Sheaffer Triumph Brushed Chrome CT, steel nib - 444? Converters? Cleaning? Disassembly? Inks?

August 20

Hi all,
I am starting this thread because my first ever Sheaffer pen is currently on its way to me, and I would like to ‘pick the brains’ of the FPN ‘Hive Mind’ for some information about it.

Although the pen that I have bought (from an auction site) was listed as being an ‘Imperial’, I believe that the correct name for it should be ‘Triumph’ (despite it having an inlaid nib, rather than one of the conical ‘Triumph’ nibs).
My pen has the ‘brushed chrome’ finish, chrome trim, chrome clip, and a stainless steel nib.

I believe therefore that it is a ‘Triumph 444’ (not a ‘444X’, or a ‘444XG’).

It is the same model that is shown on…

https://www.sheaffertarga.com/Imperial and Triumph/444 Chrome C.T.html

…although mine has a ‘short diamond’ inlaid nib, rather than the ‘rounded V’ inlaid nib shown on that page.
Which detail makes me think that it is a 1980s example of the pen, as shown on this webpage (it is directly underneath the picture of an Imperial Triumph 797 gold-plated ballpoint pen, in the small picture on the right).

So, on to my questions:

1- the Name of the Pen?
do you agree that I should refer to this pen as a ‘Triumph Brushed Chrome CT’, or should I call it a ‘Triumph 444’, or something else (apart, obviously, from naming my individual pen ‘Lucille’ 😉)?

2- Converter compatibility?
the pen is coming to me with one of the squeeze-converters that has a sac enclosed within a metal shroud, and a bar to compress the sac.

I would prefer to use one of the Sheaffer twist-action piston converters in the pen (so that I can see how much ink I have left in the pen), but will one of those fit into this pen?
I have looked for lists of models that are compatible with those piston converters, but I have not yet found one that says that they will fit into the ‘Triumph’ model (or into the ‘Imperial’ for that matter).
I have also looked for lists of models that are known to be incompatible with the piston converter, but those lists also seem to not be exhaustive and, from what I can tell, the pens listed on them seem to mostly be the slender/slimline Sheaffer models.
My hope is that any pen that can take the squeeze converter is also going to be wide/long enough to take a twist/piston converter - but I am also aware that Sheaffer changed the shape of its cartridges at some point, so I fear that the twist converter might only be compatible with pens that were made to take the later cartridges.
I am wary about that because my pen is coming to me with two of the older type, flat-at-both-ends-cylinder, ‘Skrip’ cartridges, so is presumably built to accept those.

So, can any of you offer me any clarity about the compatibility (or not) of the twist/piston converter?
Will it fit inside my pen?

Will its open end be compatible with the feed spike/grip-section of my pen? Or did Sheaffer change the geometry of the feed spike/cartridge mouth interface when they changed the shape of their cartridges, and is the twist converter made to those specifications?

3- Cleaning?

As this pen has an inlaid nib, I suspect that the task of dismantling it to remove the feed for ‘deep-cleaning’ would be very much a ‘non-trivial’ task.
Certainly not one that is as easy as unscrewing the nib/feed unit of e.g. a Parker 45, Parker Sonnet, or a Pelikan M205.

I don’t intend to attempt it, unless my pen is severely clogged with old ink, or something else. I am hoping to only need to run water through the grip-section, flush the pen using the squeeze converter, and maybe soak the grip-section in plain water for a few days.
If those actions don’t work, I may move on to flushing/soaking with a solution of ammonia, but: should I avoid using the converter in conjunction with ammonia solution? Should I avoid soaking the whole grip-section in ammonia, and only flush that stuff through the inside of the grip-section?

If the worst comes to pass, and I find that I need to try to dismantle the grip-section to get at the feed for a deep-clean, how do I go about attempting that process?
Would the disassembly of this pen’s grip-section e.g. require the same procedure as for dismantling the grip-section of an ‘Imperial’?
Or a different procedure?

My apologies for the length of this essay, and my thanks to you in advance for any clarification that you can offer me.
Oh, I would also welcome your ink recommendations - given the inlaid nib/difficulty of deep-cleaning the feed, I don’t intend to use my i-g inks or pigmented inks in this pen, but are there are any inks (apart from vintage Skrip) that you think that it will particularly like, or particularly dislike?

I have inks made by Waterman, Parker Quink, Pelikan (4001 & Edelstein), Diamine, Pure Pens, and also some ‘ancient & venerable’ Noodler’s Black, which may have ‘gorn orff’ by now.

Again, my thanks to you all in advance :thumbup:

Slàinte,
M.

August 24

To answer some of my own questions:

Converters:

Looking at the original squeeze converter next to the piston converter, the length of the piston-turning knob on the piston converter made me fear that it might not fit into this pen.
Happily though, it is narrow enough, and the open end of the converter fits deeply-enough into the grip-section, that this converter does fit into this pen 😊

Converter inside point-of-sale packaging:

Rear of packaging:

I have included this ⬆️ photo so that anyone who sees this thread in future can know that the piston-converters that are made in China for the Indian company that (currently, in August 2024) owns Sheaffer, do fit inside a 1980s Sheaffer Triumph, as well as in to the models that are listed on the front of the point-of-sale packaging.

I assume that they will therefore also fit inside a Sheaffer ‘Imperial’ from the 1970s, but I don’t know that.

Do please note that, if your Sheaffer pen’s grip-section doesn’t have that long chromed/steel ‘sleeve’ into which the cartridge/converter fits, the piston converter may well be too long for the barrel of your pen!

For reference, see e.g. the following post from 2015…

Slàinte,
M.