This sounds very cool. Hopefully someone here knows more about them
This is also how the Belfor Clicker Pencil works.
I can’t find anything on that pencil except a sold out post on eBay. Do you own one? The eBay one looked to be larger lead as well.
I don’t own one but it’s one of those really cool and important pieces that is a rare transition piece between the regular twist to propel and retract mechanisms from the early to mid 1900s and the friction clutch that originated in the 60s. You won’t find many pieces with these mechanisms.
I think it’s safe to say that none of us here collect any of the old propel mechanical pencils from the 1900s to the 1950s and that we all are only really interested in the friction clutch pieces from 1960s and on. But these transition pieces that came right before the friction clutch are chefs kiss for a collector.
I found an Automac for $44 that’s just sitting in the warehouse right now waiting to build some other friends for the trip over and honestly I’m hoping it works as efficiently as this does.
Don’t get me wrong, the push mechanism is more “clunky” than the h1005 and it is much lighter in my hand than an h1005 which I wish weren’t so. Also it takes lead that is just a smidgen shorter than standard lead now, so I have to break it to fit.
But it works so well and once I understood it, it is very reliable.
I have no idea what to expect with this Pilot now but I do know that I am excited for Monday when the 0.3 comes in and I can use it with 100% certainty that I’m not going to break the lead.
Thank you @Pdunc67 for the link to the page that showed this.
This is almost exactly the same idea except it didn’t act like an automatic but it was incorporated differently as a side knock which is obviously why you knew immediately of it @Thomas
So cool. Glad I own two of the Belfor Clickers. Want this one too.
They’re not hard to find once you know the name. Not all say “Japan” on them and I’m not sure if they are different. I just know the black ones with Japan on them are what I was aiming for.
Some more info about this piece from an old thread featuring a few usual suspects: https://www.reddit.com/r/mechanicalpencils/comments/uhzrmg/sheaffer_retractable/?rdt=50243
Did you get it back together?
Yes, luckily I received it in good condition and avoided breakage in disassembly and reassembly.
Congratulations! I believe this is the Sheaffer counterpart to the Sailor ‘cartridge’ series of MP… @pearsonified do you agree? The plastic guts in the Sailor versions are notoriously brittle so do handle with care.
Sheaffer and Sailor did a collab back in the 70s-80s. The Trident FP was one of the more notable results. The accompanying pens had a capital T on the chromed clips. Another oddball design was the ‘Cut-In’ series that mated a plastic ‘grill’ bit to steel clips.
From what I can see visually, it is the exact same pencil. This one appears to accept modern length lead and also appears to say that you can change the “tip/floating lead protector” between 0.5 and 0.3.
I wonder if they made it heavier and used more metal as it appears.
I’m going to try and find one cheap. This Singapore guy is very expensive but he always has so many things.
There are a couple pink Sailors on Mercari. This one is NOS for $16.
メルカリ.
Thank you. I bought it.
100%, it’s basically the same pencil as the Sailor Cartridge. According to some Japanese collectors on X, the Sheaffer actually came first (but alas, I don’t have a link to this original conversation).
Woah, what is that one on the left?
L-R: Lamy Dialog, Pilot S20, Lucio Rossi Design D568 Grip, A.G. Spalding & Bros. by Raymay, TreAsia Design (TA+d) Fiber.