The
Parker Pen Company is a manufacturer of pens, founded in 1888 by George Safford Parker in
Janesville, WisconsinJanesville is a city in southern Wisconsin, United States. It is the county seat of Rock County and the principal municipality of the Janesville, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 59,498.-History:...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
George S Parker, the founder, had previously been a sales agent for the John Holland Gold Pen Company. He received his first
fountain penA fountain pen is a nib pen that, unlike its predecessor the dip pen, contains an internal reservoir of water-based liquid ink. From the reservoir, the ink is drawn through a feed to the nib and then to the paper via a combination of gravity and capillary action...
related
patentA patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for a public disclosure of an invention....
in 1889. In 1894 Parker received a patent on his "Lucky Curve" feed, which was claimed to draw excess ink back into the pen body when the pen was not in use.
The
Parker Pen Company is a manufacturer of pens, founded in 1888 by George Safford Parker in
Janesville, WisconsinJanesville is a city in southern Wisconsin, United States. It is the county seat of Rock County and the principal municipality of the Janesville, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 59,498.-History:...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
History
George S Parker, the founder, had previously been a sales agent for the John Holland Gold Pen Company. He received his first
fountain penA fountain pen is a nib pen that, unlike its predecessor the dip pen, contains an internal reservoir of water-based liquid ink. From the reservoir, the ink is drawn through a feed to the nib and then to the paper via a combination of gravity and capillary action...
related
patentA patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for a public disclosure of an invention....
in 1889. In 1894 Parker received a patent on his "Lucky Curve" feed, which was claimed to draw excess ink back into the pen body when the pen was not in use. The Lucky Curve feed was used in various forms until 1928.
From the 1920s to the 1960s, before the development of the
ballpoint penA ballpoint pen , is a modern writing instrument...
, Parker was either number one or number two in worldwide writing instrument sales. In 1931 Parker created
QuinkQuink is also known as Double Quink and Parker 51 Ink. This ink was developed by The Parker Pen Company and Francisco Quisumbing, a Filipino chemist. A common misconception about Quink is that it was intended to be the ideal ink for the world's most successful fountain pen, the Parker 51...
"quick drying ink" which eliminated the need for blotting and led to the development of the most widely used model of fountain pen in history (over $400 million worth of sales in its 30 year history) the
Parker 51The Parker 51, introduced in 1941, is a famous fountain pen. Parker’s period advertising called it “The World’s Most Wanted Pen,” and this assertion was true although a little deceptive; the U.S.A. entered World War II in December 1941, and the War Production Board placed severe restrictions on...
. Manufacturing facilities were set up over the years in
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
,
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
,
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
,
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, USA,
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia...
,
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
and
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
. Parker pens were frequently selected (often as favorite pens of the signers) to sign important documents such as the
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
armistices, and commemorative editions were sometimes offered.
The company bought retailer and catalog company Norm Thompson in 1973, and then sold it off in 1981. In 1976 Parker acquired Manpower just as the temporary staffing market was surging. In time Manpower provided more revenue than the pen business. A 1982 spinoff, Sintered Specialties, Inc., became SSI Technologies, a manufacturer of automotive sensors.
A management buyout in 1987 moved the company headquarters to
Newhaven, East SussexNewhaven is a town in the Lewes District of East Sussex in England. It lies at the mouth of the River Ouse, on the English Channel coast, and is a ferry port for services to France.-Origins:...
, England which was the original location of the Valentine Pen Company previously acquired by Parker. In 1993 Parker was acquired by the Gillette Company, which already owned the
PaperMatePaper Mate is a registered of KoritinL.P., a Newell Rubbermaid company which produces writing products. Sanford L.P. is a company that produces stationery. Among their offerings is the PhD multi pen/pencil/stylus, which is endorsed by the American Physical Therapy Association for the reduced...
brand, one of the best-selling disposable ballpoints. Gillette sold the writing instruments division in 2000 to Newell Rubbermaid, whose own Stationery Division, Sanford, became the largest in the world owning such brand names as
RotringRotring is a German company based in Hamburg. It was established in 1928 as Tintenkuli Handels GmbH. The company's first product was the Tintenkuli, a stylographic pen--a fountain pen with a narrow steel tube instead of a conventional nib...
