As of November 11, 1939, Pelikan fountain pens were fitted with chromium/nickel - steel nib (CN nib), as the government forbade the use of palladium nibs for the domestic market in October of the same year. Some export market pens still had gold nibs (1940 Gray Pelikan 100).

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In attempt to make the changeover to new CN nibs (gold-plated), Günter Wagner advertised them in its newsletter (1940), claiming that the new material was not inferior to gold in flexibility, durability and so on, and that the supremacy of gold should be forgotten. There is no nib size indication nor manufacturer's mark on the nib and anywhere else. The nibs have the half round slit for flexibility. The slit has several variations. Some nibs do not have slits (万年筆おやじの備忘録).

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The company also stated in the same newsletter that “When the development is driven by determination, the product performance can be improved despite all difficulties.” In line with the grit, Günter Wagner introduced new technologies to bodies. In early 1940s, the company switched the material of the barrel from celluloid to acrylic resin, and developed a one piece injection molded transparent acrylic resin body in which the grip section and barrel were integrated (Fig.3-1). The grip section and the threaded portion are painted black on the inside (Fig.3-1). The reinforcing ring of the barrel was abolished (Fig.3-1)⁽⁴⁾.

 

The company also gradually replaced celluloid with cellulose acetate for other parts; the cap unit was now made of cellulose acetate, too. The material of the filling system was changed to the injection molded cellulose acetate, too. As the delicate groove of the knurled turning knob was difficult to produce (Pelikan Schreibgeräte), it was replaced with the smooth turning knob (Fig.4).

 

It is known that there were two types for black elastomer seals (Fig.5-2). It appears that the black elastomer piston seal, which had already been in use, was modified around this time (Fig.5-1). When disassembling vintage model 100, it is often observed that the bottom portion of the modified black elastomer piston seal has come off, likely due to shrinkage (Fig.5-3), which shows that the improved black elastomer piston seal was produced by adding a third layer to the original design. In other words, as a result of this modification, the black elastomer piston seal evolved from a two-layer structure to a three-layer structure (Fig.5-4)⁽⁵⁾.

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My pen has one piece injection molded transparent acrylic resin for its body, black elastomer seal (modified type), and gold-plated CN nibs. It may be produced for the domestic market sometime between 1940 and 1942.

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Note;⁽¹⁾Later, cap tube rings was no longer gold-plated (PENguin).

⁽²⁾According to Fountain Pen Design, CN nibs seem to be austenitic steel, one of the stainless steel families (Nib Materials). It is a little magnetic. Cold heading seems to have modified the surface of the nib to render it magnetic (万年筆おやじの備忘録).

⁽³⁾There seem to be two or three types in CN nibs in terms of plating.

• Gold-plated; There are CN nibs that were slightly gold-plated.

• Chromium/nickel-plated (Pelikan Schreibgeräte).

• Non-plated.

It is likely that some CN nibs were lightly gold-plated similar to Pd nibs. As soon as Günter Wagner lost access to gold plating technologies (we can track that to clips and cap rings as above⁽¹⁾, they must have procured other technologies for plating nibs (@stoen). What makes dating CN nibs difficult is that some owners may have replaced their CN nibs for gold nibs after the war, while other owners (re)built correctly looking pens of that time by replacing their gold nibs for CN nibs. So, few original and thus fully datable pens from that period still exist (@stoen, @Rick Propas).

⁽⁴⁾Brass was a strategic material at that time. Was it to save brass? Or were acrylic resin durable enough without a brass ring?

⁽⁵⁾These three-layer, black elastomer piston seals were also used for models 100N and IBIS until 1949. However, despite Günter Wagner's effort, it was later revealed that black elastomer seals were unstable for long-term use as the material tended to shrink and lose its elasticity over time, causing ink leakage. Consequently, many of these seals were replaced with nylon ones (Pelikan Schreibgeräte).