Esterbrook J Series Pencil Lead Dates?

[PPPR]

Going through J Model pens and pencils in the galimaufry of writing equipment, it dawned on me I didn't know much about the standard (0.046") and thin (0.036") lead versions of the pencils. Both sizes of lead would have been available when the model was introduced.

 

Did Esterbrook offer both sizes coincidentally or sequentially?

 

Neither Hoban, Binder, nor Anderson were of help. So, here I am.

 

For J Model pencils, did Esterbrook offer standard and thin lead pencils at same time? The purchaser would then make the choice. Did they first offer standard-lead pencils before switching to thin lead.

 

Enquiring minds want to know.

 

TIA

[FarmBoy]

I’ve acquired both sizes in sets with otherwise identical pens. 
 

but sets could cave been post dated. 

[gweimer1]

The guy to ask is probably Jon Veley, from Legendary Lead.   He'd be the expert on pencils.

[PPPR]

There's an Esterbrook brochure from 1957 on the Pen Collector's of America's website, which offers part of the answer. At the time, there were four mechanical pencils:

 

PJ standard lead, 0.046", for J, LJ, and SJ FPs

TTJ (sic) thin lead, 0.036", for J, LJ, and SJ FPs

TTH (sic) thin lead, 0.036", for CH FPs

TK thin lead, 0.036", for LK FP and FK BP

 

From this it appears the purchaser (or at least the store) could choose the lead size to accompany a J series pen.

 

This was the case in 1957. The PCA also has a copy of a catalog from 1941-1942. Even though it predates the J series, it offered pencils in standard or thin lead. This leads to the inference that both sizes of lead were available for the J series at the same time.

[PPPR]

Here's something else from the 1957 brochure that might be of interest. In the illustration with the PJ and TJ pencils side by side, the TJ is noticably thinner. Of the three TJs I have, only one has the thinner barrel and cap. The other two have the thicker barrel and cap. All the PJ pencils have the thicker barrel and cap.

[Brian Anderson]

Take a look at the Sunday Brunch Video I just did on Esterbrook pencils. While .046" (1.1mm) was the standard for years, in short order the .036" (0.9mm) lead became the default choice, with many catalog and price lists stating, "Also available in PJ" almost as an after thought.

[PPPR]

On 4/1/2024 at 3:17 PM, Brian Anderson said:

Take a look at the Sunday Brunch Video I just did on Esterbrook pencils. While .046" (1.1mm) was the standard for years, in short order the .036" (0.9mm) lead became the default choice, with many catalog and price lists stating, "Also available in PJ" almost as an after thought.

Thanks for the extra information, Brian.

 

To everyone:

One thing I noticed since starting this thread is how to tell the difference between standard and thin lead models, which Esterbrook experts are surely aware of. The pencil nose cones hold the key. Standard lead (0.046") nose cones are smooth. Thin lead (0.36") nose cones have several ridges at the barrel end.

 

An additional point is differences in nose cones. While I have a very small sample (n=10), there are three different lengths of plain nose cones for the PJ pencil (standard lead) and only one length for the TJ pencil (thin lead). Also, the TJ nose cones are the same length as the shortest PJ nose cone.

 

The different sizes of plain nose cones must reflect changes over time. Unfortunately, I haven't come across anything indicating when these changes happened. There's another question added to the queue at the back of mind.