American Fountain Pens
If something has traditionally marked to American society and, by extension, to their manufactures dedicated to the production of fountain pens and other writing utensils, those have been traits such as the capacity for innovation, the tenacity or their enterprising spirit. We are faced with signatures of recognised prestige that appeared out of the blue thanks to the visionary nature of their creators and that, compared to what one would expect from such a young country, have a great historical tradition that goes back, in many cases, to the final years of the nineteenth century and the first of the XX.
Men as Lewis Edson Waterman, George Safford Parker or Walter A. Sheaffer, coming from of other sectors in some cases, realised the potential of the above-mentioned industry, founded their corresponding companies - in 1883, 1888 and 1913, respectively - and with great creativity and truly ingenious solutions, certainly gave response to the needs of the market and the technical problems that were presented. The result was a huge number of patents focused, in many cases, in the improvement of supply systems and filling, such as the feeding mechanism of three cracks -"Three Fissure Feed"- created in 1884 by Waterman, who in 1927 introduced the first glass cartridge and in 1953 the plastic one; the "Lucky Curve" feeder (1894), filling via button (1916), the Vacuum-filler with rubber diaphragm (1932) and the system by capillarity (1956), designed by Parker; or, finally, the fill by lever (1908), the Vac-Fill without tank (1934) and the "Snorkel" (1952), presented by Sheaffer. To all of the above, we would have to add a ceaseless experimentation with the materials used, an area in which we could highlight the insertion by Sheaffer, in 1924, of celluloid for the making of bodies and caps, or the production in plastic by the method of injection in moulds in the early date of 1939, that hugely favoured the democratization of these instruments; without forgetting practical elements such as the cap with pressure lock by Parker in 1898, the clip to allow carrying the fountain pen in your pocket, invented by Waterman in 1904, or Sheaffer’s reversible "Feathertouch nib" (1931), which allowed to write with strokes of different thickness alternating both sides.
This enormous capacity for development is the most distinctive feature of the American brands of fountain pens, to which their architects have been able to add the unquestionable quality and elegance of its products, converted from many years ago in authentic references to excellence.
