Dunn

Dunn was founded in 1921 and is between the fountain pen golden age producers, when every company was founded on the basis of some sort of the technical innovation. In Dunn's case the invention was a pump filling system very similar to the one used by OMAS in the Lucens many years later. That allowed the company to obtain a good market share.

But Dunn's life was very short, the company closed its doors in 1924 (or 1927, depending on sources). In its short life however Dunn produced good quality and robust fountain pens, equipped with an efficient and advanced filling system that was years ahead to those of its competitors.

Dunn
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Patents

History

Dunn was founded in New York in 1921, but curiously Charles Dunn, the inventor which gave its name to the company, was not between its owners because he died by tuberculosis just few days before the company foundation. It was him that in 1920 created and patented (Patent nº US-1359880) an original pump filling system similar to the one used by OMAS, more than 10 years later, for the Lucens. The new filling system allowed to store a large ink capacity, so that one of the slogans adopted for the market launch the Camel Tatler model was: A regular camel for ink, goes a month without a drink.

Advertising of 1922, with the slogan A regular camel for ink, goes a month without a drink

All Dunn fountain pens were produced using this particular filling system, which also characterized their style; the back of the pen, used as a knob of the pump filling system was carried out in red plastic (initially in hard rubber, then replaced by casein, a perishable and lower quality material), so it formed a distinctive feature of the pen, that in another slogan was described as The fountain pen with the red pump handle.

Initially the Dunn pens were made in hard rubber and were of good quality; the company distinguished itself by an extensive advertising campaign. The pump mechanism was simple and robust, and the pens were produced in a variety of models from small pens for women's to the Dreadnaught giant model (produced also in regular dimensions). An interesting feature, from a technical point of view, was also the introduction of a the caps composed by two parts, whose top section could be unscrew in order to discover the nib, but leaving it shielded by a protective cage in order to consent to load the pen without pressing dangerously the nib on the bottom of the ink bottle.

Oltre all'ebanite nera la Dunn produsse penne in bachelite trasparente (anche se la gran parte dei modelli trasparenti sembrano essere piuttosto realizzati in celluloide), sono note, ma molto rare, anche penne prodotte con rivestimenti in metallo.

La fine della ditta non è ben chiara, taluni riportano il fallimento nel 1924 a causa di uno sciopero prolungato di tutti gli impiegati. Altri sostengono il perdurare della ditta fino al 1927, dato che esistono tracce di una sede a New York, nella 71 Fifth Ave, quando venne messa fuori mercato dall'incapacità di adeguarsi all'uso dei nuovi materiali colorati introdotti con le penne in celluloide. A quanto pare nel 1924 si ebbe una prima istanza di fallimento (le cui cause paiono essere appunto legate se non ad uno sciopero a gravi problemi di relazioni sindacali), a cui seguì un tentativo di riorganizzazione dell'azienda. Questo non ebbe successo, portando pochi anni dopo al definitivo fallimento.

Cronologia

Anno	Avvenimento
1921	l'azienda viene fondata da Charles Dunn a New York come The Dunn Pen and Pencil Company, Inc.
1924	l'azienda subisce una prima istanza di fallimento
1927	l'azienda termina le attività

Riferimenti esterni

• http://www.richardspens.com/?prof=dunn
• http://www.vintagepens.com/Dunn.shtml
• http://www.pensandwatches.com/_pages/pen_company_photos/dunn_fountain_pen_company.htm