Swivodex, Sailors, and the Plastic Revolution: An Overview of Dip-less Desk Sets, Part V

The end of World War II ushered in a new era, with plastics technology opening the way to better and less costly products of all sorts.

- RICHARD BINDER AND DAVID WATTS

Dip-less sets were not bypassed by this advance, and Carter's Ink Company not to be left behind. Although the Cube-Well had remained a good seller and was still popular after the end of World War II, Carter's felt the need to "keep up with the Joneses" by introducing a new, modern inkwell that would use the same cube ink bottle but would be more in tune with the times.

The sparkling new 1946 Carter's Stylewriter (shown above middle on this page and in the advertisement below), featuring smooth modern curves where the Cube-Well was squared off in all directions, made good use of the material, which inherently allowed a broad choice of color. Initially comprising eight solid colors, each mounted on an Ebony base, the Stylewriter's palette eventually grew to 10, as Carter's mixed a Chinese Red or Maple body with an Ebony cover.

Making the most of the slight flexibility of the plastic, small tabs on the bottom edge of the cover snapped into place in hidden notches in the body, securing the ink bottle firmly to reduce leakage into the body's well. The pen that Carter's provided with the Stylewriter was lifted directly from the Cube-Well, but by then the nib was no longer being gold plated. The Stylewriter's base extended outward from the body in all directions. The additional desk space the unit occupied, when compared with the Cube-Well (shown for comparison to the left above), might be considered wasteful-but it allowed room for a little additional weight and served to make the Stylewriter far less easy to overturn in a careless moment.

The Historic Swivodex