collection1b

collection1b

March 21, 2014

The American necessities





      In the US, fountain pen use got off to a faster start than elsewhere, but there were a couple of reasons for that.  There were many local pen manufacturers, and customs duty was not an issue on pens being shipped within the country.  The local companies also acted as their own repairmen, so pens did not have to be shipped out of the country for repairs.  All the following references are from American Bookseller, mostly in  the “Stationery Notes”.
      In an article
on June 2, 1879, p.432, about the MacKinnon pen, “with diamond point on there pen”, the author writes, “Fountain pens are considered articles of necessity by many writers in every line of business.  Writers for the press who have used it, speak of it in the highest terms of praise, and the increasing sales indicate its growing popularity.”
      On
Feb 16, 1880, p.158, we find this disparaging comparison of the stylo with the fountain pen.  “The new calligraphic pen offered to the trade by Mabie, Todd & Bard, is different from [stylos] in that it has two points instead of one, thus being more like an ordinary pen, and allowing the writer to make light or heavy lines at pleasure.  The demand for these goods far exceeds the supply, some of the manufacturers having standing orders by the gross ahead.  Several other pen manufacturers are working out new ideas for fountain pens, and ere long we shall doubtless have variety enough from which to select a pen just to one's taste.  Some of those now on the market are poor affairs, and many have cast them aside as entirely worthless.”  I think the writer is talking about the Cross stylograph.
      And on
Mar 15, 1880, p.246, we read that, “Fountain pens have been for many years offered to the public, and they have been made in almost every conceivable style, shape, and principle of action.  But it is only of late that inventors have reached a point where success seems to have been assured, and the trade as well as the general public have been led to believe by liberal advertising that this was so, and thousands have invested their money only to find that they have been deceived and humbugged.  Some of these pens, it is true, will write for a time tolerably well, but as a general thing they clog up in a short time, or the point gives out, and the buyer finds himself four or five, dollars out of pocket for an article he cannot use.  It has been admitted by some of the manufacturers that more than half of these pens are imperfect and have to be returned to the factory for overhauling; and, as an evidence of the truth of these reports, we see it announced that a factory has been organized, in Boston specially devoted to repairing defective fountain pens.”  Again I think the writer is talking about the Cross stylograph because their points gave out, and many had to be returned to the factory for overhauling, and lastly Cross started up a repair department in their factory to deal with defective pens.  They seriously went into the business of repairing their own pens.  They probably made more money repairing their old pens than selling new pens.
      The Edward Todd “Paragon Fountain Pen” is praised on
May 15, 1880, pp.427, 428, in another disparaging comparison with the stylo.  “A fountain pen that will really do the work required of an article of that character appears at last to have been produced.  So much fault has been found with all that have been offered heretofore, that the writing public will be pleased to learn that Edward Todd & Co. will be ready to supply an article they will guarantee in every respect as far ahead of anything in the market, and from the encomiums already received from those who have examined it, there is no doubt of its perfection.  It is different from all others in several respects.  Instead of making the usual monotonous and uniform stroke, it can be used for light or heavy lines, like the ordinary quill or gold pen, never drops any ink, can be filled direct from the inkstand without a filler, and will carry enough to last longer than any other we have seen.  These advantages will be readily apparent to every penman, and orders are being received m advance from dealers in the principal cities.”
      An article about the proper ink for fountain pens on
June 1, 1880, p.459, states that, “Fountain pens having become such a necessity, and their peculiar structure requiring the best and finest quality of ink, some of the ink manufacturers have been exerting themselves to prepare an article that will give a free flow from the pen, and will not congeal or dry up in the fountain.  All who have tried Carter’s Writing Ink pronounce it the best for the purpose, and consequently the sales of this brand have been larger the past year than ever before, and are constantly increasing.  Those who find their pens don’t work will do well to see that it is not the fault of the ink they use.”
      Here is a short piece on
Aug 2, 1880, p.64, about the introduction of stylographs in British reprinted from the London Truth, and suggesting an old use for goose quills.  “Whenever I see a new pen advertised, by which the trouble of dipping it every moment into the inkstand is avoided, I try it.  After a short experience I throw it aside, for the mechanism is too complicated, or the ink gets on my fingers.  But now I have come across an American invention, called the Stylographic Pen, which seems to me perfect.  It is filled with ink by means of a syringe, and it contains enough to last for several days.  Writing with it is much like writing with a pencil.  I bought mine at Mappin’s, in Regent street, but I suppose they are to be found elsewhere.  It cost 14s. 6d., which is much too dear, for I should think that it could be made for about half a crown.  If the patentee were to reduce the price to about 5s., these pens would be patronized so universally that goose-quills would be used alone by geese.”
      There is another disparaging comparison with the stylo on Aug 16, 1880, p.108, but first it states that the Paragon by Edward Todd “is selling more rapidly than it can be made, the demand keeping steadily ahead of the supply”.  The idea of a fountain pen is still so new that it goes on to say, “This pen has some distinctive features, the most important of which is that the point is a real pen, and not a needle, like the others.  To those who wish to preserve the identity of their writing this feature is all important.  It differs also from the other pens in the manner of filling, which is done by simply immersing the pen and turning the head of the holder.  This arrangement makes the process of cleaning a very simple one.”  On the same page we also find that The Readers and Writers Economy Company is “constantly bringing out new devices for economizing time, labor, or room, many of which are directly in the line of the stationery trade.  The Company have recently made a new advertising card of the stylografic [sic] pen, which is very neat, and which they will send to dealers.  They also furnish the trade with a large wooden sign in the shape of the pen.”
