Sheaffer Pen & Art Supply Co. history

1913 Company is incorporated as W.A. Sheaffer Pen Co.

The Sheaffer pen success continued and in 1914 placed a full-page ad in the Saturday Evening Post.

The fifty-millionth Sheaffer pen rolled off the assembly line, and was given as a gift to the senior-most employee, a woman whom had been working at Sheaffer since 1916.

Growth was quick, and by 1917, when Sheaffer writing instruments were advertised as "For Uncle Sam's Fighting Boys," the company's annual pen production had reached 100,000 units.

In 1920, Sheaffer launched its Lifetime pen that retailed at $8.75, three times more than competing pens.

Sheaffer introduced its own brand of writing fluid called Skrip in 1922;it was a number of years before Sheaffer started to refer to Skrip as ink.

In 1924 after extensive research Sheaffer introduced a new celluloid material called Radite.The first colours developed were in solid black and marbled jade green, it was in the same year that the famous white dot was introduced on the pens.

In 1926 Sheaffer stopped production of the hard rubber pens and started to stamp serial numbers on the Lifetime nibs.

1928 Sheaffer Pen is launched on the New York Stock Exchange.

Sheaffer developed a streamline pen with tapered ends in 1929 called the Balance.

During the Depression Sheaffer sales held up until 1931 when sales dropped off sharply.

The first plastic body pens with metal caps were introduced in 1937 within the Lifetime range.

Then two Hungarian brothers, Lazlo Joszef and Georg Biro, came up with their own ball point pen, which they patented in 1938.

Early in 1942 the company began to remodel a former paper mill in Fort Madison, which subsequently became Sheaffer’s second production plant.

Their pen, colloquially known as the Biro, became a best-seller in England when it was introduced in 1943.

The Eberhard Faber Pencil Co. bought the United States rights to the Biro in 1944.

The first Sheaffer ballpen was made and sold in 1946,Other important developments by Sheaffer in the forties were the inner spring pocket clip, the Triumph pen with its conical sheath-type nib, the touchdown filling mechanism, and the Fineline line of popular priced products.

The Wall Street Journal (May 13, 1947) noted with some alarm that more pens were being produced per year in the United States than there were people.

In 1949 Sheaffer dedicated a new softball field at its Employees Park, located just outside Fort Madison, with tennis courts, hiking trails, and facilities for camping, picnicking, and other outdoor activities.

Sheaffer had grown to three manufacturing plants in Fort Madison by 1950, as well as running a plant in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and another in Canada.

The Snorkel pen, which debuted in 1952, was a fountain pen with a revolutionary and much admired filling system.

Craig was then Board Chairman a position he had held since 1954.

A premier British pen maker, De La Rue, stopped making pens in 1958, and many other European makers went under around this time.

Sheaffer's PFM (the Pen for Men) came out in 1959, and was an enduring seller.

The Safeguard (“Reminder” clip) is introduced during the 1960’s.

In 1961 the company suffered a severe lose with the death of Craig Sheaffer , Son of the founder.

Sheaffer introduced a new updated line of Lifetime pens in 1963 to commemorate its 50th anniversary.

1965 sales had reached over $30 million.

The company was controlled by three generations of its founder's family until 1966, when it was bought by a conglomerate.

The first Nostalgia pens with gold and silver filigree work were introduced in 1970, fashioned on the models from twenties.

The Targa line arrived in 1975 with limited production.

In 1976, Sheaffer was combined with another Textron unit, the Massachusetts-based Eaton.

During 1983 Sheaffer initiated distribution of several writing instruments imported from its Japanese distributor, Sailor Pen.

The new Connaisseur pen was announced in 1985 based on the Twenties flat end styling, originally only made in a black acrylic finish.

The company took on some $800 million of debt in 1986 when it bought a Michigan machine tool company, Ex-Cell-O, and soon Textron began shedding some of its units.

In January of 1989,Sheaffer Eaton moved its corporate headquarters and administrative offices to Lincoln, Rhode Island, the location of its newly acquired Crownmark Division.

1991 witnessed the introduction of the Triumph conical style nib and a new line of ballpoint and rollerball pens.

The Floral Etched Nostalgia pens made a brief appearance in 1992,made of Sterling Silver and Vermeil and engraved with a floral pattern onto a solid cap and barrel, unlike the original overlay Nostalgias.

The sale of Sheaffer to Bic echoed the sale of another former "Big Four" American pen manufacturer, Parker, which was acquired by Gillette in 1993.

The reengineered Triumph Imperial is launched in 1995.

The W A Sheaffer Commemorative was introduced in 1996 this Lever Fill fountain pen was made in a Limited Edition of 6000 pieces and had the profile of the early pens made by W A.Sheaffer.

In 1997, Bic offered an undisclosed amount (but claimed to be less than $50 million) for what was then known as the Sheaffer Group.

Sheaffer launched a magazine called Sphere in 1999, which went to Sheaffer customers but contained no articles or advertising for Sheaffer pens.

The Valor pen line arrived in 2000.

In 2005, the company began a push into a distribution channel it had entered previously and then let fall: duty-free shops in airports, border crossings, and cruise ships.

Sheaffer’s Fort Madison, Iowa plant was closed in 2008, an announcement to this effect made five years earlier.

A. T. Cross purchased the Sheaffer Pen company from Bic in 2014.

In 2017 Sheaffer launched its ION collection of portable, pocket-sized pens and its POP collection.