Esterbrook

Esterbrook Logo

Esterbrook was founded in 1856, but its fountain pen production is concentrated in the period between '40s and '50s. The company specialized in the manufacturing of cheap fountain pens, focusing in the mass market segment. Their pens had steel nibs and ordinary metal finishes. Despite the fact that Esterbrook pens were clearly economic models, they were produced with great care using cheap but good quality materials.

The sales of economic models had a great success, including the ability to expand the market to areas hitherto not attained. The Esterbrook pens were extremely robust and functional and produced in a wide variety of patterns and colors. As happened with most of the other fountain pen manufacturers, the company had an inexorable decline when facing the competition from disposable ballpoint pens, ceasing operations in 1971.

Esterbrook
Brand pages
Brand advertising
Brand photos
Instructions sheet
Patents

History

A 1948 advertisement

Esterbrook was founded in 1856 in Camden in New Jersey, by Richard Esterbrook, a Cornish Quaker, who was an immigrant in the United States. He was a stationery, and had assisted to the move from goose pen down to steel nibs. Foretelling a great opportunity in the United States nib market expansion he took five English craftsmen (by the John Mitchell firm of Birmingham) and then start producing steel nibs in the U.S.A.

File:Esterbrook-J-model-Green-Open.jpg

An Esterbrook J model

The company operated for the first two years under the name of United States Steel Pen Manufacturing Company; in 1858 it become the Esterbrook Steel Pen Manufacturing Company. The company activities were a great success so that at the end of 1900 Esterbrook was considered, along with Perry & Co. (better known as Osmiroid), the largest nib manufacturer of the world. In 1896 the company launched itself in the British market.

The first fountain pen was introduced in 1933^[1] corresponding to the first patent for interchangeable nibs. In 1935 the company introduced the Dollar Pen model, called so for its price, just a dollar.

The feature that distinguished Esterbrook production was the interchangeable nib unit,^[2] but it wasn't the first company offering this feature, that was already used by the Personal Point nibs made by Wahl Eversharp. Differently from Eversharp, Esterbrook used the feature to consent to its clients to easily change their nib as they please, in any moment and not just when buying the pen, helped by the low price of its cheap steel nibs.

Il modello più famoso prodotto dall'azienda è comunque il modello J, introdotto dall'azienda nel 1943. (da finire)

File:Esterbrook-J-Color-Group.jpg

Un gruppo di Esterbrook J

Nel 1967 la Esterbrook venne assorbita dalla Venus Pen and Pencil Corp., divendendo la Venus-Esterbrook ma il marchio divenne sempre meno significativo, fino alla sostanziale cessazione delle attività avvenuta nel 1971 (in corrispondenza dell'acquisizione della Venus-Esterbrook da parte del Berol Group). Nel 1973 i resti della Venus-Esterbrook vennero acquisiti dalla Faber Castell.

Template:CronoMarche |- | 1856 || nascita della Esterbrook come United States Steel Pen Manufacturing Company |- | 1858 || la Esterbrook cambia nome in Esterbrook Steel Pen Manufacturing Company |- | 1967 || la Esterbrook effettuò una fusione diventando la Venus-Esterbrook |- | 1971 || la Esterbrook chiuse definitivamente |- |}

Template:LegendaModelli |- | XX || 19XX || XX, ? |- |}

Note

↑ this date is cited here.
↑ this feature was protected by the patents nº US-1939753 and nº US-1939753 registered respectively in 1933 and 1935, but applied in 1928 and 1933.

Riferimenti esterni

[1] this date is cited here.

[2] this feature was protected by the patents nº US-1939753 and nº US-1939753 registered respectively in 1933 and 1935, but applied in 1928 and 1933.

[1]

[2]