Sherman acquired a wonderful Wahl-Eversharp 'Skyline Yellow Cab' Special Edition fountain pen (made in 1995 by the revived Wahl-Eversharp pen company) a little while ago and asked how the filling system could be disassembled for cleaning. The system was a bit of an odd one that involved unscrewing the lower part of the barrel to access the ink converter. There's an excellent article on PenHero.com (link) about this pen, but it doesn't say if the converter was friction-fit, threaded or glued to the inside of the pen. Sherman found a YouTube video by SBREBrown which showed the converter being pulled out of a more recent 'Skyline' model, so he tried that and it worked.
He'd sent me some really nice photos of the pen and its component parts, so I asked Sherman if he wouldn't mind if I posted them here on our website. He graciously agreed, so without further ado, here they are....
(all photos courtesy of Sherman ~ please click on images to enlarge)
First, some shots of the fountain pen in its elaborate presentation box:
Included with the pen was a die-cast metal and plastic replica of a Ford taxicab, the vehicle that inspired this fountain pen and the rollerball model that was produced at the same time. The presentation box, like the pen and taxicab, has a checkerboard design...
This modern version of the 'Skyline' shares the same "derby cap" design as its predecessor, the Eversharp 'Skyline' that first came out in the summer of 1940...
Unscrewing the lower part of the barrel reveals the black turning knob of the ink converter:
The double-sided warranty card also includes a brief history of the pen's famous predecessor:
Though the repair charge seems steep, the original retail price of the pen when it was released in 1995 was a hefty $250 USD, according to PenHero.com ...
And now, we get to the disassembly stage...
The pen disassembled...
Sherman writes: "I have inked my Yellow Cab just once, a couple of months ago ...not really enjoying it, but now it’s dried – too soon! So I intended to give it a thorough clean up."
The pen's feed and nib collar...
When I saw the photo above, I was worried that the nib collar was cracked, so I asked Sherman, and he replied: "...it looks like a crack in that section, but it is only the edge from the molding,"
Soaking the nib, feed, nib collar and converter to clean them of dried ink....
The 14K gold nib, with the Eversharp "double check" logo, "SKYLINE", "14K-585" & nib width (M) on it ...
After cleaning the ink converter, Sherman was all set to put it back into the barrel...but then he noticed something unusual about the converter...
Sherman: "Pretty tricky when putting the converter back. There is a flat area for sliding it in. Guess the design is not meant to pull the converter often."
Note the small protrusion below the barrel threads (in the middle of the photo) -- that's the part that the flat part of the converter slides onto. This mechanism allows the user to fill the pen without removing the converter from the barrel.
The PenHero article said that pen could also be used with Parker cartridges, so Sherman tried using a couple of different Parker converters in the pen. He writes: "Tried
to insert the Parker original or Deluxe converter but it doesn’t fit,
so this original converter should be for International size. But I am
so afraid to lose it now…. Not sure where can I find a replacement."
The pen after a thorough cleaning...
In our email exchange, the subject of "Should I ink up this special new pen or not?" came up, and Sherman replied: "Guess what, I used to just hold and feel my new pens without actually inking or using them, especially the fountain pens, and some better ballpoint or rollerball pens. But not anymore, life is just too short, so I ink them right away nowadays, unless I bought it and I knew I wouldn’t keep it."
Sherman - I hope you enjoy using your new pen for many years to come! Thank you very much for sharing it with us :)
~Maja
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