LUS Atomica and Aqua Pen: "Fill them with water and will write with ink"

[antoniosz]

In the old site that Giovanni had on LUS Atomica ( http://www.lusatomica.com/) he described the story of the two pens:

 

"I still remember the sensation his new pen caused when it was introduced at the Milan Trade Fair in 1959: hailed as a breakthrough in fountain pen design, the new LUS pen was named the "Atomica Magica"! The Magica was a sleek, modern looking syringe filler, sold at a very competitive price of 300 Lire. The unique feature of the Magica (and the reason for its name) was the built-in dispenser of solid ink pellets. The Magica was launched with the slogan "You fill it with water, it writes with ink!" The success of the pen was enormous, but short lived. The ink created by the pellets had a rather muddy appearance and I well remember its pungent smell. After the initial excitement, most users eventually filled the pen with regular ink and kept the "magic" feature for emergency use only. The pen was a competent writer, with the proven LUS hooded nib and plastic feed, millions of which had by then been produced.

 

Another feature made the Magica a breakthrough pen: the complete filler could be removed from the section (it was threaded) and a cartridge could be used in its place. The Magica was the first cartridge/converter pen to reach the market and its converter looked very similar to the units in use today. It preceded the Parker 45 by a year, confirming, once more, Signor Legnani's inventiveness and the innovation of his designs.

 

The huge success of the Atomica Magica did not go unnoticed and soon a number of copies began to appear on the market. In the United States, the Empex company introduced the "AquaPen", a nice looking fountain pen that used a simple squeeze-filler (in reality a flexible styrene cartridge) with a thick layer of concentrated solid ink housed in the top portion of the cartridge. Empex launched its AquaPen with the slogan: "Fill with water! Write with ink!"... Signor Legnani never found out about the AquaPen and the American firm's appropriation of his slogan, but his marketing flair and innovative designs had, once again, exercised a profound influence over pen designers around the globe."

 

In good condition. Steel nibs. The Atomica has the top jewel chipped.

 

$42 for these two interesting pens. Paypal OK. First class shipping to US included. International - talk to me first.

 

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/AtomicaandAqua-1.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b325/azavalia/AtomicaandAqua-2.jpg

[antoniosz]

On hold.

[thibaulthalpern]

The unique feature of the Magica (and the reason for its name) was the built-in dispenser of solid ink pellets. The Magica was launched with the slogan "You fill it with water, it writes with ink!" The success of the pen was enormous, but short lived. The ink created by the pellets had a rather muddy appearance and I well remember its pungent smell. After the initial excitement, most users eventually filled the pen with regular ink and kept the "magic" feature for emergency use only. The pen was a competent writer, with the proven LUS hooded nib and plastic feed, millions of which had by then been produced.

 

That is certainly a unique feature, but why would one want to have that feature instead of a fountain pen that fills with regular fountain pen ink?

[antoniosz]

That is certainly a unique feature, but why would one want to have that feature instead of a fountain pen that fills with regular fountain pen ink?

 

Because people dont carry with them fountain pen ink, while water can be found everywhere.

While cartridges did exist even before that time, they were not widely available.