Lamy 99 36

[Jeph]

This is a Lamy 99/36 that I acquired recently. It would be a stellar pen if it were not for the cracked cap and 14K nib that had been used with a metal edged ruler several times. The most difficult part of restoring this pen was getting all of the residue from some previous polishing operation out of all of the nooks and crannies.

First some Lamy history.
C. Josef Lamy used to work for Parker. In 1930 he left and founded Orthos Füllfederhalter-Fabrik in Heidelburg. There he made fountain pens with the brand name Orthos, and later Artus. In 1939 they switched production to munitions. After the war, in 1948, Lamy changed the name to C. Josef Lamy GmbH and resumed producing the Artus pens. In 1952 the Lamy 27 was introduced with the “innovative Tintomatik” ink feed system (in English: innovative Ink-O-Matic: the O-matic craze was not just in the US!). This Tintomatik system had a two part feed with dual feed channels connected to a large (21 fin) collector that compensated for changes in pressure to keep flow constant and avoid running dry as well as blobs. This is basically the same feed system you see in your Lamy Safari’s today. It also had a lower tier brother, the Lamy 99 introduced at the same time. In the fall on 1964 the Lamy 2000 was introduced to the market and the rest is (also) history.

The Lamy 27 was offered in 4 different trim levels, with the basic models selling for 19.50 DM and the Luxusausführung (luxury models) selling for 25, 29.50 and 39 DM respectively in black and “other distinctive colors.” The Lamy 99 was marketed as a simpler pen offering the same technological advantages as the 27 with a 5 year guarantee on the 14K nib and available in black or rosewood. If mine had not been over polished, where it says “Lamy” on the barrel is should say “Lamy 99” and the “36” trim meant that it was a second generation 99 with a plastic screw on cap and one-piece non-sprung clip. Lamy used suffixes on the barrels and/or 30’s series numbers on the piston knobs to indicate trim levels.

Not only do the internals of this pen look exactly like what you would find in a Lamy 2000, the piston parts are actually interchangeable. Something must be right if that design is still in production effectively unchanged for over 60 years. (Like the Lamy 2000 itself, but that young whippersnapper has only been around for 50.) My favorite part is the spacer between the piston and the piston housing in the piston assembly. There is a ridge on the upper end of the piston housing and a small rounded protrusion on the inside of the piston knob. The pressure of the knob against the ridge turns the piston housing which in turn extends or retracts the piston. When the piston retracts against the spacer you have maximum ink capacity with zero chance of bottoming the piston against the blind cap. There are two significant aspects to this design:

1) To remove the piston unit, once you retract the piston until it stops, you simply keep turning the piston knob and since the piston is bottomed against the spacer which is bottomed against the piston housing the entire assembly simply screws out of the barrel. What could be easier than that?

2) Reassembly takes no adjustment is what. You just put the pieces together in the correct order and screw the assembly back into the housing and you are automatically already at maximum capacity with no effort. Why weren’t you paying attention Pelikan?! Furthermore the entire pen disassembles easily and completely with no tricks or special tools.

If this one did not have a massive cap crack and the F nib converted somewhere into an OF, I would probably put this into competition against my Lamy 2000. I think the feel of the Makrolon would have a tough fight against the smooth celluloid section. I think that the Lamy 2000 would eventually win by virtue of the simplicity of the snap cap but the larger ink window of the 99 would still make it a close race.

Lamy 99 36 Capped.jpgLamy 99 36 Unposted.jpgLamy 99 36 Posted.jpgLamy 99 36 Part Disassembled.jpgLamy 99 36 All Parts.jpg
Note: In the picture above the feed insert is shown upside down so you can see both sides
Lamy 99 36 Barrel Imprint.jpgLamy 99 36 Knob Imprint.jpg

[Lady Onogaro]

That's really interesting. You can certainly see the Parker influence. I like the way the ink window looks. The internals are very interesting, too.

[DMurphy]

Thank you for the bit of a history lesson on Lamy pens. It makes me appreciate the craftsmanship that has gone into my Safari that much more.