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The most wanted pen in history
By Dr. S.S.L. Hettiarachchi
The fountain pen has had a memorable history exceeding a hundred years. The underlying concept of a fountain pen is the principle of controlled ink flow. Controlling the flow was a scientific problem faced by many ingenious inventors, which took years to solve. The slow development of quality ink retarded the process.

It was in 1884 that L.E. Waterman of New York invented the first practical fountain pen. By then hundreds of manufacturers had accepted the challenge of producing reliable fountain pens.

George Parker, a telegraphy teacher later entered the market having gained hands-on experience by repairing the pens of his students. "Make something better and people will buy it" was his philosophy. By the mid-thirties, the Parker Pen Company was a global leader having produced a range of popular models including Lucky Curve, Jointless Pen, Black Giant, Snake Pen, Trench Pen, Jack Knife Pen, Duofold and the Vacumatic.

In 1937, George Parker died at the age of 74 having retired from the company. It was during this period that his second son Kenneth was developing a design landmark, which was to be the greatest tribute to his father.

Solution to an inky problem
In the 1930s, almost all inks available in the market dried by evaporation. Attempts to speed up the evaporation process led to the ink drying not only on paper but also on the nib. Parker, under the direction of their chemist Galen Sayler, developed a suitable fast-drying fluid, which dried by increased penetration into paper.

However, the alkali present in the formula deteriorated the pyrolene on the pen barrel and thereby accelerated the decay of rubber sacs. To overcome this problem, the company commenced working on a pen with a resistant barrel. Lucite, the material used to make turrets and noses of World War II bombers provided a reasonable solution to the problem.

Who designed the Parker 51?
Kenneth Parker was the central figure in the development of the Parker 51. He was a man with an in-depth knowledge of the industry. Against all odds, he had previously marketed successfully two high-priced pens, the Duofold and the Vacumatic. He believed that the consumer was in search of innovative, elegant and functional designs because such products enhanced their image.

Recent research has established that Galen Sayler (chemist), Marlin Baker (design engineer) and Robert Pinkus (metallurgist) supported by Ivan Teft (inventor and patent attorney) were the key players in the team. It seems that Kenneth with his wide experience had assembled a winning combination. The presence of Lazlo Moholy-Nagy, a major exponent of industrial design in the Bauhaus movement, as an art advisor to the company was an added strength.

Starting with the Lucite barrel, Parker experimented with new concepts and innovative ideas,coming up with the legendary Parker 51, which dominated the world of writing instruments for decades.

That which we call a pen...
There were three specific reasons for the selection of the unusual name of the Parker 51, which turned out to be a highly successful marketing strategy.

The pen was developed from research conducted in 1939 - the 51st anniversary of the company.
The company wanted to designate it with a non-alphabetical symbol that would not undervalue or dilute the prime trademark, the Parker name.
The figure 51 translates automatically into any language, an important aspect for global marketing.

The pen and its own ink
The new pen had two outstanding external features. From the side, the silhouette of shell and barrel resembled a streamlined miniature Mustang jet fighter plane without wings. The working parts were elegantly covered by the sleek shell and the pen sported a metal cap. At the centre of the design of the Parker 51 is a smooth writing tubular gold nib that fits over what is normally considered the feed. Over this pair is a cone shaped, finely ventilated ink collector that holds ink with a greatly increased surface area.

The whole assembly is covered by a sleek nose cone with only the very end of the nib protruding, very similar in shape and size to the nib of a goose quill. The nib was almost completely set into the streamlined front section thus giving birth to the concept of the hooded nibs. The full nib with the exception of the exposed point is always bathed in ink and the pen is therefore ready to commence writing with uninterrupted regular flow. The pen retained the filling system used for the Parker Vacumatics.

The Parker 51 was a sophisticated writing instrument that was made to very close tolerances achieving standards of accuracy never before attained in fountain pens. The company admitted the pen could never be mass-produced. The pens were limited by their very precision. The collector unit of the 51 represented precision craftsmanship, measured in thousands of an inch. The manufacturing process was remarkable for that era.

The pen was so unique that a new Parker 51 ink was developed specifically for use with the new pen. The result was the Parker 51 and Parker 'high velocity' ink - a pen that starts in a split second and ink that dries as you write.

