Onoto Fountain Pen Cap. 2Nd Attempt.

[Whoneedsasword]

I have this cap, but not the rest of the pen, and I'm just wondering if anyone could enlighten me as to the model.

 

Sorry Cob, I feel very foolish to not hav added the photos!

[barriep]

It looks like the cap from a K2 or a K3 pen, c1957?

[Whoneedsasword]

I wish!!

 

I have a K3 with no cap and I have a K1 which is the same body as the K2........it's a push on cap, but it's too big for the K3 and too small for the K1/K2.

[Cob]

Yes, a K3 I think. The K1, 2 & 4 caps have different clip screws, only the K3 has a screw like yours. This information extracted from Stephen Hull's Onoto book.

 

Cob

Edited September 9, 2019 by Cob

[Whoneedsasword]

I hoped it was for my K3 but I don't understand why it doesn't fit snugly on the pen...I'm wondering if the metal thingamebobby inside the cap might need some kind of adjustment to improve the fit? Is this possible to do?

[stephanos]

On the topic of the K-series...

 

I have a black Onoto which is shaped a bit like a Parker 51 (including the hooded nib), but which has a screw-cap, is a piston-filler and has a large clear ink-window. The only marking on the pen is the name, ONOTO on the clip. The finial on the cap is a pointed dome. The cap band and clip-and-clip-band are gold-plated.

I believe it to be a K4 model, though I no longer remember where I got that information or whether it is accurate; I've had the pen for at least five years.

The pen itself writes beautifully, though I have a memory of having to work on it to make it so. It is a very wet writer.

 

My questions are,

a) is it possible that I am right, that it's a K4 model? and

if so, can you tell me anything about the model? From the posts in this thread, I presume that it's a late-1950s/early-1960s pen

[praxim]

Stephanos, yes, that is a K4. The K series were the only true piston fillers by Onoto. They were made 1955-57 and were the last De La Rue Onotos before DLR stopped manufacture. Some Onotos, only small lever fillers I believe, continued to be made in Australia for a few more years. I think I wrote somewhere else on FPN on differences between the K series. I have each other than K2 which is just a K1 with a different cap (or vice versa).

 

@Whoneedsasword: I agree with Cob, that certainly looks like a K3 cap. I compared it with my real life one as well as with Stephen Hull's book. If it does not fit your K3 pen then is it that the pen is not a K3...?

 

edit:add clarifying info

Edited January 27, 2020 by praxim

[stephanos]

Thank you, Praxim! Much obliged.

[ralfstc]

The K-series are interesting little pens. I think I have about five! Three of them are out of action due to cracking plastic; the caps and the "hoods" seem especially fragile, and they will literally crack sitting in a drawer. When they do work they are fun to write with. The nibs feel strangely like older Onoto nibs in my experience. The skinny ones may be less than smooth, but they are flexible and fun (the nib is not a true tubular nib like a 51, so there is flex-ability). The broader nibs are smooth and nicely stubby. All of the nibs are wet, of the ones I have, and the piston apparatus itself is bulletproof.

 

They leak like a bugger when jostled or taken on a plane, so don't even try. Too bad, because they are a nice EDC size.

 

Overall, an idea that could have used more testing before production, I think, but a nice component of an Onoto collection.

 

Cheers,

 

Ralf