Modern Parker Cartridge-Converter Sizes

[Mercian]

Hi all,

after reading inkstainedruth's tale of woe regarding a converter jamming and breaking in her Urban in this thread, I was worried that the same Dread fate might befall me.

Being rather 'prudent' with my money, and a rather paranoid old Hector to boot, I decided to do some research on the subject before taking the plunge on a converter.

 

Because Parker (bizarrely) do not show their converters on their website, and because they don't say which of their modern converters will fit (or, more importantly, which ones will not fit) their various modern pens, I am posting this as a reference for anyone who is thinking of buying a Parker converter. So that prospective buyers can see which converters they can safely use in modern Parker pens

(N.B. I have ZERO experience of vintage Parkers, so I can not make any claims about the suitability of the modern converters for those pens).

 

Out there in the Real World®, many retailers still have various New Old Stock converters of older designs; converters that were meant for older Parker models.

There's also the fact that, at a B&M store in my home town, when I recently asked the owner about Parker twist-converters he opened a drawer in which he had several converters - all of them were loose in the drawer, and unmarked. They were of various makes, and he initially took out a converter that was made by Waterman. I spotted this error before he did. It turned out that he didn't actually have any modern Parker converters in stock.

Caveat emptor - unless the store employee with whom you are dealing is a fountain pen specialist, s/he may actually know less about the subject than you do, and end up selling you a converter that gets broken and stuck in your pen, as happened to inkstainedruth

 

Anyway, Parker currently make and sell two models of piston converter; the 'Standard' one, which has a piston that is operated by sliding, and the 'Deluxe' one, which uses a twist mechanism (the metal on mine is chrome-coloured. I think that Parker may also make one on which the metal is gold-coloured).

 

Photo:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7086/7261743722_0c661a60ae_b.jpg

 

Top to bottom:

Parker Frontier FP;

Parker long cartridge of Washable Blue Quink;

Modern Parker 'Deluxe' twist-piston converter;

Modern Parker 'Standard' slide-piston converter;

My last remaining - and oh-so-precioussss - cartridge of Parker Penman Mocha ♥♥♥

 

As you can see, each of the modern converters is no bigger than a Parker long cartridge.

I have fitted each of my converters in to my Frontier, my Vector, and even my Jotter. The 'Deluxe' converter does need a noticeably greater amount of pressure to get it to push onto the nipple. So I just do it slowly, and use a slight twisting action. Once on, it is a safe, tight fit.

 

As can be seen from the photo, the converters are no larger than a modern Parker long cartridge, so any modern Parker pen that can take a Parker long cartridge OUGHT to be able to take either of the modern converters.

I think that the only modern Parker pen into which they WON'T fit is the collapsible pen that Parker sell as the Esprit (see KidL's review here).

That pen can only take Parker's short cartridges.

 

N.B. my compatibility claim for all other modern Parker fountain pens is ONLY my opinion/guess.

You, dear reader, need at this point to be made aware that I do not work for Parker, that I only own the three models of Parker fountain pen listed above, and that I have ONLY tested the converters in the pen models listed above. I have NOT tested them in e.g. an Urban or a Sonnet.

 

Alors mes braves, I have posted the picture in order to show prospective buyers what the modern Parker converters look like.

Basically, if the converter you are thinking of buying does not look like either of the ones in my picture, I would advise you to NOT try to fit it to a modern Parker fountain pen.

I hope that this post proves useful

 

But I do wish that Parker would put a definitive version of this information up on their website....

 

 

Cheers,

M.

Edited May 24, 2012 by Mercian

[jar]

Also, the old style ST Dupont converters and the Aurora converters are built to the same standard as the Parker Deluxe converter and are interchangeable.

[inkstainedruth]

The twist converter you show in the photo is definitely *not* the one I had problems with. I had the one with the gold colored middle twist section. The paperwork I received from Parker when they returned the Urban said specifically that the slide converters were the only ones to use in an Urban.

I agree -- it would have been nice to have this information someplace readily available (possibly *NOT* on their main website because I had so much trouble loading it -- sorry, Newell-Rubbermaid, but not everyone in the universe has (or wants) Windows 7.....)

