.05Mm Mechanical Pencil With Grippers To Hold Lead

[DrDycke2]

Several years ago (perhaps 40 years) I had a mechanical pencil that had four finger-like grippers that held the lead in place. When the lead was extended, the grippers extended about a millimeter and opened to allow the lead to extend. When pressure was released, the grippers closed and returned to their normal position.

 

I have attached a .png drawing to illustrate what I am trying to describe.

 

Does anyone remember what brand made such mechanical pencils? I'd like to get another, but I cannot find any despite many Google searches.

[tfwall]

Perhaps you could search by application? Surely, a lead holder for 0.05 mm must be super specialized.

[DET]

DrDycke2: I'm pretty sure my Parker 51 mechanical pencil functions in the way you described and illustrated. You may want to look at those.

[Mike 59]

I have been using this 2mm leadholder since about '83.....a Staedtler Mars 780.

Could be this type?

[SallyLyn]

I recently bought from Jetpens.com 2mm and 5.6mm graphite holders. They also carry other drafting and mechanical pencils. You might find what you are looking for there.

Amazon and eBay also sell the 2mm and 5.6, maybe others if you find a brand/type you want.

Edited March 25, 2015 by SallyLyn

[thatotherguy1]

You might have more luck if you search for a clutch pencil.

Do you mean 0.5 mm or was the five hundredths not a typo? I have never seen a 0.05mm pencil...

Most high quality click knock type mechanical pencils actually use a modified internal clutch mechanism. The Pentels and Alvin drafting pencils I have all have 3 finger clutches I believe. They have a clutch ring that catches against a lip in the nose cone (that clutch ring is the nose cone itself in an open clutch pencil) and it's all inside the pencil, so it isn't a true clutch pencil.

 

I believe that the true clutches fell out of common favor with thinner leads because the contact point between the clutch and the lead would be rather sharp, which would act as a shear point and allow the lead to break more easily than a sleeve supported pencil like most small diameter pencils have. Just a speculation.

 

I'll stop rambling now. Good luck in your search!

[Chris]

I have a few old ones but I think they take 0.9mm leads. They were my father's so will be 50 years old at least by now! There was a set if I remember correctly with different coloured leads.

 

And somewhere I have one of those Mars 2mm clutch pencils. I would like to like them but sharpening the lead is a pain.

[Ethereal Winter Wind]

Do you mean 0.5 mm or was the five hundredths not a typo? I have never seen a 0.05mm pencil...

 

I've noticed a lot of Americans made this mistake. I assume they aren't use to a millimetre being so short compared to their standard measure of an inch or confuse mm and cm.

 

But yeah I've not see a 0.5 mm leader holder before. I've seen the screw type which is pretty cool.

[Ron Z]

A number of manufacturers used the same basic mechanism. I suspect that they came from the same manufacturer. Parker 51 pencils used them, as did Esterbrooks. I suggested this to one client, and with a couple of minor modifications he installed one from an Esterbrook into a 51 pencil.

 

Inside the casing was a clutch that pushed the lead forward and then released so that the the lead didn't pull back when you released the button. The exposed fingers gripped the lead and kept it from pushing back in when you wrote. If that internal clutch gets sticky for fails, the lead will rather frustratingly keep pulling back in as the button or cap is released. Maybe repairable - I've usually given up and installed a new one.

[thatotherguy1]

 

I've noticed a lot of Americans made this mistake. I assume they aren't use to a millimetre being so short compared to their standard measure of an inch or confuse mm and cm.

 

But yeah I've not see a 0.5 mm leader holder before. I've seen the screw type which is pretty cool.

Your assumption is accurate. Being American I see it every day. Of course, I'm not fully used to the metric system either (I do still use imperial measurements more often; they're MUCH more common) but I will admit that the metric system is considerably more logical than the imperial system I'm more used to. It's too bad that the attempts to move American measurements to metric have failed.

 

Any luck on finding the pencil? Any idea on when this pencil was used, OP? It might have been a 0.9mm pencil after all- up until the Japanese super thin lead pencils became common here in the States in the late 60s and 70s the standard writing lead size was 1.1mm (or roughly 0.046 inch if you're curious). The "thin" leads (or whatever trademark the manufacturer had on them- Autopoint was "real-thin" for example) leads were 0.9mm.

[Ricardo1962]

Probably a Pilot Clutch Point Mechanical Pencil. As far as I know Pilot has been producing them for a very long time, maybe early to mid 80's.

 

 

Current production models:

http://www.pilot.co.jp/products/pen/sharp_pen/sharp_pen/clutchpoint/

http://www.pilot.co.jp/products/pen/sharp_pen/sharp_pen/clutch/

 

There's also the Staedtler Integrity 9505, a more recent pencil.

http://davesmechanicalpencils.blogspot.pt/2008/12/staedtler-integrity-9505-mechanical.html

 

Wouldn't surprise me if other Japanese brands, like Sakura, Uchida or even Pentel, at one point also had 0.5 mm mp's with a clutch system. When it comes to pencils (almost) everything is possible in Japan!

 

R.

[SteveE]

Actually, Pentel has been using that type of clutch mechanism in their 0.5 mm pencils since about the mid-1970's. I know I bought one for work as an accountant, and it was either in the early or mid 1970's. BTW, I still have several, and they work just as well now as they did then.

 

IIRC, the Parker Jotter pencils also used that sort of mechanism. Not sure of their vintage, though.