Search the Community

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 have a Schaeffer Balance II, purchased years ago and the tube running through the back of the section was damaged. Has anyone had this happen to them? Any chance this can be repaired or replaced for a reasonable sum?