Skilcraft Pen
From the Desk: The iconic US Government pen, a design that has seen continuous service since 1968.
One item that can be found everywhere from the counter at your local US post office to the pockets of American soldiers fighting in far off battlefields has, for over half a century, been the Skilcraft US Government Ballpoint pen. This unassuming writing utensil has a long history, an interesting origin and an impressive list of specifications to its credit.
The pen came about after an order of thirteen million ballpoint pens made by the US Government Services Administration came in defective, and the order was directed to National Industries for the Blind (NIB), a nonprofit created in 1938 by the Wagner-O’Day Act, which allowed the formation of such a concern and to purchase the products they produced. The Skilcraft name and trademark appeared in 1952, when the company was authorized to begin sales on the commercial market, although this shift did nothing to curtail government contracts. The list of products produced by Skilcraft for the government is extensive, including the ballpoint pens that entered service in April of 1968.
Disassembled, showing the brass ink cartridge
Production of the Skilcraft pen was undertaken by NIB in facilities at Greensboro, North Carolina; Kansas City, Kansas; Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Phoenix Arizona. Additional manufacturing would eventually commence in St. Louis, Missouri as well to cope with increasing demand. The pen, available in blue as well as the ubiquitous black, remains in use today across the departments and offices of the US Government with essentially no major changes.
The specifications of the US Government Pen were outlined in a 16 page requirement issued by the GSA, and is one of the reasons for the pen’s longevity and popularity. The requirements include:
Write smoothly for one continuous mile under 125 grams of pressure
Work reliably in temperatures of 160° Fahrenheit to -40° Fahrenheit
The ink must be able to survive 48 hours submerged in water and two applications of chemical bleach
The ink cartridge must be made of American made brass
In addition to these requirements, they are also known to be capable of use upside down, are purportedly the proper length to estimate 150 miles on most military maps and naval charts, and the barrel is sometimes used for emergency tracheotomies in the field when proper tools are not available.
These pens also make excellent writing utensils, and are available to civilians through various outlets. The author purchases these for personal use via Amazon, and has noted that they remain functional even when left in an automobile in the coldest of winter days.