Wahl Eversharp Air-lite 1939-1941

by Jim Mamoulides March 31, 2003, updated January 31, 2024

Wahl Eversharp Air-lite fountain pen jet-black 1940-1941

Making school pens swell again!

The Wahl Eversharp Air-lite served as the entry level "back to school" pen with the Eversharp name, making it's prom debut in 1939 and bopping along through about 1941. The pen was a notch down from the Pacemaker, which was an attractive and less expensive alternative to the premium priced Coronet. Like the Pacemaker, the Air-lite was offered in striped celluloid and black and was fitted with a smooth writing 14 karat gold nib. The Air-lite has a simpler clip with "silvery" trim, possibly rhodium or chrome plated, as on contemporary Eversharp pencils. It was the company’s lowest price point pen, taking that spot from the previous year’s Junior model.

The clip design, shaped very much like the one on the earlier Junior, adds a foreshadowing of later Eversharp pens with EVERSHARP stamped vertically and MADE over IN over USA stamped at the clip top. Air-lites had a retail price of $2.75 for the fountain pen and $1.75 for the matching repeater pencil. The pen and pencil set was $3.95, a savings of 55 cents over buying them separately as called out frequently in advertisements. Three colors were offered, jet-black, silver-gray, and green pyralin, Du Pont’s brand name for their nitrocellulose plastic, commonly known today as “celluloid,” which at the time was a brand name of the Celluloid Manufacturing Company.

Advertisement from the September 9, 1939 Saturday Evening Post

The earliest mention of the Air-lite appears in a March 31, 1939 advertisement in the North Bay Nugget of North Bay, Ontario, Canada. The Air-lite is the third prize gift won by Inez McDougall of Kirkland Lake, Ontario for an essay contest entitled “My Eyes and Their Care” from the T. M. Palmer Optical Company of North Bay. There were no retailer advertisements until September, 1939 so I wonder how the T. M. Palmer Optical Company was able to get their hands on this new model. Was it a market test? And why Canada?

The Air-lite makes its first corporate advertisement appearance as part of a range of Eversharp products in a full page in the May 29, 1939 issue of Life Magazine. It shows and mentions only the jet-black pyralyn fountain pen and repeater pencil set with “silvery” trim, describing it as “lighter than other pens.” The set is shown in a paperboard box with Air-lite graphics. The Air-lite was included in several company advertisements in Life Magazine, Esquire, and the Saturday Evening Post in 1939, but does not appear in them afterward.

The earliest retailer advertisement, including a photo of the fountain pen and repeater pencil set in Air-lite logo box appears in the September 05, 1939 Portland Oregon Daily Journal. The retailer also offered a “name in gold” personalization for free. The Air-lite was not advertised by retailers very much. I counted six in 1939, five in 1940, nine in 1941, and four in 1942, and one in 1943. A typical indication that the line was being discontinued is when retailers begin to discount and that started as early as 1941, in the June 4 Enid, Oklahoma Morning News with a retailer advertisement of $2.96 for the fountain pen and pencil set. These dates led me to the conclusion that the Air-lite was launched in 1939 and was catalogued through 1941.

Pacemaker Lite

Wahl Eversharp Air-lite fountain pen silver-gray 1939

The Air-lite is very similar in design as the more expensive Wahl Eversharp Pacemaker but with less and more down market trim. The early 1938-1939 Pacemaker is a larger diameter pen than the same vintage Air-lite, easy to see in advertisements and with the pens side by side. The Air-lite cap has two narrow plain silver color bands and no cap-top band. The clip is a blade-like design, much less regal than the Pacemaker’s clip, which has one of the smartest clips put on any pen. Both pens have visulated sections. The nib and feed is visually no different on either pen and may be from the same parts bin. The pencil follows the same design as the pen, with a plain eraser cap, rather than the fancy pyralin insert cap found on the Pacemaker.

There are two imprints stamped on the barrel that coincide with changes at the company and help to date the pen. Early pens, from 1939 to early 1940 will be stamped WAHL– EVERSHARP over MADE IN U.S.A. and later pens will have EVERSHARP INC over MADE IN U.S.A. This change was a direct result of the company being reorganized from the Wahl Company to Eversharp, Inc. in May, 1940. The pencils will have GENUINE over EVERSHARP over PATENTED stamped in the celluloid above the clip.

The Pacemaker was slimmed down in 1940, when Wahl reorganized under the Eversharp name. This made the two pens identical in size and construction to the point that Air-lite and Pacemaker caps and barrels can be swapped, a strong indication that they may be different versions of the same pen. The black model would basically only have the cap and lever color as the difference, making it a nearly 30% premium for the better trim Pacemaker. Both pens will have the new "EVERSHARP INC" barrel imprint. Examples from this later run can be found with Skyline banner style nibs and feeds, which suggests that those may be late manufactured pens using newer parts.

