INTRODUCTION

 

The Parker “Jotter” pen was first introduced by the Parker Pen Company in 1954. Although the Parker Pen Company had existed since 1888, this was the company’s first ballpoint pen design. The Parker Jotter pen has since sold seven hundred and fifty million units worldwide. The Parker Pen company released the Jotter with much trepidation, as it was initially thought that the Jotter might bankrupt the company.   

The first known patent for a ballpoint pen dates back to October 30th, 1888. It wasn’t until shortly after World War II however, that ballpoint pens became commercially available. The Reynolds Pen Company released the “Reynolds Rocket”, which retailed for $12.50. With the market saturated by numerous companies releasing their own ballpoint pen designs, and the relatively high retail cost, sales of ballpoint pens began to taper off by the early 1950’s.

The Parker Jotter Pen represented a great leap forward in the design and sale of ballpoint pens. Retailing at only a fraction of the cost of the Reynolds Rocket, and coupled with a revolutionary push-button actuated design, the Jotter delivered mid-twentieth century modernity for the masses.

The Parker Pen Company had been synonymous with fountain pens since its inception. The release of a ballpoint pen was seen at the time as a risky gambit by a company that consumers did not identify with ballpoint technology. Led by Nelson Kent Rhoades, the Jotter was created by a team of sixty-six designers and engineers. The initial patent was filed on December 29th, 1953.

The Jotter contained a number of advancements in ballpoint pen technology. The Jotter was the first retractable ballpoint pen. This push-button retraction mechanism was made possible by a patented rotating cam system. Push-button actuation lent the pen a decidedly sleek, mechanical feel. This retraction also meant that the pen’s tip could now safely be cloistered away, mitigating leakage and tip interference. 

JOTTER ARCHITECTURE

The Jotter consists of three main parts, the barrel, the pen’s body, and a refillable ink cartridge. The barrel and body each contain sub-parts. The ink cartridge contains one sub-part.

Barrel

The barrel houses the pen’s actuating mechanism which consists of a variety of sub-parts, and mates with the longer pen “body” via internal threading. These sub-parts can then be further subdivided into additional supporting parts. The barrel also contains the stainless steel push button and iconic stainless steel Parker clip.

Fig. 1 Stainless Steel Barrel

Barrel Sub-Parts

1. Plastic Tube: press-fit into the Stainless Steel barrel to reduce manufacturing costs, this body contains a number of parts critical to the pen’s operation

Fig. 2 Plastic Tube

1. Plunger: The plunger moves axially within the plastic tube, mating with the fixed “stop members”, as well as the cam body which determines the angle of rotation.

Fig. 3 Plunger

1. Plunger Spring: Recessed behind the lip of the plunger, this spring stores and provides the axial force necessary to actuate the push button and return it to its original orientation.

Fig. 4 Plunger Spring

1. Stop Members: small, angled pieces of plastic that mate with the plastic tube and the plunger which aid the cam in locating the correct angle of orientation.

Fig. 5 Stop Members

 

Ink Cartridge

The replaceable Parker ink cartridge was the first one of its kind. The cartridge is nested within the pen’s body. The tip of the cartridge is made out of tungsten carbide for added strength.

Fig. 5 Ink Cartridge

Ink Cartridge Sub-Parts

1. Cam Body

The cam body is arguably the most unique and important advancement of the Parker Jotter Pen. The cam sits atop the ink cartridge and not only caps the ink cartridge itself, but is also the crux of the retraction system. The cam body has axial grooves for mating with the stop members of the plastic tube as well as swept curves for mating with the plunger.

Fig. 6 Cam Body

Pen Body

The mating body of the pen is a single slender piece of hard plastic that contains threads on its outer diameter that mate with the inner diameter threads of the pen’s barrel.

Fig. 7A Pen Body

Fig. 7B Pen Body detail

Pen Body Sub-Parts

1. Cartridge Spring: The Cartridge Spring sits nested within the taper of the pen body and coiled around the shaft of the ink cartridge tip. When depressed axially, it stores energy that is then used to force the pen to retract when pushed a second time.

