Pelikan | 1930

1930 German magazine ad for the Pelikan fountain pen, in black and white. A photograph of two hands filling a fountain pen with a transparent barrel from a Pelikan ink bottle. Headline “So einfach wird der Pelikan-Füllhalter gefüllt”, explanatory text, the price “M 15.–” and the Pelikan logo with “Für jede Hand”.

“So einfach wird der Pelikan-Füllhalter gefüllt”: this is how easily the Pelikan fountain pen is filled. In 1930, the ad explained the novelty step by step: “no tube, no button and no lever”, just a small pump inside the pen that draws the ink into the transparent chamber.

Other pens of the time were filled with rubber sacs, buttons or levers. Pelikan's piston system came from a patent by the Hungarian engineer Theodor Kovács, which Günther Wagner of Hanover had bought in 1927.

The photo of two hands and an ink bottle works like a user manual. The ad even sells the ink, which “always flows easily”.

The piston filler became Pelikan's trademark, and the company still uses it.

Text in the ad

So einfach wird der Pelikan-Füllhalter gefüllt.
Der Pelikan-Füllhalter wird gefüllt ohne Schlauch, ohne Knopf und ohne Hebel. Eine kleine im Halter befindliche Pumpe saugt die Tinte in den durchsichtigen Tintenraum. Die Feder braucht nur zur Hälfte eingetaucht zu werden, so daß der Halter dabei stets sauber bleibt. Beim Pelikan-Füllhalter zeigt Ihnen der durchsichtige Tintenraum stets an, wann Sie ihn füllen müssen.
Pelikan-Füllfedertinte fließt stets leicht und gleichmäßig und dunkelt tiefschwarz nach. Sie eignet sich für Füllhalter aller Systeme.
M 15.– · Günther Wagner Hannover
Pelikan · Für jede Hand
Zu beziehen durch die Fachgeschäfte.

Translation:
This is how easily the Pelikan fountain pen is filled.
The Pelikan fountain pen is filled without a tube, without a button and without a lever. A small pump inside the pen draws the ink into the transparent ink chamber. The nib only needs to be dipped halfway, so the pen always stays clean. With the Pelikan fountain pen, the transparent ink chamber always shows you when you need to fill it.
Pelikan fountain-pen ink always flows easily and evenly and darkens to deep black. It is suitable for fountain pens of every system.
15 marks · Günther Wagner, Hanover
Pelikan · For every hand
Available from specialist shops.

Brand
Pelikan
Year
1930
Decade
1930s
Country
Germany
Medium
Magazine
Themes
Technology
Original publication
Die Koralle, 1930
Pelikan | 1930 · Vintage Ad Museum
Vintage Ad Museum · Museu da Propaganda, since 1999
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