The SWAN Leverless

[penwash]

I seem to think that this place has a UK pens sub-forum, but I guess I'm mistaken.

I got this SWAN Leverless recently and it is one of the nicer UK pens I've had. I mean, look at that white imprint that shows the age, but looks amazing at the same time. I love especially the heft (it feels substantial) and balance of the pen, and its simple but very handsomely proportioned styling. Not to mention the super nice SWAN 6 nib.

The filling system intrigued me from what read about it. It is (unfortunately? haha) restored on this pen, but a friend of mine told me that he may have one (also leverless) that I can restore if he can find it.

Overall, only the exact model name (or number) that escaped me. And that's where this post came in. I am hoping that @eachan or our other vintage British pens experts can shed some light into this with more info about this particular pen.

[eachan]

It's a wartime pen, I assume with no number on the end of the barrel. The guy who applied the numbers took a lot of time off. I'd guess 4660. If you want to re-sac one of these, forget what you would do with a lever or button filler. The sac must fill the barrel completely. In the case of your pen that would be a 22 or larger. That's a very nice pen, Will. The white in the barrel imprint isn't original but probably applied with white wax crayon. The No 6 nib is quite a hunk of gold.

[penwash]

It's a wartime pen, I assume with no number on the end of the barrel. The guy who applied the numbers took a lot of time off. I'd guess 4660. If you want to re-sac one of these, forget what you would do with a lever or button filler. The sac must fill the barrel completely. In the case of your pen that would be a 22 or larger. That's a very nice pen, Will. The white in the barrel imprint isn't original but probably applied with white wax crayon. The No 6 nib is quite a hunk of gold.

Thank you so much, Eachan!
Yes, looks like the guy took a day off when this pen was rolled out, no numbers at the end of the barrel.
And thanks for the tip on restoring these. That'll come in handy if I ever find another, plus I've been wanting to order some #22 sac from Peter

Am I right to assume that the section is threaded not friction fit into the barrel?

[Seattleite]

Friction fit. It would be difficult indeed, to screw in a tight fitting sac with a barrel full of Entanglement bar. Later Leverless use a filler-knob driven spring bar, and do have threaded sections.
Some of the last great classic English pens (as viewed from this side of the pond).

Bob

[FredRydr]

...The No 6 nib is quite a hunk of gold.

You don't see many of those on the English Swans.

[penwash]

Friction fit. It would be difficult indeed, to screw in a tight fitting sac with a barrel full of Entanglement bar. Later Leverless use a filler-knob driven spring bar, and do have threaded sections.
Some of the last great classic English pens (as viewed from this side of the pond).

Bob

Thanks, Bob.

Speaking of the difficulty of threaded section attached to a complex mechanism, the Camel pen managed just that with their dry ink pellet system.

[arrow]

Very nice find, I have been looking for a large nib like that too. I have a leverless Swan and I could not manage to get the twist action right when I replaced the pressure bar and rubber sack. I ended up sending my to a more capable person with experience and correct tools. I could get the parts seemingly correctly assemble, but it would not fill properly. To get the twist and pressure bar action on the ink sack right just wasn't easy. I am no expert and I have had more success with lever fillers, so don't let my first experience stop you from trying. My leverless works fine now and has for over a year, maybe closer to two; once done right they work well.

[Chrissy]

That's a very attractive pen and it made me feel quite sad to think that I've never seen a Swan pen. Would Swan still carry on making these with such big gold nibs during wartime or would that have been a later replacement? How does the length/size of the pen compare with other pens from that era bearing in mind this one comes with a no.6 nib? I would be interested to know how long this one is?

It certainly looks like someone loved it to keep it in such nice condition.

I'm intrigued about the filling mechanism being loverless and now want to go and read all about it.

Thanks for showing us this pen Will.

[eachan]

It's a wartime pen, I assume with no number on the end of the barrel. The guy who applied the numbers took a lot of time off. I'd guess 4660. If you want to re-sac one of these, forget what you would do with a lever or button filler. The sac must fill the barrel completely. In the case of your pen that would be a 22 or larger. That's a very nice pen, Will. The white in the barrel imprint isn't original but probably applied with white wax crayon. The No 6 nib is quite a hunk of gold.

