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A pen thrown out of airplanes
A pen built to be noticed
The Duofold was built to be noticed. The burnt orange color reads like an alarm, and Parker wanted this pen to be famous, so it deliberately made the pen that color. A good pen of the day cost about $3, and this one cost $7.
Thrown out of airplanes
To prove how tough it was, Parker took the pens up in airplanes and chucked them out, then collected them from the ground to show that they still worked. The pen survived the fall.
How it fills
Inside, the Duofold has a little bag, like the Waterman's. Unscrew the end and a button pulls and pushes, making a space larger and smaller that back-fills with ink. The problem the Duofold solved was fame: how to make a pen break through so that loads of people want to buy it.
Why was a bright pen so unusual?
Pens of the era were overwhelmingly black, made from hard rubber, a vulcanized rubber also called ebonite. Parker introduced the orange Duofold in 1921, and the red-orange pen became known as Big Red. Its color alone set it apart from nearly every other pen in a shop window.
Why do old black pens turn brown?
Hard rubber oxidizes when it is exposed to light and oxygen, which turns black pens a greenish or brownish shade over decades. Sunlight speeds the change, and collectors often find pens whose covered sections stayed black while the exposed parts faded. The same chemistry is why hard rubber gives off a sulfur smell when it is rubbed.
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