The Penol Pen brand
Penol is undoubtedly the best know of the Danish pen brands. The brand was founded in the beginning of the 1930s by Christian Olsen. Olsen was not exactly a newcomer to the pen's business since his company (or his father's company) had been the exclusive importer and distributor of Parker pens in Scandinavia from 1903. That is probably also the explanation of the similarity between the first Penol pens and the Parker pens of the 20s and the 30s. Looking at the pens on this page, the PENOL No 1, 2 and 3, you will note - if you are familiar with the Parker pens of the 20s and the 30s - the close resemblance between the design of the PENOLS and the Parker Flat Tops, the Duofold line.
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The name PENOL does not have any direct meaning in Danish, nor is it a Danish family name, but one can note that 'pen' in English translates into Danish with the same word, that is 'pen'. Thus, collectors often explain the brand name PENOL as the combination of the word 'pen' and the first letters of the family name of the founder of the brand, OLsen. PEN-OL, then, should be short for Olsen Pens: PENOL.
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During its 20 years as a producer of high quality fountain pens PENOL produced a wealth of different lines and designs and just as many accompanying pencils. Below you can get a rough overview of the different lines and their period of production.
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1. PENOL No 00 - 3 (plus 5 and 6): Initial line of pens produced from 1932 until more or less 1942. These pens are closely related to the Parker Duofolds, but with some noticeable differences.
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2. Stepped-top (hat-like top) models number 7 and 8 were probably produced from 1935 until 1942. The number 7 and 8 pens were large pens, compared to the Duofolds respectively a Special (probably a bit bigger) and a Senior.
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3. The 3K and 8K line was produced from 1935 until the mid 40s. The 'K' ('kanter' (edges) or 'kantet' (edged) in Danish) refers to the 12 edged design of the line. Thus, the 3K is a standard sized 12 edged pen ('doric' if you think of the Eversharps of the 30s) and the 8K is a senior sized 12 edged pen.
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4. The De Luxe line was produced from 1936 until 1942. The pens came in 4 (or 5) different sizes and sported a two-tone nib and an all-metal top.
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5. The Ambassador line was the flagship pen from 1942 until 1948.
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6. A variety of less significant, but attractive, lines also existed.
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For more information I would advice you to go to Michael Miloro's homepage: https://penol.weebly.com/penol-pen-chronology.html
Another interesting site is: Penol.com: https://www.penol.com/historie
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At last - although I live in Denmark and have been collecting fountain pens for at least a quarter of a century, my collection of PENOL is far from complete. So, unfortunately, you won't be able to see all the different variations of PENOL pens on this site.
I should have chosen another pen for the imprint photo, but I hope it is readable.
The Aëro filler system
The so-called Aëro Filler System is a fairly simple way to create a transparent barrel that let's you know how much ink is left in your pen. The idea is to make a sack-filler pen offering transparency (a button-filler), and normally that does not agree with transparency since the rubber sack is non-transparent. The Penol designers solved the problem inserting inside the lower transparent part of the pens body a prolongation, also transparent, of the section/feed on which you attach the sack. Obviously, that way you reduce the ink capacity of the pen, but you gain a small transparent window to to ink. Follow the numbered pics to understand.
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Above: Barrel with its transparent lower part, section and the transparent prolongation af the section
In this page I will focus on the No 2 and on the Aëro Filler System with which it was offered (along with other of the Penol lines). You will find detailed explanations of the Aëro system below.
So, above you see an orange and a green marbled No 2. Note that the clips are not gold-plated and they newer were. I have only a few No 1 and No 2 with gold-plated clips, and those might be substitution clips. Or maybe there was a choice. Nevertheless, when the clips are nice and clean as in the photo, the combination of vivid colour, clear clips and gold-plated cap rings looks quite distinguished, almost cool.
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To the right you see the afore mentioned transparent prolongation of the section/feed, and you can tell where to fit the rubber sack. The plastic is ambered, but still has a fair transparency.
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To the right you see the part of the pen where section and barrel meet. I have put the pen together without mounting the prolongation shown above. Note the breather stud (?) inside.
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Section and prolongation of section/feed. You can tell that the transparent prolongation
screws onto the section. Finally, the prolongated section is press-fitted to the barrel
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Above: The orange pen has been cleaned internally and is ready to use with its 'double layers' of transparency.
The green marbled pen also has a transparent ink window - not cleaned - and the barrel colour is partially interwoven into the transparent part.
Some additional pics below. The lamb - it is a lamb - normally carries candle lights at Christmas time, but it didn't protest against carrying a nice Penol No 2. We haven't agreed on any further collaboration, but who knows?
