Identifying A Pilot Pen

[gwaldo]

I purchased a pair of Pilot (supposedly 1970's) Fountain pens on Ebay, but the seller didn't know much about them. (Neither do I, truth be told...) They are pretty much identical except for the color and that only one's nib is labeled "14k 585", which now understand to mean that it was made in May 1985.

 

I purchased these because I'm happy with my Pilot Prera, but wanted to try an inexpensive flex-nib pen, which these two supposedly are. (They do seem to have some flex to them.)

 

Unfortunately, they did not include any cartridges or a converter. Can anyone identify this pen so that I may appropriate an appropriate converter? (I'd also welcome converter recommendations.)

 

Attached are the pictures from the ebay posting. I can take others for more detail if required. The black pen is identical except that the nib is not labelled.

 

These pens may be notable that the section extends underneath the metal mid-body sheathing.

Edited September 5, 2012 by gwaldo

[jar]

Welcome home. Pull up a stump and set a spell. Looks like some nice Pilot pocket pens.

 

The 585 is the gold content, not manufacture date. 14K is 14/24 or .585% gold.

[AltecGreen]

I purchased a pair of Pilot (supposedly 1970's) Fountain pens on Ebay, but the seller didn't know much about them. (Neither do I, truth be told...) They are pretty much identical except for the color and that only one's nib is labeled "14k 585", which now understand to mean that it was made in May 1985.

 

 

The 585 is not the date code. That refers to the gold content. 585 for 14k and 750 for 18k.

 

On the nib, the date code is likely stamped on the underside of the nib.

 

 

The pen looks like it takes the more modern cartridge/converter. Try what you use on the Prera. It might be a tight fit but don't force. If that doesn't work, then the pen could be a little earlier (mid 1960's) and take the short lived "double spare" cartridge or the Con-W converter.

[Uncle Red]

That's a nice little pocket pen. One issue is that a converter may fit on the section but not in the barrel. How big is it compared to your Prera? Fortunately Pilot makes a very good blue ink in carts.

[gwaldo]

Thank you for the welcome, Gentlemembers.

 

And thank you for the clarification on the "585".

 

Without cap, my Prera is 4 1/4" long. Without cap and at it's shortest, my new mystery pens are 4 1/8", and fully extended is 4 11/16".

 

Also, I got brave and tried my Prera converter (a CON-20) and found that it fit. The black pen writes well (though I need to practice to get the most out of the flex). Unfortunately the red pen dries up rapidly, even after squeezing ink out from the converter. I've got them both sitting in some water + dish soap at the moment.

 

The converter does fit even when the pen is fully compressed, fortunately.

Edited September 6, 2012 by gwaldo

[gwaldo]

Under brighter light, I noticed that there is an additional marking that I didn't notice before. The black pen has "HP 17", and the red has "IR 07".

[gwaldo]

Does anyone have a suggestion as to how I might go about removing the nib and feed?

Edited September 6, 2012 by gwaldo

[JemC]

Does the nose cone unscrew from the other end of the barrel threads?

 

Also, how's the weight compared to the Prera? I'm not well versed in Pilot history, but I'm intrigued by these pens

[gwaldo]

Does the nose cone unscrew from the other end of the barrel threads?

 

It looks like that is how it would come apart, but I haven't been able to make it budge using my hands. Tonight I'll try again using some non-stick pads.

 

Also, how's the weight compared to the Prera? I'm not well versed in Pilot history, but I'm intrigued by these pens

 

The weight is about similar to the Prera. I'll try to remember to put them on a scale later.

[hari317]

The transparent component on which the converter fits, will unscrew from the hood. after it is unscrewed, push the nib and feed assembly from the front, it will come out from the back.

 

These are excellent pens, enjoy!

 

ETA: did you get them from winworldjp? the pics have his trademark look.

Edited September 6, 2012 by hari317

[gwaldo]

The transparent component on which the converter fits, will unscrew from the hood. after it is unscrewed, push the nib and feed assembly from the front, it will come out from the back.

 

Thank you! I'll try that tonight.

 

These are excellent pens, enjoy!

 

I hope to. I only spent a few minutes with the black pen last night, but it had a pleasant feel when not using it as a flex-nib. I was a bit tentative when trying to flex it, though.

 

ETA: did you get them from winworldjp? the pics have his trademark look.

 

I believe that that was the vendor. There was a lot of detail about the pens' vital stats (size, weight, etc), and of course great pics, but I really would have liked the name.

 

In any case, he was a first class vendor. The shipping from Japan was about 4 days total, and he was very prompt with combining the shipping fee.

[gwaldo]

The transparent component on which the converter fits, will unscrew from the hood.

 

Dumb question, but should the transparent component unscrew counter-clockwise (the standard way), or clockwise? I tried one on each pen so I'd be able to get at least one off, but neither is budging.

 

Could it help if I cooled them before trying again? (Hoping for some shrinkage...)

[haywoody]

These pens were simply called "Short" in the Pilot catalogs and were sold during the mid-to-late '60's. The examples I've seen have date codes on the nib between late 1966 and early 1969. They came in several sizes, styles and colors.

 

The transparent connecting ring does have standard right-hand threads. Some of them can be very tough to unscrew, especially if the seal has allowed ink in to the threaded joint. You should soak the pen in water overnight, let it dry for a bit and gently heat it (a hair dryer on low to medium or heat gun on low should do the trick) before trying to unscrew it.

 

These pens are often described as having 14kt or alloy nibs. In my experience the "alloy" nibs are actually 14kt but the hallmarks are on the side of the nib, under the hood. The nibs are typically a bit springy, similar to the Lamy 2000 nib, but I have never seen one I would call flexible.

 

I carry one of these pens in my pocket every day and love it.

 

Enjoy them!

 

/Woody

[gwaldo]

Thanks, Woody. I'll try the soaking and heating.

 

One of the pens is labelled "14k 585", but the other is plain. Once I figure the date code, we'll see what I can learn.

 

This is my first somewhat-flexible. It's certainly no wet-noodle, but it's got more flex than the steel nibs I've had until now.

[gwaldo]

Ah-HA! Finally got them apart!

 

The black pen's nib is inscribed T367, and the red is T568.

 

Thank you all for your assistance

[Dillo]

Hi,

 

One is from March 1967. The other is from May 1968.

 

Very nice pens!

 

Dillon

[KBeezie]

Under brighter light, I noticed that there is an additional marking that I didn't notice before. The black pen has "HP 17", and the red has "IR 07".

HP 17 and IR 07 are the body-style codes

first letter is year (A = 1960), second letter is month A-L is Jan-Dec at Hiratsuka Plant, M-X at Tokyo Plant

And the last two digits are day of the month (yes that specific)

 

So HP 17 is 1967, April 17th

and IR 07 is 1968, June 7th.

 

So the body matches the nibs, just more specific down to the day.