaffer TD / Snorkel pens at that time and sent some to Stacy Hills and he showed me pictures of goo'ed up sacs. I assumed that was the same with the TD Imperial you sold me. I had no idea it had a PVC sac in it. DARN IT!
Last edited by stub; January 15th, 2020 at 03:09 AM.
My other pen is a Montblanc.
And my other blog is a tumblr!
And my latest ebook, for spooky wintery reading:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CM2NGSSD
The humble Admiral is a heck of a great piece of kit. Can be found easily and sometimes for cheap. I love them. Every one I've had was money. I enjoy those #5 nibs.
There is a reason. The snorkel tube and the hard rubber inside are part of the feed system. Ink travels down the insert which is split at the end, and then is transferred to the slit in the top of the snorkel tube. That slit has to line up with a slit in the feed, so that the ink transfers to the slit in the nib, and down to the paper. The top of the tube should end right at where the hole in the feed stops. The underside of the Triumph feed is cut at an angle. If you used a snorkel tube with a squared off end (straight cut) it would stick out past the end of the feed on the underside. Cut at an angle, its flush (or should be flush) with the underside of the feed.
The snorkel tube, next to the spring, is the most frequently damaged part on snorkel pens. There are after market springs available, which may not work perfectly, but they are available if needed. No replacement snorkel tubes are available except from donor pens.
Since acquiring this Sheaffer "snorkel" pen I've been looking at other old Sheaffers. Why do the flat top versions in the green material get discoloured? It looks like it's only on the barrel.
No, I don't know what this means. Is it the ink that causes the latex to degrade (?) and that's what outgassing is? Or does the latex have some kind of half life? [actually didn't know that the sacs were made of latex, cos I know nothing about plastics]
Any road up, why would this outgassing [which I'm now looking up on the Web] make the pen barrel change colour? And, and, why only on the green ones and not the red/crimson or black versions? [harder to notice on black I reckon, but still]
Edit - just had me a shuffle thru the WWW. On wiki it explains [sort of] what outgassing is, but as a non-chemist I can't really claim any understanding of it. Then found a page on another pen site that says summat about sulphur getting released from latex [doesn't say why, but I reckon that's maybe less important than it happening].
Furthermore, that page talks about celluloid. So, to continue me education, are the green sheaffers made of celluloid and the red and black ones made of something else? Same material, different colour dyes was what I originally thunk.
'nother edit - hmm, praps I should stick to just this one vintage pen. Seems like others have probs, an there's not enough data in me noggin to make an informed decision. The one I planned on and paid for is this one:
It's coming in from the Far East.
Last edited by DumDum; January 16th, 2020 at 01:55 AM.
It's to do with the rubber thing inside that fills with ink.
This fountain pen board thread talks about these pens and mentions their discolouration.
Last edited by Chrissy; January 17th, 2020 at 12:07 AM.
Regards, Chrissy | My Review Blog: inkyfountainpens
Ta muchly, Chrissy - read that thread [and bookmarked site for more furtherer perusal]
Staying away from these problematic pens is prolly best practice for now, methinks.
Edit - actually, looks like Chinese pens are getting interesting. Moonman T1, M8 and so forth, and Delike New Moon II, are enticing. Less spendy than the big boys or old stuff, and let's face it, I'm cheap!
Last edited by DumDum; January 16th, 2020 at 02:12 AM.
They are only problematic if you care that the pen stay fresh and new looking (there is a thrill in that too). If you accept the natural aging of the pen as it is used, then you might consider these pens full of charm and relatively trouble free as usually they can be repaired repeatedly and short of being thrown out of a moving car or stepped on will out live all of us. I have a 7-30 flat top that is brownish. It writes like a champ, is ergonomic, holds a ton of ink, has a decent cap seal and has a big ass honking nib and generous ebonite feed.
Chrissy (January 16th, 2020), Deb (January 18th, 2020), ethernautrix (February 6th, 2020)
THROW THAT BOWL OUT IT IS BROKEN.
Prolly would buy a new bowl rather than gluing a broken one. It's not like bowls are hard to find or anything.
About the outgas thing - doesn't the celluloid get brittle and prone to breakage?
Ta muchly. It's a lot to learn in what little life is left.
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