Anyone know anything about fountain pens?

I would file this under accessories, because this is a finishing touch to my look, as well as something I fully intend to use.


Recently purchased this gorgeous fountain pen (restored and sold by professionals at the pen market). It's a 1940s Penlawn, and beyond that, it's all anybody knows about it. Searches online only turn up images of this very pen. Does anybody know anything about Penlawn? Could it have been a sub brand of another company?

VintageEveryday said:

I would file this under accessories, because this is a finishing touch to my look, as well as something I fully intend to use.


Recently purchased this gorgeous fountain pen (restored and sold by professionals at the pen market). It's a 1940s Penlawn, and beyond that, it's all anybody knows about it. Searches online only turn up images of this very pen. Does anybody know anything about Penlawn? Could it have been a sub brand of another company?
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Just saw this post.
I'm a fountain pen guy. Have a couple of dozen from a wide time frame.
Not familiar with this model at all.

Obviously it's a bladder filler, reminds me a tad of an Esterbrook. If it's original, you may have to have the sac replaced to get it to hold ink properly. Lots of people do that kind of work.

You might want to post over at the FOUNTAIN PEN NETWORK FORUM. Lot of VERY knowledgeable people there who may be able to help.

Arthur Dent said:

I'm

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Oh i know. I mentioned it was fully restored.. new Ink sac and everything.

This really makes me miss our friend John, who would surely have been able to help you. RIP.

VE, I am not a fountain pen collector but I have a couple of them that are family pieces. I remembered one was green so I checked them to see if either could be a Penlawn. Both are SHEAFFERS however.

This set was given to my mother by her grandparents in the early 1940's as a present upon graduating from the 8th grade, before going on to high school. The fountain pen is stamped on the barrel:

W.A. SHEAFFER PEN CO.
FORT MADISON, IOWA, U.S.A.
PATENTED IN U.S.A.
350



This fountain pen was given to my father at 18 yrs of age by his mother when he was drafted into WWII. He carried it with him aboard ship in the Pacific theatre from 1943 - 1945. It is stamped on the barrel:

W.A. SHEAFFER PEN CO.
FORT MADISON, IOWA, U.S.A.
MADE IN U.S.A.

Hurricane Jack said:

VE, I am not a fountain pen collector but I have a couple of them that are family pieces. I remembered one was green so I checked them to see if either could be a Penlawn. Both are SHEAFFERS however.

This set was given to my mother by her grandparents in the early 1940's as a present upon graduating from the 8th grade, before going on to high school. The fountain pen is stamped on the barrel:

W.A. SHEAFFER PEN CO.
FORT MADISON, IOWA, U.S.A.
PATENTED IN U.S.A.
350

This fountain pen was given to my father at 18 yrs of age by his mother when he was drafted into WWII. He carried it with him aboard ship in the Pacific theatre from 1943 - 1945. It is stamped on the barrel:

W.A. SHEAFFER PEN CO.
FORT MADISON, IOWA, U.S.A.
MADE IN U.S.A.

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absolutely stunning! I own a Shaeffer TM from 1952 (a transition between the snorkel and thin model pens) that belonged to my grandfather. do you know if they work?

VintageEveryday said:

do you know if they work?

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I do not but I'm sure they don't after all these yrs.

Fountain pens scare me. Don't know why, but somehow I associate them with leaking all over the place.
Is this an inaccurate and silly fear?

Tiki Tom said:

Fountain pens scare me. Don't know why, but somehow I associate them with leaking all over the place.
Is this an inaccurate and silly fear?

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Yes. This is inaccurate. Maybe you just had some particularly leaky pens.

it's not entirely unheard of with an old pen that hasn'tg been service, but that said I've only ever had one fountain pen that I can ever remember leaking, and that's out of maybe thirty or forty I've owned over the years. When flying, I always put mine in a little sealed plastic baggie in my carry-on, just in case, but so far never a problem.

Luckily for you guys - I am a fountain pen person.

