How The Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive

[lordkenmore]

Thanks, Eddie, for your memories and the links!

 

I'm too young to remember the era when people might have had only pen, but I knew that was the case, once. I've have thought before that's interesting that people in the 50s might have had just one pen, but written more than a person of today who might easily have a hundred pens lying around house, office, and car. Of course, it can be argued that people with a good fountain pen really didn't need more than that pen.

 

I actually saw that "you only need one pen if you've got a good pen!" when I was in high school. One of my teachers had a modern (80s?) Sheaffer which was his primary pen. He always had it with him, and he kept a bottle of ink at school. His classroom was interesting in that unlike other teachers he didn't have a bunch of cheap, modern pens lying around. He had exactly ONE ballpoint, which he only used for carbonless multicopy forms like failure notices.

 

I honestly thought that pen was neat--but then I already had a fountain pen, fountain pen experience, and was interested in past decades...early training for AW.org membership, I guess!

 

Sadly, his pen broke--the barrel cracked. I think it was a flaw in those pens--I had one which, a year or so later, had the same thing happen. He came to school with some old pen for a day or two, and then rushed out and got a new Sheaffer. (You'd think he'd have thought of trying a new brand after the other Sheaffer cracked!)

 

[lordkenmore]

Back in the heyday of fountain pens, before the ballpoint, running out of ink wasn’t too much of a problem, because everyone used them, and would have a bottle of ink on hand that they would kindly let you refill your pen from.

 

I think I even remember jokes on old time radio or TV about the cheapskate who is always careful to refill from the free supply of ink at the bank or wherever!

 

[lordkenmore]

I remember seeing ads for various pens in the late 80s/early 90s. One that was memorable was Waterman, which had a theme of a woman talking about all the things she'd given up...and then indicated she still had her Waterman pen, because she needed something thrilling to use to record her boredom.

 

[lordkenmore]

A photo of three of my pens. I have more, but these are the ones I've actually used in recent history.

 

The one on the far left is a Cross that I think came from a yard sale. It didn't work, but was easily fixed by rinsing. Apparently old ink had dried clogging it.

 

The one on the far right is also a yard sale find IIRC. I have no idea who made it. For some reason I'm thinking it came from Germany, but I can't find "Germany" on it.

 

The pen in the middle is a cheap, humble Sheaffer from the 1980s. A rock bottom product that I got new for reasons that escape me now. (I had a better pen--perhaps I was thinking of a second pen that I could use without worry? Or just an impulse buy? Who can say after 30+ years?) This pen was seldom used, and yet it has not aged terribly well--note the cracking on the barrel.

 

[askolover]

My handwriting is also a mixture of print and cursive.  Ever since I entered the wonderful world of healthcare, it's just easier to do it that way.  People can read what I write more easily.  When I write in all cursive, I tend to write extremely small.  Funny, now there are times when I'm writing I'll notice the way I make some of my letters, I can see my mother's writing in them.  My dad has chicken scratch.

 

[kate1]

I love writing with fountain pens, and I get a lot of enjoyment from buying unique inks and high quality paper for them. I treat it like an artistic endeavor though, I keep journals of lessons in church and other things I feel like I want a record of for future reference. I use multiple colors, create doodles, and sometimes add full illustrations when I feel like it. Of course I write in cursive. I also like my ballpoint pens, I carry one on me at all times and it’s all I use for quick notes and for filling out forms at work. My regular handwriting is print but unless I slow myself down and concentrate, I connect most of the individual letters so it looks like a cross between cursive and print.

I don’t think it’s becoming as dead as people think either. I’m in my late twenties and was taught cursive and my eight and nine year olds have been taught it as well. My younger two will be taught it in later grades. My eight year old, a boy, actually loves writing in cursive and will sit and practice it for hours. His penmanship is excellent too, there are things he can write more beautifully than me. When he’s older, I will introduce him to fountain pens. I’m sure he’ll love writing with one as much as I do.

