My Swan fountain pen has a weird black rod on top of the nib. What is that? Mabie Todd pens sometimes have an under over feed – in addition to the feed that the nib sits on, there is a feed on top to guarantee ink flow as the nib is flexed. There were also Gold top feeds – a thin gold channel on top of the nib, which served the same purpose, by moving …
There are so many reasons to use fountain pens over ballpoint pens, isn’t there? For me, it feels more mindful because I have to pick the pen, nib, and ink, then the paper. Do you write?
I thought this post would be fun to show some flex while listing a few of the pen brands. My favorite happens to be Waterman, because my first vintage pen was a red ripple Waterman 52V with a F-BBB wet noodle flex nib. I’m still crazy about it. I later added a few Mabie Todds (Swan, Swallow, Blackbird), a Wahl-Eversharp (Skyline, Doric), Pelikan (400NN x 2), Montblanc (220, 22, 344), and in the Waterman range: 52V, …
Although I recently shared an ad about the Swan Safety Fountpens (and the delightful pricing), I came across another Swan Safety Fountpen ad that I enjoyed. The ad below emphasizes the features of the pens: they never leak because of the screwdown cap, they never blot because of the ladder feed which controls ink flow and supply, and they always write because of the feed and 14KT gold, iridium-tipped nib. Aside from that, the “little windows” …
This 1915 Mabie Todd Swan Trench Pen in #2 size (pen #178) is an eyedropper-filled pen in simple black chased hard rubber. When WWI started, soldiers were sent into battle and the pen industry filled the demand for fountain pens that could be used in the trenches. Parker was first to introduce the Trench Pen, but Mabie Todd & Co. followed not long after. The Trench Pen had a compartment in the barrel designed to hold …
Mabie, Todd. & Co. is a beloved vintage pen manufacturer, having made fine pens, and especially many very pleasant flexible nibs. Their Swan Safety fountain pens were made in a variety of finishes with designs in chased black hard rubber (vulcanite), sterling silver and solid gold. The smaller E. T. Design even had a ring top for convenient carrying. Some models were quite simple while others rather elaborate. Mabie Todd advertised that their pens that didn’t …
