How/with what did you start writing in the 1960s?

[Anne-Sophie]

As I told many time before, my first fountain pen was in the 4th grade, a plastic dark chocolate, Stypen flat top which took small cartridges of erasable blue ink for which I bought 2 Stypen inkeradicators.

 

A big bag of generic small cartridges, could be found at the seasonal back to school display, every late August, the store started discounting summer items after the 15th of August or so, which was time to buy big beach towels.

 

Because I handwrote all my essays, from then to every class i ever took, until we (husband and I) acquired our first computer, I bought metal Waterman school pens with long cartridges, they lasted one or more written exam, or half a day of note taking.

 

I also bought novelty plastic body fountain pens which used the same small generic erasable blue cartridges, as back up, when the Waterman ran dry, during the day.

 

I switched from #2 wooden pencils to a Criterium 2 mm lead holder, I still used the vintage metal pencil sharpener for my color pencils.

 

I also used a mechanical pencil for biology and physics drawings which required block writing.

 

Empty cartridges were refilled on weekends and after dinner on weekdays.

 

I discovered converters, later on, it was/is much easier to keep all my fountain pens inked.

 

 

[Bo Bo Olson]

3 hours ago, Anne-Sophie said:

Empty cartridges were refilled on weekends and after dinner on weekdays.

It was illegal more than likely to have a needle  syringe, in no one I knew of re-filled cartridges back then.***

I do remember even 15 years ago, in some States if one wasn't a dietetic they to order rubber needles from on line.

 

*** That would have increased the spending power of my minimal allowance..... My parents believed there were fences to be whitewashed, kids to be sat on, and lawns to be push mowed...and put into the family pot....and not a needle re-filled cartridge in the whole land.....probably there were back room laws passed by the Big Two (big 4, if counting Esterbrook and Wearever)  about illegal re-filling of ink cartridges. 

 

[Anne-Sophie]

17 hours ago, Bo Bo Olson said:

It was illegal more than likely to have a needle  syringe, in no one I knew of re-filled cartridges back then.***

I do remember even 15 years ago, in some States if one wasn't a dietetic they to order rubber needles from on line.

 

*** That would have increased the spending power of my minimal allowance..... My parents believed there were fences to be whitewashed, kids to be sat on, and lawns to be push mowed...and put into the family pot....and not a needle re-filled cartridge in the whole land.....probably there were back room laws passed by the Big Two (big 4, if counting Esterbrook and Wearever)  about illegal re-filling of ink cartridges. 

 

 

I used the pipette I got in a science kit, it was in France

 

I know people didn't do it, but even back then, I knew that throwing away plastic wasn't good.

 

The span of the narrative is a decade from bell bottoms to ill fitting menswear in Spring/fruit cocktail colors.

 

Contrary to the zootsuit with its short coat length jacket, balanced by loose fitting high waist and tight cuffed pants with oversized hats, which fitted tall Cab Calloway so beautifully, the bulky shoulder pads, mid thigh, one button jacket was a disastrous fit on most men. 

[Lithium466]

19 hours ago, Anne-Sophie said:

As I told many time before, my first fountain pen was in the 4th grade, a plastic dark chocolate, Stypen flat top which took small cartridges of erasable blue ink for which I bought 2 Stypen inkeradicators.

 

A big bag of generic small cartridges, could be found at the seasonal back to school display, every late August, the store started discounting summer items after the 15th of August or so, which was time to buy big beach towels.

 

Because I handwrote all my essays, from then to every class i ever took, until we (husband and I) acquired our first computer, I bought metal Waterman school pens with long cartridges, they lasted one or more written exam, or half a day of note taking.

 

I also bought novelty plastic body fountain pens which used the same small generic erasable blue cartridges, as back up, when the Waterman ran dry, during the day.

 

I switched from #2 wooden pencils to a Criterium 2 mm lead holder, I still used the vintage metal pencil sharpener for my color pencils.

 

I also used a mechanical pencil for biology and physics drawings which required block writing.

 

Empty cartridges were refilled on weekends and after dinner on weekdays.

 

I discovered converters, later on, it was/is much easier to keep all my fountain pens inked.

 

 

Thank you for the time capsule 🥰

[welch]

On 8/28/2024 at 4:48 PM, inkstainedruth said:

@welch I have a few Sheaffer school pens, but have not been able to source converters for most of them.  The first one?  I don't recall it being at all scratchy....  The nib on it was marked "304" which I think I recall being told was an F nib.

