#waterman pen

[syncallio]

Today's pen is the Waterman C/F, the pen that made cartridge-filling standard.

It's so 1950s, I love it. Like, you half expect it to have fins.

Ink cartridges were used by a variety of pens as early as the 1890s, but they were usually glass. Not the most convenient material! Waterman's plastic cartridge wasn't the first plastic one, but it was by far the most successful. Even to this day: the International Standard cartridge is their design.

This one wrote a bit dry when I got it, so I've been tuning it. Seems to be a thing with ebonite feeds that they can deform over time. Otherwise it's a nice slim, lightweight pen.

[todaysdocument]

Patent Drawing for L. E. Waterman's Fountain Pen

Record Group 241: Records of the Patent and Trademark OfficeSeries: Utility Patent Drawings

This document shows a drawing of a fountain pen with two cross sections.

307,735. FOUNTAIN PEN. LEWIS E. WATERMAN, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Filed June 20, 1883. (Model.)

Claim,--1. An ink-duct for a fountain-pen, consisting of a groove in a bar on the side next the pen, extending throughout its entire length on the same plane, and communicating with the ink-reservoir for conducting the ink from the reservoir to the point of the pen.

2. An ink-duct for a fountain-pen, consisting of a groove in a bar extending throughout its entire length in the side which is to be next the pen and on the same plane, and communicating with the ink-reservoir, and of gradually-decreasing depth from the end which enters the reservoir to the end near the point of the pen.

3. A fountain-pen consisting of a barrel or reservoir having a bar in a tubular piece in the extremity of the barrel, said bar having a longitudinal groove in its side which is to be in proximity to the pen, and an additional longitudinal groove on the other side, whereby air may be admitted to the reservoir independently of the ink-conveying groove, substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

[babykittenteach]

Day 2

Day 1

[thepopculturearchivist]

LIFE, October 5, 1928

[luceirosdegolados]

Went on a little bit of a splurge yesterday and got me a vintage Waterman Hemisphere from the 90s I think?

The nib is steel and says M but it has clearly been ground or tuned in its previous life bc it is now a huge stub. Turns out I find it quite fun! And it has played well so far with several of my notebooks.

Look at how effortlessly it just adds a level of fun style and whimsy to a note!

Plus, bc it is so huge I can use it for the Ferrytales inks :3

[lascitasdelashoras]

Watermans Fountain Pen Patented February 12 1884

[libraryofva]

Recent Acquisition - Ephemera Collection

Greeting. We wish you ever well and ever prospering to a greater and great height. Dickens. Waterman's Ideal Fountain Pen.

[jongliere]

today was the day to re-ink my waterman allure so figured i'd take a photo of him too

got him in M and combined with diamine oxblood he's a wonderful writer for getting a more wet inky write

[oimoi-op]

Mentioned a little while back that I got some more vintage fountain pens so here's one of them courtesy of my mid-at-best photography skills:

It's a Waterman no. 12 eyedropper. No clip but for some reason both Watermans and BCHR pens with clips hate me so this is the norm for me lol. Cap's patent date reads "MAY 24. 1898" so it's very likely it's from right about the turn of the 19th century. Barrel's patent date reads "FEB. 12. & NOV. 4. 1884" so I believe the later date on the cap is probably closer to when it actually left the factory.

Both patent dates are very clear despite visible aging throughout the pen. Barrel imprint "WATERMAN'S IDEAL FOUNTAIN PEN N.Y." is also very legible. The "12" stamped on the end barrel is much more faded and difficult to make out in poor lighting.

The pen's barrel, section, and cap are all made from ebonite/hardened black rubber. I don't see any markings that would lead me to believe this was ever chased/patterned. However, the pen has clearly been exposed to water throughout its life as it's a very uneven brown, with the section and parts of the barrel having turned black.

The no. 2 nib and its ebonite feed are completely intact thank fuck. The section was very stubborn and did NOT want to unscrew thanks to decades' old dried ink. I went ahead with the decision to partially soak the section to where it meets the barrel as it was already very discolored and seemed unlikely to be further damaged by this.

(Side note: it is not recommended to soak rubber pens or expose them to water unnecessarily, especially if the rubber still retains its original factory look. Even in this situation I took care to not soak the barrel.)

After some careful soaking and a little bit of heat (just low controlled heat!! NOT heated water!!!), the section unscrewed in my hand, so I didn't even need my section pliers, which was nice lol. Flushing the inside of the barrel with a syringe made cleaning go pretty fast, so I was able to fill it with ink in no time.

She's a flexy lol

The tines split very easily with hardly any pressure to the point I think I can safely classify it as a true flexible nib, albeit not a wet noodle. Without any flex, it leaves an almost stubbish EF or even EEF line—however, it lays down ink so wetly that unless you're writing VERY slowly, it doesn't look quite so fine lol. And with just barely any pressure, it easily puts down BBB lines, though (as evidenced by the slight railroading pictures) sometimes the feed struggles to keep up.

This is one of the most user-friendly vintage flex pens I've owned. It makes me wish my handwriting wasn't dogshit so I could do it justice :(

Biggest issue is a moderate crack on the cap. It isn't so severe to the point of drying out the pen, but I have to be careful when capping, and just to be safe posting is a no-go. It's functional but I wouldn't mind replacing it.

Overall, this a pretty good example of a user-grade vintage flex. Since there's no mechanism, it doesn't need to be restored, and it holds plenty of ink for writing/calligraphy purposes. I've enjoyed writing with it more than my other vintage flexies and semi-flexies for the past few weeks, and the inky fingertips are so worth it lol

[terrorscififest]

Mod Note: The Terror Sci Fi Fest ever approaches! Thought I'd do a bit of brainstorming this Ides of March. These are in No Way official prompts but they do help me in narrowing down what story I want to tell.

Have YOU settled on a plot/sketch/idea for the fest? Do tell in the reblogs/replies!

[moved-to-thanatologie]

one last thing before i do the adulting thing:

emmrich would be a fountain pen snob send tweet

[syncallio]

Today's pen is the Waterman 52½v. This is one of my oldest pens, predating the use of plastic. So it's made with hard rubber, sometimes called ebonite.

If you squint, you can make out the pattern etched into the cap. This is called called "chasing" and came in a variety of styles.

Here's the barrel imprint:

Modern Waterman is based in Paris, but it was originally an American company, based in New York City. Which you can't quite see here, but it does say "N.Y. USA" along the bottom left.

Vintage Waterman "Ideal" nibs are famous for their quality and flexibility.

Aw yeah, nib shot!

I don't know if it's clear from the photos, but this is a dainty little pen. The standard Waterman 52 was not so small: the "½" in the name meant slim girth, and the "v" meant short (as in vest pocket). As a ringtop, this was intended as a woman's pen.

The length is pretty normal when you post the cap.

I don't get this one out much, because it's fragile and precious, but that flex is always a good time.

Also, fun fact, some companies continue to make ebonite pens. So if you ever want to try something that isn't plastic or metal, it's worth looking up.

[stone-cold-groove]

The appreciated gift.

[chaosandorder46]

Pen/Ink of the day. My hands are super shaky due to an excess of coffee and social interactions, so the usual questionable handwriting is straight up bad today. This was the first bottle of ink I ever bought (about 3 years ago) it's not the most interesting, so it is still full. It's the only "normal" blue I have though. I love the size of these pens...except for the small ink reservoirs. But their absolute adorableness makes up for it.

[blind3dbylight]

my special interest has gone from playing cards to fountain pens.

the ‘tism is ‘tisming.

[octavio-world]

broke out my pens for cleaning today