Swan Mabie Todd & Co. 9k Gold Leverless Fountain Pen
Nib: Swan # 2 14ct Flexible
Engine turned alternative wave engraving lines. Made in England
Measures, capped 14 cm
The 1930s have been described as the era of gimmick-filling pens. This may be somewhat unfair to innovative designs such as Parker's Vacumatic, but the decade nonetheless did see a vogue for new filling mechanisms that clearly appealed to a love of gadgetry. Mabie Todd's flagship pen during this era was the Swan Leverless, which used an elegantly simple twist-filling mechanism, patented in 1932. Unlike earlier twist-fillers such as the A. A. Waterman, the Leverless used a conventional sac, which made servicing as simple as for any conventional lever-filler.
The sac was compressed by being wrung out by an internal entangling bar, attached to a knob at the end of the barrel. Turning the knob counterclockwise emptied the sac; turning it back clockwise then allowed the sac to straighten out and fill.
Condition: pre-owned, very good, slight brassing
*For more info regarding Swan, contact me for Back issues of Pen World Magazine
Nov./Dec. 1997 Vol.11. No.2