 

[ksbanker]

Fountain Pens

My primary collection is fountain pens. I've bought and sold many over the last 7 or 8 years. Nothing beats a high quality fountain pen. My favorite are ones with a name imprinted and showing heavy use. I love the thought of a pen being used for the majority of one's career. People like to pretend we are "green" today. Using one pen the refills from glass bottles of ink is very "green!" I will post some pictures of my collection this evening if you are interested in seeing it. Nothing too exciting but I enjoy them. I also really enjoy fixing them.

Here are a few of my black and gold pens. The pen with the large gold band I found with my initials, PLM, already inscribed!!! I was ecstatic!!!

Left to right the pens are:
1. Sheaffer Snorkel Autograph (14k clip and band) 1950's
2. Sheaffer Triumph Crest Masterpiece (solid 14k gold cap) 1940's
3. Parker 51 (14k gold clip) 1940's
4. Conklin Endura (unsually transitional model) around 1930
5. Pelikan M1000 Modern
6. Mont Blonc M149 Modern
7. Parker Duofold Senior (amazing broad nib) 1920's
8. Waterman 752 (14k gold clip and band) 1920's
9. Conklin Endura Symetrik 1930's

 

[rp2813]

Kate, your story is very encouraging! 

 

Preston, those are some nice looking pens.  A friend of mine had an extensive collection.  He'd sometimes mention one of them having a bad bladder.  Is that something that can be easily replaced or do they tend to be proprietary as opposed to a universal fit?

 

I'm still searching for my old Schaeffer cartridge pen.  I'm anxious to start using one again after reading the posts above.  We moved recently and it's buried somewhere.  If I really enjoy it, maybe I'll graduate to an actual fountain pen. 

 

I remember Wearever also made a cartridge pen.  The ones I was familiar with had a much smaller nib than the Schaeffer did, and I liked writing with a Wearever better.

 

[ksbanker]

Fountain Pen Sac

Thank you much!

Ralph,

Different pens use different filling systems. Most all lever fill pens use traditional inc sacs. They are all the same style of sac but do differ in size based on the size of the pen.

Replacing the sac is not technically difficult but does have some risk! Separating the pen barrel from the gripping section is the most treacherous part. If you only have one or two pens that need new ink sacs, I'd recommend sending them to someone to have them professionally repaired. Two that I have used are Pentiques and The Southern Scribe. There are several others who do excellent work as well.

 

[supersuds]

Hi, ksbanker, nice to find a fellow collector here. You’ve got some nice pens there, would love to have a Duofold with a broad nib. I’ll try to share some pics later.

Rick Horne (aka the Southern Scribe) is great, a nice guy and totally honest.

Ralph, if you can’t fimd your Sheaffer school pen, I have a couple of extras, would be glad to send you one. They’re not expensive.

The Wearevers, as I recall, had a hooded nib like a Parker 51. But you can’t get refills for them now.

 

[ksbanker]

Pens

John, that would be great! I'd love to see some of your collection.

Wearever made many different styles of pen. They did make a hooded variety to attempt to give the appearance of a Parker 51. Those were functional but really subpar pens. The years have usually been quite unkind to those pens. By far the best quality of the lower tier fountain pens are Esterbrook. These are quite nice pens and fully capable of being a daily use pen all these years later. Their interchangeable nib system makes them wonderful for a person who doesn't want to own lots of pens.

 

[diaperdooty]

That article is spot on. We teach cursive to our kids and it’s astounding how natural a fountain pen is to them versus - pretty much anything else. I love the way words flow effortlessly from the nib, and enjoy sitting quietly and watching my kids practice their letters. Ball points and pencils make the hand sore; with a fountain pen we can write all day without hand cramps.

 

[rp2813]

Thanks John.  I'll keep looking for the old Schaeffer and will contact you if it doesn't turn up.

 

[supersuds]

Sure, you bet.

