Lucky Curve Feeds

This pen restoration looks very similar to this one Janesville Wisconsin Button Fill that I published on December 27, 2007. But it’s what is under the hood that counts with this pen. You can see the familiar button filler parts after I took this one apart.

The major difference is the feed, shown here prior to cleaning and inserted in the section. The Lucky Curve feed has a curve to it on the end as you can see on the right hand side. This prevents it from being knocked out using a block as we do with most feeds. With Lucky Curve feeds you need to first, slowly and carefully, rock the nib back and forth to pull it out of the front of the section. Gentle heat can be applied to help with this and I use a piece of rubber to grip the nib. Just be careful not to put too much stress on the nib which might cause it to crack or disfigure. After the nib comes out you will need to push the lucky curve feed back through the section to remove it for cleaning. The reverse holds true for reinserting the feed into the nib and section.

The picture below is of the feed after it has been pushed back through the section and is ready for cleaning.

When you find these feeds in these earlier Duofolds is often up to chance. I have run across some that have been broken off, probably by a repair person with little patience, and no concern for preserving the original feed.

A nice thing about this repair was that the original pressure bar was still in quite good shape and I was able to reuse it.

A little about this pen – It is a Parker Duofold Junior in Black. The imprint and nib place it under production in Janesville, Wisconsin sometime near 1927. The nib is a 14K Medium Parker Duofold.

The repair was a straightforward button filler job. I used a size 16 sac and made sure to cover it with pure talc prior to insertion in the barrel. The old pressure bar was used and it had already been smoothed so it will not pinch the sac at the section, leading to a broken sac. Another reminder, as I have stated in previous posts, is that these are threaded sections and care should be taken when removing the section to turn the section and not to pull or rock.

Two photos of this Duofold Junior are below. You can see that the imprint is well preserved it did not need to be highlighted by a crayon.

The Lucky Curve Feed was patented by George Parker in the late 1800s and you can see it was still in use into the late 1920s. It was a successful patent and designed to help ink to go back into the barrel of the pen when the pen was not in use and in the pocket.

Parker Jade .. Pre-Duofold

The Parker Pen Company began producing the highly popular Duofold line of Pens and Pencils in the early 1920s. Initially, they came in red and black hard rubber. When Parker switched over to celluloid in 1926, the first color that they added was a Jade (green). However, this color line did not have the Duofold logo until some time in 1927. As discussed in previous posts, Parker Lapis Junior Fountain Pen and Janesville, Wisconsin Button Fill further colors were added as well as the Duofold line evolved. I would encourage you to read these posts for additional information.

Here is a picture of this Pen (a Junior Size) after it has been taken apart. It is vey difficult to find these pens in perfect color. They do exist, but are priced at a premium. This pen is in better color condition than many, but certainly not pristine. The gold is quite shiny and my thought is that someone polished this pen before putting it up for sale, without restoring the internals.

As you can see, the nib is a Lucky Curve imprint, consistent with this time period (1926).

In order to restore this pen I needed to polish the nib gently. There was a little bit of staining where the nib sat in the section that came off with gentle polishing using a small amount of polish and a q-tip. I also polished the clip and cap ban gently. The same was done to the button and pressure bar. I am able to reuse the original pressure bar, so the only new part of this pen will be the sac.

The feed and section were cleaned with water and a cloth and a new size 16 sac was attached to the assemble section/feed/ nib with sac cement. You must trim the sac with an xacto knife so that it fits in the barrel and when attached to the section it extends to just under the top of the barrel hole. After the sac was dry, I coated it with a light coat of pure talc and screwed it back into the barrel. I then carefully inserted the pressure bar into the pen through the top hole of the barrel so that the bar seated (remember to smooth the end of the bar a bit) on the section. The button is then attached to the bar and when depressed, should push inwards, collapsing the sac.

I always test this with water and if the assembly is well done, a steady stream of water should shoot out after the sac fills. If this does not occur, you can unscrew the section again (after taking the bar out through the top) to make sure that the pressure bar has not compromised the sac at the section. Sometimes a sharp bar might cut the sac. Also make sure that the bar has not twisted the sac when inserted. A light shone in through the top of the barrel should show the top of the sac near the top of the barrel.

Here is a picture of the Jade pen (c 1926) with a nice medium Luck Curve nib, ready to write. I like to put either black or vintage green inks in these pens.

I have also shown the imprint of this pen below. Note that there is no mention of Duofold yet.