Sleeve / Thumb Filling Pen Chronology

[DanDeM]

I bought this sleeve fill Eclipse from Steve Baum (AllWriteNow) in August 2012. It would seem to be the

same pen he referenced in the FPN link included in post #25 of this thread.

 

 

 

Imprinted:

 

Barrel: Boots (in script) ECLIPSE SELF FILLING SAFETY PEN

End Cap:Made in USA

Screw Cap: SAFETY CAP

Nib: Eclipse (in football) 14K NY

 

The discussion suggests it was made c.1910 for Eclipse by Standard & Vulcanite,

and sold through the Boots chain of British Chemists. It has a sliding sleeve and

no patent references.

[sztainbok]

I bought this sleeve fill Eclipse from Steve Baum (AllWriteNow) in August 2012. It would seem to be the

same pen he referenced in the FPN link included in post #25 of this thread.

 

 

 

Imprinted:

 

Barrel: Boots (in script) ECLIPSE SELF FILLING SAFETY PEN

End Cap:Made in USA

Screw Cap: SAFETY CAP

Nib: Eclipse (in football) 14K NY

 

The discussion suggests it was made c.1910 for Eclipse by Standard & Vulcanite,

and sold through the Boots chain of British Chemists. It has a sliding sleeve and

no patent references.

 

Can you see an inscription in the pressure bar? If you look at the pictures of the Eclipse and the American Ftn. Pen Co. pens referred to from the links in post 25, they have the same patent No. reference. Victor.

[DanDeM]

Can you see an inscription in the pressure bar? If you look at the pictures of the Eclipse and the American Ftn. Pen Co. pens referred to from the links in post 25, they have the same patent No. reference. Victor.

 

 

It took a 15X loupe to read it and some very intense light, but it says Licensed Under Patent 781649, which further confirms

your earlier question about implementation of RA Hamilton's mark.

Edited December 12, 2012 by Blotto

[Vintagepens]

The rotating sleeve as used by Aikin Lambert most likely was made under the 1905 Ferris patent. I haven't seen any other sleeve-filler patents that more closely resemble it, even if the pin and slot arrangement isn't specifically described there.

 

It may be significant that Ferris' first sleeve filler design was produced by Waterman only in its economy sub-brand line, Remex. Apparently it was not felt to be a suitable mechanism for a Waterman-branded pen. Which could also explain why it ended up on an Aikin Lambert, given how Ferris joined Aikin-Lambert's board in mid-1906 as part of Waterman's quiet takeover of the company (read my latest research on this here).

[sztainbok]

The rotating sleeve as used by Aikin Lambert most likely was made under the 1905 Ferris patent. I haven't seen any other sleeve-filler patents that more closely resemble it, even if the pin and slot arrangement isn't specifically described there.

 

It may be significant that Ferris' first sleeve filler design was produced by Waterman only in its economy sub-brand line, Remex. Apparently it was not felt to be a suitable mechanism for a Waterman-branded pen. Which could also explain why it ended up on an Aikin Lambert, given how Ferris joined Aikin-Lambert's board in mid-1906 as part of Waterman's quiet takeover of the company (read my latest research on this here).

 

Thanks for the confirmation David. I also was under the impression that it could be covered by the 1905 Ferris patent, but I was concerned I could have missed some patent that more closely describes the slot and pin arrangement. It seems to me that the bead and lip arrangement would be suitable for a metal pen, but more difficult to achieve on a hard rubber pen.

Your work on Aikin Lambert's relationship with Waterman is very interesting.

Victor.

[sztainbok]

Can you see an inscription in the pressure bar? If you look at the pictures of the Eclipse and the American Ftn. Pen Co. pens referred to from the links in post 25, they have the same patent No. reference. Victor.

 

 

It took a 15X loupe to read it and some very intense light, but it says Licensed Under Patent 781649, which further confirms

your earlier question about implementation of RA Hamilton's mark.

 

It's a very nice looking pen and a very good example of the Hamilton design, one of the earliest sleeve filling pens.

