please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . may 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message sheaffer pen corporation 1 type subsidiary industry writing instruments founded 1912 founder walter a. sheaffer headquarters shelton connecticut us area served international key people tim williams general manager 2 products fountain and ballpoint pens net income 36 million 1 number of employees 250 1 parent a. t. cross company website www.sheaffer.com sheaffer pen corporation e f is a manufacturer of writing instruments particularly luxury fountain pens . the company was founded by walter a. sheaffer in fort madison iowa and incorporated in 1913 3 to exploit his invention of a lever filling fountain pen . the brand was sold by french parent company bic to a. t. cross company in august 2014 . contents 1 history 2 products 3 see also 4 notes and references 5 external links history edit in 1912 walter a. sheaffer took his idea of a pen filling apparatus that utilized a lever system and with his life savings founded the w.a. sheaffer pen company in fort madison iowa . the company was established in the backroom of mr. sheaffer s jewelry store with seven employees and was incorporated a year later in 1913 . by the 1930s sheaffer fountain pens were being advertised as the pen that fills instantly from any ink well with one touch of a finger . cleans automatically when filling . sheaffer has manufactured fountain pens down to the present day . the original lever filler mechanism remained in use through the end of the 1940s though a sacless plunger design was introduced in the early 1930s . in 1949 sheaffer adopted the touchdown pneumatic filling mechanism for its top line fountain pens . a development of the touchdown design was the snorkel which added a small extendable tube underneath the nib to avoid the need to dip the nib into ink when operating the filler plunger . the last snorkel pen was the oversize pen for men pfm a fat bodied model introduced in 1959 with the then new inlaid nib which has since featured on all sheaffer s high end pens . all sheaffer pens after 1959 excluding the pfm were designed to accept either ink cartridges or a converter to allow the use of bottled ink . the targa was a popular high end model which was introduced in 1976 and came in over 80 different finishes and two sizes classic and slim . the still very popular connoisseur was introduced in 1986 as an upgraded version of the low cost no nonsense line that paid homage to earlier sheaffer flat tops and included the high end grande series and three series of levenger connoisseur s that were dual branded and sold by levenger . another popular sheaffer fountain pen was the low cost school pen . current high end pens in the range include the valor and the legacy series all of which retain the inlaid nib . on july 31 1997 societe bic s.a. known for its bic pens and lighters agreed to buy sheaffer for less than 50 million . bic of france bought sheaffer from gefinor s.a. a geneva based investment bank according to thierry michels communications director at bic . michels said bic paid less than the 50 million that sheaffer had achieved in current annual sales . at the time of the bic purchase sheaffer had 550 employees 450 of whom were based in north america . citation needed in 2003 corporate officials announced their intention of closing sheaffer s fort madison iowa plant after nearly a century of making pens in the southeastern iowa city . at its peak the company employed more than 1 000 people in fort madison . the shutdown of the factory was completed by the end of march 2008 affecting about 40 workers . sheaffer s fountain pen point assembly department was moved to a third party manufacturer in china . customer service purchasing information technology warehousing and distribution operations packaging and quality control were relocated to slovakia . citation needed bought by bic in 1997 sheaffer was sold in august 2014 to the a. t. cross company for 15 million us . 4 products edit sheaffer currently manufactures thirteen models of luxury writing instruments including taranis legacy heritage prelude prelude mini sagaris intensity 500 300 200 100 stylus sentinel and vfm . 5 as well as writing instruments sheaffer also manufactures leather pen pouches and tablet holders two calligraphy sets three types of pencil erasers ballpoint and rollerball refills stylus refills sheaffer converters eight colors of skrip bottled ink sheaffer skrip cartridges and skrip universal cartridges . 6 7 in 2013 sheaffer launched the ferrari collection luxury writing instruments . see also edit list of pen types brands and companies walter a. sheaffer notes and references edit a b c sheaffer at answers.com website sheaffer at bloomberg businessweek website state of iowa secretary of state april 21 1913 book i 5 page 380 bic dit adieu aux stylos sheaffer challenges 21 ao t 2014 http sheaffer.com en writing instruments http sheaffer.com images warranty sheaffer refill guide2015.pdf http sheaffer.com en leather external links edit official website the sheafferking project online resource retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title sheaffer & oldid 735466794 categories fountain pen and ink manufacturerscompanies established in 1912american brands1912 establishments in iowahidden categories articles needing additional references from may 2015all articles needing additional referencesall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from may 2015 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload 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