Kaweco/en

The Kaweco is one of the oldest companies in Germany, one of the first (preceded only by Soennecken) to enter the writing instruments market. In the first decades of the 1900 Kaweco was the leading fountain pens manufacturer of Germany, competing at international level with the American companies. Unable to adapt to market trends, the company suffered a first bankruptcy in 1929, when it was taken over by another fountain pens manufacturer.

While continuing to produce good quality pens in the '30s and in the postwar period, as for many other manufacturers suffered an inexorable decline since the 60s, with the introduction of the ballpoint pen. To date, the brand was acquired by the H & M Gutberlet Gmbh to recreates modern versions of the popular models of the company.

Kaweco
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Instructions sheet
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History

The origins of the Kaweco date back to the 1883, when what later became the core of the company was created in Heidelberg under the name Heidelberger Federhalterfabrik, in the back of a carpenter shop. There are few news on this initial period of activity of the company, neither we have precise information on who were the founders and owners (the current site lists these Luce and Ensslen), or details on the initial production that is supposed to be consists of dip pens for England imported nibs. It ir also assumed that the company has been in contact with A. Morton, founder of the eponymous American company, whose pens and gold nibs were sold on by Heidelberger Federhalterfabrik.

A Kaweco safety

The first fountain pens production of the Heidelberger Federhalterfabrik goes back to 1892, with hard rubber eyedropper and safety pens. In 1899 two businessmen, Heinrich Koch and Rudolph Weber acquired the company, which became the Heidelberger Federhalterfabrik Koch, Weber & Compagnie, shifting production to Handschuhsheim, and marketing began to be carried out under the brand name KaWeCo, born from the abbreviation of Koch, Weber & Compagnie, other brands used at the time were Perkeo and Omega. In the same period is believed to have begun the nibs importation from A. Morton & Co. in New York.

At the beginning of the century the company had only a few dozen workers (something like 25 employees in 1903), but the production of black chased hard rubber safety fountain pens was of excellent quality and had a great success. In 1903 were introduced the mechanical pencils KO-MIO, in 1908te company was awarded the first patent for a fountain pen. In 1909 the company founded subsidiaries in Vienna, Paris and Zurich, as well as having numerous sales agencies across Europe and beyond (eg. in Turkey in Istanbul, in Egypt in Cairo and in Russia in St. Petersburg). In this period roughly two-thirds of its production was destined for the foreign market, and it is possible, given the links with A. Morton & Co. that also some American produced fountain pens have been resold with Kaweco brand.

In 1911 iwas published the first official catalog; more than 120 different models were available, purchased to order according to customer requirements. In this year there was the market introduction of the series of the Kaweco branded 601-607 safety models. Other models of that time were Perkeo, Swallow, Lilliput and Omega. In the same period (1912) there was also the introduction of the 616 model, a black hard rubber safety model, small and very short, designed for use by athletes and officials, who is the first version of Sport, the most famous model of the company.

They were also provided eight different filling systems, although the most common were the eyedropper filler and the safety. In particular, the latter was one of the strengths of Kaweco, who can claim, with Waterman, to be one of the first companies to use this system, for which in 1908 (or 1909) it had made an improved version, using a threaded knob for the mechanismo, so that you can screw the cap on it, and then use it in to displace the nib group.

A Kaweco warranty

Another distinctive feature of the first years of the century production was the variety of forms, with cylindrical and tapered caps, with interlocking or screw cap closures, square or round bodies, and of the finishes, with gold rolled metal or variously worked silver and gold overlays, mother of pearl inserts, enamel decorations and the rare and sophisticated tula.

Between 1913 and 1914 the company bought the A. Morton & Co., who was reputed to be the oldest gold nibs factory in the world. Workers, engineers and machinery were transfered from New York to Heidelberg to teach the techniques of production, while maintaining production of nibs in New York. With the start of World War I most of the American personnel returned home; but in the meantime the production of nibs had become excellent and fully equivalent to the one carried out in New York under the Morton brand.

The Kaweco reached the height of its size in the early '20s, when he became the first manufacturer in Germany, with sales of around 130,000 units a year. In 1924 gave the company employed around 1,200 people, but already in 1925 it began to feel the first symptoms of the crisis, losing ground to rivals like Soennecken and Montblanc. Also in that same period were born near Heidelberg a number of competitors such as Reform and the KWG, and others brand were founded by the best technicians who left Kaweco to create of their own companies, like the Böhler brothers with Osmia or Heinrich Hebborn, who in 1925 acquired the Cologne Kaweco branch, of which he was director, to create Luxor.