Fig. 8 Cartridge Spring

FUNCTIONALITY

The Parker Jotter Pen is the world’s first retractable ballpoint pen. This retraction and accompanying “click” is produced by three primary parts: the cam body, plunger and stop members. During operation, each of these parts moves in different ways, allowing for retraction of the refillable ink cartridge. The cam body moves both radially and axially. The plunger moves axially, and the stop members remain fixed to the plastic tube.

There are one of two states the pen can be in at any given time: the retracted position wherein the pen’s cartridge is inside the body, and the “extended” position in which the pen’s cartridge is outside the body. There are eight different movements that the cam performs as the pen moves between either position.

When the button is first pushed, the plunger, aided by the plunger spring, imparts an axial force downward which pushes the cam body down below the fixed stop members. While this occurs, an opposing force imparted by the spring at the bottom of the pen, stabilizes the plunger by pushing the cam body up against the plunger from below. The cam rotates when it mates with the plunger at a 45° angle.

When the button is released, the stored energy from the plunger spring forces the plastic tube back up the length of the barrel. As the plunger slides back inside the plastic tube and clears the lips of the cam body, the cam rotates another 45° and locks into place. When the button is released fully, the pen is now in its “extended” state and can be used. The cam body rotates four times, rotating a total of 180°. Since the cam body was designed with 180° rotational symmetry, the retraction and extension operations can be affected continuously.

CONCLUSION

The Parker Jotter Pen was truly a revolution in ballpoint pen technology. The company’s innovative technical solutions created a more rugged, democratic pen that was as elegant as it was functional. The cam body, push button operation and refillable cartridge were copied by numerous commercial pen companies. Although, the features of its design are complex, the pen retailed for only $6 as opposed to the $12.50 price tag of the Reynold’s Rocket. The aesthetic of the Jotter harkens back to the postwar years of American prosperity with an eye toward the future. Though it defined writing technology for the mid-twentieth century, its legacy endures through our digital age, and is proof that great design and engineering are timeless.

 

REFERENCES

Hammack, B (2015, September 22). How a Retractable Ballpoint Pen Works. Retrieved from www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhVw-MHGv4s

 

Rhoades, N.K (1953, December 29). 3,205,863 Writing Instrument. Retrieved from patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/e4/44/11/ee71f61ed67378/US3205863.pdf

 

Wikipedia contributors. (2019, September 20). Jotter. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:31, October 20, 2019, from wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jotter&oldid=916806839

 

Wikipedia contributors. (2019, October 20). Ballpoint pen. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:44, October 20, 2019, from wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ballpoint_pen&oldid=922232215

 

IMAGES

 

Fig. 1

Barrow, N. (Photographer). (2019, October 20). Aluminum Barrel [photograph]. Brooklyn, NY

 

Fig. 5

Barrow, N. (Photographer). (2019, October 20). Ink cartridge [photograph]. Brooklyn, NY

 

Fig. 7A

Barrow, N. (Photographer). (2019, October 20). Pen Body [photograph]. Brooklyn, NY

 

Fig. 7B

Barrow, N. (Photographer). (2019, October 20). Pen Body Detail [photograph]. Brooklyn, NY

 

Fig. 2

Hammack, B. (Photographer). (2015, September 22). How a Ballpoint Pen Works – Plastic Tube [digital images]. Retrieved from www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhVw-MHGv4s

 

Fig. 3

Hammack, B. (Photographer). (2015, September 22). How a Ballpoint Pen Works – Plunger [digital images]. Retrieved from www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhVw-MHGv4s

 

Fig. 4

Hammack, B. (Photographer). (2015, September 22). How a Ballpoint Pen Works – Plunger Spring [digital images]. Retrieved from www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhVw-MHGv4s

 

Fig. 5

Hammack, B. (Photographer). (2015, September 22). How a Ballpoint Pen Works – Stop Members [digital images]. Retrieved from www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhVw-MHGv4s

 

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