Thank you so much, Eachan!
Yes, looks like the guy took a day off when this pen was rolled out, no numbers at the end of the barrel.
And thanks for the tip on restoring these. That'll come in handy if I ever find another, plus I've been wanting to order some #22 sac from Peter

Am I right to assume that the section is threaded not friction fit into the barrel?

Because of the presence of the paddle in the barrel it would be impossible to insert the sac with a screw-in section. To re-sac a Leverless the sac is first attached to the section with the nib and feed out, then left to cure. The sac is pushed into the section - I use a piece of thin dowel - and the section pressed home. Then the feed and nib are fitted.

[eachan]

Very nice find, I have been looking for a large nib like that too. I have a leverless Swan and I could not manage to get the twist action right when I replaced the pressure bar and rubber sack. I ended up sending my to a more capable person with experience and correct tools. I could get the parts seemingly correctly assemble, but it would not fill properly. To get the twist and pressure bar action on the ink sack right just wasn't easy. I am no expert and I have had more success with lever fillers, so don't let my first experience stop you from trying. My leverless works fine now and has for over a year, maybe closer to two; once done right they work well.

Sometimes the paddle becomes misaligned, usually by someone trying to twist it against a hard sac. That makes it difficult to get the twist action right.

[eachan]

That's a very attractive pen and it made me feel quite sad to think that I've never seen a Swan pen. Would Swan still carry on making these with such big gold nibs during wartime or would that have been a later replacement? How does the length/size of the pen compare with other pens from that era bearing in mind this one comes with a no.6 nib? I would be interested to know how long this one is?

It certainly looks like someone loved it to keep it in such nice condition.

I'm intrigued about the filling mechanism being loverless and now want to go and read all about it.

Thanks for showing us this pen Will.

It's original, Chrissy. It would be impossible to insert a No 6 nib in a smaller pen. The pen is built around the nib and No 6 size feed, section and barrel are used.

[MarcoA64]

I may be wrong but there are two types of leverless Swans. One uses the 'classic' pressure bar as if it was a push button filler although you have to twist it and the other the 'classic' twisty paddle to compress the sac. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC-jI4vTRYw
The section is screwed in with the first type, pressure bar, the other type I have no idea.

[eachan]

That's correct, Marco. Seattleite mentioned the later kind above. I would much rather fix a traditional Leverless than those screw-in ones. Very tricky to get right.

[Chrissy]

That's a very attractive pen and it made me feel quite sad to think that I've never seen a Swan pen. Would Swan still carry on making these with such big gold nibs during wartime or would that have been a later replacement? How does the length/size of the pen compare with other pens from that era bearing in mind this one comes with a no.6 nib? I would be interested to know how long this one is?

It certainly looks like someone loved it to keep it in such nice condition.

I'm intrigued about the filling mechanism being loverless and now want to go and read all about it.

Thanks for showing us this pen Will.

It's original, Chrissy. It would be impossible to insert a No 6 nib in a smaller pen. The pen is built around the nib and No 6 size feed, section and barrel are used.

Sorry I may not have made clear that I only wondered about the gold rather than a cheaper metal that may have been used during the war. I'm not sure but I think that even Montblanc made cheaper pens in wartime.

[eachan]

I don't think that there was an especial shortage of gold in wartime Britain. Germany was different. All British Mabie Todd pens have always had gold nibs. There was a restriction on the manufacture of pens during the war but that was because the government wished to use most of pen makers' manufacturing capability to produce war materials of one kind or another. Pen companies were allowed only to make a reduced model range but there was no limit on the number of pens made.

[penwash]

That's a very attractive pen and it made me feel quite sad to think that I've never seen a Swan pen. Would Swan still carry on making these with such big gold nibs during wartime or would that have been a later replacement? How does the length/size of the pen compare with other pens from that era bearing in mind this one comes with a no.6 nib? I would be interested to know how long this one is?

It certainly looks like someone loved it to keep it in such nice condition.

I'm intrigued about the filling mechanism being loverless and now want to go and read all about it.

Thanks for showing us this pen Will.

Chrissy, the size of this pen was one of its feature that caught my attention. The length is 5-1/4 inches capped, which is not especially long. But the diameter of the barrel is really close to that of a Montblanc 146, and the pen feels solid and substantial.

The nib writes in Fine, probably too Fine for your liking. I hope one day you'll find a big SWAN with a nice no.6 stub to add to your collection