Parker51

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Mar 15, 2011
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Canterbury England
The Parker51 was probably the most successful pen of all time. Have any members attempted to recreate it? Does any pen parts manufacturer produce a kit to recreate? And if not, why doesn't someone start up?
Greetings to all fellow pen turners from a UK member.
 
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monophoto

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Mar 13, 2010
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The Chinese pen manufacturer Hero makes a ripoff of the Parker 51. These are available over e-bay for prices that are less than most pen kits. I suppose that it might be possible to engineer an approach to redressing these pens with custom turning.

But there are some things to be aware of. The greatest obstacle is that the Parker 51 had a plastic body and a metal slip-on cap that flits over the section. Turning a shop-made version of this combination might present some challenges.

Second, the 51 is a fountain pen with a hooded nib, and the hood is actually part of the section. That's probably ot a show stopper, but it does complicate the cap issue mentioned above.

Third, the 51 employed the 'aeromatic' filling system. That probably wouldn't present a problem to turners, but it is something that some pen users might not care for. And as the proud (?) owner of a few Hero 329's, I have to report that the Chinese version of the aeromatic doesn't work nearly as well as the original Parker version (I have an original Parker 45 that has the same filling system).
 

monophoto

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Saratoga Springs, NY
Here's a Parker 51
 

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Joined
Mar 15, 2011
Messages
8
Location
Canterbury England
Thank you to those who have replied. What we need is our friends at Dayacom to produce the Parker 51 innards leaving us pen turners to make the fairly straightforward plastic barrel in two halves. Parker sold the 51 with a lustraloy metal cap and also with silver and gold versions. (A 51 Special had a shiny finish cap) I am sure expert pen turners could reproduce the metal cap though the lustraloy finish might be a step too far. The "innards" we need would be the internal cap fittings, Jewel end, aero metric filler and Parkers hooded nib system. I don't believe this should be beyond Dayacom and the Parker copyright (if it still exists) could doubtless be negotiated. We pen turners would then be in a position to reproduce the most iconic pen of the 20 the century.
 
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