My contact at PILOT USA has returned with more correspondence from PILOT Japan.
“protecs” was launched in 1981. It was JPY3,000, which is approximately $30.
This product featured the mechanism that when barrel is twisted a tip and a plunger stick out.
Both tip and plunger are placed inside when it is not in use, so that means they are protected.
Also, your pocket is protected too by getting damaged by a sharp tip.As for the information of discontinuation year of protecs, it is not recorded in our internal database or officially recorded.
So, the name “ProTex” is officially retired for me. The catalog page makes it very clear that “protecs” is the official name and there was meaning behind it–a shortening of “protects”, as the twist mechanism was designed for pocket protection. Not only is the tip retracted, but the plunger is as well so there’s no accidental way of extending the tip.
I’m trying to find out if the dropping of a model from the annual PILOT catalog is a sure sign of a model being discontinued, or if they are sometimes dropped to make room for other models while still being sold. In any case, we’d thought 1983 was the launch date for the protecs HHK-300S, but it was actually 1981. I don’t know if this model was ever marketed outside of Japan.