      On
Oct 15, 1880, p.305, there is a short mention of another ink appropriate for fountain pen.  “Kent's inks are constantly gaining in favor with all who use the pen.  His writing fluid is entirely free from sediment or any ingredient that will cause mold, and will keep its black color for any length of time.  A new article for fountain pens will be welcomed by those who use these now popular articles.”
      Another mention of the Paragon on
Nov 15, 1880, p.442, also ends with a comparison with the stylo that disparages the latter.  “Fountain pens have come into such general use during the past two or three years, that pen manufacturers have exerted their utmost to produce something that would suit the wants of the public, and save the annoyance caused by the imperfect and improperly constructed articles that have heretofore been sold as Fountain pens. It remained for Edward Todd & Co. of this city, to accomplish this, and in their Paragon Fountain Pen the public will find the very perfection of the article. The pen used is not like the stylographic, but is a regular gold-pointed pen, with which either heavy or light lines can be made, and not a monotonous stroke like others.”
      On
Dec 1+15, 1880, p.543, Kent’s inks are again recommended for fountain pens.  “His nutgall ink for fountain pens is an article that has long been wanted, and those who have found these pens to clog up and refuse to work, will avoid this annoyance if they use this ink.”
      In an article on Sept 15, 1882, p.554, about the Cross Pen Co.’s first fountain pen, which was a cross between a stylo and a nibbled pen, the words of Nathaniel Hawthorne are quoted, “I will make the man immortal who will give me a good pen”.  The Cross Pen Co. named their new “stylographic shading pen” the “Hawthorne” in honor of the great author.  The article both disparages and praises the stylo.  “Its distinctive features are that while otherwise similar to an ordinary stylographic pen, it has a shading-pen point, by which individuality of handwriting can be retained; a gold or steel pen may be used, and removed or inserted at pleasure; and the flow of ink can be regulated to suit the hand of the writer.”  And in an ad on Nov 1, 1882, p.675, they call it “undoubtedly the ‘King’ of all writing instruments”.  One thing that the article and the ad neglected to mention was that the pen was a failure.  It was a 6-month wonder that had come and gone in a flash.  It was a pen that wanted to have it both ways, a fountain pen with a shading nib, but with a stylographic feed mechanism.  It didn’t function, not many were produced, and none survived.  Well, maybe Michael Fultz had one.  Hawthorne promised to immortalize them, and they gave him a pen that was worthless and eminently forgettable.  And they named it after him!
      In an article on Jan 1, 1883, p.7, the stylo and the typewriter are mentioned along the way in a discussion of such labor saving devices as alphabetization and reference works.  “After all is said about ‘labor-saving machinery’ that is usually said, there remains to be observed of it that the very best and most valuable is that which saves the labor of professional writers.  And we don’t mean by this the type-writer or the stylographic pen--both very useful in their way.  But we are considering now the encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other volumes of condensed wisdom, which are invaluable to students and literary workers, and this because they save the memory.  One need not store away facts, dates, places, descriptions, etc., when he can have an alphabeted or an indexed volume at his hand to supply such information when needed.”  According to Socrates, pens and writing were also ways to “save the memory”, and also Rousseau’s dangerous supplement.
      And then finally on Feb 1, 1883, p.97, there was more backlash against the stylo in the name of De La Rue’s fountain pen, “The Anti-Stylograph”, which was fitted with a nib.  “It presents many advantages, and it can be used in fine or heavy strokes. Many think it has all the advantages of the stylograph pen without its drawbacks.”  But on the same page there is this.  “The stylographic pen, it is said, brings the inventor $1,ooo,ooo; the [fountain] pen, for shading different [lines], $1oo,ooo”, both independent fortunes.  In both cases the inventor was a rich man, but one was more independent than the other.  At that time, the stylo was ahead of the fountain pen, but it was not long before the tables were turned.
      On
Oct 24, 1891, p.219, the magazine was still crowing, and growling, and barking, and braying about how great the fountain pen was.  The writer talks about many other labor-saving devices, all mixed in with pentalk, but please allow me to reduce it all to an encomium to the fountain pen.  Let me warn you, this is a fiction.  “Fatigued with writing, I sat back in my chair, with half-closed eyes, for a well-earned interval of rest.  I still retained in my hand my fountain pen which, for four years, has done yeoman’s service.  Bless the inventors of that luxury [necessity].  In olden times, they were of the most primitive form.  Now, they are the perfection of shape and the embodiment of cleanliness, and we have thousands of admirable kinds to select from, all tending to reduce labor and to attain rapidity and neatness, and to save us from disagreeable tasks.  It is no longer necessary to keep dipping the quill or penholder.  They are of all shapes, and so contrived as to save all possible labor.  There seems to be no end in shape, color or material, combining safety and attractive appearance, standing ready to hand in neatly fanned pyramidal clusters in cups of sensible shape on the desk.  When we are weary of wielding the pen, we can have recourse to the stenographer and type-writer, and what they produce can be duplicated freely without extra labor, all helping to rob mercantile and literary work of its most vexatious details.  How different is all this to the spluttering quill, the thick and gummy ink, and the sand sprinkler of our forefathers.  In those days epistolary work was an alarming task, requiring courage and energy for its performance.  It is with a sigh of thankfulness over these many changes for the better that I draw my chair once more close to my table, again take up my friendly fountain-pen, and lighten my labors”.  Now, how far overboard is that?!  I keep pens on my desk in little alabaster vases and goblets and spooners “of sensible shape”.
 

