Parker Vector Fountain Pen | Black with Chrome Trim | Medium Nib | Blue Ink | Hangtab

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Malcolm Troak tells us how Smith decided to close the Janesville's Arrow Park factory in the US from May to November 1983for the remodeling. This meant that Newhaven had to supply the world demand for six months. Incredibly enough Newhaven rose to the challenge and at times managed to produce more than a million pens pen week! While the RB-1 was taking a large chunk of the roller ball market, the Systemark was silently phased out. The average score is 8/10 . T hat seems about right – it has its faults, but over all I have never had serious complaints. As hardy as this pen has proved, I'd recommend the flighter if you want extra toughness – as long as the cost difference remains negligible it's worth it. There are other (more expensive, more attention-grabbing) contenders for someone's first fountain pen, but this one is so easy to lay hands on, pleasant to use and so reliable that I think anyone could (and should) consider it – it's not “excitement, adventure and really wild things!” but it will get the job done, and do it well . Books About Pens". www.booksaboutpens.com. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011 . Retrieved 26 April 2018. Engineered with super strong materials and featuring a sleek tubular design, this high quality fountain pen is made to last and is a pleasure to write with.

That's all I have to say about it, there isn't much more, is there? Score-wise, I hovered between 6 and 7, but I think the tug to 7 is based on my personal affection for the pen. Really, it's a very functional design, but just a bit plain and unexciting, so I think it has to be 6/10.

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By 1988 ballpens and pencils had been added to the Stainless steel Flighter models. The Standard Vector had a pushbutton while the more expensive Flighter were cap actuated. Clips and buttons now made in stainless steel. What has to be noted in its favour is that, even though this is a 1980s design, meant for the younger/less affluent end of the market, instead of the pen equivalent of a huge permed mullet, enormous shoulder-pads, fluorescent eye makeup and earrings that could double as chandeliers, Parker kept the design simple and reasonably refined. The Parker Pen Company is an American manufacturer of luxury writing pens, founded in 1888 [1] by George Safford Parker in Janesville, Wisconsin, United States. In 2011 the Parker factory at Newhaven, East Sussex, England, was closed, and its production transferred to Nantes, France. [2] History [ edit ] In early 1982 the Parker Pen Company in the US were down going on out, so George Parker decided to bring in a new management team from outside the company. This was previously unheard of. Parker had always been a family company. Parker offered James Peterson, an executive vice-president at R. J. Reynolds, the job as Parker's new president and CEO, and Manville Smithwas recruited as president of the writing-instrument group. James Peterson's business vision was to transform Parker to a highly centralised company. One company with one strategy. Introduction – moreengineering". Archived from the original on 28 December 2019 . Retrieved 8 April 2020.

The feed and nib are quite nice. The feed has two channels, even the old ones do. Some old ones don't even have Parker written on the nib. It's certainly a very nice pen. I really liked it. If you want to clean it, you can use an ultrasonic cleaner. It does really well with these nibs. You don't need to take it apart since the nib and feed are very tight and can be damaged when you pull them.Eventually the patent for Parker’s completely new roller ball system was filed in April of 1975 with Fred Wittnebert as primary inventor, by then it was already in production. The Parker Vector would make a great gift for anyone who loves writing in style, or needs a high quality, reliable pen on a daily basis in the home or office. I've never tried, but it may be worth pointing out, to anyone interested, that the Vector has the reputation of being able to deal with inks that should be kept at least a mile away from most other pens. Even if you don't particularly like the pen, you could still choose to buy one for iron-gall inks and others than can be harsh to a more delicate pen's innards. However, if you do try them in it, that could make it even more irksome that you can't take it apart occasionally for a thorough cleaning.) Kenneth Grange: A very British modernist". the Guardian. 19 July 2011. Archived from the original on 22 November 2022 . Retrieved 22 November 2022. It's got a great feed, no skipping, no hard starting (even left several weeks without using) and is fairly wet, though not a “gusher”. As you can (hopefully) see from the picture, it can produce decent shading with the right ink.

