I found this pencil first on buyee (the guy wanted like $55 but it had no model name and it sounded interesting)
I then searched google for Japan made Shaeffer and it was not easy but I ended up tracking down what this was but I still can’t pin point when it was made other than somewhere from 1948 through the 50s.
It is a Shaeffer Ultra Fineline and it came in both 0.5 and 0.3. It was made with a Japanese designed mechanism.
I bought both sizes basically brand new in the box with papers and extra everything that they came with for just over $45, but there are others aiming alot higher.
This pencil surprised me. I’m not versed in automatic pencils and the upper echelon of designs but this pencil delivered something that I can’t find anyone talking about.
It acted like an automatic pencil. It behaved like a double knock (which is what initially caught my eye because it reminded me of the H1005)
The picture with the tip extended is how I was writing with it all day. Exactly like that, at any angle, the pencil continued to write as if there were a ghost lead on the tip. I was using 2B lead and I never broke it once. I discovered that basically, if I break the lead then I probably broke the pencil.
It is not an automatic pencil. There is a “rod” in the main body that pushes against the lead in the lower part of the pencil. The rod is housed within a spare lead case that does not auto feed.
The bottom half carries the “floating lead protector” which pulls out through the tip and holds the single piece of lead that you load yourself.
You click the pencil as you would any other to retract the lead protector and you start to write. You write and write and write and progressively the protector moves back into the pencil, so you click again and keep it moving.
The center of the pencil has a clear window that shows when the lead is almost out and in need of you to put a new piece in. You know this because the push rod has a red indicator that has worked itself down to the window by that point.
It’s so simple, it kind of blew my mind to be honest. I’d like to hear if anyone has this pencil or has seen it before.