WWI-era fountain pens.

[Shangas]

I'm writing a story at the moment which takes place during WWI (1914-1918), and I'd like to know what features were common on fountain pens of this era?

 

Did pens by 1914 feature threaded caps & barrels? Filling-levers & sacs and fixed cap-clips? Or was the average pen of this period still a rather primative slip-cap eyedropper-filler/safety pen of the turn of the century?

 

The characters in my story might be doing a lot of writing, and I want them to use something *other* than a dip-pen and pencil. I just want to make sure that the pens I mention in my story are representative of the WWI period.

[Have Fun]

Can't help specifically ... but think you should also consider fitting the pen to the character & his social / financial status

 

War museums may be able to give you some pointers

[kazoolaw]

If you do some searching on the web you'll easily find Onoto and Waterman advertising from this era. They do show some of the pen models very clearly. IF I recall correctly, this was also the era of ink pellets, made for the men in the trenches to make ink simply by the addition of water;there was no need to carry a breakable ink bottle.

gary

[Shangas]

I'm browsing richardspens.com at the moment for any information, but I can't seem to find anything really specific. Perhaps I'm just not looking properly...

 

[ANM]

Conklin was making self filling pens by 1905. They were making threaded caps before the end of WWI. John Holland pens were hatchet fillers and sleeve fillers with screw-on caps during the Great War. Parker made thumb fillers, so they were around. Plastic was not used until the 1920's so they were all hard rubber or metal. I imagine the pens most often used in the trenches, though were eye drop fillers with slip caps. As a previous poster mentioned, tablets added to ED fillers with canteen water were being used.

Edited November 27, 2008 by ANM

[philm]

Eyedroppers were a popular pen of the day. For a short text on ink tablets during WWI and a reference to a larger discussion at Lion and Pen you can refer here

 

Good luck with your story and keep us informed as to the progress.

 

Happy Thanksgiving.

 

Phil

Edited November 27, 2008 by philm

[Shangas]

Good luck with your story and keep us informed as to the progress.

 

Hah! If you insist, Phil, if you insist. I will create a thread in "The Write Stuff" for that purpose.

[richardandtracy]

This Onoto could be of WW1 vintage:-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=170280747245

 

And this definitely is:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=280285401345

Especially as it went down with the SS Medina in 1917 when a U boat sank the ship.

 

These pens have slip caps. BHR barrels and push to fill plungers. The cap at the end of the barrel has to be turned 1/2 turn to release the internal stop off valve before writing. Pen is very slim & light.

 

Regards

 

Richard.

Edited November 27, 2008 by richardandtracy

[kiavonne]

The Conklin crescent filler was definitely around. Threaded caps came in 1910. I know this from a little research on Mark Twain and his pens between 1903 and 1907. I have one from about 1918 with a threaded cap, and I have a slip cap crescent filler from around 1903 that is heading off to a friend shortly as part of his Twain Collection doctoral gift.

 

I think you have a Conklin crescent filler, too?

 

[Wolverine1]

Also post your question on Pentrace. There are a lot of very knowlegeable collectors and pen historians who are regulars there.

[FarmBoy]

I'm writing a story at the moment which takes place during WWI (1914-1918), and I'd like to know what features were common on fountain pens of this era?

 

Did pens by 1914 feature threaded caps & barrels? Filling-levers & sacs and fixed cap-clips? Or was the average pen of this period still a rather primative slip-cap eyedropper-filler/safety pen of the turn of the century?

 

The characters in my story might be doing a lot of writing, and I want them to use something *other* than a dip-pen and pencil. I just want to make sure that the pens I mention in my story are representative of the WWI period.

 

I had gotten the pen from my younger brother. It was a Parker. It was called the Trench Pen and it cost him more than $3.00. My mom had given me a tin of ink tablets and a special end that held them on the pen. I was the oldest of three brothers and I had just enlisted and would likely wind up in Europe and this pen would . . .

 

Todd

[Shangas]

I think you have a Conklin crescent filler, too?

 

I do, but I wasn't sure if it was quite representative of the mid 1910s, since I wasn't sure when pens with screw-on caps became common.

[Stevopedia]

IIRC the Parker Jack Knife Safety is from the World War 1 era, and is basically your classic big red Duofold in black chased hard rubber.

[offbase]

I have a thin, 5 1/3" long (capped) John Holland Lever filler with a very clear imprint of "PAT SEPT. 7.1915." So, that basically tells me that lever fillers were just coming on to the market during the early stages of the war, crescent fillers were around for a while, and eyedropper fillers were surely still in general use. I would assume many were also still using dip pens and/or mechanical pencils at that time, as well. This would seem to have been a transition decade for writing instruments.

Edited November 28, 2008 by offbase

[Shangas]

Thanks for all the replies, everyone. Looks like early Conklins, Watermen and Parkers are my best bet. I'd totally forgotten about trench-pens! I should mention them somewhere in the story...

[ANM]

Some aspect of the Holland pen offbase has was pat. 1915 but the lever was not invented until after WWI. Pat. date does not indicate the age of the pen.

[Shangas]

When did the button-filler come along? Were Parker Jack-knives the first to have them, and when?

[FrankB]

I understand that you have asked about features on WWI era FP's. Yet, it might be worth while for me to suggest that the ownership of FP's might be more restricted by economic class than we think. Most of my relatives were farmers or timber men. The wood case pencil was king. If they owned FP's at all, they did not acquire them until the mid to late 1930's. They all used dip pens, but mostly those wood case pencils. Many of them went straight from dip pens to ball points in the late 1950's.

 

I have heard enough stories from my dad's generation to know that very few ground soldiers in WWII carried FP's. They used wood case pencils, too, with an infrequent mechanical pencil popping up from time to time. I have heard fewer anecdotes from the WWI generation, but the letters I have seen were all written in pencil, and rather dull ones at that. If I were writing a story about the WWI era, I would keep the use of FP's with civilians or uniformed personnel in rear echelon areas.

[Shangas]

Well if that's the case, just how frequently were fountain pens used by regular soldiers, sailors and airmen in WWI? How accessible and expensive were they? So far, the only mention of a fountain pen I've made in my story is when a soldier in hospital borrows one from the doctor to write a letter home to his mother.

[TrevorML]

don't forget the safety pens either... remember the story of the WWI soldier's buried body being found many many years later and the pen still worked with the ink that was still in it... go the safeties!!!