I'll admit it freely, I had assumed that they packaged the slide converter with the Urban in the set simply because it was the cheaper converter....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Mercian]

The twist converter you show in the photo is definitely *not* the one I had problems with. I had the one with the gold colored middle twist section. The paperwork I received from Parker when they returned the Urban said specifically that the slide converters were the only ones to use in an Urban.

 

Was your converter like the ones on this UK website?

 

I agree -- it would have been nice to have this information someplace readily available (possibly *NOT* on their main website because I had so much trouble loading it -- sorry, Newell-Rubbermaid, but not everyone in the universe has (or wants) Windows 7.....)

 

I've looked at it from Windows 7 - and it's still horribly slow

I haven't used Internet Explorer to try to read it, because it was mind-bendingly slow with Firefox and Chrome. And, in my experience at least, in terms of loading speed IE is to Chrome & Fx as a dustcart is to an F1 car.

 

I'll admit it freely, I had assumed that they packaged the slide converter with the Urban in the set simply because it was the cheaper converter....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

Parker's Consumer Service team in France told me that the one I have ought to fit in the Urban. But then, its design IS different to the ones on sale at the website I linked to above.

Why Parker don't publicise this I really don't know - they're actually stopping people from buying their own products (the converters and, much more importantly, their bottled Quink).

[inkstainedruth]

Not sure that it is the same converter -- it's hard to tell because the photo is from the side, not end-on. The brass part that broke was thicker (at least an 1/8", IIRC) than the rest of the converter was. Not sure I saved it after Newell-Rubbermaid sent it and the pen back. I may have tossed it in disgust.

Ironically, the *new* converter (the piston type one) that *they* sent me -- the one that is the "right" converter for an Urban -- got stuck in the barrel last week, after having come completely off the feed. Pushing the feed onto the barrel really hard seemed to have fixed the problem, at least for the moment. I had been trying to check to see how much ink was in the converter (to see if I needed a refill anytime soon) when it happened. What worried me a bit was that I had an IG ink in the pen, and I didn't want any clogging from air hitting the ink and oxidizing. If it happens again, the damned thing is going right back to the Service Dept. -- with a note on the invoice saying that this was the converter *they* sent ME. Also, I think, a note saying that they *required* the pen to be insured, and I'd kinda like the same from them in return (or a refund of the extra postage from both times I had to send it to them, along with someone actually SIGNING for the pen this time....

Fortunately I still have the very nice shipping tubes they returned the pen in.

This is a pen that I bought in January, and is the *most* expensive pen I own, and the one that has been the MOST trouble. When the extended warranty is up I'm thinking that my friend's suggestion of "dressing up" the boring matte black finish with glitter nail polish may not be such a bad one after all....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Tan_Horseman]

I have found a lamy z24 and tesco brand cartridges fit in my parker vector.

[Terry L Smith]

Thank you for the information.

 

I look at both ink cartridges, and as I compare the wells of the two converters, I see ink-well capacity of 1/3 in comparison, with the converters.

 

Yes, the converters allow you your choice of ink supplier and color. I look with wonder at some of the inks out there, myself. I often times, have losing arguments with my inner accountant, so I just look. (Too many years stuck in the military/government wonk world of black or blue-black, but never blue since it never copied well, in those days, before Xerox, and 'two carbons' did not mean a drink.)

 

The Quink cartridges, though limited in colors, also have a reserve at the top of the cartridge, equal to near 1/2 the converter's well again. So that is almost 4 full converter fills to equal a Quink cartridge, if you like their colors.

 

The Penman catridges did offer a variety of colors, beyond the Quink staples. The Penman cartridges did NOT have an ink reserve at the top. Certain pens do not like Penman ink, or so it is said.

[Mike 59]

Hi Terry, Don't rule out refilling Quink cartridges with the ink of your choice, using a syringe and blunt needle.

These things might seem difficult to find normally but they are part of the kit used to refill inkjet printer cartridges.

(At least in the days when you could).

My local supermarket sells these kits 'own brand', and cost less than one bottle of ink.

They are also available from third party cartridge suppliers for a very low price.

I use mine at least a couple of times a week, a really important device to have around if using cartridges.