I am a terrible photographer, and didn't have much time today, but here's a few shots.

Parkers --

1. 1926 (?) Duofold, commonly known as a Big Red.

2. 1927ish Duofold Junior in Mandarin Yellow.

3. An unusual English Duofold in marbled white celluloid.

4. A depression-era model with stepped ends often referred to a a "Thrift-Time."

5/6. Vest-pocket Duofold pen/pencil set in black and pearl, often found highly discolored.

7/8. Two more depression era pens in attractive swirled plastic.

9. 1939 Royal Challenger with "blade" clip with wide single cap band.

10. 1937 Royal Challenger with sword clip.

11. 1938 Royal Challenger with blade clip and triple cap bands.

12/13. 1937 Canadian Vacumatic pen/pencil set.

14. 1947 "51" in Yellowstone (aka mustard), a gift from the original owner, a dear lady who received it as a high school graduation present from her parents.

 

[combo52]

Interesting Topic

But remember you cannot print by hand, only a machine can print, you can however letter by hand.

 

John L.

 

[supersuds]

More Parkers.

1. 1919 Jack Knife Safety in black hard rubber, with a flexible nib like a wet noodle.

2. Depression-era pen which collectors refer to as a True-Blue, though that might not have been what the factory called it.

3. 1934-37 Thrift-Time.

4/5/6/7/8. Vacumatics from the mid to late 1930s in various colors. They have no traditional sac, but a kind of pump arrangement to draw ink into the barrel. The idea was to use alternating slivers of clear and colored plastic to make the ink supply visible.

9. 1941 striped Duofold -- same idea as the vacumatic, but the color scheme is vertical rather than horizontal.

10. A "61" from around 1960, I think.

11. 1970 T-1, made of titanium. a short-lived model, since titanium was difficult to work with and in practice the nibs were too brittle and prone to craacking or even breaking off.

12. A "75" in sterling.

13. A more recent "51" reproduction, but the cap was just too pretty for me to pass up.

 

[supersuds]

Pens from Wahl Eversharp, a Chicago manufacturer which was one of the Big Four penmakers in the 1930s and 40s.

1/2/3/4. Gold Seal models from 1929ish, in black and pearl (see how the white portions are yellowed, not good), green and bronze, lapis lazuli, and coral plastic. Note the roller clips, an Eversharp trademark. The two pens on the left have what collectors call Deco Bands.

5. A streamlined Deco Band from maybe 1933, when rounded shapes were coming into style.

6/7/8/9. These are all Dorics, multi-faceted pens from the mid-to late Thirties. They are beautiful but have very unstable plastics. Note how the ends of No. 6 are crazed.

10. Coronet from 1938. Perhaps the ultimate deco design. This one has Eversharp's adjustable point, which the used can change from stiff to flexible by the use of a slider on top of the nib, as well as a so-called safety ink shutoff, supposed to prevent leaking due to changes in atmospheric pressure, as when on an airplane (it didn't work).

11. The Skyline model, credited to the industrial designer Henry Dreyfus, was introduced in 1941 and made for about six years.

13. A Fifth Avenue pen and pencil set from the Forties. Eversharp sponsored a radio quiz program called "The $64 Question," and these pens, with solid gold caps, were supposedly given to contestants. You may be able to make out the "6$4" engraving on the caps.

14. A Skyline reproduction from the 1990s.

 

[supersuds]

A few more pics of individual pens, because I'd already taken them.

This is a Schnell, made with an airplane clip to capitalize on the Lindbergh craze.

 

[supersuds]

An Esterbrook Dollar Pen in what is informally called cracked ice...it looks greenish in the pic but that's my fault.

 

[supersuds]

A Cameron Waverley eyedropper filler, probably from the 1950s. These had no rubber sacs, which were supposedly prone to deteriorate under tropical conditions, so the British kept making small numbers of what was otherwise an obsolete design. The Waverley nib with a slightly upturned point was popular in 19th-centruy dip pens.