The intermediate stage - late 1960s/early 1970s? - between fountain pens and biros, was the 'cartridge pen', which used plastic cartridges loaded with ink which were slotted into the lower part of the pen which held the nib. These were a lot less messy than siphoning ink from a bottle using a flexible plastic bladder with a narrow metal handle to make the pumping action.
Think those plastic ink cartridges were still in plentiful use in the early 80s if we’re talking about the same thing.
www.penshop.co.uk
Fascinating stuff. Thanks for posting. What were your school years roughly.
One of my teachers at secondary school (always referred to as "masters") used to claim that school ink was made from "soot and cuttlefish blood". Where that strange phrase originated I have no idea.
Fascinating stuff. Thanks for posting. What were your school years roughly?
2003/4 was around when my primary school replaced the hinged desks with modern wood tables with brackets for plastic trays underneath.
Cartridges are a replacement for the bladder, but the pen is still a fountain pen. Mine allow me to swap between the two, but I much prefer bottled ink for the colours I can choose between.
Around then. I used cartridge pens throughout secondary school - 1969-76. (may have switched to ballpoint in the sixth form - can't remember)
We were using them in the 90s. Our head teacher wanted everyone to learn calligraphy. My handwriting actually got worse as a result but it was fun trying to learnThink those plastic ink cartridges were still in plentiful use in the early 80s if we’re talking about the same thing.
This sort of thing.
Quink Parker Ink Cartridges Black
Parker Quink ink cartridges ✓ Black ink ✓ Genuine product ✓ Get next day ✓ Gift wrap ✓ 60 day no quibble refunds ✓ Deep, vibrant colour ✓ Great price
E bay seems to have many on sale that look like ones I used in the early 80s for ‘posh writing’ stuff. But they maybe old unused stock.
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Fascinating stuff. Thanks for posting. What were your school years roughly.
We were using them in the 90s. Our head teacher wanted everyone to learn calligraphy. My handwriting actually got worse as a result but it was fun trying to learn
When I was at school in 1900 and frozen to death those desks belonged to an individual pupil. Each form was based in one of the classrooms and everybody had their own desk and you kept stuff (i.e text books not required that day, but nothing valuable) in the desk. As we perambulated around the school to a different classroom for each lesson the first thing you did was raise the lid to see what the "owner" had left in it. I remember going into Room 5 for a music lesson, lifting the desk lid and finding a piece of paper with "Bathoven" written on it. I wondered for a second or two what a Bathoven was until realising it was somebody's way of spelling Beethoven. He's been Bathoven too me ever since.
The headteacher was very... artsy. We made our own dyed journals, lots of trips out to do sketching or painting, etc. It was great in some ways, but yeah the handwriting didn't work out for me. I now work mainly on computers and don't really see me trying to improve it at this point in my life.
Have you still got your telegram from Her Majesty The Queen
I wonder how people feel when they get a Guinness World Record, then someone nabs their title shortly after. Do they take the framed certificate down from the wall at home? There must also be people who try and 'collect' them.Better than that, where's the certificate from Guinness World Records certifying they're the oldest living person on Earth, and by quite some margin!
Well, you can only have the title “world’s oldest person” nabbed off you in one of two ways - and in one of those you’re going to be past caring. As an aside - we’ve all been the world’s youngest person - even if only for a nanosecond!
Yes ok very true on being the oldest person!
If you’re capable of that when in contention then you’re certainly a record breaker!
Are you saying you are in debt and plan to fake your death only to appear in a housing guide?
Oh dear! Not many people understanding the phrase it seems. 1900 and frozen to death means an unspecified time in the twentieth century.Have you still got your telegram from Her Majesty The Queen
Every day is a school day, thanks
Not only that, he went back to his home town and was wandering about.
The rubbish inkwell ink may well have been that, but after a while we were using either 'Stephen's' ink or 'Parker Quink'. In the 'italic hell years', my school mandated the use of 'Osmiroid 65' fountain pens which weren't anything special. The later cartridge pens were mostly made by Platignum.
Yep - I recall that, can't recall when it ended - and sometimes now I increasingly wonder if it would not be a good idea to re-instate it.
In the mid 1980s I did that for a Christmas Eve train from Leicester to London, expecting it to be busy. The reservation was in the rear carriage, where I was the only passenger.
I’m currently using a 3 part set of biro, propelling pencil and cartridge pen that I bought about 1982, when for a few years my then job included a lot of draft letter writing, for the typists! I found the cartridge pen much less tiring for regular use than a biro. I found the boxed set gathering dust at the back of a drawer about a year ago, and after running the nib section under a hot tap for a minute found it worked fine with a new cartridge. I’m more used to various ‘rollerball’ pens nowadays, but the cartridge pen still has a use - I did my few Christmas cards with it…
Did the A50 ever go through Yorkshire?
Don't think so, although think it possibly was once contemplated, before becoming re-scoped as the M1. The A50 road that actually got built is Leicester to Warrington (via Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire). Possibly the list would once have included Lancashire also prior to 1974 County boundary changes.
A worthy inclusion within the thread in its own right!
