Fountain Pen Mystery Puzzle

[Bielawski]

Ok Fountain Pen Geeks I'd like to see if you can help me solve a mystery with a pen that I recently picked up.

I intended it for parts or to try to put one of my own handmade nibs into it. However, after bringing it home from the DC pen show and taking a good look at it I realize it's a bit more unusual than I expected. I have done all the googling and have not found any reference to this particular model of pen. I was wondering if anyone had come across one of these before or could help me understand what the innards consisted of so that perhaps I might restore it to working order as a personal project. I have attached pictures for reference.

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First, the pen is a pocket sized BCHR made by Betzler & Wilson out of Akron, OH. Most of the stamping is fairly crisp, describing the model of the pen and the patent information. It reads : "SHORTY" on the first line and PAT APL'D FOR B&W F.P. CO AKRON.

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It has a small rectangular hole for what appears to be for a lever filling mechanism, but I havent seen any lever quite this small and wonder if perhaps its part of something else like a matchstick filling mechanism or something like it.

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To make matters worse there are two other peculiarities.
One is that there are threads that start from the bottom of the pen where an end cap would go, all the way up to where the rectangular hole is at. Maybe whatever threads in there holds the lever bar?

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The other thing that is throwing me off is that on the section where the sac would be attached, there is yet more threading which seems to indicate that the sack wouldn't be applied with shellac but that something else threads on to the section nipple.

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Anyway, I have heard that B&W made accordion fillers, but then this pen body has a rectangular hole for what appears to be a lever bar. With the pieces I have here I just can't make sense of it and I cant find any information online in the way of patents, or even images of a complete one. I have never seen a working version of this model pen in the flesh, personally. Just wondering if its something anyone has knowledge about that you could help educate me on. Maybe I am looking at a mismatching body and section? I dont know, but any info you could pass along, even if it's someone else you could refer me to would be helpful and I would be grateful.

Thanks

[FredRydr]

I suggest you look up the patent to see if it bears on the filling mechanism.

[Bielawski]

The patent number wasn't stamped on the pen, it just says "PAT APL'D FOR". I have been searching patents but the main one that pops up for Betzler and Wilson or rather Joseph F Betzler is This one which inst a match for this pen as far as I can tell. The closest I could find might be this one from W.A.Welty, who i might be wrong but could have been a former employee of Betzler. However, the build of the pen in the patent has a two part barrel and the one I have is not. Of course there are endless more patents I have to pour through.

Of course B&W isnt as prolific as a parker or Waterman, but they make some quality pens, this one still in good condition from 1900s I suspect (of course without the innards) there may be some still out there and with a name like "SHORTY" stamped on the barrel, I figured someone might have seen another in the wild who could crack this mystery.

[Bielawski]

My mistake - I was definitely wrong about Welty, I misremembered something I read on Richardspens.com which was actually about a guy named Fuller

Fuller.jpg

either way, none of the accordion pens remind me of the SHORTY so much.

What throws me off with the shorty is the threads from the bottom all the way up to the rectangular hole which I presume could be for a pressure bar.

The thing that I gathered about the early 1900s is that they were still trying to perfect a good filling mechanism. There are a bunch of odd experiments in self filling pens from that time, so its likely not as simple as a j bar. Although, whatever it is, I am willing to try to recreate it as long as I can figure out what was supposed to be there.

side note: here are a couple wild filling mechanisms in patents I came a cross that I thought were interesting

Lever
Crescent
Whatever this is

[Seattleite]

I think that you have most of a hump filler. I have a Wirt hump filler somewhere, and I think that Grieshaber made some. Concept is that the hump, much like a Conklin crescent, is a protrusion which is directly attached to the pressure bar and is pressed to compress the sac. Where Conklin's Crescent is locked in place by a rotating ring, a hump filler has a notch at the back of the hump, where a sliding tab engages, to keep hump locked. The tab is advanced/retracted by twisting the threaded distal knob. The odd piece that you show in your pen barrel does look like it could be used to engage with a rotating threaded sleeve/knob in this fashion. There are several variations on this basic concept that are possible. You should be able to Google the Wirt version to see the similarities to your pen. I have seen some Betzler & Wilson eyedroppers, but never a hump filler. Nice find.

Bob

[Bielawski]

Hey Bob - I think you have absolutely cracked this mystery for me. I am ecstatic really! The combined knowledge in this forum us really amazing.
Hump filler makes complete sense looking at it.
The rectangular hole is traditionally too small for a lever and there would normally be a indent for the fingernail to pick it up.
I had considered that some kind of button similar to a crescent or the Welty patent I posted there earlier
One confirming clue is that there is a slight angle on the inside edge of the rectangular hole that the hump could lock into when advanced forward.

And despite my best google-fu my first search for Hump filling system turned up this result from vintagependoctor.com/betzler-hump-filler/

HumpFiller.jpg

Bob Thanks so much for guiding me in the right direction. I intend to restore this Shorty back to working order and will be sure to share with the forum the results.

[FredRydr]

Great thread! I regret that I'm unable to offer a parts pen.

[AnnaMia]

One for the autographs!