Here’s a nice read during your Sunday morning coffee.
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The original Tikky script is one of my favorite things in pencildom 
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Is the nature of the Tikky Automatic lead feed mechanism similar to how the FC TK-automatic works? How does it rank among the automatic feed pencils in the sub $100 zone?
I wonder if anyone figured out the backstory behind rOtring choosing the name “Tikky” for this pencil.
The original rOtring pen was called “Tintenkuli,” the first mass produced stylograph. And that name quite literally means “ink pen” in German. When it became very popular, rOtring affectionately shortened the name to “Tiku.” In fact, in the realm of vintage stylographs, you will find some rOtrings named just “TIKU” instead of “TINTENKULI.” I’ve no idea if they adopted that shortened name in response to its use created by an adoring public, or if they coined it themselves.
During the prime era of the Tintenkuli, rOtring released a mechanical pencil based on the same design motif. They called it a “bleikuli.” CORRECTION: removed stupid mistake
“bleikuli” means lead pen, which fits into the whole naming convention established by rOtring. In addition there was also a “rollkuli,” which was a primitive kind of rollerball using liquid ink.
My guess is that they chose “Tikky” because it’s a catchy sounding name, a “lighter” version of their main products. It was also a more generalized name, because they released both pencils and ballpoints with the name “Tikky.”
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Yea I bet it just sounded good and worked well phonetically with the pens.
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Jeez I love those boxes. Old packaging….my weakness.
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I hear you. When I gradually picked up more and more of these over time, I’d find some little surprises. One had a message scrawled on the back of an instruction sheet. It was a “log entry,” of him having received the pen on a certain date and the kind woman who had gifted it to him.
It was years later when I began to appreciate the evolution of rOtring’s package styling. Choice of fonts. Usage of words. I’ll have to go through these again and take some better, higher resolution photos. And also obtain some quality containers to store them… right now they’re just in random cardboard boxes.
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Released the same year as the PD335 QC, 1979.
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No, it’s logical: Blei = lead and Kuli = pen, so the Bleikuli is a lead pen and the Rollkuli an RP.
Until recently I thought that Kuli is just an abbreviation for the long word Kugelschreiber (ball pen), but in fact Kuli was the word chosen by rOtring (a bit racist btw) and appeared before Kugelschreiber (Kuli nowadays is used in German as short word for Kugelschreiber).
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Sorry, my apologies. I looked back over it and scratched my head. Brain fart. It’s like I said 2+2=5. I think I better see someone. 
I had heard that “kuli” was supposed to be a racist word. Just looked it up and yeah… wow. It has a long history, hearkening back to slave labor (and hard labor) days. Has it faded from the daily lexicon enough that it can be used in the presence of foreigners from China, India, etc., and not be even considered for the past meaning?
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The word Kuli for Kugelschreiber is just normal, I guess only very few people know that it’s not just the abbreviation. Kuli as designation for a carrier e.g. at a hotel is very unusual and should not be used.
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