, Sharpie, Reynolds as well as Parker, PaperMate,
WatermanThe Waterman pen company is a major manufacturer of fountain pens. Established in 1884 in York City by Lewis Edson Waterman, it is one of the few remaining first-generation fountain pen companies, as Waterman S.A..- History :...
and Liquid Paper.
In July of 2009 the 180 workers at Parker Newhaven, UK, got notice that the factory was to be shut down and the production moved to France.
On August 18, 2009 Newell Rubbermaid Inc. announced that Janesville Wisconsin will lose the remaining operations tied to Parker Pen and 153 jobs.
"This decision is a response to structural issues accelerated by market trends and is in no way a reflection on the highly valued work performed by our Janesville employees over the years," the company said. Newell Rubbermaid said it will offer transitional employment services as well as severance benefits.
Models
Key models in the company's history include Jointless (1899), Jack Knife Safety (1909),
DuofoldThe Parker Duofold is a range of fountain pens produced by the Parker Pen CompanyThe first model was produced in 1921 and was a large pen, 5.5 inches long when capped, and made of a showy bright red hard rubber and expensively priced at $7.00, equivalent to about $83 in 2009.The original full-sized...
(1921),
VacumaticThe Parker Vacumatic fountain pen was launched in 1933, displacing the Duofold as Parker's top-of-the-line product. The pen was originally named the Golden Arrow, a reference to the new arrow clip which would go on to become a Parker trademark, appearing in some form on almost all of Parker’s...
(1932),
"51"The Parker 51, introduced in 1941, is a famous fountain pen. Parker’s period advertising called it “The World’s Most Wanted Pen,” and this assertion was true although a little deceptive; the U.S.A. entered World War II in December 1941, and the War Production Board placed severe restrictions on...
(1941),
JotterThis article is about the ballpoint pen, did you mean Notebook?The Parker Jotter is the Parker Pen Company's first and bestselling retracting refillable ballpoint pen. Later they added a fountain pen, mechanical pencil and rollerball pen that match its design. As with many other ballpoint pens, it...
(1954), 61 (1956), 45, 75 (1964), Classic (1967), 25 (1975), Arrow (1982),
VectorParker Vector is the name of a family of pens manufactured by The Parker Pen Company. They are often used by promotional firms as logo gift items.-History:...
(1986), Duofold International (1987), 95 (1988),
SonnetParker Sonnet fountain pens and Parker Sonnet rollerball pens are ranges of pens made by the Parker Pen Company.Sonnet Mk 1 fountain pens were first sold in 1993, but its manufacture has been superseded by the Sonnet Mk 2, which has a wider cap band...
(1993), and the
Parker 100The Parker 100 was introduced in 2004 and was retired in 2007. The pen was designed by the Parker Pen Company to bridge the large gap between the Sonnet & Duofold lines. The design of the 100 was meant to be a sleeker updated design of the classic Parker 51 which was a bestselling pen for the...
(2004).
Martini formula
Parker pen ran an advertising campaign in the early 1970s, simply showing a hand using a Parker Pen to write the following 'mathematical' formula on a piece of paper:
The result was that they received numerous inquiries by chemists, mathematicians, and physicists, asking for the meaning of the formula, as they could not figure it out. The formula is actually a humorous representation for the recipe of a
MartiniThe martini is a cocktail made with gin and vermouth. The drink is almost always garnished with an olive or, less commonly, a sliver of lemon peel. It is often described as being "crisp". Over the years, the martini has become one of the most well-known mixed alcoholic beverages. H. L. Mencken once...
: 3.5 shots of
ginGin is a spirit flavoured primarily with juniper berries. Distilled gin is made by redistilling white grain spirit which has been flavoured with juniper berries. Compound gin is made by flavouring neutral grain spirit with juniper berries without redistilling.The most common style of gin,...
and half a shot of
vermouthVermouth is a fortified wine, flavoured with aromatic herbs and spices such as cardamom, cinnamon, marjoram and chamomile. Some vermouth is sweetened; however, unsweetened, or dry, vermouth tends to be bitter...
over 4 parts H
2O
3 (water cubed = ice), finished off with three stirs (the 3×360°).
Apparently the campaign received one very critical letter asking "Who ever heard of a martini without an olive?".
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