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The Esterbrook
pen company was started by Richard Esterbrook. Initially the company only made steel pen
nibs but this line broadened to include penholders, ink wells, paper clips and fountain
pens. Not a great deal is known about the earliest Esterbrook fountain pens. The first are
English made and seem to date from about 1915. About 1933 the company began producing
fountain pens in America. These first pens are plastic and have a "V" type clip.
They used an interchangeable nib unit called a Re-New-Point that allows the owner to
easily switch nibs. The nibs themselves are taken from the varieties of steel nibs that
the company had produced for decades. The fountain pens were designed to be fairly inexpensive but at the same time they were well made and have held up very well over the years. The company introduced injected molded plastics to pen production and managed to make attractive and durable pens. |