I recently posted about our Catalog #70 sale (10% off remaining items), which includes three Waterman Ink-Vue demonstrator fountain pens. There are a variety of filling mechanisms available on fountain pens and these Ink-Vue demonstrators are designed to show off Waterman’s vacuum-fill mechanism, their answer at the time to Parker’s Vacumatic-fill pens. The Ink-Vue employs a lever near the bottom of the pen which is unfolded and then pumped. Each stroke depresses a press-bar which in turn evacuates air from a diaphragm (aka bladder or sac), creating the vacuum needed for ink to be drawn into the barrel through a center filler tube. Just like the Parker Vacumatic-fill, several pumps are needed to completely fill the barrel. It is an efficient system (although certainly not as efficient as Sheaffer’s one-stroke vacuum-fill mechanism). The Ink-Vue also helped to satisfy the pen-using public’s desire at the time for more complicated filling mechanisms. Collecting demonstrators is both rewarding and challenging as they are not plentiful, especially in wonderful condition.
Waterman Ink-Vue Demonstrators available in Catalog #70
Although clear bodied fountain pens today are often called demonstrators, the Waterman Ink-Vue demonstrators are true demonstrators. These pens were often used in stores to show potential customers how a mechanism worked, and the clear/translucent bodies showing off ink also appealed to a lot of individuals.
Waterman also produced, in addition to these vacuum-filling Ink-Vues, CF demonstrators to show the cartridges, including pens with glass cartridges inside. One might wonder what the appeal of a cartridge-filling demonstrator is, but when it is a glass cartridge, it certainly becomes more interesting! Add an Ink-Vue to your collection!