H.Jack's pens are a Sheaffer Balance, likely from the second half of the 1930s, and a later pen, which I believe to be a Sheaffer PFM ("Pen for Men"). It was what they called a 'touchdown-filler'. You lift the plunger, stick the pen in a bottle of ink, press down the piston, and then screw it down. They also had a similar pen which was called a snorkel-filler.

The PFM has what's called a 'MILITARY CLIP' on the cap. The US Army declared that no pen would be allowed to have a clip which extended beyond the end of the pocket-flaps on their uniforms, so as not to present an untidy appearance. As a result, pen-manufacturers deliberately made pens with short pocket-clips to comply. These became known as military clips.

V.E.D, your pen will be from the late 40s or mid 50s. I'm not familiar with the brand, but it looks to be one of the billions of mid-range lever-fillers manufactured during that time. It looks reminiscent of Esterbrook (in the US) or possibly Conway Stewart (in UK).

Tiki-Tom, I have written with fountain pens which were brand new made yesterday, and I have written with fountain pens which were so old, Queen Victoria wasn't dead yet. I've never had one which leaked.

The only time a fountain pen (which works properly) will leak - is if it's on an airplane. This is due to how a fountain pen operates at ground-level, and is related to air-pressure.

Hurricane Jack said:

VE, I am not a fountain pen collector but I have a couple of them that are family pieces. I remembered one was green so I checked them to see if either could be a Penlawn. Both are SHEAFFERS however.

This set was given to my mother by her grandparents in the early 1940's as a present upon graduating from the 8th grade, before going on to high school. The fountain pen is stamped on the barrel:

W.A. SHEAFFER PEN CO.
FORT MADISON, IOWA, U.S.A.
PATENTED IN U.S.A.
350

This fountain pen was given to my father at 18 yrs of age by his mother when he was drafted into WWII. He carried it with him aboard ship in the Pacific theatre from 1943 - 1945. It is stamped on the barrel:

W.A. SHEAFFER PEN CO.
FORT MADISON, IOWA, U.S.A.
MADE IN U.S.A.

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Hi Hurricane, nice pens with great provenance.

Are you able to unscrew the knobs at the ends of your respective fountain pens, & then pull the knobs out so as to expose their filling mechanisms? Don't do so if you meet appreciable resistance when pulling them out, for the seals may very well have "ossified" over time. But if you are able to do so, even partially, perhaps you could post pics.

viclip said:

Are you able to unscrew the knobs at the ends of your respective fountain pens, & then...

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I'll try as soon as I have some time, probably over the weekend.

Viclip, the piston in the pen that was my father's is free. The piston in the set that was my mother's is apparently stuck. The end cap unscrews from the piston shaft when it unscrews from the pen barrel. I can see the nut in the cap. I tried pulling the shaft out using only my fingernails so as not to mess up the threads but could not pull it out.

Would alcohol be the proper thing to use in cleaning the piston shaft and/or the pen tips?

Unless you know what you're doing it's best not to attempt a repair. Alcohol can damage some early plastics and soapy water can damage some other early plastics. The seal on some piston fillers might be cork or rubber and both materials become fragile with age. It's likely that the inner workings are clogged with dried ink. If you want to rescue the pen then my advice is either to read up on pen repair, enrol on a pen repair course or send it to a qualified repaired. An internet search will help you find these options.

I dabble a bit in repairing my own collection of fountain pens. I use clear ammonia diluted with a lot of water in a ultrasonic cleaner to clean out old ink. You can get a similar result with soaking for a good long while. That is a really nice Sheaffer and they have wonderful nibs. It almost certainly will need a new sac. Take a look at the Fountainpen network forum on repairs.


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Please refer to my comment above - for example - Conway Stewart pens were made from a milk based plastic which will turn to mush if soaked in water for too long.

Hurricane Jack said:

Viclip, the piston in the pen that was my father's is free. The piston in the set that was my mother's is apparently stuck. The end cap unscrews from the piston shaft when it unscrews from the pen barrel. I can see the nut in the cap. I tried pulling the shaft out using only my fingernails so as not to mess up the threads but could not pull it out.