George Kovalenko.
 
.



March 17, 2014

The Canadian necessaries





        In Canada, fountain pen use got off to a slower start than in the US, but there were a couple of reasons for that.  There were no local pen manufactures, so customs duty had to be paid on all pens shipped to Canada.  There were also no local repairmen, so consequently, repairs had to be shipped back to the States, and duty had to be paid a second time when they were returned.  All the following references are from Books and Notions, later known as Bookseller & Stationer.
        But in spite of the slow start, it could be said about fountain pens in the title of an article on May 1891, p.18, that they were already “One Of The Necessaries Of Life”.  It goes on to say, “Fountain pens are like sewing machines in one respect; you don't seem to see such a great many [around], and yet [they make a mysterious appearance when you need one].  Many people are prejudiced against using a fountain pen, although they never consider what a great convenience one is, if it is kept in order.  If you let a watch run down it is of no practical use, and you may say the same thing of a fountain pen.
        “I know some people who complained that their stylographic pens were “no good”.  Do you know what caused the idea?  Simply because they did not use judgment in the care of their pens, and had filled them with ink almost as thick as mud.  Quite naturally the pens clogged, and then they hastily decided that they were of no value.  I think the manufacture of fountain pens is in its infancy, and that a heavier demand will in time compel a much larger supply.  Unlike most every trade we have not any season that could be designated as a dull season.  The demand is just as regular at one time as it is at another.”
        In an article on
November 1892, p.14, “fancy goods” are defined.  The writer doesn’t mention fountain pens in this context, but he does, just barely, mention penholders.  He cites Webster’s dictionary definition, “those articles which are distinguished from simple or plain”, but he goes on, “The constant increase in the variety of the stock of the fancy goods dealer, however, is giving a wider significance to the term than it formerly had.  The fancy goods house of to-day is a great bazaar, a sort of curiosity shop, a novelty in itself, and is becoming a more important factor every year.  It not only handles goods which are distinguished from “simple or plain”, but also includes the many which are accounted necessaries.  The Fancy goods line now has in it a large percentage of the useful, and where both can be combined the value will generally be enhanced and the sale greater.  The eye admires that which is beautiful, and sentiment will continue to spend its millions every year in purchasing what must please it; but there is, nevertheless, the practical ever asserting itself and demanding that manufacturers shall not only gratify the taste, but shall give to their goods that solidity of finish which shall render them of real service to the purchasers.  Perhaps it is this desire for the combination, of the useful and fanciful which has caused so many dealers in recent years to largely increase their stock.  Fortunately or unfortunately, a fancy goods dealer finds that in order to compete with his rivals he must keep a collection of articles which he otherwise would have left untouched.  Thimbles and coal scuttles, penholders, and fire irons, workbaskets and medicine cases, masks and bibles, clocks, and jockey costumes are only a few of the strangely different things which a modern house is now carrying.  The dividing line between a fancy article and a novelty becomes every day more difficult to define.  Southey says that the latter is the great parent of pleasure, but terms are becoming so mixed that it is difficult to keep track of the parentage.  We do not expect that the fancy goods industry will, for some time at least, include wash tubs or steam engines; but even this is not beyond the limit of possibility.”
        But on
November 1892, p.20, an article on “Fountain Pens” states, “This is a line of manufactures which is not made in Canada. The supply of fountain pens consumed on this market comes mostly from the United States, the English pens not being equal to the American goods.  The leading lines sold are the Paul E. Wirt, of Bloomsburg, Pa., and Caw's Dashaway, of New York.  Other lines which are sold, but which occupy only second rank in point of consumption, are The Rival, The Crown, The Waterton [sic, Waterman?], and The Blair.
        “The gold nibs generally last from one to three years, according to usage.  These pens have then to be sent to the factory to have a new nib inserted.  This is the vexatious part to the owner of the pen.  He has to wait two or three weeks for the pen, and he feels like kicking the dealer out of town, dynamiting the Customs officials, and starting a small world of his own.  Nineteen out of twenty pens sent to the factories to be repaired require a gold nib, a new one costing $1 to $1.25.
        “There should be a fountain pen factory in Canada.  Twenty-five per cent duty on foreign pens should give a stimulus to a manufacturer, but as yet it has not done so.  Thousands of dollars worth of fountain pens are consumed every year in this growing country, and thousands of dollars are spent in securing new gold nibs, and yet nobody makes rubber pens, and nobody makes gold nibs.  If there was a Canadian factory, the great length of time required to have a fountain pen repaired would be so much lessened that the demand for fountain pens would increase a hundred fold.  At present the sale is confined to the goods of one or two leading manufacturers on account of this difficulty; as the cost of the Customs inspection, registration, duly, etc., is small for a large number, but great for a few.  This second-hand way of doing business is too slow for the citizens of this country, and the demand for domestic pens is simply awaiting the lucky manufacturer who first touches the market with a supply.”
        On
August 1893, p.20, there is an article about having a “want [that] is most keenly experienced”, “a want which is bitterly felt”, namely the lack of “rational amusement, literary self-improvement, and delight” while traveling, that is, “the lack of books” and libraries in hotels for the “Travelling men”, the “men on the road”.  It does not specifically mention fountain pens, but what it says, applies equally well to them.  “It is not a very profound remark to say that what even two years ago were the luxuries of life are now the necessaries.”
        On
March 1899, p.16, an article titled “The Fountain Pen Trade” states, “Judging by reports, the trade in fountain pens is not only increasing, but is going to be more active during the coming year.  There are a number of fountain pens in the market, both the standard expensive kind and the cheaper ones, and The Copp, Clark Co., in order to meet all tastes, are showing all kinds.”
        By
September 1902, p.30, however, it still needed to be said that, “Fountain pens are no longer looked upon as novelties or luxuries, but are considered by a large class of people as absolute necessities.  The sale of these handy little articles the last few years has increased [by] bounds [and leaps], until to-day there are numerous concerns, with large capitalization and handsome offices and salesrooms, interested solely in the manufacture and sale of fountain pens.  As every stationer is well aware, large, beautifully-furnished offices, from which are sent out a complete staff of travelling men and where thousands of dollars are spent annually in advertising can only be supported by large margins of profit where the only article sold is a comparatively insignificant article such as a fountain pen.
        “The sale of such goods as the fountain pen almost altogether depends on the salesmanship and guarantee of the dealer, and the same guarantee is demanded of and given by the stationer whether he sells a pen on a small or large profit; and no matter what brand of pen sold there is always a certain amount of repairs and exchanges necessary.  This is another reason why the dealer should only handle fountain pens on which he makes a good margin of profit and not those which it is necessary to send to an American factory whenever a slight repair is necessary.
        “[One dealer is] offering to the trade a line of fountain pens which they have had specially made and which are modern and up-to-date in every respect.  These pens are made solely for this house by one of the largest factories on the continent, and are fully guaranteed by the firm referred to.  The convenience of buying a high-grade fountain pen from a local wholesale house, fully guaranteed by them, and where all repairs and parts may be procured on short notice, will undoubtedly be readily appreciated by the Canadian trade.”

