Glossary of Pen Terms

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Like any other specialized item, the fountain pen has amassed a lexicon of terms that are unique. And like other jargon languages, fountain pen jargon can be cryptic or confusing. This glossary presents brief definitions for many of the most common pen terms. It is not complete (an impossible goal); but it is a work in progress, and I welcome suggestions for terms to add. (Revised September 22, 2011)

The glossary is organized alphabetically. For numbers, look under the spelled-out form; e.g., for 14K, look under fourteen.

If there is a magnifying-glass symbol () next to an image, click the magnifying glass to view a zoomed version for more detail.

J
J	The best known and most popular family of pens produced by Esterbrook, made in four sizes ranging from the diminutive C and CH “purse pens” throug the SJ (Short J), LJ (sLender J) to the J itself (illustrated here). Read a profile of the J family here. See also Esterbrook.
Jack-Knife Safety	Parker’s name for its screw-cap pens; introduced in 1910 as an eyedropper filler (upper illustration below), fitted with a button filler in about 1915 and a washer clip in about 1916 (lower illustration below), and phased out beginning with the introduction of the Duofold in 1921. Read a profile of the Duofold, in which there is some information on the Jack-Knife Safety, here. See also Duofold, Turban Top.
Jade	A celluloid color offered on Sheaffer’s pens 1924–1932 and on Parker’s and other makers’ pens during the same general period; a marbled or mottled semitranslucent green as shown here. Sheaffer’s Jade underwent changes during the period; the earliest version was noticeably less vibrant (illustrated near right) than the final version (far right), and there is thought to have been a third version that fell between the extremes.
Jaxon	(Jaxon Pen Company) A pen company located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Known only by extant examples of The Jaxon Pen (illustrated below), which bears the October 29, 1901, date of Conklin’s Crescent-Filler patent. Except for its imprint, the Jaxon Pen is identical to Conklin’s Conklinette. Conklin almost certainly made the Jaxon Pen for the latter company. See also Conklinette.
J-bar	See pressure bar.
Jet Flighter	See the historical note at Flighter.
Jet-O-Matic	See Ventura.
jewel	A decorative bit of metal, plastic (as shown here, a celluloid Vacumatic jewel), or (rarely) semiprecious stone applied to one or both ends of a pen; frequently surrounded by a tassie. See also bullseye, cabochon, tassie.
Jeweler’s band	A cap band with several closely spaced parallel grooves around its circumference, with a blank rectangular area on one side for use as an indicia. The band illustrated here is on a Parker striped Duofold; the grooves on this band are so close together that they appear in this image as a darkened area adjacent to the indicia. See also indicia, milled band, Stacked Coin band.
JiF	Jif Waterman, a French company founded in 1926 (and named for its founder Jules Fagard) for the purpose of manufacturing L. E. Waterman pens locally in Europe. JiF became the sole holder of the Waterman name when Waterman’s English plant shut down in about 1970.
jointless	Term for an eyedropper-filling pen with no removable nozzle (gripping section), typified by the Jointless models that Parker introduced in 1898 (U.S. Patent Nº 622,256). Shown below is a Parker Jointless Nº 020 that is imprinted for use as a promotional giveaway. To fill a jointless pen, the user removed its nib unit (an assembly comprising nib, feed, and a hard rubber collar holding the two together). The design’s purported advantages over ordinary eyedropper fillers (with nozzles that unscrewed for filling) were that there was no exposed joint to leak onto the user’s hand or clothing and that there was less risk of breakage during removal and reinstallation of the nozzle. See also eyedropper filler, middle joint, Rider.
Jotter	A ballpoint pen introduced by Parker in January 1954 and still in production. Parker’s engineers had learned from others’ failures, and the $2.95 Jotter (first-year model shown below) was an instant success. It had a much greater capacity than its competition, it was offered with a choice of point sizes, and its mechanism rotated the refill 1/4 turn each time the point was extended in order to equalize wear on the ball tip. In 1957, Parker created the T-Ball Jotter by fitting the refill with a textured ball made of sintered tungsten carbide for better ink transport and longer life. See also BiC, CA, Rocket.
Junior	A pen model, sometimes but not necessarily smaller in size than the “standard” version, featuring reduced trim and a lesser price. Sheaffer’s Balance Junior was smaller than many of the more expensive Balance models and had chrome-plated furniture instead of gold filled. Parker’s Vacumatic Junior was in some cases smaller than other models but was most notable for having two narrow cap bands instead of the three narrow bands of the Vacumatic Standard or, later, the single wider band of the Vacumatic Major. See also Sheaffer names.

The information in this glossary is as accurate as possible, but you should not take it as absolutely authoritative. If you have additions or corrections to this page, please consider sharing them with us to improve the accuracy of our information.