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http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2016/11/so-great-vogue.html).
The Larsen mechanism was a simple thing- touted by Waterman as being so simple there’s nothing that can go wrong with them (made of only six parts, the company bragged). That meant a simple pin mounted onto a crude threaded plug would push lead through the tip, which was tight enough to hold it in place by friction alone. Without a reverse gear (which Sheaffer referred to as a propel-repel-expel mechanism), to back the lead up you had to turn the nose cone the other way and push the tip of the pencil onto the table or a finger to push it back in.
I received an email the other day from Jean-Marc Czaplinski, from France, who asked if I had ever heard of the Waterman “Rigid Point,” and attached a few pictures:
This one is marked with the typical Made in USA for export to Britain marks, including the filing of Larsen’s patent as Great Britain patent 226,746 (see http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2016/11/three-interesting-watermans-part-two.html). The box lid reads “Waterman’s Pencil Rigid Point,” and the sheet that was with the box reads, “In order to secure a perfectly rigid point the Waterman pencil is made to propel only.”
What uncharacteristicly delightful hogwash from Waterman! And thank you, Jean-Marc, for the note.
The Larsen mechanism was a simple thing- touted by Waterman as being so simple there’s nothing that can go wrong with them (made of only six parts, the company bragged). That meant a simple pin mounted onto a crude threaded plug would push lead through the tip, which was tight enough to hold it in place by friction alone. Without a reverse gear (which Sheaffer referred to as a propel-repel-expel mechanism), to back the lead up you had to turn the nose cone the other way and push the tip of the pencil onto the table or a finger to push it back in.
I received an email the other day from Jean-Marc Czaplinski, from France, who asked if I had ever heard of the Waterman “Rigid Point,” and attached a few pictures:
This one is marked with the typical Made in USA for export to Britain marks, including the filing of Larsen’s patent as Great Britain patent 226,746 (see http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2016/11/three-interesting-watermans-part-two.html). The box lid reads “Waterman’s Pencil Rigid Point,” and the sheet that was with the box reads, “In order to secure a perfectly rigid point the Waterman pencil is made to propel only.”
What uncharacteristicly delightful hogwash from Waterman! And thank you, Jean-Marc, for the note.
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