Strange ink sac or a stopgap measure ?

[jrantala]

I have an old coin-filler by Eagle Pencil Co, with original price tag ("Apex Fountain Pen/To fill - press slot with coin or thumb nail/Price $3.00") but with a strange ink sac.

 

 

It seems to be made of rather thick rubber hose with a cork stopper et the end.

 

 

Never seen such before - were these the predecessors of "normal" ink sacs or just some stopgap measure to fix a broken pen at home or something like that ?

 

Anybody seen similar ink sacs before, I could't find anything that looks alike ?

 

BR, Jari

[ZeissIkon]

Never seen such before - were these the predecessors of "normal" ink sacs or just some stopgap measure to fix a broken pen at home or something like that ?

 

Anybody seen similar ink sacs before, I could't find anything that looks alike ?

 

There was a post a few months ago with a similar item, a clear (PVC?) tubular sac; IIRC, it was determined that it was original to the pen (a 1930s model). What you have, however, seems like an improvised repair. I doubt it predates sacs, as latex sacs go back before WWI, dating to around 1905 as I recall; it might remotely have been a measure to bypass a patent on molded sacs, but seems much more likely to have been a repair done by someone who didn't have access to proper sacs. There's no way it could ever have filled completely with that cork in the end.

[lallin]

I have an old coin-filler by Eagle Pencil Co, with original price tag ("Apex Fountain Pen/To fill - press slot with coin or thumb nail/Price $3.00") but with a strange ink sac.

 

 

It seems to be made of rather thick rubber hose with a cork stopper et the end.

 

 

Never seen such before - were these the predecessors of "normal" ink sacs or just some stopgap measure to fix a broken pen at home or something like that ?

 

Anybody seen similar ink sacs before, I could't find anything that looks alike ?

 

BR, Jari

 

I have seen similar "sacs" in a handful of Esterbrooks; I always supposed that they were a WW2 adaptation to build or service pens when sac supplies were constrained. I have no evidence to support my theory, just a theory.

[Johnny Appleseed]

Without other evidence, it is hard to determine if this was a repair or what.

 

However, the pen in question probably dates to 1910-1920. They were generally made with standard sacs, but have been found with sacs made of orange rubber in the same color as the sac you have here. It is possible that someone had a leak in the end of a sac and tried to salvage it with the cork on the end. It could also have been some sort of experiment on the part of Eagle, but other Eagle pens of this design and era have colored standard sacs - so Eagle was using standard sacs at the time.

 

John