Sheaffer Pen accurately predicted the future
In 1963 and 1964, Sheaffer Pen ran an ad campaign in which they made a variety of predictions about future technologies of the 21st century. The company contrasted these technologies, which must have seemed a bit pie-in-the-sky at the time, with the timeless performance of a Sheaffer pen. The surprising thing is that all their predictions have come true: instant mail delivery, checkbooks that balance themselves electronically, portable visual phones, ring tape recorders, camera sunglasses, credit card rings, electronic translators.
They don't all exist in the specific form that Sheaffer imagined (credit card rings?), but in each case the equivalent or better exists.
They don't all exist in the specific form that Sheaffer imagined (credit card rings?), but in each case the equivalent or better exists.
Newsweek - Sep 23, 1963
Comments
They didn't correctly predict the demise of pens. Cursive writing is a dying art. While people still use pens, I think you'd be hard put to find college students taking notes with them. Most people write way fewer checks than they did 20 years ago.
Posted by ges on 01/21/24 at 12:53 PM
I have a Sheaffer Triumph 440 fountain pen & biro set that was given to me in 1982. Both still write perfectly.
Posted by Morbid Morag on 01/21/24 at 01:36 PM
@ges: and yet you're wrong. Because I am still writing with a Sheaffer pen. As in, I have literally written something today with a Sheaffer fountain pen. I also have a couple of Parkers, and I some others; but the point is, neither Sheaffer itself not fountain pens in general are dying out.
Posted by Richard Bos on 01/28/24 at 09:10 AM
Richard, while trying to find statistics on fountain pen sales, I found this 2012 article on increasing fountain pen sales:
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-18071830
I used Parker fountain pens for many years, but in recent years I switched to roller balls (Uniball Vision). I use ballpoint pens only when I'm desperate.
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-18071830
I used Parker fountain pens for many years, but in recent years I switched to roller balls (Uniball Vision). I use ballpoint pens only when I'm desperate.
Posted by ges on 01/28/24 at 12:57 PM
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Category: Technology | Advertising | 1960s | Yesterday’s Tomorrows