A CHRONOLOGY: PARKER WRITING INSTRUMENTS 1888: George S. Parker, a teacher of telegraphy in Janesville, southern Wisconsin, sold John Holland pens as a sideline. He felt obligated to repair any misbehaving pens for his students, and once he acquired the necessary tools, decided that he would try to make a better pen himself. He did -- and Parker pens have been in the market ever since. 1889: Parker took out his first pen patent and became a pen manufacturer. 1892: Parker and a partner, W. F. Palmer, a local insurance salesman, incorporated The Parker Pen Company in Janesville. 1894: Parker patented the "Lucky Curve" ink feed for his pens. This invention is credited with helping Parker become a factor in the fountain pen industry. The feed was designed to drain the ink back into the reservoir by capillary attraction when the pen was upright in the pocket of the owner. He called his first product the Parker Lucky Curve Pen. It was the Company's principal product up to the 1920s. 1903: Parker established his first overseas distributorship in Scandinavia. World War I: Parker's famous Trench Pen sold well to soldiers on battlefields of Europe. The pen used ink produced in the field by the doughboys with a pill of black pigment mixed with water in the pen's cap. Thus, the Trench Pen became a "portable ink plant" as well as a writing instrument. It was sold through the U.S. War Department. 1918: Parker sales pushed past the $1 million mark for the first time. 1919: Parker began construction of a five-story building in Janesville to house manu- facturing and administrative functions of the growing business. This building is the present corporate headquarters of the Company and is currently undergoing extensive refurbishing. A modern factory called Arrow Park was occupied in Janesville in 1953. 1921: The Company introduced the oversized, burnt-orange fountain pen called Duofold at a time when most pens were black. The new product was also priced twice as high as most pens -- $7. It was a success. By 1925, Parker sales had quadrupled. Early 1920s: George S. Parker toured Europe, Australia and the Orient to establish a network of overseas distributors for his products. 1923: The Company set up its first manufacturing plant outside of the U.S. It was located in Toronto, Canada. 1924: Parker established a subsidiary in England. 1926: To do battle with the rush of competitors, Parker began using non-breakable plastic for its popular Duofold pens. Promoters dropped the pens from planes and over the rim of the Grand Canyon. The pens withstood the punishment -- and Parker adver- tising amplified the message. 1926-1928: Parker returned to the mass market with a student pen -- the Parker DQ (Duofold Quality). The Company also entered the desk set business, forming the Pen Desk Set Company. Parker introduced pens in "Mandarin Yellow," "Lapis Blue," "True Blue," and "Jade Green." The hiqher-priced Parker Duofold DeLuxe was offered to the upscale consumer in pearl and black. 1929: The stock market crashed. As did most businesses in the U.S., Parker was forced to merely sustain itself during the Great Depression. 1933: Parker's improved sacless filling mechanism was presented to the public in the Parker Vacumatic. The new pen was an immediate sales success, boasting a smart new Arrow Clip and a laminated pearl barrel. The ink capacity in the Vacumatic was 102% greater than the Duofold of comparable size. Vacumatic went on to be Parker's best seller until 1940. 1937: Company founder George S. Parker died. 1941: Parker introduced the famous Parker "51". Rated one of the world's best-designed consumer products, the "51" was characterized by its sleek profile and its Lucite barrel, resistant to the corrosive effects of alkali in inks. It wrote dry with wet ink! Parker invested $250,000 in its development, and it became one of the Company's all-time best sellers, influencing tne design of all modern writing instruments. 1942: The U.S. entered World War II. Parker facilities were primarily used for war- time production. 1948: Parker introduced the Parker "21", a lower-priced version of the "51", that earned more than 60% of the over-$5 market in a short time. 1949: Parker opened a pen subsidiary in the Republic of South Africa. 1951: Parker obtained exclusive rights to manufacture and sell a French butane-fueled cigarette lighter -- the Flaminaire. Technical difficulties, a high retail price and growing competition dimmed the light of the Flaminaire, and Parker pulled out of the business within three years. 