Eyedropper

May 29, 2007

Hi all,

I've posted a new topic in "History" forum (but containing certain repair questions) and nobody has answered them up to now. You can find it at https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=32747

Mainly:

1- How do you repair a crack (with missing part) on a hard rubber cap? Copy it in resin? In coloured epoxi? How do you stick the new part into its place?

2- Someone has sealed the cap's holes. What for? Should I re-drill them? There are four of them, and they might have been drilled by a technician (they don't seem to be symmetrical, nor in the same line/"ring", though I should measure this more accurately).

3- Nib tines tend to overlap one on top of the other (it is quite thin and untipped). I've tried to bend the nib upwards, which partially solved the problem. I think that if I try to bend it more it will look unnatural (and will separate a bit from the feeder, which would require further adjustment). Any tip here?

This includes the questions I orininally made when posting and new ones (I have already disassembled the pen, which has been quite a hard job, unclogged it, and assembled it back together).

Any feedback will be welcome!!

Rgds.

Martin

May 30, 2007

You can find my last posting referring to this subject at https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=32747

Any feedback on restoration will be welcome.

Rgds.

Martin

May 31, 2007

Hi all,

I've taken kind of better pictures:

Any help?

Thanks.

Martin

Some pen videos · June 1, 2007

Slow down

First of all there are many pens for which we know absolutely nothing.

Yours seems to be one of them...

Then regarding repairs. Others have answered this elsewhere but

it is not possible to generate enough adhesion with hard rubber because of its chemistry.

Having said that there are people might be able to do something for the looks with an epoxy

or something similar. But this costs probably in the range of $30-40 or maybe more.

The person that sealed the vents possibly did it because it dried too quickly.

On needs to check if there is an inner cap and if the feed "seats" properly on it.

The tines do not look overlapping in the photo above. At least for flex nibs it is OK for the tips to touch.

But if the tines are untipped, and in addition there are all these problems with this pen,

it seems to me that it may be not worth repairing it. Probably, it is better to spend the money on another pen that works.

In my opinion (others may think otherwise) this is a pen to be left as is unless money is not an issue.

Just in case that the issue of "value" crossed you mind, in general "rare" pens do not necessarily imply valuable ($) pens.

A "rare" pen must be collectable to be of high value.

I think that you will enjoy this pen the most by trying to figure out more about the company.

June 1, 2007

If the cracked portion does not impact the threads and the cap holds on Ok, there is nothing to prevent this from being a perfectly good user. I would not bother with trying to fix the cap. Even the untipped nib can be smoothed, though raw gold will wear much faster than the tipping.

The cap holes were breather holes. In old slip-cap eyedropper pens, there would be a number of holes as the ones in your pen that vented the cap, so when you opened the cap it did not create a vacuum that sucked ink out of the pen. Waterman actually sold their pens with a wax seal in the breather holes, and included instructions to poke out the wax seals if you carried the pen a lot (as opposed to leaving it at a desk), or leave the wax seals in to prevent drying of the nib. However, when threaded-capped pens came out they usually had an inner cap that sealed against the section. The inner cap was not vented, and the outer cap was vented. There would be no reason to seal the outer cap vents to prevent drying if the inner cap was fitted properly - can you see if there is an inner cap?

I have also seen breather-holes clogged with dried ink or dirt that just needed a quick poke to clear them.

No luck with any of my sources on Pitus Manufacturing co., but I am still looking (Antonios usually has better sources than I, or at least better access).

Good luck and enjoy the pen!

John

June 1, 2007

Dear Antonio,

Thanks for your feedback

Slow down
First of all there are many pens for which we know absolutely nothing.
Yours seems to be one of them...

Then regarding repairs. Others have answered this elsewhere but
it is not possible to generate enough adhesion with hard rubber because of its chemistry.
Having said that there are people might be able to do something for the looks with an epoxy
or something similar. But this costs probably in the range of $30-40 or maybe more.

Seems that it will be a lot easier to leave it as it is...

The person that sealed the vents possibly did it because it dried too quickly.
On needs to check if there is an inner cap and if the feed "seats" properly on it.

There seems to be an inner cap, but not in the way I am used to in modern pens (metal sheet, shaped and cut to form like a "crown"), but just like a step and the deepest portion of the cap is thicker.

The tines do not look overlapping in the photo above. At least for flex nibs it is OK for the tips to touch.

The tines are not overlapping just because I've leveled one to each other. This will only last until the next time I lean this into a sheet of paper.

