in the late '20s Parker introduced a line of small pastel colored pens. In the '50s Esterbrook made a line of pastel purse pens. Both are today referred to as pastels.

a large high end pen from Waterman, introduced in 1929. They were a very art deco styled pen and are highly valued by collectors today. A smaller lady's pen was added called the Lady Patricia.

Describes all sorts of pens, operated by a pens sac as reservoir.

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The name Parker gave to its early celluoid. Parker made its first plastic pens in late 1926.

a nib/section assembly introduced by Wahl in 1929. It permitted the nib and feed to be screwed out of the section and replaced in a minute.

a very small novelty pen made by Salz in the '20s and '30s. They came in a variety of decorative finishes and as either eyedropper or lever-fillers.

Sheaffer's popular "Pen For Men." A large snorkel-filler, the PFM came in eight grades. It also featured an inlaid nib. PFMs are highly valued by collectors and by those who uses vintage pens because it is such an excellent performer."

a pen that uses a piston that moves through the barrel to draw in ink. The Conklin Nozac is an early example. Today both Pelikan and Mont Blanc use the system. Converters that replace cartridges also use the piston device.

Cork seal, later plastic.

Special piston, developed by Kovacs and introduced by Pelikan in 1929

Special piston, developed by Montblanc in the 30ies. Here is a little instruction on how to fill a Montblanc Pistonfiller with the famous telescopic piston. These were used for the high end Masterpieces 13x and 14x as well as in some 234 1/2 pistonfillers. First thing to note, when starting to fill the pen - unscrewing the turning knob, at first, the knob turns loosely, without engaging the piston. Only after several turnings, you will find resistance, and the piston will start moving. Then, you must make sure, the piston head moves up completely, till it gently touches the section. Only then the piston will move back completely. Otherwise, the piston might stop halfway. The pictures show in detail how this system works. Thanks to Francis Goossens for this technical drawing.

The knob, which has to be turned in order to move the piston for filling the pen with ink.

uses a moving gasket in the barrel similar to the piston but is operated by pumping a rod. The system was used on Sheaffer and Wahl pens in the '30s. They are difficult to restore and pens with these systems are considered somewhat less valuable than their lever-filling counterparts.

Refers to placing the cap on the rear end of the barrel while in use. One must be very careful in doing this with early pens that are brittle. Most cap lip cracks resulted from posting the cap too firmly. The term also refers to a very fine nib used by accountants for posting numbers.

almost all pens using a rubber ink sac employ a bar inside the barrel that presses against the sac. The bar is activated by a lever, button, crescent, coin etc. One rubber sac pen that does not use a pressure bar is the Twist Filler.

a mechanical pencil that advances lead by twisting a mechanism and retracts it by twisting in the opposite direction. Early models were propel only. Repeater pencils were introduced in 1935, but many comapnies continued the propel/repel.

Montblanc´s fillingsystem, similar to the pushbuttonfiller, but without unscrewing the blindcap

Wahl's name for the early plastic used in their first plastic pens. Practically celluloid