My first semi-vintage pen and the first one with a gold nib was a 1960s era Parker 45 (also with a medium nib.  With the right ink in it (modern Quink Black was what I used when I first got it) it's like dancing on ice across the page, it's so smooth.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

Ruth, as best I can tell, Sheaffer never made a converter for those pens. They certainly thought kids would be happy with cartridges until we were old enough to be given a pen like the Snorkel or, a few years later, one of the less expensive Imperials. (Maybe that's why Sheaffer offered a cartridge-only Imperial).

 

I bought a school pen a few years ago and then searched for a converter that might, accidentally, fit. I couldn't find it either.

[inkstainedruth]

I was able to source one converter, but the other two school pens I've picked up over the years?  Not so much.  Having the same issue with another pen, a Lady Skripsert, which IIRC a friend gave me a few years ago.

I remember being at a pen show and trying to find a converter for the school pens and the closest I could find was going to be something like three or four *times* what I'd paid for the pens -- combined....  (And the combined price of the the two school pens I need to get converters for is $7 US....)

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Bo Bo Olson]

I didn't know my P-75 even took cartridges, in I took the two pens out of the box and tossed it. Didn't look under the top layer of the bottom of the box to see if anything was there.*** I knew how to squeeze fill the P-75. and a normal Jotter re-rill, replaced the MP lead cartridge of the silver P-75 BP...

And as far as I know it was not called the Classic in 1971.

 

*** I hated cartridge pens, always having to borrow cartridges to get through the day, and remembering the whole of my skimpy allowance was given out for cartridges.

 

So having had my P-75 brothers jailed in my wife's jewelry case for decades, I have no Idea when converters came in in the first place.

In I didn't even know the P-75 took a cartridge.

No idea about the P-51 eiterh.

[empirelvr]

Started Catholic School Kindergarten in Brooklyn NY 1968. Pencils only until the fourth grade when we switched to the ubiquitous Sheaffer school fountain pens. We were allowed to use ONLY a fountain pen. You risked getting slapped (or worse... a trip to the principal's office) if you were caught with a ballpoint.

 

They were more tolerant of non-Sheaffer FP's, which I took advantage of when I got my first "good" FP, a Parker 45 from a local stationary store on closeout. Man, I thought I'd hit the jackpot with that pen. LOL  I also loved using No-Nonsense pens too.

 

And as much as I despised Catholic School and everything about it, I "took" fountain pens with me. I loved them then, and I love them now.

[empirelvr]

On 9/3/2024 at 2:41 PM, Bo Bo Olson said:

It was illegal more than likely to have a needle  syringe, in no one I knew of re-filled cartridges back then.***

I do remember even 15 years ago, in some States if one wasn't a dietetic they to order rubber needles from on line.

 

*** That would have increased the spending power of my minimal allowance..... My parents believed there were fences to be whitewashed, kids to be sat on, and lawns to be push mowed...and put into the family pot....and not a needle re-filled cartridge in the whole land.....probably there were back room laws passed by the Big Two (big 4, if counting Esterbrook and Wearever)  about illegal re-filling of ink cartridges. 

 

Ahh..well you didn't know me, then! 😄 I found Sheaffer cartridges were easy to squeeze and sucked up ink from a Skrip ink bottle fantastically well. This was about...1975?  So fifth grade then.

 

it worked incredibly well. And I was able to fill them many, many times. That plastic just did not crack and the hole stayed tight even after dozens of refills.  I was able to go through all of grade and high school using cartridges I had since fifth grade.

[Buford]

I was born in '63, and don't really remember if I had a go-to pen or pencil before grade-school years (the '70s). But, my pen of choice was the Parker Jotter ballpoint in High School, college, Army years and beyond. I probably didn't own a fountain pen until about ten years ago.

 

The most treasured pen in my collection is the Sheaffer Statesman "Snorkel" that my Mom had as a little girl. 

[inkstainedruth]

Wow.  That's a nice pen to have as a family heirloom!  

I wonder sometimes about the pens I've picked up over the years at estate sales (often very inexpensively at that).  Do the families not want some sort of family mementos, especially something that is also functional (or can be made to be functional)? 

The closest I have to a pen like yours is my husband's grandfather's Sheaffer Balance Oversize, which my late mother-in-law gave me a number of years ago.  That pen I definitely would like to keep in the family if at all possible -- maybe to go to one of my husband's great nieces or nephews when they get older.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Buford]

36 minutes ago, inkstainedruth said:

Wow.  That's a nice pen to have as a family heirloom!  

I agree. I'm deep into keeping family heirloom items. I kind of wish that my kids showed the same inclination. I'm hoping that once they are my age, and are on the cusp of getting the things that have been passed down to me that they will see things differently. But, at some point, people get saturated with things. If I (or any of my ancestors) were a celebrity, I think I could establish a museum. 

[Misfit]

I remember pencils and Big Chief tablets. I can remember learning to write capital letters on that paper.