HOME PENOGRAPHY RB-1 & FP-1  1981—1984 |
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 imes were not good for Parker and it got worse economically during the late 1970's. Something radical had to be done to save the company and Parker realised that they had to diversify. In 1976 Parker bought 80% of a small employment agency that had been around since 1948, called Manpower. Manpower was considered a financially sound company. Within eight years Parker’s main profits came from Manpower. In August of 1977 Parker recruited Willi Seiberger from Parker Germany. He had made a great job boosting Parker’s sales in Germany and since the sales was so poor in the US, Parker hoped that Seiberger would repeat his magic as he was made responsible for the marketing for US and Canada. Parker had successfully introduced the company’s first Roller Ball pen in 1975, under the name Systemark. Parker wanted to cash in on the success of the Systemark and in 1980, together with Parker in the UK, two new pens of similar appearance were promptly designed. Seibergers idea was to sell a lot of cheaper pens instead of fewer expensive ones. And the managing director in the UK, Jaques Margry, had a similar plan. He had seen the phenomenal success of the Systemark . |
he liquid ink system took five years to develop, according to Jaques Margry, and the Parker RB-1 (Roller Ball one) was conceived. It was described as a holder for the roller ball refill produced with the intent to make Parker a fast brand leader in that market segment. According to Malcolm Troak in his book “Pen to paper” it was Jaques Margry who saw the potential of the refill and decided not only to incorporate roller balls to the existing designs but also to develop this holder especially made for the refill, and he wanted it fast! Troak describes the RB-1-process as being designed basically on the back of a cigarette packet by a handful of Newhaven people. The only restriction for the RB-1-design came from Seiberger who insisted that the clip should follow the design for the Parker Arrow, which also was very closed to launch in the US. The Arrow clip was a stylised two-piece arrow and although the Newhaven team already had designed a similar one-piece clip, it was decided that the Arrow clip also should be fitted to the RB-1. In July of 1981 Parker in the UK launched the new line of writing instruments spear headed by the RB-1. Parker launched the largest ad campaign in the UK company's history. In price ranges from £1.95 to £25 the roller ball was fitted to the Ms Parker, Parker 25 and several other lines. It was met by an incredible demand and was introduced in the US in September. Until christmas of 1981 Parker sold a staggering 2 million roller ball refills. |
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| he RB-1 was made from matte black polycarbonate with a satin finish trim. It sported a clean, straight cap with no cap rings and the newly designed Arrow clip which had the appearance of a chiselled-out arrow with three facets. It had no engraved feathers and was a very modern and clean design, fabricated to allow easy engraving on the clip. Also the design of the pen itself made it perfectly suited for printing company logos and messages on it. The Newhaven industrial marketing has produced an array of designs in an array of colours and also winning many prestigious awards for their work. Very soon there were costumer complaints about the sharp edges of the two-piece clip and also that it was prone to breakage. The one-piece clip was later added to the design when the name was changed to Vector. Although both the RB-1 and Arrow sold well. They weren’t really the life-belts Parker had hoped for. Manpower continued to be the main source of revenue. |
here was a worldwide recession on Parker sales and Parker’s Writing Instrument Operations was losing money for the first time ever. In an effort to cut costs 25% of the worldwide work force was made redundant in 1982. In 1983 Parker attempted a reconstruction and early retirement plan in Janesville in the US and Newhaven in the UK and they also recentralised the research and development department to Janesville. Several pen models also saw price reductions and many Parker models were discontinued during 1982-—1983: the Parker “85”, Parker “61”, Parker “65”, Parker “105”, and the Parker “50” Falcon. Also the expensive Laque collection of the Parker “180” and Parker “35” was discontinued as well as the expensive TX of the Parker “45”. In early 1984 a fountain pen version was added to the model, it was called FP-1 and lead a short life until the Autumn/Fall of 1984 when both models were re-named the Vector, which of course has been one of Parkers best sellers ever, and is still being produced today. |
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