The Kaweco logo before 1929 bankruptcy.

The competition began to grow increasingly fierce and Kaweco sales, which remained anchored to the production of black hard rubber safety pens, lost more and more ground when other producers began to introduce colorful patterns celluloid models with more sophisticated filling systems. In particular exports, which had been a company strong point, abruptly fell in front of competition from the United States manufacturers.

In 1926, the company officially adopted the name Kaweco instead of the original Heidelberger Federhalterfabrik, and introduced new button filler models, also the Omega series was expanded introducing new lever filler models. It was also introduced the Helios brand for the lower range safety models. The material, however, was always black hard rubber, which was now permanently associated with the idea of backwardness. Without a strategy for revitalizing production the situation continued to worsen, there was first a reduction of capital, but hounded by creditors, the company went bankrupt, and on 24 May 1929 and was forced into liquidation.

The Badische Federhalterfabrik Knust, Woringen & Grube logo, before Kaweco acquisition.

At that time the KWG was looking for a brand that would replace their own unattractive Arumia, and started contacts with Max Sauter, the Kaweco liquidator. After months of negotiations September 31 1929, the KWG bought the brand and changed its name to Kaweco Badische Füllhalterfabrik, Woringen & Grube, for the occasion was also introduced (at the same Sauter suggestion) the new Kaweco logo, merger of the two company logos. The agreement provided for the sale of the brand, the stocks of goods and sales contracts, but not the buildings that remained available to the debtors. Regarding the production facilities were also acquired a few machines, being the majority of these, dedicated to safety production, become obsolete.

Kaweco logo after acquisition from Badische Federhalterfabrik Knust, Woringen & Grube

The new Kaweco tried to make a clean break with the past, the old models were removed from the market, those in the distribution network recalled and replaced, or repurchased and destroyed, and they also tried to block the repair. The traditional safety models were renewed with a flat head cap made of black hard rubber (400, 401, 402, 404, 406) or mottled (500, 501, 502, 504, 506). The button filler "U" series Arumia models were rebranded under Kaweco as Kaweco Meisterklasse, in the same colors. The Colleg line was maintained as Colleg-Extra and became a real cheaper products line, aimed for school use. The new pens were of lower size, quality and cost, but this was to help during a period of severe economic crisis.

A '30s Kaweco advertisement

All'inizio degli anni '30 vennero realizzati vari cambiamenti dei modelli, la linea Colleg-Extra diventò la Kaweco Special, e venne prodotta in varie misure e con corpo tondo ed esagonale, sempre con caricamento a pulsante di fondo. Nel 1934 venne introdotto il modello Dia, con caricamento a stantuffo e sezione trasparente per l'inchiostro, inizialmente nelle misure 83 e 85 e poi nella versione 125, di maggiori dimensioni e con fondello e testa del cappuccio in metallo dorato e cesellato. A questo venne affiancato il modello Kaweco Colleg.

Nel 1935 venne introdotto il modello Sport, sempre in celluloide con sezione trasparente e caricamento a stantuffo, ma di forma ottagonale ed molto corto, venduto abbinato ad una matita in una confezione in pelle da portare in tasca, un antesignano della soluzione introdotta dalla Pilot con la sua Elite di un cappuccio lungo che montato sul fondello della penna la rende di lunghezza normale. Per le sue piccole dimensioni il modello Sport veniva pubblicizzato per l'uso da parte degli sportivi e per la sua praticità riscosse un notevole successo.

Nel 1937 venne introdotto il modello Elite, nelle versioni 183, 185, 187 e 190, e con caricamento a stantuffo, il corpo cesellato con decorazione guilloché. Infine il modello Special più affusolato. La gran parte della produzione era realizzata prima in ebanite e poi in celluloide nera, solo i modelli da esportazione venivano prodotti in celluloide colorata. Altri modelli di quest'epoca erano la Kadett, la Schulkaweco e la Helios.