But if the tines are untipped, and in addition there are all these problems with this pen,
it seems to me that it may be not worth repairing it. Probably, it is better to spend the money on another pen that works.
In my opinion (others may think otherwise) this is a pen to be left as is unless money is not an issue.

Thanks for your advice. I am looking at trying to repair this by myself as much as possible (I've already disassembled it, cleaned -it was absolutely clogged-, alinged the feed and nib -they had a separation of something like 1mm-). It's just that it is kind of fun for me.

Just in case that the issue of "value" crossed you mind, in general "rare" pens do not necessarily imply valuable ($) pens.
A "rare" pen must be collectable to be of high value.

I think that you will enjoy this pen the most by trying to figure out more about the company.

Thanks for your advice. 99% of the times, when you get an old pen (or an old photo camera, or an old painting, ...) it has a very low value. The main problem comes that about 75% of the people think they have the 1% that is worth a little fortune. Though this is not my case, I was interested in knowing the value before trying to repair by myself just in case I damage something.

Rgds.

Dear John,

Thanks for your feedback.

If the cracked portion does not impact the threads and the cap holds on Ok, there is nothing to prevent this from being a perfectly good user. I would not bother with trying to fix the cap. Even the untipped nib can be smoothed, though raw gold will wear much faster than the tipping.

OK. I was just thinking on darkening epoxi, but I will most probably leave it as it is. It seems that Hard Rubber is everyone else's headache, so I'll try to fix all the rest first and, if still with enough energy to give to the eyedropper, make a mold in paris plaster and fill it with something. The cap screws (and hopefully seals) OK, so this crack is just aesthetics.
The cap holes were breather holes. In old slip-cap eyedropper pens, there would be a number of holes as the ones in your pen that vented the cap, so when you opened the cap it did not create a vacuum that sucked ink out of the pen. Waterman actually sold their pens with a wax seal in the breather holes, and included instructions to poke out the wax seals if you carried the pen a lot (as opposed to leaving it at a desk), or leave the wax seals in to prevent drying of the nib. However, when threaded-capped pens came out they usually had an inner cap that sealed against the section. The inner cap was not vented, and the outer cap was vented. There would be no reason to seal the outer cap vents to prevent drying if the inner cap was fitted properly - can you see if there is an inner cap?

I think I'll leave the holes as they are. As the cap is threaded, there wouldn't be any trouble on that.

I have also seen breather-holes clogged with dried ink or dirt that just needed a quick poke to clear them.

Some of these seem to be clogged with ink, BTW.

No luck with any of my sources on Pitus Manufacturing co., but I am still looking (Antonios usually has better sources than I, or at least better access).

Good luck and enjoy the pen!

John

I'll follow your advice, too. I'll do my best to restore it (polish and straighten the nib is the only missing thing I can currently see), fill with water to test it, and put it to use.

Thanks to both again.

Martin

June 6, 2007

Hi all,

Repairing (though not restoration) job seems to be finished. Everything has been disassembled a couple of times, cleaned thoroughly, rinsed, and assembled. One of the times I've also polished the nib and, once assembled, aligned and smoothed.

It seemst to work well with just plain water, so I shouldn't have any trouble with ink.

My main question right now is: Nib seems to be very flexible indeed. I've never used one, should I take any particular care when writing with it?

Thanks to all.

Rgds.

Martin

June 6, 2007

Martin - If you've taken it apart and gotten the nib tines to meet at the tip, then you've solved a good part of the problem in getting it to write. Upon reassembly, you may also have to heat-set the feed against the nib. Why? If the nib and feed aren't in close contact, the capillary action won't work right to allow the pen to write. I'm also assuming you got the feed out and cleaned it well. Use of an ultrasonic and tooth-brushing the ink channels (with toothpaste if you want....a subtle abrasive) work wonders. Clean ink channels are paramount.

Writing with a flex nib isn't hard, it just requires practice. Work with it easy and use some Spencerian lettforms as a guide; but don't over-flex it, or you'll spring it (irreversible bending).

The pen probably isn't worth much, esp with the cracked, unrepairable cap ($1-2?), so it's something to enjoy as a little taste of 100 years ago.

Skip

June 7, 2007

if the pen has no real $ value a simple repair to the cap... if the thread inside is deep enough in... is to simple grind/cut the cap down to the level of the missing bit... and could even then reshape the edge to sort of match what was there originally...

won't be the same as the original pen cap but at least it will be fully usable without the missing bit catching on anything and feeling rough... and then you can have a great little flex pen for daily use to muck around with

cheers

Trevor