Sheaffer's name for their non-lifetime nibs and later, a line of pen models.

the metal writing point of a fountain pen. Usually made of gold but sometimes gold-plated or plain steel. Usually tipped with iridium or another hard metal. Some early dip pens had glass nibs.

A method of straightening bent nibs by stroking them with a rounded-tip metal tool. Burnishing is difficult to accomplish and should not be attempted by novices on valuable nibs.

Gold nib with a 2 color effect - usually achieved by partly masking the nib and subsequent platinum or Rhodium plating.

A true music nib has 3 tines and 2 vent holes and is used for writing music notes.

Nimmt Stahl- oder Goldfedern auf, diese Art der Feder braucht eine Tinte mit mehr Viskosität. Zum Eintauchen in die Tinte, ohne eigenes Reservoir.

A fountain pen is a pen with an ink supply that replenished ink to the nib. A dip pen is one that does not have an ink supply and must be dipped. Prior to the popularization of the fountain pen in the late 1800s, ink writing was done with a variety of dip pens. See Fountain Pen History from the PenLovers Homepage.

Bent tines and body of the nib can be brought back into shape. Sometimes called "burnishing" of a nib. "

The process of shaping the iridium tip on a stone or a wheel. Tips are 1. polished into shape on a rough and rockhard stone or wheel, then polished on finer and finest stones.

Left and right parts of the nib divided by the nib slit are the tines of the nib.
Long tines create a more felxible nib. Short tines are more rigid.

The cut, through tip and nib up to the venthole of the nib - the ink is drawn through this slit onwards to the tip, from where is is drawn onto the paper, upon contact with the paper surface.

Fine, Extrafine

Broad, Double Broad, Triple Broad

Auch Kugelspitzfeder genannt.

Medium tip

Flat and sharp cut of the nib, for calligraphic writing,

An Eversharp model during WW 2 that attempted to compete with the Parker 51 having a hooded nib and a metal slip cap. The pen was not successful and was only made a few years.

Generally refers to any cutout metal work in a pen's decorative metal overlay. Parker and Waterman produced many filigree pens in the early part of the century.

An unusual looking pen from Moore introduced in 1946. The pen featured an inlaid nib. It was made in several sizes and while not successful at the time, they are very collectible today and are one of the better writing pens of the era.

The softer the gold, the thinner the metal is, the longer the tines of the nib, the flatter the shoulders of the nib - the more flexible a nib is - say: upon pressure, the slit of the nib opens wider which allows more variation of the thickness of the lines written.
Important to have a "memory" - an elastic flexible nib alway returns to its original position. Without memory, the nib is simply bent and ruined.
18 K nibs are softer in the gold, but the 14 K nibs are more elastic with more memory.
Superflex and flex nibs would always be 14 K nibs.

How easily the tines of a nib give and spread under pressure. Stiff nibs are called manifold nibs and are preferred for writing through multiple copies. Flexible nibs can produce a variable line width, and while not common since the '30s in the US, they are making a popularity comeback. In fact, some buyers are led to believe that the more flex the better, which is not necessarily true.

Beginning with an aerometric 51 in 1950, Parker began a series of all stainless steel pens called flighters. Although George S. Parker had died years before, he was a great aviation fan and the company had always been associated with aviation motifs. Flighter in the 61, 45 and 75 lines followed.

The original name of Parker's aerometric filling system for the 51. It was introduced as foto-fill in its first year, '49, then changed to aerometric in 1950.