>> In the 1880s, at the Valentine Telegraph School in Janesville, a teacher named George Parker sold pens to his telegraphy students, but found that he spent a lot of time repairing them. >> Fountain pens were not exactly reliable >> We'll have to postpone our business, the ink has dried up. >> He went out and bought some hand tools and started experimenting with ways to improve their reliability. He had some pens made that incorporated his design improvements. And that was the beginning of Parker Pens. >> Parker called his new ink feeding system the "Lucky Curve." As sales slowly built, the company moved into the upper floor of a downtown Janesville building, and Parker expanded his own pen-making operation. >> Back in those days, the primary material for fountain pens was hard rubber. And it was a very simple, relatively speaking, process to carve it by lathe, maybe by hand, and decorate it and make it more unique. >> As his pens developed a good reputation across the country, George Parker began to mix business with pleasure, fulfilling his childhood dream of traveling the world, while at the same time opening up new markets. >> Whenever he traveled anywhere, whether it was Egypt or China, he always traveled with a large supply of Parker Pens. >> With the coming of WWI, the War Department awarded Parker a contract for a pen to be used by soldiers in the field, known as the "Trench Pen." >> He had little pills made. Ink pills. So you'd put the pill in the reservoir, and then fill it full of water. And the water and pill would mix and you would have ink. And then he advertised that, and that became very popular. And it introduced the name to a lot of people. >> After the war, both of Parker's sons became involved in the company's management. George groomed his oldest son, Russell, to take over for him, while his second son, Kenneth, a former WWI aviator, took charge of the advertising department. With sales passing $1 million in 1918, Parker designed a modern office and manufacturing center built in downtown Janesville. And the company would remain one of the city's largest employers for the next 70 years. At a time when most fountain pens were black, his sons convinced a reluctant George Parker to release their new Duofold pen in a way that seemed outrageous at the time. >> Kenneth Parker came up with an idea for a bright mandarin red, thick pen. And it was totally different from the rest of the market. And his father said, "You're crazy, that'll never sell." It sold very well, very well. It was large. It was in your face large. But I believe in perfect sync with the times. It was flamboyant. And the '20s were nothing if they were not flamboyant. It was also somewhat expensive. And this seemed to have the effect of making it more desirable. So the Duofold was really the pen that put Parker Pen on the map. >> The pen that put Parker on the world map also put Janesville, Wisconsin there with it. >> There are really two names imprinted on the side of the pen. The Parker name is there, of course, but Janesville is there, too. It showed that George was proud of his home. It showed that he was proud of the craftsmanship and the quality that was built into those pens. >> In the 1930s, Parker introduced another new pen, the "Vacumatic," which featured a distinctive arrow clip, that remains the symbol of Parker Pens to this day. The pen proved to be yet another peak in George Parker's long career as the world's leading pen maker. As he looked forward to retirement, however, his world began to unravel. >> George's eldest son, Russell, died very suddenly in January of 1933. It's easy for me to imagine why George would have been just crushed. >> A deeply-saddened George Parker soon withdrew from the business that bore his name, and four years later, he died. The company was now in the hands of Kenneth Parker, the risk-taking aviator, who began a project to completely redesign the fountain pen, from the chemistry of the ink to the point of the nib. >> That pen was to become the "Parker 51." It's considered to be, in all likelihood, the best fountain pen ever made. >> At first, the sales of the 51 were slowed by World War II, as the Parker plant retooled to produce bomb fuses, winning three of the military's "E Awards" for excellence. But Parker Pens also held the distinction of ending the war, as General Eisenhower sent two of his Parker 51s to be used signing the German surrender papers. >> Victory, with the pens of peace. >> In the Pacific, General MacArthur signed the Japanese surrender using his 20-year-old Duofold. >> With the end of World War II the Parker 51 exploded in terms of sales. Production was non-stop. It was truly remarkable. >> In 1947, Parker Pen sponsored a parade to celebrate international trade, which eventually would account for two-thirds of its sales. In the 1950s, the advent of carbon copies had even the Janesville police switching to a new kind of writing instrument, the Jotter ballpoint. Get the Jotter Made by Parker With the T-Ball Where else can you buy so much pen for $1.98? And it's a Parker. >> Today, at Janesville's Rotary Gardens, there's a memorial to the Parker Pen Company, which was sold during the leveraged buyouts of the 1980s. >> This is the arch that surrounded the front entrance to Parker Pen's Court Street offices and factory. A lot of people have passed under this arch, employees, visitors from all over the world. And all of them had something to do with Parker Pen's success. It's terrific that this arch was preserved so that other people who walked through those doors can come back here and remember those times.
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