All in all, it's a great nib for the money. A true medium, smooth, on the wet side; I can't fault it. I'm giving it 10/10. The Parker Vector Fountain pen is a fountain pen with a standard-sized nib that effortlessly combines style with durability. A very solidly built, reliable pen, and for an inexpensive workhorse, rather than a status symbol or future heirloom, a 10+-year lifespan is pretty impressive! So I have to give it 10/10 .ventually Parker Newhaven succeeded in a buyout of the Writing Instruments Division in February 1986 and corporate headquarters moved to Newhaven, England. Despite a world recession, Parker increased its turnover by almost 50% in the five years following the management buyout. As I mentioned, the barrel of mine is definitely on its last legs, and once it goes I may do without one for a while, but I imagine I'll eventually get another; the idea of doing without a Vector altogether seems strange, now. Also in 1985 Parker offered a Vector roller ball specially designed for Janesville’s Sesquicentennial 1835-1985. It was a white pen with ”Janesville Sesquicentennial 1835-1985” lithographed in blue diagonally around cap & barrel and a red Sesquicentennial Seal, with Janesville Sesquicentennial in red encircling it. The pen was offered in a regular gift box. Two models were made but only one used.

Availability : This is about the easiest fountain pen to lay hands on in the UK and, as I understand it, it certainly isn't difficult to find in many other parts of the world, either, whether in a high-street shop, a supermarket or on the net. The price hasn't risen too much in the last decade, either. If you want a fine nib you may not get one quite so easily, though, and extra fine stopped being made ages ago! eterson had given Manville Smith six months to get the Arrow Park running again, but it was soon clear that it would not be finished for the Christmas season of 1983. The new factory was to be computer-automated but it broke down repeatedly and Parker eventually had to hire manual labour again to fulfill the Christmas demands, which cost Parker millions of dollars. After the Vector, Manville Smith had planned goto even deeper into the low-price market with the Itala, which would be Parker's first disposable pen. George Parker reacted fiercely against it, and was in fact so enraged about the idea of diminishing the Parker trademark by offering a throw-away pen that he had Manville Smith fired, even though his RB-1 strategy had proved very profitable. According to Smith himself the failed Janesville-Vector time-line provided George Parker with a good reason for letting him go. Parker Pens Penography: PARKER 25". parkerpens.net. Archived from the original on 24 February 2020 . Retrieved 22 November 2022. here was a wide sense of resentment towards how Parker was run and of the management, and following "very stringent cuts" in all areas, morale was low and the production so problematic that Peterson resigned the day before New Years Eve in 1985.I taught for exactly one year (don't ask) at a private school in Western Canada and, having just completed six years working at a Waldorf school, I decided to issue fountain pens to all the students in my combined Grade 3/4 class. Jr, Ralph Gardner (9 December 2010). "When Parker Pens Ruled". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 12 August 2017 . Retrieved 22 November 2022. It has almost no spring. However, for a cheap steel nib, it is smooth and a real pleasure to write with. This one has had a lot of time to adapt to my writing style (and for a good proportion of the last decade it was one of only two fountain pens I regularly used, so it has been well broken in) but I don't recall it ever being at all scratchy. My two much newer Parkers with the same nib bear this out. This is a medium, and as this nib was also on my first fountain pen, it is, I think, unconsciously the standard by which I judge whether another medium nib is truly medium or not. When compared to half a dozen other mediums I own, this actually seems quite fair (though my “identical” Jotter nib is a very broad “medium”, so they aren't 100% consistent). Anyway, here is a sample to give you an idea of how it writes (the ink is Diamine Amazing Amethyst, though the colour is slightly off in the photo): Thanks for a review of a workhorse pen. They may be considered "school pens" by some, but count me amongst their fans. Pen factory closure plan revealed". 16 July 2009. Archived from the original on 9 August 2019 . Retrieved 26 April 2018– via news.bbc.co.uk.