        On July 1904, p.264, we hear of the Waterman’s repair department.  “The L. E. Waterman Co., manufacturers of Waterman's Ideal fountain pens, have now a branch agency at 36 Alliance Building (formerly the Imperial building), 107 St. James Street, Montreal. It will he a great convenience to the trade and the public using these pens to have a local branch, for, although Canadian orders will still he filled from New York [this changed in 1908 when a Waterman’s factory was opened in Canada], the repairing will be done in Canada, a complete repair department having been installed here.  This will save Canadians not only several days’ delay, but will also do away with the Canadian customs’ duty, which is charged on pens brought back to Canada after being repaired in the United States.”
        And on
November 1904, p.448, we finally find that Parker followed suit.  “A Canadian agent has been appointed by the Parker Pen Co., of Janesville, Wisconsin, makers of the Parker fountain pen.  The lucky firm is G. A. Weese & Son, of Toronto.  This piece of news should be welcome to the Canadian trade, especially when the additional information is given that Weese & Son is installing a complete fountain pen repair plant in their premises.  It will no longer be necessary to send pens a day or two days’ journey into the United States to have repairs effected.  The necessary work can be done expeditiously in Toronto, at the least possible expenditure of time and money.”




George Kovalenko.
 
.



March 16, 2014

The Waterman’s Globe Inks


[Posted on L&P on June 24, 26, 2012.]
        [My thanks to Max Davis for the image of three of the Waterman’s globe inks formerly in his collection, also shown in his and Gary Lehrer’s Waterman’s book, p.175.  And thanks to the New York Public Library, Smithsonian Institute, The Wayback Machine, Google Books, and the Hathi Trust for placing the volumes of The American Stationer online, and to Antonios Zavaliangos for downloading all of them for me.  June 24, 2012.]


Three versions of the bottle.

