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Old June 19th 17, 04:44 PM posted to alt.collecting.pens-pencils
J.B. Wood
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Posts: 18
Default Original Bic Cristal Pen

Hello, all, and at the risk of revealing my age a bit of trivia: Back in
the early 60s when the subject pen sold for 19 cents the "nose cone" was
all made of solid brass. At that time Bic had TV ads where the pen was
fired from a rifle, attached to the boot of a figure skater, etc to show
how tough the pen was (Bic's versions of those Timex commercials).

Probably because of the cost, the all brass design was abandoned and
that portion of the nose was then made out of plastic. I'm sure the
change didn't affect write quality but I wonder if the current design
would still survive those "torture" tests. (They must have also
reformulated the ink because those early pens would sometimes discharge
ink into the barrel which would then leak out the pressure relief hole
and onto your shirt pocket or elsewhere. At least the barrel was
transparent so you could see it happening. Sincerely,
--
J. B. Wood e-mail:
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