Nathan A. Zepell

Nathan A. Zepell
Nathan Zepell headshot.jpg Nathan Zepell headshot.jpg
Born	(1915-01-06)January 6, 1915 Riga, Latvia
💀Died	February 28, 1982(1982-02-28) (aged 67) Santa Barbara, CA, USFebruary 28, 1982(1982-02-28) (aged 67)
Resting place	Chicago, IL
🏳️ Nationality	American
💼 Occupation	Pen Inventor
👩 Spouse(s)	June G. Zepell

Nathan A. Zepell (January 6, 1915 – February 28, 1982).. was born into extreme poverty, survived the Russian occupation of his Latvian homeland following WWI and the Great Depression, survived the Nazi Holocaust, and helped create a Jewish state in Israel before immigrating to America and struggling to promote his pen inventions. Through it all Nathan persevered with a positive spirit, which enabled him to survive and ultimately succeed in life as a pen inventor. Nathan’s passion for inventing better pens while surviving innumerable hardships gives new meaning to “the pen is mightier than the sword.” Nathan went from the lowest level of despair to the highest level of jubilation; his life of survival and success is a testament to the human spirit.

Early Life

Nathan Alter Zepelovitch (later changed to Zepell) was born in Riga, Latvia during World War I, during a time of famine when most pregnant women either had a miscarriage or died during child birth, with a low survival rate for babies that were born. Nathan was born prematurely and the doctor believed that Nathan would be lucky to live three weeks. Nathan was given the middle name Alter, which was means “older” and true to his name he survived to live longer. Nathan grew up in a religious Jewish family. After Latvian Independence from the Russians in 1917, Jews could attend a Hebrew school. There he studied Russian, German and Latvian. Nathan first became interested in pens at the age of 13 when he received a Pelikan fountain pen for his Bar Mitzvah. Nathan was always curious about technology and would take things apart to see how they worked. He realized that the fountain pen had many draw backs – it leaked, the ink didn’t last very long, and it took a while for the ink to dry on paper. He thought that there had to be a better way to write and he began thinking about how to make a better pen. When the Great Depression hit Latvia in 1933 , Nathan’s parents were struggling to make ends meet, so Nathan went looking for work to help out . Nathan had been studying electro-mechanical engineering at Riga University , but there were no opportunities for work anywhere. However, as a young entrepreneur he successfully created a furniture hardware manufacturing factory . Following the non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in 1940 (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact), the Soviets annexed Latvia and nationalized all Latvian businesses. The Russians considered business and factory owners “exploiters” and would send them and their families to Siberia. When they came to Nathan’s factory he had to wait outside while the Russians met with his factory workers. When they Russians came out of the meeting, they informed Nathan that since his workers considered him a good boss he could stay on as the manager of his factory . This situation came to an end when the Nazis invaded Latvia in 1941.

Nazi German Occupation

Riga Ghetto

On June 22, 1941 the Nazis launched Operation Barbarossa to conquer the western Soviet Union territories for Germany. Non-Germans where forced into slave labor and they started killing “undesirables”, which included communists, gypsies, the mentally ill, and especially Jews, in order to “cleanse” the country for the Aryan race. To facilitate the Nazis plans they forced all the Jews in Riga (approximately 29,000) into the Riga Ghetto. The Germans imposed restrictions on Jewish businesses and possessions. Jews couldn’t ride on the street cars and trains, and could only walk in the street gutters. Rationed food could only be purchased at a few designated places twice a week during specified hours. All Jews had to wear a yellow badge with the Star of David on their left arm and back. Any Jew who violated any of these restrictions could be picked up and killed at anytime and their murderers would be considered heroes.

Nathan was forced to work for the Nazis outside the ghetto during the day. On December 8, 1941 while coming back from work at night, he saw piles of dead people on both sides of the street for as far as he could see (Rumbula massacre). That day everyone that Nathan knew, including his parents, friends and his 19-year old fiancée, who he was going to marry in 2-weeks, were all murdered . Nathan was only one of 6,000 Jews in Latvia who weren’t murdered by the Nazis during their initial occupation, since they were useful for slave labor.

Buchenwald Concentration Camp

Nathan was ultimately sent to Buchenwald to work in one of the satellite labor camps that did carpentry and mechanical maintenance work for the Nazis. Life in the concentration camp was harsh, with long work hours and poor living conditions. They had to sleep four in a makeshift bed the size for one or two people; two inmates had to sleep one way and two slept in the opposite direction. Nathan was the senior electro-mechanical engineer, which included repairing radios, and this enabled him to listen to the radio to get updated war information when the guards were not around. He considered this more important than food, since it provided him with hope.

The Toy That Saved 30 Lives

Figure 1: How The Toy Works
The vertical post is hollow with a cord attached to the wooden man running through a slot and around a pulley to a counterweight inside the post. The counterweight which is heavier than the wooden man, lifts the man to the top of the post. When the wooden man reaches the top collar the momentum knocks one of the sacks onto his back. Now the wooden man with the sack is heavier than the counterweight, so he climbs down. Once the wooden man reaches the bottom of the post there is a small protrusion that tilts the man back so the sack falls off his back on to the tray. The man then becomes lighter and able to climb back up the post again. This cycle repeats until all six sacks of have been retrieved.