Pubblicità Kaweco degli anni '40

La seconda guerra mondiale causò una forte diminuzione delle materie prime e della manodopera disponibile, fino al 1941 l'azienda mantenne buoni livelli di produzione, ma dal 1943 al 1945 essa cessò quasi completamente. Nel dopoguerra la produzione riprese; le linee Dia ed Elite vennero riproposte in nuove misure, ma con pennino in cromo-nichel, solo il modello di punta, la Carat, che comparve per la prima volta nel catalogo del 1950 con le misure 283, 285, 287 e 290 aveva un pennino oro bicolore. Sempre nel 1950 riprese la produzione del modello Sport, che ottenne un buon successo. Vennero mantenute le linee economiche per studenti Colleg e Kadett; tutte le penne erano prodotte con caricamento a stantuffo.

Nel 1960 Frederik Grube morì lasciando l'azienda in mano ai figli, ma l'avvento della penna a sfera aveva reso sempre meno significativa l'azienda, che comunque continuò a produrre pennini ed articoli da scrittura, adeguandosi alle varie tendenze (con penne in materiali plastici e con l'uso di modelli a pennino coperto introdotti nel 1962) e concentrandosi molto sul mercato scolastico, come per il modello VP del 1964, con caricamento a cartuccia e pennino coperto.

La produzione proseguì senza innovazioni significative, riproponendo vecchi modelli, fino all'inizio degli anni '80. Il fallimento definitivo avvenne per bancarotta nel 1981, ed il marchio venne acquisito nel 1995 dalla H&M Gutberlet Gmbh che rilevò l'azienda per rimettere sul mercato, l'anno successivo, una versione moderna del modello più famoso dell'azienda, la Sport.

Cronologia

Anno	Avvenimento
1883	l'azienda viene fondata da Luce, Ensslen a Heidelberg come Heidelberger Federhalterfabrik
1892	la Heidelberger Federhalterfabrik, futura Kaweco, inizia la produzione di stilografiche
1899	H. Koch e R. Weber acquisiscono la Heidelberger Federhalterfabrik che diventa la Kaweco
1903	l'azienda introduce la matita meccanica KO-MIO
1908	l'azienda brevetta una safety con fondello filettato per agganciarvi il cappuccio (1909?)
1912	l'azienda introduce le Kaweco 616 precursore della Sport (o 1911?)
1914	l'azienda acquisisce la A. Morton & Co., trasferisce i macchinari a Heidelberg ed inizia la produzione in proprio dei pennini (1913?)
1921	l'azienda introduce i primi modelli con caricamento a levetta
1929	la Kaweco originale fallisce, il marchio viene acquisito dalla KWG e nasce la Kaweco Badische Füllhalterfabrik
1932	l'azienda introduce le Colleg
1932	l'azienda introduce le Kaweco Original
1932	l'azienda introduce le Kaweco Special
1934	l'azienda introduce le Sport marcate col numero 9
1934	l'azienda introduce le Dia
1937	l'azienda introduce le Kaweco Elite
1938	l'azienda ristilizza la Sport, con le due versioni 609 (rientrante) e 612 (a stantuffo)
1940	l'azienda ristilizza nuovamente la Sport, con le due versioni 9 (rientrante) e 12 (a stantuffo)
1949	l'azienda ristilizza nuovamente la Sport, con la versione 112
1950	l'azienda introduce le Carat
1953	l'azienda ristilizza nuovamente la Sport, con le due versioni 12 e 11 (da signora)
1960	l'azienda ristilizza nuovamente la Sport, con la versione 12G
1962	l'azienda introduce dei modelli a pennino carenato
1964	l'azienda introduce le Kaweco VP
1965	l'azienda ristilizza nuovamente la Sport, con le due versioni 12G e V12 (a pennino carenato)
1970	l'azienda ristilizza nuovamente la Sport, con le versioni V16 e V16N (a pennino carenato)
1981	l'azienda fallisce e cessa la produzione

Riferimenti esterni

• Storia dell'azienda
• Storia dettagliata dell'azienda, non più disponibile (materiale venduto su CD)
• Articolo sulla storia della Kaweco, prima parte
• Articolo sulla storia della Kaweco, seconda parte
• Discussione con alcune informazioni sulla produzione di pennini in Germania
• Recensione di due Kaweco Sport con storia dell'azienda e materiale preso da qui senza attribuzione.