        I have always been intrigued by the Waterman’s globe-shaped ink bottles.  Or cardioid, or heart-shaped, or cone-shaped, or urn-shaped ink bottles.  Holding one is like cupping a little ball in the palm
(1a) of your hand.  It’s just a little handful of an ink bottle that just barely fits into the fist.  You can see where Waterman’s got their inspiration for the shape of the bottle when you look at the Waterman’s “Ideal” Globe trademark, but it was also born of necessity because of all the new self-filling fountain pens that were proliferating at the time.  Waterman’s also had pump fillers, coin fillers, and sleeve fillers before they had their famous lever fillers.  This bottle was literally the first ink bottle that was intended to be used exclusively for replenishing self-filling fountain pens.  The reservoirs of these bottles came to a rounded point at the bottom to form a well from which self-filling pens could be filled, right down to the last few drops of ink.  I haven’t been able to find a patent or design for it yet, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that there isn’t one.  It just seems like a very patentable idea, if not for its function and utility, then at least for its shape and design.  Perhaps it couldn’t be patented because of prior similar designs such as US design no. 36,764 from Feb 2, 1904, the Bustanoby(1b) design for the bottle for their “Forbidden Fruit” grapefruit liqueur.  It is also shaped sort of like the globus cruciger design of the Chambord framboise liqueur bottle.  There was also the 1880’s design(1c) for a bottle used by G. T. Rogers Mfg. Co. for their “Bengal” powdered laundry bluing,(1d) a product a little closer to ink.  There are a few different types of Waterman’s globe inks, and I have always wondered about which one came first.  I always thought that these Waterman’s bottles came in at least three different types, and with at least two different labels, but I have recently found a fourth distinct type and a possible fifth variant, and have come to a conclusion about the complete phylogeny of the various types and shapes of bottles and labels, which I have deduced from various sources that I have collected over the years.  But the thing that cinches it all is the ads in The American Stationer featuring all the different styles and shapes of Waterman’s ink bottles, ads that are geared toward stationers and dealers.  Here is the bottle’s phylogenetic progression.


The first version of the bottle.

        Initially I thought the first version of the bottle, ca.1912-15, made its first appearance in an illustration in The Pen Prophet, September 1912,(2) where it was called “our new No. 3 style of…so-called Self-Filling Bottle…from which to fill Self-Filling Fountain Pens…with its conical base”.  I also thought that the bottle was first mentioned, although not illustrated, in an ad in Am. Stat. on Aug 17, 1912, p.1,(3) before they had prepared a cut of the bottle for their ads, and where it was also called the “new style No. 3”.  The bottle is also mentioned in an article in Geyer’s Stationer, Mar 14, 1912, p.24,(4) about the new price-list booklet of Waterman’s inks, including “the new bottle especially designed for self-filling pens”.  But then Volume 71 of Am. Stat. and some volumes of Geyer’s were finally placed online by the Hathi Trust, and in those volumes I found the introductory ad for the bottle.  It appears the first time on the cover of the Feb 3, 1912 issue of Am. Stat.(5)  Essentially the same ad, just formatted a little differently, appears in Geyer’s, Feb 8, 1912, p.21.(6)  These two ads show the bottle being used to fill the new Waterman’s Self-Filling Pen, sometimes called the Sleeve Filler by pen collectors.  The same illustration also appears in the ad for the Waterman’s Sleeve Filler in Geyer’s, Aug 8, 1912, p.17.(7)  In all these ads it is again called “A New Style” ink bottle “with its conical base”, “Especially designed for Self-Filling Pens” that allows the nib to be submerged even when the ink is used up, “down to the last few drops contained”.  The bottle is a cardioid, or heart-shaped cone, or little footed urn, and not a true globe shape.  It has a metal cap(8) embossed with the globe symbol, the words “Waterman’s Ink”, and two stars,(9) and it has steeply-pitched, quick-sealing threads.  The caps are compatible with the Waterman’s ink bottles with the tall, eyedropper-covering screw caps.  The phrases “Waterman’s Ideal Ink” and “New York” are embossed on opposing shoulders, and it has no mark on the bottom.  The bottle is illustrated without a label in the above ads and in The Pen Prophet, but it may have had one.  The label may have been eliminated from the cut for the purpose of allowing the nib of the fountain pen to be seen through the glass, dipping into the last dregs of ink.  At first the bottle was released in purple glass, but after the First World War started, and the manganese required to make the glass could no longer be procured from the German colonies that supplied it, the bottle was made of selenium glass.  The papers that came in the boxes with the sleeve-filling pens from 1912-13(10) show the pen being filled from this type of bottle.  It’s another version of the same cut in The Pen Prophet.  But the pen shown being filled in the ca.1914-15 streetcar ad(11) is already a lever filler.


The second version of the bottle.

        There is a possible variant of the bottle with an eyedropper under a tall, metal eyedropper cap.(12)  I found one on Ebay, but it may have been a marriage, since it contradicted the original stated purpose of the bottle, that is, for use with self-filling fountain pens, and not for filling eyedropper pens.  Maybe someone realized that the two types of caps were compatible and inter-changeable, and the caps were exchanged aftermarket.  However, there may be another true variant of the metal cap, and I am calling this one the second version, at least until someone disproves it.  The first ad for the bottle in Am. Stat., Mar 29, 1913, p.57,(13) shows this second type.(14)  The same cut appears in the ads on Aug 2, 1913, p.1, Oct 25, 1913, p.20, and Apr 18, 1914, p.69.  An article on May 3, 1913, p.35, announces the new “‘Ideal’ Ink Price List”, a “very artistic little folder gotten up by the L. E. Waterman Company” to be distributed and supplied to all stationers and other dealers, and the ad on Nov 7, 1914, p.1, doesn’t have pictures of all the different bottles, but it does offer a “Catalogue On Request”.  The difference between the first two metal caps might best be explained by the license taken by the illustrator who drew the picture of the bottle in the ads.  I photoshopped one of the eyedropper caps(15) to show what the cap may have really looked like, that is, with a rounded, knurled top edge rather than the straight, square-cut edge it has in the cut.  The difference, however, may also be explained by the fact that the cap on the first round type is on a bottle found in Canada, since Waterman’s did have their own factory in Canada, and the square type of cap may be found only on bottles in the US.  The one thing these early ads prove conclusively, though, is that the earliest bottles had no label.


