SHEAFFER´S SKYBOY
The Skyboy models appear in 1940 with its origin radius clip as others Sheaffer´S pens before this model assemble a military clip «over the top» in the second half of 1941. There were two sizes: one Skyboy de 130 mm and 13 mm diameter in cap band at the price of $ 10.00 and another Lady Skyboy at $ 8.75 with smaller diameter, 12.2 mm, and 122 mm. longitude. Both had the inscription «SKYBOY» engraved on the clip. The Lady Skyboy fountain pen would be based on the dimensions and characteristics of the Lady Sheaffer, while the Skyboy is based on the Valiant, with its dimensions and nib.
It was manufactured only in lever style. The colors were black, carmine, marine green, and golden-brown.
The Airplane Special
Skyboy self-adjusts to extremes in atmospheric pressures and temperatures and was development for the hardest of pen ordeals in aviation use, trying to capitalize on the attractiveness that it had. Waterman did the same with the Skywriter, Eversharp with the Skyline as Parker also linked the «51» to aviation.
Sheaffer advertised the Skyboy perfected, FLO-RITE (I suppose contraction of FLOw-wRITE) fluid control compensations for altitude and temperature. “It writes in the air; writes anywhere!”.
Presented as «The Airplane Special», and advertised as an especially safe and distinct fountain pen to fly without spilling ink, I have not found exclusive mechanical differences with respect to other Balance of the time; the feeders with perpendicular extension and the bent to one side to lie adjacent the wall of the barrel, derived from patent 2,158,615 to prevent flooding stablishing a continuous capillary channel from the pen nib rearwardly into the barrel to remove excess ink from the feeder fins, I have also observed them mounted on other models.
The Skyboy version with military clip was cataloged during a very short period of time; its production virtually coincided when Sheaffer started manufacturing for war in the mid-year, 1941 several months before Pearl Harbor and under War Production Board (WPB) quotes. In 1942 were forced (for time spent on these other activities and discontinued use of aluminum and brass) to reduce their catalog to only a few models with Triumph nibs.
