How The Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive

[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.

 

[supersuds]

Maybe more to follow...

 

[ksbanker]

Great Collection!

I see you like the Parker's! The vest set do have excellent color. I love the Challenger with the sword clip. Those are very cool! I never got into Wahl's too much. At least not the earlier ones. Seemed they were always very expensive!! But what lovely pens they are. I'll have to post more of my collection this evening.

 

[sudsmaster]

I love fountain pens, but I simply don't buy that the ballpoint "killed cursive".

Sure, if you want to do calligraphy, a fountain pen or chisel point wet tip is required for the thick/thin strokes. But for standard cursive, a ball point does just fine. No problemo.

Oh, and I taught myself calligraphy back in the 70's, and can still do a passable job if required. But now if I want to send a calligraphic text, I look for the right font. LOL.

 

[vacbear58]

Waverley Pen

Lovely selection of pictures of old pens there

Some more information about the Waverley Pen on the link

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macniven_and_Cameron

 

[rp2813]

Printing vs. Lettering

I just this week differentiated between these two terms when sharing something with a friend.

 

My sister was up from L.A. this past weekend and brought me three limited edition vintage road maps, one of L.A. (a reprint from 1930), one of the "Rim of the World" route east of San Bernardino from 1915, and another of the Yosemite valley from 1916, neither of which had ever been published. 

 

The two older maps were hand lettered, although most people probably wouldn't even notice.  I'm considering framing the Yosemite map, as even the contours in the surrounding mountains and granite formations were drawn using tiny, short strokes.   I consider this an art, yet I see no credit given to the worker bee cartographer who spent so much time creating this map, other than what appear to be his initials and the date the map was completed.

 

This brings back memories of the old "Auto Album" renderings from Tad Burness that used to appear weekly in the local newspaper.

 

[supersuds]

Those hand drawn maps are gorgeous. I had a little paperback collection of Tad Buress’s Auto Album when I was a kid. It was a gateway drug to a lifelong interest in old cars.

Thanks for the ink about the Waverley pens, vacbear. I had forgotten the rhyme and didn’t know it was an advertising jingle!

Do post some more of your collection, ksbanker! Wahl pens do have some issues, but they tend to be great writers.

 

[rp2813]

I Forgot to Mention

The maps I referenced above are a Historical Series available in limited quantities to AAA members of the Automobile Club of Southern California.

 

I don't know if other regional AAA offices have them or can get them.  There are, I think, four of these special maps in the set.

 

I cannot imagine negotiating the Rim of the World route's switchbacks, twists and turns while climbing several thousand feet in 1915 or older automotive technology. 

 

[supersuds]

A friend of mine had the pleasure of ascending Pikes Peak (as a passenger) in a 1914 Packard, which had a 525 cu. in. inline six, if I recall correctly.

Many of those old cars could go surprisingly well, but they couldn’t really stop, with only two wheel brakes. You just had to get in low gear and stay there for the duration of the descent.

I look back on the drum brakes of cars from as recently as the 1960s and shiver, but it’s what people had then...you drove through a puddle, you might not have brakes. Master cylinders failed, brake lines burst. Seems crazy so many of us survived.

 

[warmsecondrinse]

We were taught cursive in second grade and were expected to use it for everything from then on. In third grade the teachers sent samples of our writing to some outside agency for evaluation. I got gold stars for all of third grade. Something happened over the summer because when I came back for fourth grade my handwriting was illegible.

I was 14 when I learned Cyrillic script for Russian class. The only thing I remember about learning it was finding out that cursive was MUCH faster than printing, at least for me. What's funny is that when Russians see my script today they often comment on how beautiful and neat it is. Go figure.

I wonder if the USA is the only place where cursive is in decline.

Jim

 

[rp2813]

Shaeffer Cartridge Pen Located!

After looking high and low (literally -- I checked boxes in the basement) I glanced over to the crowded pen/pencil cup on my desk and noticed the shiny metal cap of the vintage Schaeffer in the mix.  I bought some cartridges and started playing with it.  I noticed that my hand seemed to be outpacing my brain and I was omitting letters, and my writing was less legible than it already is when I'm scribbling things down.

 

I also discovered that this particular pen has a fine point nib.  I like medium or bolder.  I was planning on using this pen (the one with the green barrel) for writing holiday cards.  I decided to buy a new Shaeffer cartridge pen with a medium point nib.  Due to the age difference, the nibs aren't interchangeable, so I used the new pen to do cards and I went slow so people could read what I wrote! 

 

Now that I've had some time to use both, the fine point doesn't seem to be as fine as it was after I had first cleaned the old pen and given it a new cartridge, so I'll be using both of these pens going forward.  I like that I can achieve the look of a roller ball with a pen that's not disposable.  It's a little more responsible to add a small empty cartridge to the landfill than an entire ball point pen!

 

[supersuds]

It can take a little time to adapt to different nibs, but it looks like you’ve already made good progress. Broader nibs usually mean you have to write a little larger. In my case, the loop on an “e” will close up, but it’s not as much of an issue with a fine nib.

Congrats on finding your old pen. I must have gone through a dozen of them at different times and who knows where they all went!