Identification guide and features:

Wahl Eversharp Air-lite fountain pen and repeater pencil green 1939

The Air-lite was the entry level pen in the Wahl-Eversharp line and was aimed at the student market. It shares some visual similarities with the higher priced Wahl-Eversharp Pacemaker, and with the previous Wahl-Eversharp Junior. Is the Air-lite a remade/rebranded 1938 Junior? I have no information to assess that question either way, but it’s interesting.

• Celluloid cap and barrel in solid jet-black, and striped silver-gray or green
• Silver color plated clip, likely rhodium or chrome plate, EVERSHARP stamped vertically and MADE over IN over USA stamped at the clip top
• Silver color plated cap bands and lever, likely rhodium or chrome plate
• Black nib section with ink view window
• Threaded cap
• 14 karat gold nib stamped EVERSHARP over 14K over nib grade over MADE IN U.S.A., though there are variations of this stamping
• Nib grades unknown, but fine, medium, flexible and manifold (very firm) nibs observed
• Nib has folded over tines rather than tipping
• About 5 inches long capped and 5 7/8 inches posted
• Lever-filler
• Retail price for the fountain pen was $2.75, the matching repeater pencil was $1.75, and the pen and pencil set was $3.95
• Packaged in paperboard boxes with Eversharp Air-lite graphics

Performance

I got a fistful of Air-lites at the 2003 Washington DC Pen Show and only knew what they were because at the time I had advertisements for the Wahl Eversharp Pacemaker that also show this pen. In each case, the seller had no idea what model the pen was, though one thought the pen was possibly a Pacemaker, a very good guess!

The proportions of the Air-lite are very close to the Pacemaker, and it’s a mid-size pen that measures 5 inches long capped and 6 inches posted. It's lightweight and easy in the hand, and the cap adds little weight when writing.

Wahl Eversharp Air-lite fountain pen green 1939

As with the trim, the celluloid colors are a step down from the Pacemaker's vivid stripes. The colors are drab by comparison, but the celluloid appears less prone to crazing than that used on the Pacemaker. It’s not unusual to find Pacemakers with heavily crazed cap and barrel ends.

The clip is stiff and has no spring, so it probably won't clip well to a thick shirt. For a school pen, it's just not going onto a sweater or rugby shirt, so the smirky guy in the advertisement above must have his swell pen clipped somewhere else! The pen rides high in the pocket, as with most front mounted clip pens. The silver color trim plating is pretty good on most Air-lites I’ve seen.

It fills easily with a quick stroke of the lever. The Air-lite is blessed with typically smooth Eversharp nibs. The "flexible" mark on these nibs is more a nod to "not manifold" and the ones I’ve tried are semi-flex at best. Try before you buy. All the examples I tested turned out to be wet and even writers. One is a nifty flexible oblique.

Are Air-lites collectible? Well... They aren't nearly as pretty as Pacemakers. Too bad Wahl Eversharp didn't use wilder plastics like Conklin did. Perhaps Eversharp wanted a "family look" across these lines. The Air-lite is definitely not as well known. In my experience they are overlooked and are harder to find than Pacemakers. Good writers? Yes! Eversharp nibs are excellent, and these are a better catch than a no-name cheapie. Fix it up, and it would make a great starter pen to get some modern student interested in the hobby. In that case, the Air-lite would be just swell!

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References

Advertisement, Fremont Tribune Fremont, Nebraska, December 05, 1940, page 8

Advertisement, LIFE May 29, 1939, page 16

Advertisement, LIFE September 18, 1939, page 7

Advertisement, North Bay Nugget North Bay, Ontario, Canada, March 31, 1939, page 5

Advertisement, Saturday Evening Post September 9, 1939, page 65

Advertisement, Springfield News-Sun Springfield, Ohio, January 22, 1943, page 15

Advertisement, The Daily Item Lynn, Massachusetts, September 11, 1942, page 12

Advertisement, The Enid Morning News Enid, Oklahoma, June 04, 1941, page 3

Advertisement, The Morning Call Paterson, New Jersey, December 12, 1939, page 16

Advertisement, The Oregon Daily Journal Portland, Oregon, September 05, 1939, page 7

Advertisement, The Spokesman-Review Spokane, Washington, December 17, 1939, page 15

Advertisement, The Morning Call Paterson, New Jersey, December 10, 1940, page 16

Advertisement, The Selma Times-Journal Selma, Alabama, September 04, 1941, page 5

Eversharp, Cornerstone of an Industry by Jonathan A. Veley, Total Printing Systems, Newton, IL, Copyright 2024 by Jonathan A. Veley, pages 237, 252-253, 257-258, 260, 267, 280, and 301

“Pyralin” National Museum of American History, Behring Center, Smithsonian