Old Drafting Instruments Page 2
A few inventors had taken an interest in attempting to produce a workable drafting pen which had an inbuilt ink holding reservoir based on the principal of the fountain pen.
In America1892, Edmund Dickey patented a ruling pen with a hollow barrel section which could be unscrewed from the pens metal converging blades and filled with plan drawing ink, this invention did not prove to be a commercial success.
In the early 1920s interest in the prospects of developing a fountain ink reservoir style blade ruling pen was rekindled.
Albert Gran patented his version which was launched in Chicago USA, under the the brand name
Designo, this coincided with the German instrument company Riefler, the Riefler's fountain reservoir draughtsman's ruling pen, these pens were then exported to America.
In 1875, the first stylographic ink pen was invented in and introduced in America by Duncan Mackinnon. However, it is thought that perhaps Thomas De La Rue launched a stylograph pen many years earlier in the 1860s.
Likelihood is that due to the inconsistencies and inaccuracies of the limited available information recorded, the true facts relating to the advent of the stylograph ink pencil or pen remain unknown.
A matter of no consequence!.
1928, the Tiku GmbH company (a name derived from the words Tinton-Kuli, kuli being taken from the Chinese,denoting a cheap worker, one who works with ink) based in Hamburg produced the Stylograph ink pencil. The Tiku company opened their new factory in Hamburg in about 1933 with a second factory built in 1935 having changed the company name to The Rotring Werke Riepe K.G, again it was renamed Rotring in 1963.
The Rufford Ink Pencil, manufactured by the De La Rue company, circa 1930 was well advertised in the UK.
These ink pencil stylograph type models were not specifically designed to be used as a draughtsman's drawing instrument, but they were the forerunner of a transitional period leading to the development of the pens produced in America by such companies as; The Eugene Dietzen Company, of Chicago and by the Keuffel and Esser Company of Hoboken, New Jersey, who gave the name 'Paragon' their range of highest quality drafting instruments, these were specifically high quality draughtsman's line ruling pens of different sizes of adjustable line drawing widths, these the best instruments usually had hard tungsten metal points.
A Guide to Valuing:
Valuing these antique and collectible drafting ( or draughtsman's) pens and the associated plan drawing accessories is a rather complex subject.
Ruling pens and basic drafting sets, especially those of student quality, can still be bought inexpensively at general collectors fairs and flea-market stalls. But the earliest examples, early boxed sets and those with interesting features and adaptable further attachments and with hinged joint adjustments have become rather costly.
A top quality and ornate ruling pen from the eighteenth or nineteenth century might be valued in terms of hundreds of United States dollars.
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