Victor.

[simp]

Victor:

Here's the Holland. Wirt and Edison to follow.

 

Filling accomplished by lifting the button that is midway between the bands.

 

 

 

This is the imprint. The fill button is just above it.

 

 

Dan

I always though that this was called pull-filler (or something like this). Anyway the patent for this should be 804847.

 

Simone

[simp]

Attached is an updated chart summarizing the information provided in this thread.

 

I appreciate any corrections, additions and commentary. Thank you.

 

Victor.

Hi Victor,

 

thanks for your work, I update my list with yours, and found some more related patents (at least they seems so to me...):

 

n° US-1019930, published 1912-03-12, applied il 1911-06-16, Francis W. Vaughn Jr., Henry J. Upton ??Chilton/Crocker??

n° US-1042804, published 1912-10-29, applied il 1912-02-09, James W. Laughlin

n° US-1051670, published 1913-01-28, applied il 1912-06-10, Claes W. Boman, Eagle

n° US-2148853, published 1939-02-28, applied il 1938-04-26, Homer J. Bessette, LeBoeuf

 

 

I have an automatically generated list in the second section of this page (for the moment it's only in italian) and I can find more they will be automatically added:

 

http://www.fountainpen.it/Sleeve_filler

 

Regards

Simone

[sztainbok]

Attached is an updated chart summarizing the information provided in this thread.

 

I appreciate any corrections, additions and commentary. Thank you.

 

Victor.

Hi Victor,

 

thanks for your work, I update my list with yours, and found some more related patents (at least they seems so to me...):

 

n° US-1019930, published 1912-03-12, applied il 1911-06-16, Francis W. Vaughn Jr., Henry J. Upton ??Chilton/Crocker??

n° US-1042804, published 1912-10-29, applied il 1912-02-09, James W. Laughlin

n° US-1051670, published 1913-01-28, applied il 1912-06-10, Claes W. Boman, Eagle

n° US-2148853, published 1939-02-28, applied il 1938-04-26, Homer J. Bessette, LeBoeuf

 

 

I have an automatically generated list in the second section of this page (for the moment it's only in italian) and I can find more they will be automatically added:

 

http://www.fountainp...t/Sleeve_filler

 

Regards

Simone

Thank you very much for your input. I will update the chart soon. I am particularly interested on patent 1019930, assigned to Vaughan Jr. Until now I thought that the first company to make a sleeve filler with a full sliding barrel was LeBoeuf, but this is clearly an earlier model. Why do you think these pens were made by Chilton/Crocker? I would like to see a picture if you have one.

I also find very interesting patent 1051670 assigned to Boman for Eagle. It appears to show a new category of sleeve filler, where the part that moves in order to expose the pressure bar is the inner filling unit.

Victor.

[DanDeM]

Victor:

Here's the Holland. Wirt and Edison to follow.

 

Filling accomplished by lifting the button that is midway between the bands.

 

 

 

This is the imprint. The fill button is just above it.

 

 

Dan

I always though that this was called pull-filler (or something like this). Anyway the patent for this should be 804847.

 

Simone

 

Simone:

In his 1909 catalog he calls it Self Filling and lists patent dates for Nov. 21, 1905 and May 29, 1906. Today they I've seen

them called saddle and/or pull filler. Thanks for getting the patent #.

Dan

[simp]

Thank you very much for your input. I will update the chart soon. I am particularly interested on patent 1019930, assigned to Vaughan Jr. Until now I thought that the first company to make a sleeve filler with a full sliding barrel was LeBoeuf, but this is clearly an earlier model. Why do you think these pens were made by Chilton/Crocker? I would like to see a picture if you have one.

I also find very interesting patent 1051670 assigned to Boman for Eagle. It appears to show a new category of sleeve filler, where the part that moves in order to expose the pressure bar is the inner filling unit.

Victor.

Hi Victor,

 

unfortunately I don't own any sleeve filler, and I don't have any pictures of them.

