Esterbrook Ballpoint Info Needed

[gadgetjunky]

Good morning,

 

I recently picked up my first two Estie ballpoints and I would like to get them up and running for use around the office. I discovered that a Lamy ballpoint refill actually fits pretty well and would work in my blue pen, except that I can't figure out where the 'clicker' is! Does anyone have detailed pictures of an original refill and / or design schematics of how the mechanism works? I looked at the Pendemonium page on the subject but I can't tell if the end of the refill they are showing is just plain plastic or if it has something like a Parker refill to hold the tip forward. My one original Esterbrook ballpoint refill doesn't look like theirs (mine is smooth one piece blackened brass with a slightly conical end piece) and was partially modified by the previous owner and looking at it just isn't really giving me any insight.

 

I suspect that I am missing something simple but I am not comfortable trying to tear them apart to find out.

 

Thanks,

Danny

Edited March 10, 2011 by gadgetjunky

[FarmBoy]

Good morning,

 

I recently picked up my first two Estie ballpoints and I would like to get them up and running for use around the office. I discovered that a Lamy ballpoint refill actually fits pretty well and would work in my blue pen, except that I can't figure out where the 'clicker' is! Does anyone have detailed pictures of an original refill and / or design schematics of how the mechanism works? I looked at the Pendemonium page on the subject but I can't tell if the end of the refill they are showing is just plain plastic or if it has something like a Parker refill to hold the tip forward. My one original Esterbrook ballpoint refill doesn't look like theirs (mine is smooth one piece blackened brass with a slightly conical end piece) and was partially modified by the previous owner and looking at it just isn't really giving me any insight.

 

I suspect that I am missing something simple but I am not comfortable trying to tear them apart to find out.

 

Thanks,

Danny

Which Esterbrook ball point?

 

I'm guessing you have one in which the mechanism you are looking for was attached to the cartridge.

 

Todd

[gadgetjunky]

Hi Todd,

 

I regret to say that I am so uninformed on the subject that I can't say for sure. They are both cap actuated and appear to be about 1/4" longer than a SJ fountain pen. The Esterbrook refill I have has the tip of it cut off in preparation for a mini-ballpoint conversion, so I don't know if there was anything on the tip (like on a Lamy refill) to advance it. The refill fits deeper into the cap of one pen than the other, so I am guessing that there might be some mechanism in the cap of one of them? On the blue pen the refill just slides in and stops in the cap, but on the black one the refill hits something spring loaded and can compress on down another 3/4" or so.

 

Thanks,

Danny

Edited March 10, 2011 by gadgetjunky

[RayMan]

Are you sure it's not twist retractable? If there's no button on the cap, it probably retracts by twisting the cap.

[gadgetjunky]

Ray,

 

No, I do not think that they are twist action. The caps are spring loaded on their threads so that once you screw them down they will press down and spring back up, but not turn any further.

 

Thanks,

Danny

[pneil100]

I'm a little late to the party here but this has been a question that I've been working on for a while. So I think I've got all the ballpoints covered but I'd love to hear from anybody who has more information. I posted a few pics the other day and while the quality isn't the greatest I thought I'd have a go at showing which ballpoint has which refill (there are 4 types used that I've found).

 

 

So from left to right we have the Wordathon and it's refill. These can be modded and I've posted details in other threads (Working Wordathon Refill). Next from left is the M2 (I think) which has a Super-Tex refill. These can be modded to work and there are pages in the ether that tell you how to do that. Next is a Scribe which also uses the Super-Tex. Then the CX100 which uses a modern readily available refill. The next three pens are Convert-A-Line. I've not seen the silver capped black pen any where else but it has the same fibre-tip refill as the two gold pens that follow from the left. The middle pen of the three (sixth from left) does have the ballpoint unit and I have replaced the refill with a modern equivalent. I may have had to take a little off the end to get it inside the case but it works fine. The next pen (eighth) is listed on Esterbrook.net as a late model ballpoint. As you can see it also uses a modern refill unit and the silver Lord Esterbrook next to it also uses the same refill unit (but it is marked Lord Esterbrook). If anybody has anymore information on this pen I would be most grateful. I have seen in other posts that there is some speculation as to whether it is indeed an Esterbrook and I have to say this pen seems like a fit with all the other later model pens. Not least its consistent refill type. The last pen is all the way back to the start and is a Deluxe (stacked coin) Wordathon and has the four pronged refill unit like all of the other Wordathons. I have a working version of each of these pens. The Wordathons are daily users and they are pretty hard to beat for balance, grip and look. The refills will take any D1 mini and while it may not be the biggest tank of ink in the world (possibly the smallest) the D1 may have the greatest variation of tips and ink types available. From needle-point to broad highlighters and everything in between. Apart from the gold Lord Esterbrook listed on Esterbrook.net I am unaware of any other Esterbrook ballpoints. But I'd love to change that. I would like to name Doc. Hogg as the source of my addiction. I got his ballpoint book for Christmas last year and it started a quest for the earliest ballpoints I could find (and get going - even more fun). Don't blame me - blame him.

Edited January 21, 2012 by pneil100

[tmaugham]

Does anyone have any ink cartridges for the J ballpoint that are dried up and not writing that they are willing to part with? I think that I have a way to bring them back to life but they must function correctly mechanically fot this to work. If it works I'll share with the group!

 

Thanks,

Tom

Edited January 29, 2012 by tmaugham