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I've just disassembled my 1st English-made 51, and I've got a couple of questions. Did Parker use plastic breather tubes in some of their 51s? This pen is a 1953 vintage(based on the nib imprint, so I know it could be different). It has some kind of "plastic"(ebonite?) breather tube, with a larger bore than the stainless ones I've seen before. A stainless tube will not fit the bore in the feed, as the stainless tube is much narrower. The feed itself looks different, but externally the same diameter, as it will fit in a USA nib. The tube has a breather hole, and the ends of the tube look rather crudely cut, almost as if they've been snapped off. Is this typical, or just another of many variations of parts and manufacture through the years? Secondly, I think I have a B nib, but again, cannot be sure. I did not write with it before disassembly. Nib has PARKER "Made in England" stamp. Bottom left has a what appears to be "B . P ." stamp. Bottom right is stamped 1953. Is this just a standard B nib, or, is it something else entirely? Any ideas?

I have three Eversharp pens, two Skylines and a Symphony. All of them were bought in working condition, indeed the Symphony was from a supposedly never used batch that Peyton Street Pens had a couple of years back. Because they were working when I got them, there has never been any reason to take them apart. I did note, however, that the Symphony, although a very nice writer, didn't hold much ink. I hadn't used it in a while for that reason, but filled it a couple of days ago, only to have it go dry again today after light use. I can't say how many pages I wrote with it, as I was alternating with other pens, but we're definitely talking single digits. So I took out the section to have a look at the sac. It's in evidently good condition, and quite long, but by squeezing it I discovered for myself what a lot of other people already knew, that there is a breather tube running practically the whole length of the sac, and presumably taking up a lot of room. On the other hand, my two Skylines, which I'll assume for now have the breather tubes, seem to have much better ink capacity than the Symphony. Searching on this forum, I found plenty of topics on these breather tubes, such as this one, just to give one example. I learn something new every day. I'd seen breather tubes before in Parker 51 aerometric fillers, but hadn't run into them in lever fillers before. This leads to a number of questions. Is the breather tube actually a necessary part in the Eversharps? Will they work without it?Will they work with a shorter breather tube?Is it likely that the reason for the low ink capacity in my Symphony is the breather tube, or could there be other issues?Did all Eversharp models use these breather tubes?Are there other brands of vintage lever filler that used (and need) breather tubes? No hurry. I'm cleaning out the Symphony and putting it aside anyway, as there is another pen I want to use. I notice, though, that there seems to be another feature of this tube. It takes a lot more flushes to get a reasonable amount of the ink out of the pen.

I need a new breather tube for a frankenpen I am modifying. It needs to fit in the Ahab feed but has to be longer than the typical Ahab tube. Does anyone have suggestions for where I can get appropriate tubes/tubing?

I am not totally certain if this is the right section to post this query, but since the eyedropper pen is widely known in India, I think the chance of finding a definitive answer is much greater. As we all know, eyedropper-fill pens have a tendency to burp ink when the amount of air increases up to a point inside the reservoir. The use of a more effective feed such as that on the Sheaffer No Nonsense go some way to help for acting as a better buffer, but the Indian-made finned feeds - also used in the Noodler's Ahab in 6.3mm size - should also be more effective in this department. In fact my Kim came with this feed. However, this particular 6.3mm feed has a hole in the back for the fitting of a breather tube, which in the case of the Ahab, increases ink filling efficiency as a small hole is opened on the top side of the feed facing the underside of the nib. I am beginning to wonder if this feature for accommodating a breather tube is meant for eyedropper pens as well: I can envisage the fitting of a breather tube to the feed, where the far end almost reaches the dead end of the ink reservoir. I'd imagine there is a better chance for the internal and external pressures to get equalized. I have yet to conduct experiments on this, but I seem to recall seeing some eyedropper pens with breather tubes fitted to their feeds, so there might be something in it after all. I would certainly welcome the views of my fellow correspondents, and perhaps even better, first-hand experiences on it too. Thank you.

Hello, I have a very simple question: What should the length of a Parker "51" Vac Breather tube be? The one I have in my pen (standard size "51" Vac) right now is about 28mm long, with only about 15mm sticking out of the end of the collector. The pen takes about 1.2 mL of ink, which is slightly low in my opinion (considering this is a "51" Vac). I guess a longer tube would allow for a better ink fill, but how long should that be, in order for it not to touch with the rubber diaphragm when the later is extended? Thank you! Regards, Dragoş Edit: Also, where can I get this sort of tubing in Europe? Preferably at a low cost (it's just a plastic tube after all!)