 

I was thinking about Chilton because Upton has some patent assigned to that company, but these are later, and looking to his other patents it seems that he was also working for Moore (or licensing some patent to them).

 

I just got those patents searching inside USPTO for the wiki, adding them with some classification. Sometime I found also external informations (like people confirming that a specific patent was used for a specific model or brand), but for the most all I have are the information inside the patents itself, and for many of them we have just the name of the inventor, not the company that used them.

 

Simone

[simp]

Simone

In his 1909 catalog he calls it Self Filling and lists patent dates for Nov. 21, 1905 and May 29, 1906. Today they I've seen

them called saddle and/or pull filler. Thanks for getting the patent #.

Dan

Self filling was quite a common name at that time. I adopted the pull filler name, but I'm sure it's just a nickname. It would be nice to have a general agreement in some of these nicknames...

 

For the patents, the second one seems to be US-821940 (at least it's the one I have in my database for that date).

 

Simone

[Brian Anderson]

Brian, this is a beautiful pen.

 

If this pen was made using the Sanford and Bennett patent No. 807500, http://www.google.co...=807500&f=false the sleeve would have inside threads that engage on the nib side of the barrel when closed and with the other side of the barrel in the open position. I read the patent and was not quite able to visualize how it works. I would appreciate if you could clarify how it works.

 

Thank you,

 

Victor.

Victor-

 

Sorry for the lte reply, I don't recall having seen this before. The pen I have simply slides open. There are no threads on the "sleeve" anywhere. I would be interested to hear thoughts on who this was made by if not Sanford & Bennett.

 

I have acquired a couple of Aikin Lambert Sleeve fillers this year, and will include pictures here to add to the discussion. I received a plain black hard rubber version as well for Christmas, but can't seem to find pictures of it at the moment (maybe I did not take any). It is identical to the overlay though.

 

http://www.esterbrook.net/collection/alcothumb.jpg

http://www.esterbrook.net/collection/alcothumb_so.jpg

http://www.esterbrook.net/collection/alcothumb_o.jpg

[simp]

Beeing an Aikin Lamber it should be based on this one, by I. Ferris:

 

http://www.fountainpen.it/File:Patent-US-799897.pdf

 

Simone

[simp]

I think I found the patent for the rotating sleeve filler, it could be this one:

 

http://www.fountainpen.it/File:Patent-US-818803.pdf

 

By Otto Emil Weidlich.

 

Simone

[Pickwick]

I think I found the patent for the rotating sleeve filler, it could be this one:

 

http://www.fountainpen.it/File:Patent-US-818803.pdf

 

By Otto Emil Weidlich.

 

Simone

I have one with the same design as the patent with an Aikin and Lambert gold nib

[simp]

Aikin Lambert (the Ferris patent) have rotating sleeve at the end, Weidlich at the center. At least from patents sketch. I do not owe anyone of those so I can only look at patents...

 

Simone

[Pickwick]

Aikin Lambert (the Ferris patent) have rotating sleeve at the end, Weidlich at the center. At least from patents sketch. I do not owe anyone of those so I can only look at patents...

 

Simone

You're right mine is at the end.

[sztainbok]

Aikin Lambert (the Ferris patent) have rotating sleeve at the end, Weidlich at the center. At least from patents sketch. I do not owe anyone of those so I can only look at patents...

 

Simone

Simone, Do you think that the pen shown in post #40 is closer to the Weidlich design than the Ferris design?

Thank you, Victor.

[simp]

Sorry for late answer, got busy and mail notifications seems no to work...

 

The position for the Weidlich one is the same and also the rotating system. Both Ferris patents are quite different. But there is no trace of the mechanism. For its position also the Barret one (http://www.fountainpen.it/File:Patent-US-1038068.pdf) seems similar. But the best candidate is the Baumel one (http://www.fountainpen.it/File:Patent-US-1169603.pdf) that seem to have a metallic pin.

 

It's difficult to see which one is the right one, because it is quite normal to have differences between patents and real production.

 

Simone