The Staffords version of the bottle.

        There is also a Stafford’s Fountain Pen Ink bottle in a square-globe version of the first bottle, or an upside-down-pyramid-shaped bottle with rounded and chamfered corners.  Its threads are compatible with the Waterman’s heart-shaped ink bottle, so their caps are interchangeable.  This one is quite rare because it may have been forced out of production early on by a cease-and-desist letter, and threats of litigation by Waterman’s, and consequently very few of them survive.  I have only ever seen one of these bottles in all the years I have been collecting and researching inks.  That’s one for every 20-25 of the Waterman’s bottles I’ve seen so far in over 35 years of collecting. Some other similar ink bottles include the Canadian Carter’s cardioid ink on its 3-legged, metal stand,
(16) the Japanese Pilot urn-shaped ink,(17a) (17b) the modern Italian Visconti mushroom-shaped ink,(18a) and Sailor also used an octagonal-globe(18b) version of the bottle in 2014 for their limited edition inks, like the ones sold by Bungubox, which went viral until they were finally discontinued in 2015.(18c)  The Waterman’s bottle also somewhat resembles the Sheaffer’s “Library” ink bottle(19) in US design no. 71,330, featured in a topic by Roger Wooten on FPN.(20)


The third version of the bottle.

        The third bottle is another version of the first type of bottle, ca.1914-15 to the early 1920s.  It appears in the early-1920s brochure titled Waterman Ideal Ink where it is described as a “Desk Style vase shaped bottle, our new container designed especially for self-filling pens”, and in the early-1920s brochure titled A Vacation Necessity where it is described as “For Desk Use”.  It has the same cardioid shape, but it now has short, shallow threads, and a black bakelite cap, which has the same words and imagery as the metal cap, but with more refined embossing, and it is not interchangeable with the metal cap because the threads are not compatible with those of the first bottle.  It has the same embossing on the shoulders, and no mark on the bottom.  It may not have had a label at first, but then it had the squat, horizontal, diamond-shaped label with the double-globe, and the black line inset from the edge of the paper.  The transition to the next type of bottle is well-documented in an article in Am. Stat.  The article titled “New Waterman Ink Receptacles” on Apr 17, 1915, p.32,
(21) is the first time the bottle appears with a label, and it also has the bakelite cap.  Two bottles are presented, the globe ink, and a new, patented pouring spout for their master inks.  Both are called “newly patented receptacles”, but the pour-spout is the only patented item.  The globe ink is still called “the new 2-oz. bottle”, but then the article goes on to say that it is only “the result of careful planning”, but no more.  This article would have been the perfect opportunity to crow about any patent for the globe ink, if there were one, but since one isn’t mentioned, I think we can safely say that there probably wasn’t one, maybe.  So call me “Maybe”.  The Am. Stat. ad on Aug 28, 1915, p.1, only mentions and doesn’t show the globe ink, calling it “the new style self-filler bottle”,(22) even though it does show the bottle with the patented pour-spout.  The mention appears above a picture of a “Travelers’ Filler”, which only serves to add strength to my conviction that the globe ink wasn’t patented.  Otherwise, they’d have been prouder of it.  The next ad showing the globe ink appears on Oct 9, 1915, p.29, but it gives equal time to both self-filler and eyedropper-filler fountain pens and the respective ink bottles from which they were to be filled.(23)


The Filling Station.

