, and fountain-pen paper.
[Posted on L&P on July 3, 5 and 6, 2005.]
David Wimmer wrote, “Do any of you know if there is an ink flow control device fitted to spiral-glass-nibbed fountain pens? It would seem that a glass nibbed pen could very easily have excessive or non-existent flow, if the nib to section tolerances were off by even a slight margin. Since the section is seized in my Spors crescent filler I have no reference to examine it for this information.”
And I wrote, “As far as I know, there is no other ink-flow-control device fitted to glass-nibbed fountain pens other than the spiral grooves, or capillary crevices in the nibs. Actually, the ink flow is not dependent upon the tolerances between the nib and the section because of the ink grooves and the capillarity. I don’t think your Spors crescent filler has a seized section, though. Their usual method was to permanently glue the section into the barrel. If this is what you meant by “seized”, then it’s seized, alright. If you’re interested in other glass-nibbed fountain pens, here are some more. Nathan Tardif posted on another pen message board a list of penmakers that used glass nibs in their fountain pens. That list included Chicago Conklin, Haro, Hartline, Kerr, Spors, Visconti, and various other Japanese penmakers.
“The picture above is an illustration of a glass-nibbed fountain pen of the type Spors made, but the name “Spors” does not appear anywhere on the double-sided, 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of paper. Notice the gross hyperbole about being better than the Quill! And here’s the other side of this piece of fountain-pen ephemera with the pen reduced to its parts. Notice the part about the glued-in section, and the hyperventilated self-justification for it.”
Phil Munson also has a good article about glass-nibbed fountain pens on his website.
George Kovalenko.
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