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Sirs: Your article on Mr. Sheaffer's birthday (TIME, Aug. 5) is so full of carefully worded half-truths as to almost read like a paid Sheaffer advertisement. This is particularly true of the statement, "... in 1913 most fountain pens clogged, scratched, leaked or had to be filled with a medicine dropper," implying as it does to any except the most careful and fully informed reader that Mr. Sheaffer, his patent and company are largely responsible for the present day fountain pen. The truth is: that dirty pens still clog: damaged and tampered with points still scratch and whether a pen of any standard make leaks is largely up to the user—as was true in 1913. The dropper-filled pen was already passing (although still sold even today) in 1913 when Mr. Sheaffer changed from a jeweler to a penman. For over five years Waterman's had been manufacturing sac self-fillers (with a bar, but no lever) and other companies for even longer. Today there are probably more pens in use equipped with the "Rider" box & lever self-filler, which also dates from 1913, than those made under the Sheaffer patent.
Parker Pen Co. was the first to feature in their national advertising a high-priced pen— one at $7, in a market where 10% of the pens retailed from $5 to $250. (Up to 1920, $2.75 was the most popular price.) Sheaffer improved on the idea—adding $1.75 for insurance and claiming his was guaranteed for a lifetime.
So-called "Streamlined" pens date from the 19th Century. The "Feathertouch'' nib is the Waterman "Duopoint" nib (patented 1915) gone platinum blonde and the Vacuum Fil looks suspiciously like the old English "Onoto" (nicknamed Ought-not-to) which perhaps dates from before the Sheaffer lever self-filler and revived by Sheaffer to compete with the Parker transparent barrel "Vacumatic," the Conklin "Nozac." . . . FRANK PALMER
Chattanooga, Tenn.
TIME'S story of Sheaffer's birthday celebration was not intended to be a survey of the pen business. Parker Pen Co. is No. 1 in the industry, in which Waterman, Conklin, Wahl Eversharp, Sheaffer rank high. TIME erred in ascribing to Sheaffer 1929 profits higher than Parker. Parker net profits in 1929 were $1,183,542.46.
—ED. Handsome
Sirs:
TIME, Aug. 12, Medicine, under "Nerve Congress":
. . . McGill University's handsome Dr. Wilder Graves Penfield. . . .
From handsome Dr. Max Minor Feet of the University of Michigan. . . .
Handsome Dr. Richard Max Brickner of Manhattan. . . .
. . . the Mayo Clinic's handsome senior brain surgeon, Dr. Alfred Washington Adson. . . .
Is the medical profession becoming noted for the beauty of its male followers? Or has it always been so? ...
J. B. GAYLORD
Zionsville, Ind.
Sirs:
. . . Do neurotic young ladies go to these surgeons because they want relief or because the surgeons are handsome? Again, would there be fewer neurotic young ladies if the surgeons were less handsome? . . .
SOPHIA POTGIETER
Steamboat Rock, Iowa
Sirs:
. . . These are earnest, hard-working surgeons, not beauty contestants.
OTTO V. TILTON