|
Early two-color
ballpoint pens
In this article we will look at the
development of so-called "marking pens" in the
late 1940s and early 1950s.
Marking pencils were widely used by teachers
to highlight errors in essays and test papers and
by accountants and shopkeepers. These pencils are
still made today! This is an example of a marking
pencil made by Hardmuth in the Czech Republic:
We will not cover in this
brief review those complex marvels of fountain pen
design that were the Colorado by Quadretti and
OMAS, or the incredible Zerollo, vintage
pens that represent the pinnacle of fountain pen
design and that were produced under license in
France, Great Britain and other Countries. These
pens deserve their own articles! More information
about these and similar pens can be found in the
archives of Pentrace and in the Forum at
Pennamania.it, where you will also find a comprehensive
coverage of these extraordinary pens.
The Zerollo: a marvel of engineering!
(photo courtesy of Pennamania.it)
This is a British
pens with Italian roots (Zerollo), the Twopen by
Dunhill:
This is the famous
Colorado by Quadretti, sold through OMAS:
Almost from the very start
ballpoint pens were available with a number of
differently colored inks.
Purple, green, black, blue
and green were available almost from the very
beginning. In the case of the Eversharp Inca Pen, the
colors were described as
Fire Red,
Leaf Green,
Temple Blue
and
Jungle Black!
Soon, special two color pens
(red and blue, usually) were produced, to replace
the popular red/blue pencils used mostly by
schoolteachers and accountants.
These mechanical pencils were
very popular and were made by many pen companies,
often clad in gold or other precious metals.
Mechanical two color marking pencils are still
manufactured today:
This is an Autopoint pencil, made in the USA
A vintage two-color pencil by Scripto (USA)
Many companies developed
two-color ballpoint pens at the beginning of the
1950s. There were several approaches
used to provide a twin ballpoint pen that would be
easy to use in either color:
1.
The
very early pens almost always had the writing
points at the two extremities of the barrel.
The picture shows an American "Romur" pen,
from the late 1940s and the original writing
points.
The
picture shows a very early Romur pen.
The
sales leaflet shows the Romur pen, which at
the time was priced at 640 Liras in Italy
(approximately 1.05 USD). The leaflet also shows a
tube of ballpoint ink, used to refill spent pens
and even mentions replacement spheres!
2.
A
similar pen from the early 1950s, probably
Italian:
Early Italian Marking pen
3.
Another slim two color
pen, from Italy:
Italian marking pen from the 1950s
4.
A different approach was
used by this company: the points were stacked one
above the other. This was best suited to
accountant work, as it was quicker and easier when
writing small characters or numbers to just twist
the pen in one’s fingers in order to write with a
different point.
Side-by-side
writing points
Another
similar pen, by a different manufacturer:
Side-by-side writing points
5.
This
pen is unique in that the barrel is not round, but
oval. It offers a very comfortable grip for the
writer:
Oval section pen: tall and narrow
6.
LUS
introduced retractable two color pens in the
1960s: this design was later copied by many other
penmakers and BIC is still using it!
LUS was also the first
company to produce four and six-color pens!
.jpg)
Three early multi-color pens by
LUS of Italy
7.
Multi-color retractable
pens, also introduced by LUS, became popular in
the late 1960s. Again, BIC copied the LUS design
and still makes a very similar pen.
Classic BIC two-color
pen - current production
8.
These jumbo multicolor
pens first appeared in Italy in the early 1970s:
they are now made in China and are even available
with perfumed inks!
Chinese multi-colored pen. aimed at the
children market
9.
This interesting pen,
the Coleto by Pilot of Japan, represents the state
of the art in multi color pens and will take
ballpoint refills, mechanical pencil leads and a
stylus!
The high-Tec Coleto pen from Japan
This short review is far from
complete, but it gives an idea of the beginning of
the two-color ballpoint pens and its evolution.
Giovanni Abrate
|