        The next ad in Am. Stat. that features the Waterman’s globe ink doesn’t appear until well after the war, in 1919, so it’s not so obvious what happened in the intervening 3-4 years.  But there is one last tantalizing clue in an ad for Waterman’s ink in 1915 that helps to explain the dearth of ink ads during the remainder of WWI.  I don’t know whether the ad appears in Am. Stat. because the last issue from that year, no. 26 from Dec 25, 1915, is missing from the volume in Google Books.  It’s okay, because a copy of the ad appears in Geyer’s Stationer, on Dec 23, 1915, p.29.
(24)  The ad has no illustrations at all, but the ad copy states quite revealingly, “Notice.  We beg to announce that, because the European manufacturers’ inability to ship to us the supplies for future manufacturing, we will discontinue the manufacture of “Waterman’s Ideal Ink” until such time as the embargo is raised.  We cannot substitute other materials to make the same grade of ink that we have been furnishing our trade, and do not wish to put on the market other than our usual grade”.  It is not known when they resumed making ink, but not one of the ads during the period 1916-18 even mentions Waterman’s ink.  Ads that mention dry ink pellets appear on Jan 26, 1918, p.1,(25) Mar 23, 1918, p.1,(26) and Aug 10, 1918, p.1.(27)  The Jan 26th ad also states, “As far as possible, we are conserving our stock of ink made in France, to be sold only to the Allied Armies, and where shipping facilities or the available supply of bottles makes that impossible, we are in position to supply a superior quality of Army and Navy Ink Pellets”.  So that’s what happened to the ink ads during the war, and the globe ink bottle didn’t make its reappearance until the full-page ads in Am. Stat., Apr 26, 1919, p.33,(28) July 2, 1921, p.17,(29) and Mar 11, 1922, p.17,(30) all showing the bottle with a double-globe label.  It’s really a shame that there are no Waterman’s ads at all in Bookseller & Stationer between Dec 1912 and Oct 1919.  Maybe the lack of Waterman’s ads can be blamed on the depression before the war, and then the war itself.  In any case, the Waterman’s ads started reappearing regularly in Book. & Stat. in the early 1920s, and totally new globe ink ads appeared in the April 1920, p.3,(31) and May 1921, p.11,(32) issues.  I’d love to find one of the “Filling Stations” pictured in the latter ad.  I’ve got the bottles for it, and a space for it in one of my Waterman’s display cases, now that I know it exists.  But until you see an item in an ad like this one, or find the actual artifact, how can you even guess that something like this exists?  The ads in the August 1921, p.45,(33) and March 1922, p.80,(34) issues have the same image, but with different ad copy, and the ad on July 1922, p.12,(35) is similar to these two, but it’s a new ad.  A British instruction sheet from around 1922-23, the type that was inserted into pen boxes, also shows the double-globe label.(36)  This label also appears on the bottles in the 1922 Waterman’s US catalogues and on the Waterman’s “Apr 1923-Jan 1924” advertising calendar blotters.(37)


The fourth version of the bottle.

        The fourth bottle is yet another version of the first type of bottle, early-to-mid-1920s, but this is the cross-over bottle.  It has the same bakelite cap, and shallow threads, and cardioid shape, but with a wider filling cone-tip at the bottom that almost makes the bottle spherical, a steeper foot at the base, and the single-globe label with “Copyright” and “1920” at the extreme left and right angles of the diamond, and a black border at the edge of the paper.  The one big difference is that although it has the same embossing on the shoulders, it also has the phrase “This container made in U.S.A.” and a mold-number mark embossed on the pedestal, or base, which on some bottles is smaller in circumference and steeper than the earlier bases, almost in preparation for the next version of the bottle.  And by the time the Waterman’s 1925 catalogue comes along, the bottle is called the No. 103,
(38) or 203, 303, etc., depending upon the color of the ink.


The fifth version of the bottle.

        The fifth version of the bottle is a totally new design, mid-to-late-1920s, possibly into the 1930s.  It is essentially the second style of bottle because it is so radically different from the other four in that it is truly globe-shaped.  The other ones were all cone-shaped, and just had different caps and threads.  The fifth one makes its first appearance in the 1925 brochure titled Wherever a pen or pencil is used,
(39) where it is described as, “Waterman’s new desk style bottle for self-filling pens.…Note the extra deep ‘well’ extending to the bottom of [the] bottle–assuring easy access to the very last drop of ink”.  It has the same bakelite cap, and the same shallow threads, but a new globe shape with a column-tip that extends into the footed base, much like a little tube stem.  There is no “New York” embossed on the shoulder, and only “Waterman’s Ink” on the shoulder opposite the single-globe label.  The phrase “This container made in U.S.A.” is on the base, but there is no embossed mold mark on the bottom because of the protruding cone tip, or the nipple of the tube-shaped well, which is in the way.  The latest it appears is on the border of a Waterman’s letterhead dated and sent in 1929, but the design of the letterhead dates to an earlier time.  Production of the globe bottle may have been discontinued in the late 1920s, or the bottle may have been available a little later into the early 1930s.  What we need are some more issues of The American Stationer from 1923 to the 1930s.  The new “Tip-Fil” bottles in US design no. 98,958 filed July 29, 1935 and issued on Mar 17, 1936(40) replaced it and made it redundant.  What a shame that it’s gone.

George Kovalenko.





 .

Addendum, June 11, 2015, June 16, 2016, and Aug 13, 2017.
        This was what the bottle factory in the Cumberland Glass Works in Bridgeton, N. J., looked like in 1909.  There are some more photographs in the US Library of Congress from 1909, and in the US National Archives from 1912-13, from the time of the Waterman’s globe ink.  These photos showing night scenes of children working the midnight shift were taken by Lewis Hine for the National Child Labor Committee as documentation of child labor, so these ink bottles may have been produced through the exploitation of the labor of children.  And here’s a 1908 photo of a baseball team composed mainly of glass bottle factory boys.


 
Footnotes.

1a. New Pilot urn-shaped ink, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/PalmPilot_zpslg1mjaio.jpg.
1b. US design no. 36,764, Feb 2, 1904, https://www.google.com/patents/USD36764.

