T-Ball Jotter VS. The Two Heart Profile

Back in the BM (before me), students graduated from the pencil to the fountain pen. The desks I sat in as a child still had inkwells - holes in the desk into which an ink bottle was placed. Fountain pens were still sold in the Five And Dimes. A lever loaded Wearever still lay on my father's bedstand. The best convenience available the student was the cartridge loaded Shaeffer. I owned one (and still do) and fell in love with its distinctive blue ink, a love I have never lost. 

In 7 AM (after me), I graduated from a Number 2 pencil to the ballpoint pen. The ballpoint was certainly not a new invention, but its cheap proliferation was new enough to be within the memory of the adults of that time. The Bic crystal stick pen was just being born in its current form (no hole in the lid, please), and it hadn't arrived in my world. I learned to write in cursive with a school issued Eversharp stick pen. Its ink was a purplish blue, nearly a mimeograph purple, that had the unfortunate desire to leave the pen while in the pocket. There I dwelt through high school and into college, in the world of the Lindy Pen, the Bic fine point, and finally the Bic medium blue.Eventually, it occurred to me if I had to put a pen in my shirt pocket, it ought to say something about me. Besides, there could be some advantages to writing with a pen costing more than a quarter. The alternatives available at the time, even before the Bic Click came out, were few.

This is the Papermate Two Heart Profile Pen. It could be bought in slim, medium and husky for about $5.00. It had a spring-loaded plunger that deployed the refill smoothly with a barely perceptible click. It bore a distinctive two heart logo on the pocket clip. The blue refill was the perfect color blue and traveled smoothly on paper.

At a slightly higher price point, maybe about $7.00, the Parker T-Ball Jotter was also an option. Parker actually advertised the pen. It was held out to be the choice of young professionals. I always admired the way the pen looked. It was more compact than the Papermate, but crucially it bore a stamped arrow on the top of the plunger and the pocket clip was an actual arrow. Later in life, I worked for a guy who wrote exclusively with a T-Ball Jotter.  You'll learn I'm the kind of person who pays attention to what people use to write.

The Parker has a stiff, spring loaded plunger that deploys the refill with a pronounced click. The refill never seems to be exposed from the pen as far as you would like. While the Parker blue is acceptably bright in color, it travels stiffly on paper. The Parker refill is designed to rotate slightly as it is deployed so that the ball is worked evenly.

Early on, I chose the Papermate just on price. I liked the pen then and would like it still except for the fact Papermate quit making it. The brand went on to lend itself to endless iterations of cheap pens. It has more recently gone the Ink Joy route, filling a really cheap pen with really bad ink. So disappointing!

Meanwhile, Parker has gone on with its tradition of fine pens. I still don't like the T-Ball Jotter other than sitting in a shirt pocket, but a lot of people are loyal to it. The pen can be bought today for about $15.00 and recently Parker has issued a great looking anniversary edition of the pen selling for about $25.00.

And they still make the Parker Duofold. I will own one!!