The launch and advertising
It is believed that more than quarter of a million dollars was spent to develop the Parker 51 pen and at that time this project was the largest undertaken by the firm.

The pen first appeared in 1940 in a few places in Brazil but was not received with the expected level of enthusiasm. Parker refined it further and introduced it to the American market in 1941 at a comparatively high introductory price of $12.50, strategically selected to provide a sense of value and importance.

Although a little slow at the start, it was an undisputed winner in the high-priced playing field. The imagination of the public was focused on the design of the pen that had very little in common with previous fountain pens. Therefore, when the pen appeared in 1941, some were of the opinion that it had the name '51' probably to indicate that it had been planned for 10 years to come. The launch was supported by breathtaking advertisements describing it 'like a pen from another planet' and 'writes dry with wet ink.'

Production during World War II
World War II imposed severe shortage and restrictions on materials, reducing the production of fountain pens by nearly half. There was a need to ration the production of pens to meet the needs of the war.

By the mid forties, the first successful ballpoint had been introduced adding a new dimension to the market.The Parker 51 had no difficulty in progressing through these turbulent times. In the 1940s the demand far exceeded production, elevating it to the status of the world’s most wanted pen. The company proudly stated that a wide range of skills had been developed through the exacting work on the 51 and these skills were increasingly employed in the making of precision military devices such as fuses, tracer shells and primers. Several advertisements were published explaining why the demand could not be completely filled.

The new Parker 51
By 1948 with normalcy being restored after the war, the company had to face the realities of a buyer's market. Although the original 51, then nine years old, was a classic pen with timeless appeal it was rather dated and had to be subjected to innovative modification to generate public interest.

The new Parker 51 was introduced with a novel filling system, called the Aerometric filler. The system consisted of an ink reservoir made of very durable plastic transparent material called Pli-glass as opposed to the conventional rubber. The Aerometric ink system was an innovative method of filling, storing, safeguarding and releasing ink, assuring very satisfactory performance.

The new Parker 51 also provided a solution to one of the biggest challenges faced by the company - the development of a pen that would not leak at high altitudes. Reduced pressure caused ink to escape. The technology of the new 51 included a five-layer insulation, which protected the pen user from leakage caused by temperature changes and flying at 'jet-plane altitudes', up to 72,000 feet.

The unique design, the use of new materials and the precision craftsmanship made the 51 one of the five best designed modern products in America as determined by a survey. Similarly the Time magazine found that Parker Pens, Coco-Cola, Singer and the Jeep were the best-known symbols of America overseas. The Parker 51 received the 1950 Fashion Academy Award for exceptional styling, precision and craftsmanship.

The place in history of the Parker 51 pens has been greatly enhanced by the important world events in which they took part. Almost all the peace treaties and surrenders after World War II were signed using Parker 51 pens. The fact that General Dwight Eisenhower was a great admirer of this pen was most beneficial to the Parker Company.

The Parker 51 range
Numerous versions of the Parker 51 have been produced over three decades. Many of these are in active use even today. The pens made in the first year of production, 1941, had aluminium clip and blind cap screws. Parker 51s have been produced with a wide range of cap patterns and barrels with matching pencils.

In 1947, a smaller version of the pen, the Demi 51 was introduced. With the development of ballpoint pens, Parker produced an elegant matching ballpoint pen for the 51 range.

Parker produced a wide range of nib grades of the order of a dozen. Of the range of Parker 51s produced, some are expensive and rare while others are common. This depended on the materials, finishes and the limited production of certain colours and finishes.

The first series aerometric pens were termed Mark 1 and were in production till 1972. Three years earlier Parker had introduced the Mark 11. Sometime later the Mark 111 was introduced continuing the 51's for another decade. These two versions were similar in appearance to the Parker 61, another hooded pen introduced in the sixties.
The world's best selling pen

The Parker 51 enjoys the reputation among collectors as one of the best pens ever made. It became the world's best selling pen with sales exceeding 41 million units between 1941 and 1972 totalling around $400 million. Annual sales exceeded 2 million units in the late forties at a time when global demand for fountain pens was decreasing due to the entry of ballpoint pens.

In the autumn of 2002, the Parker Pen Company released a Special Edition of the Parker 51. Sixty years on the new pen maintains the original external design combined with the cutting edge of modern technology. It is another gift of an arrow from Parker to the writing warriors of the world.
(The writer is attached to the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa)

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