Montblanc Vintage 1908–1929 Lever, compressor and pump fillers of the 1920s

Alongside the safety pens, Montblanc made ink-sac fountain pens in the 1920s: lever fillers in sizes 00 to 6 from 1922 to 1930 and, mainly for France, compressor fillers from 1924 to 1929. There were also pump-filler prototypes and a vacuum patent of 1924.

How the lever filler works

The lever filler was patented in America by Walter A. Sheaffer in 1908 — on 25 August 1908, according to the Diary. A rubber ink sac lies inside the barrel. When the pivoted lever on the side is lifted, it presses the sac flat by means of a steel bar; when the lever is put back, the sac draws in ink.

The flexible sac also evens out the pressure when warmth makes the ink expand — an advantage over the eyedropper filler, which then tends to blot. Its weak point is the sac itself, which becomes brittle after five to ten years.

Production period

The chronologies of “Collectible Stars” I and of the Diary give 1922 as the year of the first Montblanc lever fillers, and the tables of volume I list the pens from 1922 to 1930. For Montblanc the lever filler remained a sideline next to the safety pen. That is why, as the Diary puts it, it did not matter whether the levers looked uniform.

Sizes and shapes

As with the safety pens of these years, the numbers 00, 0, 1, 2, 4 and 6 denote the size, not a model; “lg” stands for the long version. Volume I lists:

• round lever fillers in sizes 00 to 6 from 1922 to 1929 or 1930
• the long versions 1 lg, 2 lg, 4 lg and 6 lg only in 1925–1926
• octagonal pens in sizes 2, 4 and 6 from 1924
• the octagonal 4 lg from 1925 to 1928

Materials, colours and special versions

Almost all pens are black, made of hard rubber according to the collectiblestars.com database. Volume I lists sizes 00, 0 and 1 lg in red ripple, and above the table it notes that all black pens could also be had in red ripple or coral red until 1932. The Diary, too, expressly names red and black and coral red as possible. Individual versions have:

• an inlaid clip (1 lg and 2 lg)
• a floral cap band (1 lg)
• a flat cap top without a star (1 lg red ripple)
• a “314” carbon-copy nib (2 lg)
• an early lever shape (4 lg)

In precious metal, volume I lists a 0 in 585 gold with barleycorn guilloche and a wave pattern, and a gold-filled (rolled gold) 2 lg with barleycorn guilloche. The Diary shows lever fillers in sizes 0 and 2 in 14-carat gold and dates both to 1925–1930. According to the collectiblestars.com database, gilt 2 lg pens were mostly overlaid with rolled gold in Italy and often have no star.

According to the Diary the lever filler also existed as a desk pen in 1924–1929, in coral red in 1926–1929, red and black marbled in 1924–1929 and malachite green in 1928–1932.

How to recognise them

• a ribbed edge on the cap top
• “MONT BLANC” on the cap with a sign between the words — in the photos of the lever filler no. 1 it is the mountain symbol
• “ORIGINAL SIMPLO MONTBLANC” with the star on the barrel, likewise according to the collectiblestars.com database
• size and nib grade stamped on the end of the barrel (forum post of 18 April 2007)

According to a forum post of 9 December 2005, the pressure bar inside the barrel of early Montblanc lever fillers is riveted in the middle, and no Montblanc has its lever close to the end of the barrel (forum post of 17 August 2008). The lever fillers had no clip as standard; according to a forum post of 18 April 2007 one could be bought as an accessory. Volume I dates Montblanc’s first fixed clip, the inserted ball clip, to 1927–1930.

Levers and nibs

The levers changed often. Volume I shows:

• for 1922–1926 a lever with the Montblanc star on the round boss, one with a “MONT BLANC” plate and a plain one for the small sizes
• for 1927–1930 a two-part plain lever and a gilt one that was fitted to the Meisterstück pens
• for 1928–1930 a lever inscribed “MONT - BLANC” with a star, which the book assigns to the Meisterstück 20 and 25

The Diary groups the levers differently: one lever shape carried no inscription until 1924 and “MONT-BLANC” from 1925, after 1927 only on coloured Meisterstück pens. From 1925 to 1929 a special shape inscribed “MONT BLANC”, presumably made in France, was added.

