Waterman’s Nib Color Code

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	This advertisement from the November 1927 issue of Scientific American Magazine shows the Nº 7 “Ripple” pens with the original six nib colors.

In 1927, L. E. Waterman began to abandon its Standard Numbering System for describing pen models. The company had been producing pens of red rippled hard rubber since 1926, calling them “Ripple” models; but those pens had all borne numbers that fitted into the system. Not only did the new Nº 5 and Nº 7 “Ripple” models break free of the system, but their nibs also lacked the usual numbers that would indicate size. Instead, these pens brought with them a new system designed to make the consumer’s nib choices easier and more appealing. (Revised July 23, 2008)

The nib coding system for the Nº 5 and Nº 7 initially offered six distinct types of nibs, with each type assigned a “color.” (Note, however, that Waterman continued to sell other pen models with numbered nibs for at least 20 years more.) The pens themselves also acquired the same colors, in the form of a colored hard rubber band inset near the cap crown. (The use of different pen body color markings also offered the potential for selling more new pens, as purchasers might find it appealing to have two or more pens whose nibs could be identified without the need to uncap the pens.)

Waterman’s advertising, as shown to the right, played up the ease and surety with which the customer could select exactly the right point:

“PICK YOUR PEN POINT BY COLOR

“We have solved the problem of pen point selection. The color of the band on the holder tells the whole story. You can now select with confidence exactly the pen point best writing requires.

“A fine, broad, stub, flexible or stiff point may now be selected at a glance. You can’t go wrong.”

Shown here are a “Blue” Nº 7 pen and a “Pink” Nº 5. The Nº 7’s nib is to the left of the table below; note the elegant “keyhole” breather hole:

(These pens are second-generation models; early production lacked the narrow white bands adjacent to the color band.) The flared cap crown on the Nº 5 is an unusual and very attractive touch. (Nº 5 lent by Beth Hilgartner.)

When Waterman phased out its hard rubber pens in favor of celluloid, the nib color system remained in use. The Nº 5 and Nº 7 models appeared in black (Jet) celluloid, with colored discs inset into the ends of their barrels. Shown here is a “Green” Nº 5:

Waterman figured out soon after introducing the new pens and color-coded nibs that having a pen called the Number Seven with only six nib colors was poor marketing strategy, and in fairly short order a seventh nib appeared. Later, the company added more colors, until the final tally stood at ten, as shown in the following table. The nibs appear in the table in what I believe to have been their order of appearance.

		Color		Description		Characteristics
		Red		Standard		Medium length, medium point, semiflexible
		Green		Rigid		Fine manifold, corresponding to a Gregg nib, popular among stenographers
		Purple		Stiff; Fine		Stiff (firm) fine designed for pressureless writing; a good accounting nib
		Pink		Flexible; Fine		Long fine flexible, designed to shade at any angle; suitable for Pitman shorthand — also described as a “Bookkeeper” (posting) nib
		Blue		Blunt		Short ”Improved Stub,” popular with rapid writers; slight left-foot oblique
		Yellow		Rounded		Firm medium-broad, spherical tip designed for left-handed writers
		Brown		Flexible; Fine		Medium-length nib, not as flexible as the Pink
		Grey		Oblique		Left-foot oblique, with a short slit and therefore firm
		Black		Ultra-flexible; Fine		“Wet noodle” fine, like the Pink but more flexible
		White		Coarse		Believed to be broad, especially ground to give equal stroke width in all directions (no authenticated extant examples known)

The information in this article is as accurate as possible, but you should not take it as absolutely authoritative.

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