Vintage Conway Stewart feeds

[FredRydr]

I was looking at vintage Conway Stewart pens made into the 1950s on the Writetime website, and those pens seem to indicate that Conway Stewart never progressed beyond solid feeds. Was that the case until the original Conway Stewart company went out of business?

[Deb]

I was looking at vintage Conway Stewart pens made into the 1950s on the Writetime website, and those pens seem to indicate that Conway Stewart never progressed beyond solid feeds. Was that the case until the original Conway Stewart company went out of business?

What do you mean by solid feeds?

[FredRydr]

Deb, a fair question. By "solid," I meant a piece of smooth hard rubber lacking any serrations or fins cut into the exposed surfaces in order to buffer the flow of ink.

Compare the following:

A 1960 Conway Stewart feed (from Writetime):



A 1954 Parker feed (from Writetime):



I've associated the lack of buffered feeds with pens from the first few decades of the prior century, and I was surprised to see them on pens made into the '60s. I've owned a few vintage herringbone celluloid Conway Stewarts, but never took notice of this.

[Deb]

Hi Fred,
I see what you mean. I'm not sure such development was necessary for Conway Stewarts. Whether pre or post-war, their ink delivery has always been very good. No skipping or hard starting if set up properly. I still have one in my accumulation of old pens and it is often inked and on my desk. Completely reliable. I realise that other manufacturers improved their feeds - particularly Sheaffer and Swan - by increasingly complicated finning. Maybe the sculpture under the feed is what makes those old Conway Stewarts so good.

[FredRydr]

...Maybe the sculpture under the feed is what makes those old Conway Stewarts so good.

This Conway Stewart's feed from 1925:

1712905803477.jpg

[Deb]

That's a thing of beauty, Fred!