Would alcohol be the proper thing to use in cleaning the piston shaft and/or the pen tips?

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Great work Hurricane, we can now identify the filling mechanisms of your family heirlooms.

Your father's fountain pen from the 1940s is, as expected, a Sheaffer "Vac-Fil" ("Vacuum-Filler"). These celluloid pens fill on the downstroke with the nib immersed in ink. A well-known pen restorer (no longer taking work) by the name of Richard Binder has posted an article which goes into some detail as to how these pens work:

http://www.richardspens.com/ref/anatomy/vacfil.htm

It's unlikely that your father's pen still works, in as much as the front piston seal as well as the rear packing unit capsule at the end of the barrel, degrade over time. My recommendation would be against trying it out. But If you were to try to fill it you should first soak the nib in water to dissolve any dried ink. It would be a good idea to add a tad of pure silicone grease along the length of the metal rod & then move the rod up & down a bit in order to lube the packing unit at the rear of the barrel. If the pen is working when you attempt to fill it with water, you'll see bubbles come up out of the water on the downstroke then as you cintinue keeping the nib immersed, water will enter to fill the vacuum. Incidentally, to determine if the pen still works it's best to just use water to avoid a potential inky mess.

These pens can be restored but it's an advanced job so I'd leave it to a professional pen restorer of good reputation.

As for your mother's fountain pen, it also seems to be a Sheaffer Vac-Fil. The steel rod being stuck, the knob screwed off from the end of the rod instead of withdrawing it. There could be corrosion etc. in the area of the rear packing unit, but in all likelihood the front piston seal is stuck because it has ossified &/or dried ink has cemented it in place. Forcing such a stuck rod out isn't a good idea & even if you could free it, I would advise against attempting to fill the pen. If the piston seal is ossified it could break the little tail on the interior end of the feed on the downstroke. Pens with broken feed tails (most of them actually) still work but not as efficiently (Richard Binder makes the point in his article).

Your mother's Vac-Fil too can be sent out for professional restoration, if you would like to be able to actually write with it.

Just to point out one more thing in closing. These Vac-Fil pens can be restored alright, but at the expense of factory originality. The packing units at the end of the barrels (or on some models, at the end of a clear plastic capsule housed within the barrel), have not been available for replacement for decades. Restorers commonly drill out the guts of the packing unit & then pop in a modern O-ring which is then fixed in place with a solvent-welded plastic washer. This is finicky work but quite effective.

Finally, you can use water to clean the nibs of your pens. Water doesn't harm the celluloid from which Sheaffer made these pens however alcohol is to be avoided at all costs. The metal rod can also be cleaned using water however in an operational pen some pure silicone grease should be applied to help lube the area where the rod passes through the rear packing unit; such grease is also a rubber preservative which is good for the rubber washers encapsulated within the packing unit.

robrinay said:

Please refer to my comment above - for example - Conway Stewart pens were made from a milk based plastic which will turn to mush if soaked in water for too long.

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You bring up an interesting point about an early plastic which was actually made from milk. It has various names, most commonly "casein".

Sheaffer as far as I am aware never used casein in pen production. Fortunately for Sheaffer, the rival Parker Pen Company had made that mistake early in the 20th century. Parker had manufactured their "Ivorine" line in pretty colors but alas this proved to be a costly & embarrasing goof-up. The following article may be of interest:

http://parkercollector.com/ivorine.html

Sheaffer surely learned from their enemy's mistake!

Thanks all, for the information & advice offered. I've enjoyed learning about these specific pens. Since I don't plan to write with them I won't attempt to fill them either. I do have some white silicone grease so I will lube the piston shaft on the one pen before putting it away.

I did find two Wearever pens with side levers that were mine but I don't honestly remember ever using them in school. I remember having a cartridge fountain pen shortly before getting my first ballpoint.