Japanese pens and filling systems

[AltecGreen]

I was getting a good laugh when I saw the ink capacity of the new Sailor Realo Profit piston filler. :roflmho:

 

It seems interesting that most modern Japanese pens use cartridge/converter systems with few exceptions like the Pilot 823, Sailor Realo, and the Danitrio eyedropper pens.

 

I've been buying vintage Japanese pens these days and it seems that pens up until the 1950's came in eyedropper, lever fillers, twist button fillers, switch fillers, etc. So there was a large variety in filling systems and all of those were integral. It seems all of these filling systems were abandoned in the 1960's with only a few scattered pens now and then that use integral filling systems since the 1960's.

 

So I'm wondering when the transition happened and why? (I assume it was in the 1960's judging by the pens of that era.) Many western companies continued to produce integral fillers.

[HDoug]

Just a guess and speculation, but it may be because fountain pens are used by a greater proportion of the Japanese population for day to day writing, and a convenient method of re-inking is more important. Where fountain pens are more of a luxury item, the filling system becomes a feature.

 

Of course, this opinion is subject to contradiction by actual data and reality. I hate that, but early thread responders get some license.

 

Doug

Edited August 21, 2009 by HDoug

[AltecGreen]

My hypothesis would be that cartridge converters at the time seemed very modern and much more convenient. My second guess is that in the mid 60's the small pocket pens became all the rage (i.e. Pilot Elite). These pens were too small for a practical integral filler so C/C became the norm.

 

It's too bad because the Japanese pens from the 30's to 50's had all kinds of interesting filling systems. I love the twist button filler on my Pilot Ultra 200.

[kernando]

Could anybody in Japan or otherwise knowledgeable tell us whether there are lots of people using cartridges once and throwing them away and then buying more boxes of cartridges? Maybe the market is and has been like that for decades, with good money selling ink in cartridges at several times that of bottles.

 

That's my cynical angle on the prevalence of cartridges. As for special bottled inks like the Sailor editions and the Pilot Iroshizuku, I don't know. Maybe they're content to have one self filler model each and let everybody use converters. But then converters are sold separately sometimes. The self filler is a luxury and cartridges are everyday interpretation sounds plausible.

 

I don't understand the fascination with piston converters, with only Pilot offering alternatives. The knobs don't fit smaller pens, and the plastic makes ink hang up.