Edison Pens Unique pump filler ?

[Paul-H]

Hi all

After watching the little video showing how their Unique The Menlo Pump Filler works

Can the term Unique really be applied as it looks to be almost identical to the Parker vacumatic system, or am I missing something here.

Paul

http://edisonpen.com/page.cfm/Menlo-Main-Page

[KrazyIvan]

I think it is unique in the sense that no modern pen manufacturers are doing this now.

[Paul-H]

Hope they are paying their licence fees to Parker or would the design be out of copyright protection now

Paul

[KrazyIvan]

From Mr. Binder's site:

What’s in a name? In August 1932, Parker began test marketing the next generation in fountain pens, the Golden Arrow. This radical new pen featured a compact plunger-operated pump filler (described in Anatomy of a Fountain Pen II: The Parker Vacumatic) that nestled at the back end of the barrel, eliminating the space-hungry pressure bar and sac. Parker had bought the rights to this design (U.S. Patent Nº 1,904,358, applied for on September 14, 1928 and issued on April 18, 1933) from Professor Arthur O. Dahlberg, an instructor in machine design at the University of Wisconsin, and had then spent some time perfecting it. Although the pump mechanism was novel, Dahlberg’s design was not entirely original; it was an extension of Huston Taylor’s 1905 bulb-filler patent (U.S. Patent Nº 802,668), and it also used portions of Charles Dunn’s 1920 pump-filler patent (U.S. Patent Nº 1,359,880).

EDIT: Forgot to post that patents from that era look to be good for 17 years. Patents have long expired.

[Paul-H]

Thanks for the info.

Mind you I still don't think its a valid claim to be "Unique" when you consider just how many thousands of original Parker Vacumatics there are out there in the wild and often still in regular use. Buts that's probably just me

Paul