1c. US design no. 11,965, Sept 14, 1880, https://www.google.com/patents/USD11965.
1d. G. T. Rogers Mfg. Co. “Bengal” bluing, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/Bengal_zpsf628369b.png.
2. The Pen Prophet, Sept 1912, p.11, reprinted in Pen Fancier’s Magazine, Mar 1982, p.23, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/8800bda0.jpg.

3. American Stationer, Aug 17, 1912, p.1, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/db4aad1f.jpg.

4. Geyer’s Stationer, Mar 14, 1912, p.24, http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433108135793;view=1up;seq=446.
5. Am. Stat., Feb 3, 1912, p.1, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/WatGlobeInk_zps4b5680df.jpg.
6. Geyer’s, Feb 8, 1912, p.21, http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433108135793;view=1up;seq=249.
7. Geyer’s, Aug 8, 1912, p.17, http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433108135884;view=1up;seq=243.

8. Waterman’s first globe cap oblique, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/5fd0ff90.jpg.

9. Waterman’s first globe cap top, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/c940ecf4.jpg.

10. Waterman’s box insert paper ca.1912-13, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/94f150cd.jpg.

11. Waterman’s streetcar ad ca.1914-15, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/2e404aa8.jpg.

12. Waterman’s eyedropper cap, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/a21a5a7a.jpg.

13. Am. Stat., Mar 29, 1913, p.57, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/1db93e65.jpg.

14. Ibid., p.57, detail from the ad, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/83f6aee4.jpg.

15. Waterman’s eyedropper cap photoshopped, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/0315a294.jpg.

16. Canadian Carter’s cardioid ink, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/6addfc03.jpg.

17a. Vintage Pilot urn-shaped ink, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/a91efa24.jpg, and http://stat.ameba.jp/user_images/20160708/20/kamisama-samasama/2d/b6/j/o0528067413692557973.jpg.

17b. And the four different types of Pilot ink bottles, http://stat.ameba.jp/user_images/20130211/20/kamisama-samasama/5b/ad/j/o0550020712415403948.jpg.
18a. Visconti mushroom-shaped ink, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/a9346ced.jpg.

18b. Sailor octagonal globe ink, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/SailorBunguBox1_zps2ptysbso.jpg.


18c. FPN topic #272272, http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/272272-sailors-full-ink-lines-including-shop-exclusives-compiled-in-a-post/.
19. Sheaffer’s “Library” Skrip ink, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/2c96078e.jpg.

20. FPN topic #191982, http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php/topic/191982-the-first-bottle-for-skrip/.

21. Am. Stat., Apr 17, 1915, p.32, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/93ebd861.jpg.

22. Am. Stat., Aug 28, 1915, p.1, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/WatadsAug281915_zpsc16d198a.jpg.
23. Am. Stat., Oct 9, 1915, p.29, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/1915bWatglobe_zpsae5e7aa0.jpg.
24. Geyer’s, on Dec 23, 1915, p.29, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/Watglobeink1915b_zpse03d11c0.jpg.
25. Am. Stat., Jan 26, 1918, p.1, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/Watglobeink1918a_zpsf5953a57.jpg.
26. Am. Stat., Mar 23, 1918, p.1, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/Watglobeink1918b_zps731512b8.jpg.
27. Am. Stat., Aug 10, 1918, p.1, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/Watglobeink1918c_zps0e1e10e9.jpg.
28. Am. Stat., Apr 26, 1919, p.33, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/dfc7761c.jpg.


29. Am. Stat., July 2, 1921, p.17, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/3cc5eaa5.jpg.

30. Am. Stat., Mar 11, 1922, p.17, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/2a9fda73.jpg.

31. Bookseller & Stationer, Apr 1920, p.3, a totally new ad, http://archive.org/stream/stationeryoffice1920toro#page/n236/mode/1up.
32. Book. & Stat., May 1921, p.11, a totally new ad, http://archive.org/stream/stationeryoffice1921toro#page/n340/mode/1up.
33. Book. & Stat., Aug 1921, p.45, the same image as 4, but a totally new ad, http://archive.org/stream/stationeryoffice1921toro#page/n582/mode/1up.
34. Book. & Stat., Mar 1922, p.80, same image as 3, but with new text, http://archive.org/stream/stationeryoffice1922toro#page/n239/mode/1up.
35. Book. & Stat., July 1922, p.12, similar to 3 and 4, but a totally new ad, http://archive.org/stream/stationeryoffice1922toro#page/n479/mode/1up.
36. Waterman’s box insert sheet ca.1922-23, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/2699f938.jpg.


37. Waterman’s “Apr 1923-Jan 1924” advertising calendar blotters, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/Watglobeink1923-24blotters_zps4b0590ac.jpg.
38. Waterman’s 1925 catalogue, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/f2ce0d1d.jpg.


39. Waterman’s 1925 brochure, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v71/rhrpen/668e8927.jpg.

40. US design no. 98,958, Mar 17, 1936, https://www.google.com/patents/USD98958.
  
 
And here’s a parting shot of a Waterman’s globe ink with a photo-repro label and a Rawleigh’s floor polish coin-slot screw cap.
It is the bottle I usually use to fill all my fountain pens, but I cleaned it up for this occasion.