В эпоху одноразовых вещей пожизненная гарантия выглядит анахронизмом. Но многие компании по-прежнему используют иллюзию вечности как мощный маркетинговый инструмент.

В 1926 году с одного из обрывов Большого каньона (максимальная высота -- 1,6 тыс. м) сорвались несколько перьевых ручек Parker. Падение не было случайным. Таким образом Parker Pen Company доказала общественности и себе прочность нового пластика, используемого при изготовлении ручек. Спустя два года компания начала давать пожизненную гарантию на свои письменные принадлежности.
Бесспорно, время, застывшее в самых обыкновенных вещах, имеет особую ценность. Чего стоит нежность, с которой пожарные города Ливермор (штат Калифорния) относятся к обычной 4-ваттной лампочке накаливания, «живущей» в одном из помещений пожарной команды с 1901 года. Во время переезда ее, обернутую ватой, с почетом везли на полицейской машине со спецсигналами.
Личный опыт каждого потребителя доказывает: товары могут жить долго. Чего уж там -- кое-кто умеет продлевать жизнь даже чайных пакетиков и пластиковой посуды. Однако обычно это случается вопреки планам компаний, стремящихся сокращать жизненный цикл своей продукции. Сегодня на потребительском рынке товары-долгожители -- исключение из правил. Совсем редкость -- «вечные» вещи. И тем не менее СФ смог найти ряд компаний, готовых гарантировать своим товарам пожизненный бесплатный ремонт и -- иногда -- замену. Какой расчет стоит за этими обещаниями?

Fountain pen manufacturing became one of Janesville's most lucrative enterprises. Most important in this sphere was the formation and gradual expansion of the Parker Pens Company. In 1891, George Parker incorporated the Parker Pens Company and began producing quality fountain pens - beginning with the "Lucky Curve" fountain pen. Over the next two decades, the company flourished and expanded, moving to larger accommodations on several occasions.
by 1920, the Parker Pens factory was built at East Court and Division streets. The factory was expanded in 1930 when employment reached over 700 workers. By 1950, the company had offices in Canada, France, England, Africa, and Scandinavia, and Parker Pens rivaled the best in the world.
At its peak, the Parker Pens company had a 212,000 square foot factory with over 2,000 workers, making it one of the largest employers in the county. By the 1980s, the production of cheap ball point pens and disposable ink pens had a negative impact on Parker Pens. Eventually the company was sold to overseas interests and the factory was shut down. However, Parker Pens are still used today for ceremonial bill and treaty signings at the White House.

In America, the pen-making industry officially began in 1809. But, it wasn't until the 1880s that the fountain pen as we know it got its start. Among the early industry leaders was George Safford Parker, a school teacher from Janesville, WI who became frustrated with the unreliability of the writing instruments then available to his students.

To augment his meager teaching salary, Parker pen had a sideline as an agent for John Holland fountain pens. The pens were unreliable, delivering too much ink at times and at other times, no ink at all. In any case, Parker felt obligated to repair the pens he sold to his students. So, he purchased a few small tools, and began to learn the inner workings of fountain pens. As the students learned they could depend on their teacher to keep their pens in working order, the number of Parker pens he sold increased, as did Parker's frustration over the time required for repairs. Finally, he decided he could make a better pen himself. And he did.

Parker patented his first fountain pen design on December 10, 1889. Two years later he entered a partnership with insurance man W.E Palmer and in February of 1892 they incorporated the Parker Pen Company.

In 1891, Parker patented an improved under-overfeed. It was the third patent Parker acquired in a time span of only 18 months. In 1893 he patented yet another feed; this one would be the forerunner to the Lucky Curve.

The Lucky Curve, patented on December 4 1894, was to become the foundation for The Parker Pen Company's first real success. Like many of Parker's innovations to come, this one was designed to solve a problem. The problem was that pens carried in a pocket retained ink in the feed tube. As the ink was warmed by body temperature it expanded forcing ink to the pen point. When the pen cap was removed, the excess ink inevitably soiled fingers. Parker's Lucky Curve employed capillary attraction which completely drained the ink from the feed tube.

Additional product innovations in these early years included the development of the Jointless Pen and the slip-fit outer cap. Parker redesigned the Lucky Curve as an underfeed pen in 1898.

By 1899. Parker pens were successfully selling to the public and the armed forces. In fact, it was a Parker Pen Jointless Lucky Curve that was used to sign the Treaty of Peace ending the 1898 Spanish-American War on February 10, 1899.