Koh-i-noor Drafting Pens

[hunter186]

An friend of mine has a large collection of Koh-i-noor drafting pens. I believe his grandfather was a salesman for the company, and left him with a number of the pens, as well as sales and promotional material. The pens are hard rubber, with integral pistons. He gave me a couple samples; I believe one was a Rapidograph and the other was an Acetograph, in different sizes. Both were NOS, in boxes with papers.

 

They're pretty interesting pens. I only inked one, and it wasn't to my liking. It needs to be nearly vertical to write smoothly, but the pen seemed to perform really well. I really like the feel of hard rubber as well. Build quality seemed excellent, but it was clear that they were working pens, not showpieces.

 

I'd like to know more about these pens. When were they made? What is the distinction between Rapidograph and Acetograph? Also, what is the approximate value for these pens in mint, NOS condition?

[EventHorizon]

Here is an E-Bay cost and here is another cost on the Acetograph

[hunter186]

Thanks, that's definitely what I have.

[Titivillus]

 

 

Remember that these are drafting pens so having them perpendicular to the surface was a benefit when using triangles or templates. I have my full drafting kit with a half dozen pens in it of various widths and they are fun to pull out and use now and then.

 

 

Kurt

 

[rcannonp]

My Rotring Rapidograph set came with an attachment for keeping the nib vertical. I guess that it helps when tracing circle templates or something like that, but I haven't found much use for it. It's pretty awkward for freehand drawing.

 

 

New Koh-i-noor rapidographs sell for around $25.00 at the local art stores. I don't know if vintage ones are more valuable or not.

Edited October 14, 2008 by rcannonp

[hunter186]

Remember that these are drafting pens so having them perpendicular to the surface was a benefit when using triangles or templates.

 

Yeah, they're certainly good for the intended purpose. I've used one of them occasionally when working against a straight edge (something I'd never do with a good FP).

 

That attachment does look interesting, but I don't think it would work with these pens. It looks like you'd need to remove the point and attach a cartridge, something that wouldn't work with these piston-fillers.

 

This morning, I read somewhere that the Acetograph pens were made for writing on acetate sheet. Is this true? How are they different?

[klangbogen]

How do these differ from Inkograph stylographic pens?

[dogearedyears]

I have a Koh0in-oor Acetograph No. 1 bought in Paris when I was there in 1980. Does anyone on the FPN have one besides me?

[WirsPlm]

I have several Koh-I-Nor technical pens that I'm restoring (finicky little things), they're a nice cross between a fountain pen and a mechanical pencil.

[kidde]

Those stylographic nibs are nothing like fp nibs. You have a small tube with a wire in it that is held down by a weight. When the wire touches the paper it pushes up the weight and allows the ink to flow. Cleaning is super important since that thin tube is the only channel for ink.

I believe I saw someone from Italy converting a few of the piston ones to fp's with success, I just can't remember what nibs and feeds they used.

 

Paul

[Redd]

New contribution to an old thread:

 

I used to use these for work and still have a number hiding in a cigar box.

The Acetographs were built to use a different (more corrosive?) ink for drafting on acetate, as opposed to the plain India ink used for drafting on paper. Supposedly the more corrosive ink would etch into the acetate (clear overlay, more dimensionally stable than paper, obsoleted by Mylar).

My Acetographs look like fountain pens, with a "filing knob" under a top cap. Unlike the Rapidographs where the ink cartridge was always removed to be refilled.

And, if I had to guess the Acetographs were made of Bakelite, not "hard rubber". The Rapidographs I had in the early 70's were originally gray plastic, the later ones white plastic.

The trick to using ANY of the fine lines is that you must hold the pen above the drawing surface. If you are using the 000 or finer point, it will literally cut into paper and wreak havoc if you allow it to simply press down with its own weight. There is an art to taking cursive notes with a 4/0 drafting pen. A "black art", pun intended.

00 was the most commonly used "fine line", anything finer was a real hairball to keep clean and working.