Ink Vending Machine

[PLHIII]

Hello all,

 

I recently stumbled upon an antique ink vending machine for fountain pens while helping my grandparents clean out their basement. I have never been much of a fountain pen enthusiast, but I really enjoy restoring old antique items, and would love to do the same for this vending machine. Unfortunately I have not been able to find very much information on either the manufacture of this machine or ink vending machines in general. The machine was produced by The Fresh-Fil Corporation of Chicago, Illinois. According to my grandparents, this particular machine was used by law students at The University of Alabama Law School during the 1950’s and 1960’s, so I am guessing this is probably the time-frame during which the machine was most likely produced and distributed. Any information on where I could find spare parts or websites with general information on these type of ink dispensers would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

PH

[klangbogen]

No clue. Never knew these existed, but VERY interesting. Hope someone has answers for you. I'd like to know more as well.

[burmeseboyz]

Wow, that's pretty cool. I bet the poorer students take the old ink and reuse it. At least I would.

[Johnny Appleseed]

This is great! RHR posted some patent information on these in Pen History - though the one he listed was much more wacky, complete with a little human figure as part of the mechanism. One of the questions was whether these were actually produced or not. Apparently the answer is yes.

 

Very cool and thanks for sharing. You might want to look at the patent information and see if anything there helps with restoration. Also look up "Fresh Fill" in the google patent search - you might find the actual patent for that device, if it does not have any patent information. This might help at least clue you on what to look for ("oh, there should be a spring here. . .)

 

John

[Firefyter-Emt]

As a fellow "old thing restorer" I think you have a very cool find and one that is easy to refurbish. It looks like the words are 100% intact and may be printed on the glass back. It appears that the white backing may be paper held behind the glass. Either way with the wording intact, if you had to, a good sign maker can reproduce that perfectly. The cast iron parts can be bead blasted and the finish on it appears to just be wrinkle finish. They still have this in spray can and would be simple to repaint the outside. (Tip: use a heat gun after the paint is applied per instruction to achieve an uniform wrinkle pattern) I can not say about the mechanic's itself, although even non-working, it is very cool!

 

Too bad that waterslide decal is so far gone, I bet it was from the supplier who sold it. Can you make out anything on it?

 

Please do show photos when you have finished with it!

 

PS, there will be many who will say to not touch it as it will kill the value, and for once, they may have a point. Myself, I would probably rebuild it, but you may want to make sure that you do not tank the value in doing so. You may want to give it a good cleaning first and see what you have.

Edited October 6, 2008 by Firefyter-Emt

[DerMann]

That's really interesting, I would have never guessed that such a machine even existed.

 

Please do keep us posted on your progress.

[lak611]

Wow! That is one of the coolest items I have ever seen. I want one.

[Aslan]

Very cool! Can't wait to hear what you find out about this little treasure! Thanks for the pictures.

[bedlam]

I too was captivated by your photos and raced off to see what I could find. Go to google patent, enter this number: 1714082 and check out the photos. It's a patent for a ink vending machine from a mister J B Ford and dang if it doesn't have a strong resemblance to your machine. The year of this patent was 1929 and was filed as an improvement to existing machines. Wow.

[rhr]

Hi PH,

 

Do you mean restoration, or complete renovation and refurbishment? I don't know what you mean by "restoring" antique items, but I wouldn't go beyond a really good cleaning. Bead blasting is a little extreme in this case. I wouldn't remove the original wrinkle finish from the outside, but cleaning and stabilizing of any rust on any inside surfaces and parts that aren't protected by the wrinkle finish is a good idea. It looks like some of the inside rust was caused by a quantity of ink that was spilled from the bottle-reservoir, but most of it was the product of the humidity from the constant presence of the ink. And without actually seeing the machine in person I can't be completely sure, but the sign looks to me like it is printed on paper, which was damaged by the spilled ink. It's the easiest way to do it. The paper can be removed, and someone skilled in Photoshop might be able to isolate the lettering from the ink stain, and clean up the image. If you replace the sign with a new one, please do the archivist's heart in me a favor and retain the original one.

 

As is the case with most fountain pen repairs, there are very few sources of spare parts, except from other damaged examples of the same item. Often you have to cannibalize two pens, or in your case two machines, in order to make one complete one. I don't know what parts you may require, but unless the parts are corroded, or broken, or missing, you may not need to do anything except cleaning. It's a case of, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".

 

The real shame is the almost total loss of the decal and all the information it contained. It may have had the patent number and the name of the manufacturer. As for the phrase "improvements in fountain-pen ink vending machines" in the patent cited above by bedlam, US patent no. 1,714,082, that's just Patent-Office speak. Almost every patent is said to be an "improvement", but that doesn't necessarily mean that it is an improvement on a specific "existing" machine. In this case, there is a previously patented ink dispenser, US patent no. 1,615,354, but unless a patent is specifically cited within the patent, one can't tell whether a specific machine is being referenced. There is also the later US patent no. 1,960,549 in the thread cited above by Johnny Appleseed, Ink Vending Machine.

 

Good luck with your project,

 

George Kovalenko.

 

Edited October 7, 2008 by rhr

[lancekatigbak]

That is so cool. O.O

People should make those things again.

[wvbeetlebug]

How cool is that!

[stevlight]

I wish these were still around and everyone used fountain pens!! I love INK!!

[dcwaites]

Reviving this because of this thread.

[lolabelle]

Hello PLHIII,

This post is nine years old, so I know this is a longshot. I'm a historian working on a book with the daughter of the man who invented the Fresh-Fil machine. We are very excited to see your post, and would love to speak to you more about it!! Please contact us or reply if you see this!

Thanks,

Lolabelle

[Arkanabar]

Lolabelle, I suspect you are going to be disappointed, as PLHIII has a post count of 1.

[Dcoll]

On 7/19/2017 at 3:34 PM, lolabelle said:

Hello PLHIII,

This post is nine years old, so I know this is a longshot. I'm a historian working on a book with the daughter of the man who invented the Fresh-Fil machine. We are very excited to see your post, and would love to speak to you more about it!! Please contact us or reply if you see this!

Thanks,

Lolabelle

 

[Dcoll]

Hello!! I know this is a long shot but this item belongs to my husband and we would love to know more info !!