In the 1970s and 1980s in Germany Geha was a major competitor of Pelikan in the fountain pen market.
The company dealing with office supplies named Geha (Gebruder Hartmann Werke) was founded in 1918 in the city of Linden by a pair of brothers: Heinrich and Conrad Hartmann (the settlement was not yet part of Hanover at that time). The company name was shortened to Geha in 1919, which was registered as a trademark. The company, initially engaged in the trade and supply of office supplies (carbon papers, typewriter ribbons), developed rapidly and soon grew to become one of the largest office and stationery supply companies in the country.
Two pipers in a tavern...
The factory generating increasing traffic and revenue moved to the Klein-Buchholz district of Hanover. The choice of location was deliberate, as Klein-Buchholz also hosted another writing and office supply brand. Pelikan moved to the village in 1906, where it established a new office and manufacturing center, from which the Pelikanviertel („Pelikan Quarter”) was created.
From 1922, Geha also began producing office supplies: various papers, stencils, and notepads were made in the Hanover factory. Nine years later, the number of employees reached 250. In 1931, the company's first self-manufactured duplicating machine, the Rotary, was completed.
Significant renovations began at the Geha Werke site in Hanover in 1936: the manufacturing plant was significantly expanded, and as part of the building expansion, the Geha tower, which is now a listed monument, was also built. The number of employees at the company approached 400 that year. Manufacturing capacity continuously increased until the beginning of World War II: two more production units were built on the site. In 1939, Geha launched its own developed „indigo paper” (carbon paper) called Geha Duplex, which was the first printed back carbon paper on the market..
The growth was interrupted by the world war. During the war, production shifted to military production: ammunition and aircraft parts were made in the company's various departments.
After World War II
after 1945, the Geha Werke building complex, which did not suffer from the war's adversities, was confiscated and used for military government purposes. Production resumed in 1949, and further expansions took place on the factory premises over the next 20 years. Around 1970, the Hanover company operated with 2,500 employees.
Business was good: by the 1960s, the company had become one of the leading manufacturers of office supplies, and it even had its own branch in Milan and Brussels. Over time, its product range covered the entire spectrum of office supplies: various papers, duplicating inks, typewriter ribbons, and various writing instruments and inks were manufactured in the Hanover factory complex. In addition, many printing and photographic products were made in the former factory of the Hartmann brothers, and it offered a wide range of office technology devices and tools, from offset printing machines to copiers and overhead projectors.
By the end of the 1980s, the company found itself in an increasingly worse financial situation and was eventually acquired by Pelikan ten years later. In the 1990s, Pelikan ceased production on the factory premises, with some of the buildings being demolished or converted into retail spaces. However, the listed Geha tower was saved.
The Geha fountain pens
The company's most well-known and successful products were the fountain pens. It entered the market in 1950 with the production of economical student pens (Pelikan only released the Pelikano series nine years later). One of the company's innovations was the „Reserve Tank” used in the Regent (later the Geha Schulfüller from 1957) models (a special reserve tank) – a small tube filled with ink that could be opened when the pen ran out of ink, giving the user a little more time before needing to refill. The opening was done with the help of a small lever placed on the ink feed it happened.
The use of the „Reserve Tank” is vividly illustrated by the following witty writing:
I had a pen long ago (Pelikan or Geha?), there if the pen buzzed, and I pressed the little lever with my finger, it would make a sound like a ferge zorg, thus it would whine for a quarter of an hour of mangarázás. The piston then would grunt the lever back into the original position during refilling. It was very cool. It was a shame about this post, until now I was doing so well with my memories lost in oblivion, now I started to long for one like that.”*
In 1957, the Geha logo was removed from the cap. The pens were produced in three price categories: the school fountain pens were decorated with one clip ring, the mid-range fountain pens with two, and the premium fountain pens were marked with three rings.
The different models were still identified by a three-digit numerical code. The lower category pens received a gold-plated steel nib, while the mid and upper category models were equipped with 14 and 18-carat gold nibs, respectively. The brand's top category was the 700 series, which was available under several model numbers (700, 701, 705, 720, 724, 726, 728, 760, 768, 775, 790).
In 1962, Geha launched a representative fountain pen equipped with an inlaid nib. The „Goldschwinge” („gold wing”) was most similar to the Sheaffer PFM-compared to the model family.
The production of piston pens manufactured with the ink reserve mechanism continued in the 1960s, but the company increasingly focused on the production of student pens. In the 1970s, the production of cartridge student pens was already the most significant at the Hanover plant. The company was a major competitor of Pelikan in Germany, and for decades the two Hanover companies dominated the school fountain pen market.
Pens made for schoolchildren were produced in various versions (and of course in fashionable colors), and their sales were supported by branded gifts - stickers, comics, timetables. Naturally, in addition to fountain pens, other writing instruments such as mechanical pencils, ballpoint pens, and felt-tip pens were also produced at the Hanover plant.
Sources:
Quote: Szabó Attila Henrik
Thanks to the Pens & Watches members of the Facebook group for their help in writing the article!
You can read more of Csaba's articles here in the Budapest Pen Show community magazine.
