OHTO Piston Pencils

[Pdunc67]

“When was the OHTO Piston sold?”
I posted this question on X, and user @Hsi-chi did not disappoint:

Image Source: Japanese Stationery Chronicle

Here is a Googe Translated version:

Translation Text:
“A mechanical pencil with a new mechanism that advances the lead with a half-knock and stores the lead inside with a full knock. It features a double mechanism that bites the lead to feed and pull it back. Five models were released at once, ranging from 500 to 3,000 yen.”

I also was able to find this on the OHTO Japan Wikipedia page:

“In 1981, the company developed and released the world’s first “Piston Sharp” with a piston mechanism. It was released with the tagline “The birth of an amazing mechanism” and allowed the lead to be advanced with a half knock and the lead to be stored with a full knock. Five types were sold, ranging from 500 yen to 3,000 yen. Later, in the early 2000s, Mitsubishi Pencil released the “Returns” with the same mechanism.”

OHTO Piston – all 5 models were released in 1981

SP-5 (¥500) Colors: red, green, black, brown and blue

SP-10 (¥1,000) Colors: I have seen black, blue, and red (maybe others?)

SP-15 (¥1,500) Colors: I have seen blue (maybe others?)
@cytherian has a great post on the SP-15

SP-20 (¥2,000) Black enamel I have only seen black

SP-30 (¥3,000) Steel with black stripes I have only seen black stripes (maybe others?)

I have also seen what I am calling the SP-20 and SP-30 referred to as SP-2000 and SP-3000 by other collectors.

Does anyone know when OHTO stopped selling these models?
.

[Pdunc67]

Here are some other notable items I found in the Japanese Stationery Chronicle link above:

(click the link and scroll to the top)

1975 Boxy-100

1977 Zebra Sharbo

1978 Pilot 2020

[cytherian]

Great post, Patrick!

Your assumptions about available colors appears to be correct. The SP-15 only came in one colorway. The SP-20 was only ever made in black. I don’t know why they priced it at ¥2000, as the body material isn’t reasonably strong, as its prone to cracking. Exact same mechanism as on the SP-15 and even shares the same nose cone, clip, and cap.

[cytherian]

Thanks for the link to the Bonbougu Chronicle book. Looks very interesting. Decent amount of preview but would be so great if someone could post more content of it. There’s no e-book available.

I wonder what is ixi:z

1993 for the rOtring 800? I’d have thought 600G, but you can see “800” on the labels in the photo. Maybe they’re just referencing the year of when this design started.

Also… the colored rOtring 600 came out in 1989?? I’m starting to think they’re using those dates as the origin of the product line, not indicative of variants that came later.

Nice to see some TOMBOW

[Pdunc67]

@cytherian

Also… the colored rOtring 600 came out in 1989??

Yup! The 600 came out in 1989

This is from the 1998 catalog

[Pdunc67]

@cytherian

1993 for the rOtring 800?

[cytherian]

Ah, OK. So they’re calling the 600G the “800”. Now I get it. Because after the 600G was discontinued, it was some years before the 800 came out (which I believe was 2018).

[cytherian]

Well, I know the 600 came out in 1989… but the colored variants (red, blue, green, etc) came much later, didn’t they? Sometime around 2018.

[Pdunc67]

The colored ones did come out quite a bit later.

[drifand]

rOtring 600G was released in 1992. It was renamed 800 the following year.

[Pdunc67]

@cytherian

Exact same mechanism as on the SP-15 and even shares the same nose cone, clip, and cap

One thing I thought that was interesting about this pencil was the clip on the SP-15, SP-20 and SP-30. It has an indicator to show how far the pencil is knocked.

[drifand]

[ixi:z] was a trendy Japanese fashion line from the 80s that happened to include some stationery and accessories. It was all the rage as I was growing up in Singapore – every teenager wanted to own at least one [ixi:z] item: a shirt, a pen, a wallet, etc. It was as hot as Swatch when it debuted. Friends would chip in to buy such branded items as birthday gifts. The brand went defunct in the mid-1990s.

While it was active, [ixi:z] partnered with Platinum to produce their line-up of pens and pencils. Platinum’s former company milestones page lists this collaboration as being from 1981:

What’s interesting is that some of these pen and pencil designs originate from Parafernalia of Italy. e.g. the Linea leadholder was adapted for a 0.5mm MP and BP. And the Helite from 1979 was adapted wholesale for an [ixi:z] branded MP.

Whether Platinum officially had a cross-licensing agreement with Parafernalia is a mystery. For one thing, Platinum in that era was basically getting all of their MPs developed and produced by Kotobuki… Who knows which company reached out to whom in the first place?

Here are some of the [ixi:z] designs I have managed to collect:

Interestingly, [ixi:z] was revived back in 2019 by entrepreneur Eugene Ow Yong. He had purchased the rights to the name and started producing clothing and some stationery and accessories. Unfortunately, from what I can see in stores, the new designs are very much a pastiche, with cut and paste depictions of old items and oversized logos. The new pens (no pencils) looked cheap and unworthy. Sad.

[cytherian]

Thanks for that profile on [ixi:z], Kelvin!

The aesthetic of this pen/pencil line reminds me of Tombow a bit.

[Gunther]

By the way, the cited book „Japanese Stationery Chronicle“ is still available: https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/gp/aw/d/4777831167.

[cytherian]

It’s curious – placing the indicator here on the clip versus on the barrel. I wonder if it was more economical to do it this way, or if it’s because it’s more prominently seen. Once you have the feel for the pencil, you do the clicking without even looking closely at the pencil… which means the indicator is ultimately not very useful. Perhaps more of a marketing gimmick? Would be interesting to see this disassembled, but then I suspect doing so would be destructive. Only worthwhile on a pencil with a busted mechanism.