1952: Parker established a subsidiary for writing instruments in Rhodesia. 1953: Arrow Park, a rnodern and efficient 226,000 square foot manufacturing facility, was constnlcted on the northern outskirts of Janesville. The plant supplies parts and end-products for the North American market, Parker's world export market that is ser- viced from the U.S. -- and tens of millions of parts for Parker's foreign manufacturing subsidiaries. The Arrow Park facility operates on a three-shift basis and provides jobs for more than 800 persons. 1953: Parker opened pen plants in France and Mexico. 1954: Ten years after the introduction of the ball pen in the U.S., Parker entered competition with a technically superior product -- the Jotter, at a price of $2.95. By 1961, the Jotter became the world's best-selling ball pen at the over-$1 price range. With the same basic design as the 1954 version -- but with technical and performance improvements in virtually every internal part -- Parker in 1974 marked the sale of the 100 millionth Jotter. Today, more than 17 million Jotters are sold annually to consumers around the world. 1955: Parker became the first writing instrument manufacturer to offer a liquid-lead pencil, the first change in pencil technology in 200 years. It was phased out a decade later. 1956: After years of intensive research, Parker introduced the Parker "61", the first self-filling fountain pen on the market. The "61" was engineering to self-draw (by capillary action) enough ink from a bottle to permit six hours of steady writing with- out a refill. 1957: Parker acquired the writing instrument division of Eversharp, Inc. in an attempt to penetrate the lower-price ball pen market. 1957: Parker again improved ball pen writing for the consumer by introducing the tungsten carbide textured ball. The T-ball, as it is still called, was far superior in performance to the solid ball bearing ball tips of the time because its textured sphere provided skip-free writing even over slick or greased surfaces. The textured ball is now standard in the industry. 1958: Parker opened a writing instrument subsidiary in Australia. 1959: Parker established a pen subsidiary in Argentina. 1960: Parker plants were opened in Brazil and West Germany. 1962: Two additional subsidiaries were established by Parker in South America -- Peru and Colombia. 1963: On the occasion of the Company's 75th anniversary, Parker introduced a high- line, solid-sterling silver fountain pen with 14K gold nib called the Parker 75. Designed for the luxury market, the 75 still undergoes 792 inspections during manu- facture. It is recognized around the world as an outstanding example of precision manufacture. 1964: Parker opened a pen subsidiary in Spain. 1966: Parker introduced its version of the "soft tip" mode of writing in a pen called Touche'. 1967: Parker bowed in with its Classic line of slim-contour prestige ball pens. 1968: Parker introduced the automatic cartridge mechanical pencil with the capacity to write up to 50,000 words. It was called the Cartridge Pencil. 1970: The futuristically-styled Parker T-l, with Titanium components, was launched. The space-age metal gave Parker no end of technical trouble, and the product was abandoned within a few years. 1972: The famed Parker Duofold was revived under the label of Big Red, with the up- dated version utilizing interchangeable ball pen and soft tip writing modes. Millions are still being so]d to those who nostalgically recalled the Roaring 20s -- and those young enough to think Big Red was something new. 1975: Parker premiered a modular line of pens named Systemark. Highlighted by a Floating Ball pen, which uses a liquid ink like a fountain pen, the system also fea- tured intercllangeable soft tip and plastic tip stylus refills. 1976-1979: Recent writing instrument offerings from Parker include the 180, dual- line nib fountain pen; the Parker 25 fountain pen from England; and the unitary-nib Parker 50 fountain pen; the "women's only" designer pen influenced by Italy's Emilio Pucci, called Ms. Parker; and a novelty "neck pen" called Swinger. Parker also re- cently introduced a prestige grouping of high-line gift pens, The Heritage Collection, featuring the solid-gold 75 Presidential, the sterling silver Ambassador, and the hand-lacquered Laque line in four different color finishes from France.