Millar Ballpoint Pen?

July 12, 2012

Hi everyone,

Has anyone ever heard of MILLAR ballpoint pens? I picked it up at an estate sale last week and i cant find any info. It appears to be early, maybe 30's. Another user on this site suggested it could possibly be a prototype. any help would be appreciated:)

Thanks,

Daniel

July 17, 2012

I just got one of those too. I can not find any information on it at all. Mine unfortunately didn't come loaded with ink. Can you get a shot of the refill/spring setup? If I find anything, I'll post.

July 18, 2012

I just got one of those too. I can not find any information on it at all. Mine unfortunately didn't come loaded with ink. Can you get a shot of the refill/spring setup? If I find anything, I'll post.

Wow! so its not one of a kind:) I think mines jammed. I cant seem to get it to operate , i don't want to force it , im affraid ill break it. do you have any idea how the refill/spring setup would come out?

Daniel

April 26, 2021

To take the refill out. lift the short "clip" out of the pen body (opposite to the pocket clip). The end of this shot clip is curved inside and works with the clicker mechanism.

Still, I cannot find any refills for it. Anyone has an idea? The spring (3 1/4") is has long has the refill (4 7/16").

I kept the original refill, removed the ball part and placed a D1 refill inside. It is not a great fix since the D1 refill has a small play inside the hole of the section, but at least it works. It is also messy if you have to remove some old oil based ink from the refill.

Patrick

March 16, 2023

On 4/26/2021 at 12:25 PM, papierplume said:

To take the refill out. lift the short "clip" out of the pen body (opposite to the pocket clip). The end of this shot clip is curved inside and works with the clicker mechanism.

Still, I cannot find any refills for it. Anyone has an idea? The spring (3 1/4") is has long has the refill (4 7/16").

I kept the original refill, removed the ball part and placed a D1 refill inside. It is not a great fix since the D1 refill has a small play inside the hole of the section, but at least it works. It is also messy if you have to remove some old oil based ink from the refill.

Patrick

Hi. I have a few of these Millar Pens. I'm trying to keep the original brass refill, and fill with new ink.

Is this a practice that anyone has done when a new refill is not available?

Yes I expect it will be messy.

Thank you.

March 17, 2023

If I could see one, maybe I could help. I collect vintage ballpoint pens too.

please post a photo.

January 31

January 31

On 3/16/2023 at 10:15 PM, Zookie said:

If I could see one, maybe I could help. I collect vintage ballpoint pens too.

please post a photo.

Sorry for almost 1 year later reply.

February 19

On 3/16/2023 at 10:15 PM, Zookie said:

If I could see one, maybe I could help. I collect vintage ballpoint pens too.

please post a photo.

Hi, Any comments, or suggestions ?

February 21

Found this picture of a Millar Ball Point Pen service station countertop display on the web. According to this description, it is from the 1950s

December 5

On 3/16/2023 at 3:46 PM, JoWay said:

Hi. I have a few of these Millar Pens. I'm trying to keep the original brass refill, and fill with new ink.

Is this a practice that anyone has done when a new refill is not available?

Yes I expect it will be messy.

Thank you.

Yes. Good news the ink was isopropanol soluble. Researching this pen, saw this ancient post, and decided to attempt. In fairness, resurrecting a 70 year old pen should compensate for resurrecting a 12 year old post.

Equipment used: Isopropanol, 4" long blunt tip dispensing needle largest gauge that would fit (on the amazon kit it was the dark green), sonicator, flame, 0.94mm piano wire. Next time, gloves.

What eventually worked was adding isopropanol to the refill, sonicating, and then using the needle to "core" the ink-paste and then extrude it with iso. Some heat helped soften it. Then rinsed with copious amounts of iso. Used the piano wire to carefully (don't damage the ball!) break up the last of the paste as the needle was too short to reach all the way to the ball. Refilled with clean iso and then placed the ball end into a propane flame for a second at a time (note that it will boil out the back-end and spew drops of dilute ink if not careful). Then gently wrote on a paper in-between flame exposure a number of times. When writing through a number of evolutions, ink was spotty, then it was irregular, then it was spotty. At that point you may sometimes see a quick yellow flame which was probably the iso? Then drained the iso and sonicated again. Then filled it with with waterman blue, and repeated flame/write cycles until a consistent line was achieved. Moving forward I'll consider trying a gel ink.

Note that I don't recommend using a centrifuge to remove/load ink. I blew the ball out of my only eversharp refill with a centrifuge in my last attempt to resurrect a ballpoint, and gave up on the idea never tried it again until now.