If you're a regular reader of Christopher's pen reviews here, you'd know that he's a huge fan of vintage Parker Vacumatic fountain pens :) Here's a really nice write up (with some historical background) on his latest one:
(photo courtesy of Christopher ~ please click on image to enlarge)
Christopher writes:
"Can there be enough said in praise of a vintage Parker Vacumatic, the design of which was sheer genius? Following the world-breaking Duofold, which literally put the Parker pen corporation on the map, the Vacumatic was the commendable idea of Kenneth Parker, son of the company's founder. There were just so many pluses for those of us who had a Parker Vacumatic back in the day. For one, the design and finish was a step above most of the pens produced by Parker's competitors. Plus, the finish was so in advance of anything that had been considered back in the early 1930s. Parker had moved from the hard Vulcanized rubber to plastic for their Duofold line of pens. Still, when it came to the new Parker Vacumatic, Kenneth approached the DuPont company to develop and produce a strong plastic that would give the Parker new products a luster jewel-like finish. And although there was an initial step to ending up with the Vacumatic that hit the retailers in 1934, the Vacumatic has some really unique qualities. Think of a pen which used a rubber diaphragm to draw ink into a welcoming barrel. And without an ink sack to limit what was actually drawn into the pen. The barrel could, in fact, be filled with a generous amount of ink. Plus, the barrel's (in part) transparent finish allowed the user to gauge exactly how much ink was inside the barrel at any given time. The finish also involved coloured horizontal rings which, coupled with the Lucite luster, made the finish pop and sparkle.
Initially the filler for the Vacumatic was a mechanism that sat partly outside the barrel and had a spring-loaded tube which could be pumped and then locked back down into the back end of the pen. Again, allowing for a greater ink capacity. There was also a relatively long breather tube inside the barrel, which helped to compensate for the different air pressure and offset leaking problems. But that was just the tip of the so-called iceberg.
So, what of this pen I am featuring? Well, it has a golden pearl finish with amazing luster. It has the lock down filling system that I mentioned and is a Parker Vacumatic Standard model, identified by its triple cap banding. The cap sports a wide feather Parker arrow clip which, as with the other fixtures, is 14K Gold filled. But I think the true beauty of this Parker writing instrument is the matching striped finish on the barrel, cap, double jewels and grip section which, may I add, sports a two tone, 14K Gold Parker arrow nib. Plus, this pen holds its own as a pre-streamlined model and, in doing so, mirrors its big brother, the oversized Vacumatic. To my mind, this pen is big enough to sit well-balanced in the hand, posting at all of 6 inches but capping back to a pocketable 5 inches. As for a writer, I would have to say this is a medium flex general writing pen. Will this pen see its way into my vintage pen collection? Is there any doubt?"
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