The gold nibs carry the size in the star — according to the Diary with “SIMPLO” and “14K.” until 1924, with “MONTBLANC” and “14CT” until 1926 and with “14CARAT” in 1927–1929. For France there were Montblanc gold nibs in 18 ct. Volume I also lists a carbon-copy nib marked “314” for sizes 2, 4 and 6 (1922–1934).

Meisterstück lever fillers

Lever fillers numbered 20, 25, 35 and 45 are Meisterstück pens. Volume I lists them from 1925 to 1930, at first without cap rings and clip, then with cap rings — from 1926, 1927 or 1928 depending on the colour — and also in colours. They carry “4810” and “MEISTERSTÜCK” on the cap and a nib with “18 CT” and the model number in the star. According to a forum post of 18 April 2007, a Montblanc lever filler without both is not a Meisterstück.

They are described on the page Meisterstück lever fillers, and photos are on the page of the coral red Meisterstück 20. According to a forum post of 5 August 2011, a Meisterstück 25 lever filler has the same nib with “18 ct” and “25” as the push-knob filler of the same number.

Compressor fillers (1924–1929)

The compressor filler needed no slot in the barrel. According to the Diary the firm — then the Simplo Füllfeder-Gesellschaft, Montblanc-Simplo only from 1934 — applied for a patent on it on 28 March 1923; volume I leaves the year open. To fill the pen, a sleeve at the end of the barrel is pulled out — according to maxpens.de the knob is first given a slight turn — and pushed back in while a finger closes a vent hole.

The excess pressure in the barrel then compresses the ink sac, and when the hole is released, the sac expands and draws in ink. The closed barrel was sturdier and tighter than that of a lever filler, whose weak point was the slot for the lever.

According to both books Montblanc sold the compressor filler in 1924–1929, mainly in France. In Germany it found few buyers because the filling movement ran opposite to the usual direction, and according to the Diary it does not appear in the regular catalogues. Volume I lists black compressor fillers in sizes 1, 2 and 4 (1924–1929) and 5 (1924–1926), with a metal tube and also with one cap ring. The collectiblestars.com database also knows a coral red compressor filler in size 2.

Pump fillers and the vacuum patent

Two further systems never got beyond the trial stage. Volume I lists pump fillers in size 6 in black, coral red and red ripple, 1924–1926, with a hard rubber mechanism, and calls them prototypes. The collectiblestars.com database calls them “Hubkolbenfüller” (reciprocating-piston fillers) with a hard rubber push mechanism, describes the coral red one as celluloid and also knows a black one in size 8.

In January 1924 the Simplo Füllfeder-Gesellschaft applied for a patent on an improved vacuum and reciprocating system, in November 1924 also in France, probably with the French market in mind. A rod with a seal at its end is pulled out, and the air behind the seal escapes forwards through openings. When the rod is pushed in, a plate closes the openings so that a vacuum forms behind the seal; at the end of the stroke the openings are freed, and the vacuum draws in the ink.

According to volume I two of the three patented versions exist, working on this principle. Apart from the specimens no such pen has ever been found, and the book considers actual production unlikely. Volume I does not say whether the pump-filler prototypes are the same pieces; this is unresolved.

Alongside

• lever fillers in sizes 1 (black) and 2 (red ripple) with Montblanc nibs, which Montblanc supplied to dealers in 1920–1928 without the Montblanc name — dealer and third-party brands
• very similar lever fillers in sizes 1 to 6, made in 1921–1932 by Astoria, founded by Montblanc’s former works manager Georg Illgner — Astoria
• stylos with lever filling, which volume I lists from 1926 to 1930 — stylos