Crescent Filler
From Penpedia
Conklin's Crescent Filler mechanism was the first largely successful alternative to the eyedropper fillers of the time at the start of the twentieth century, ushering in the dawn of the self-filler fountain pen era.
The crescent filler was conceived around 1897 by Roy Conklin, who had founded the Self Fountain Pen Company. He followed in the footsteps of others who had tried to create as easily mass produced self-filler, but thus far had been unsuccessful in finding a reliable method. John Oliphant had patented the lever filler in 1891, six years earlier, but had trouble with the lever being pulled on accident, which would naturally result in quite a mess for the user. Conklin filed his patent on the much more reliable crescent filler, which was granted in 1901.
The filler was hugely successful at the time, and in 1902, Conklin's company was changed to bear his name. The crescent filler boasted two advantages over competing self fillers. First, it was safe. The middle locking ring prevents the crescent from being accidentally depressed. It had a slot in it, and you turned it until the slot lined up with the crescent to unlock it. And two, because the crescent was pressed straight in, you could compress the sac further than competitors and draw in a larger volume of ink. Conklin also patented variants of this filler, to try and lock down the market. Despite this, copies still emerged from the likes of Welty and Spors, and the technology was also licensed at one point to Esterbrook.
At first glance, the mechanism appears somewhat large and unsightly. Despite this, it enjoyed success through the 1920s, and were produced for a period of about 27 years originally. It was also helped by the endorsement of Samuel Clemens, who was known to have used several of the early Conklin crescent filler pens.
The filler would find renewed interest by the mid 1990s, when it would be incorporated into pens by Visconti, Stipula, and in a new pen tipping its hat to an old friend, the Conklin Mark Twain Series.
[edit] Known Issues
Despite their age, crescent-fillers were notoriously well conceived. It is possible to find pens with chipped or cracked locking rings, or missing rings altogether. It can be very hard to replace these, if you can find a proper fitting replacement at all.