Perhaps the best example of Nathan’s creative survival skill was just before Christmas 1943. The Buchenwald Commandant (Hermann Pister) came to Nathan’s barrack holding a piece of paper. Based on past experience such a paper would have a list of numbers that corresponded to numbers tattooed on every camp prisoner. When your number was called it meant you were taken away and executed in the gas chambers. However, the paper that the Commandant was holding was a letter from his wife. She wrote that due to the bombings in Berlin they didn’t have any gifts for under the Christmas tree to brighten their children’s holiday. She wanted to know if the inmates could do anything to help. The Commandant told the inmates that if they could make a toy that would excite his children they all could live longer, otherwise they wouldn’t. After the Commandant left the barracks the inmates lamented how they could make such a toy. Nathan told his fellow inmates “lets think about this, since you have to admit he gave us a very good incentive.” Nathan thought about this for two days and came up with an idea on how they could make the requested toy – it is amazing how efficiently the mind works when it’s a matter of life and death. Nathan explained to his fellow barrack inmates that they could mount a hand press horizontally on a bench and that the 30 of them could take turns turning it as a lathe to make a wooden toy.

The inmates worked two days and nights to make Nathan’s toy. The toy consisted of a wooden base with a hollow post. On top of the post was a round collar with six wooden sacks of flour. A wooden man would automatically climb the post with his arms and legs up to the top. At the top, one of the sacks bumps onto the man’s back and he would then climb down to where the wooden sack would fall off. The man would then climb up to get another sack until all six sacks were on the bottom (refer to Figure 1, with a description on how the toy works). When Nathan gave the toy to the Commandant, he could see that he was very pleased and requested that Nathan show-off how it worked to his officers. Two weeks after Christmas the Commandant came back to Nathan’s barrack holding another piece of paper, which was another letter from his wife indicating how much their children and the neighborhood children enjoyed the new toy. The Commandant said he would never forget this toy, and Nathan thought he also would never forget it!

Escape From The Nazis

Nathan knew from listening to the radio and witnessing all the Allied bombings in the area that the war was coming to an end. In early April 1945 they sounded the “5-minute alarm” that indicated to the Nazi guards that the Allied forces were in the area. The scared guards ran away, leaving the camp prisoners free to roam around the camp. The starved inmates rushed to the kitchen for food. Nathan consumed ten bowls of potato soup, which extended his stomach so much it was hard to breathe. He stretched out on the floor afraid to move or he might die. Sadly, many inmates did eat themselves to death.

Two days later on April 6, 1945 many of the guards returned to the camp and lined up all the inmates (approximately 8,000) for a forced evacuation march to Brandenburg (north of Berlin). While on the forced march there were rumors that the inmates were being taken to be executed. Knowing that the war was coming to an end, Nathan and two friends decided to escape. They jumped into a ditch along the side of the road, which was filled with rain water. They then submerged themselves in the water and hid until the German guards had passed; then they ran into the forest. For the first time in four-years Nathan felt freedom from the Nazis; however, not completely free since he was still in Germany and didn’t know who might still harm him.

The three traveled away from the forced march and wandered in the woods for a month, hiding by day and scavenging for food at night, which normally consisted of rotten potatoes they found on the ground. Ultimately, they decided they couldn’t go on living like this, so they went to a village (Prezien, Germany) where they could beg for food. Weighing only 87 pounds, Nathan was near death. Eventually, the Russians came and Nathan was finally safe. Nathan was just one of about 1,000 from the approximately 94,000 pre-WWII Latvian Jews to survive the Holocaust.

Israel Struggle for Independence

Three months after the end of World War II, Nathan went to Israel (Mandatory Palestine} via Brussels, Belgium. He lived in Safed where he worked the night shift as a laborer in a manufacturing plant that milled plates for safes, but he also got some backing to develop his new pen invention. When the 1948 Arab–Israeli War started the government asked Nathan to use his invention skills for the Israel's paramilitary organization (Haganah} to help save the country. At the time Israel was a country with limited resources, so they had to be creative. Nathan primarily worked on weapons that would scare the enemy, such as a Coke bottle launcher, which would throw empty bottles sideways in such a way that they whistled like bomb busters.

Based on Nathan’s weapons work he was introduced to Nahum Bernstein, who was the New York lawyer that was setting-up several front companies to provide legal cover for the illegal arms export to Israel's Haganah . After Israel’s War of Independence, Mr. Bernstein encouraged Nathan to come to America to pursue the development and manufacturing of his pen inventions

Immigration to America

In August 1949 Nathan came to New York City to market his new pen invention, a fountain pen that can be clipped to a shirt pocket with the writing end upward to avoid the ink from leaking. Nathan pitched his pen inventions to all the major U.S. pen companies, but they thought that his pens were too complicated and not marketable. Nathan struggled for 9-years trying to promote his pen inventions. He came up with a ball point pen that used the side clip to retract and extend the writing point, instead of the conventional push button on the top of the pen. To fasten the pen in your pocket, you had to snap the clip outward from the barrel, which automatically retracted the ballpoint, thus preventing ink stains on your shirt, which he called the “Remember Pen”. He finally sold his pen invention to the Columbia Pen and Pencil Company who renamed it the “Wingmatic” that launched his successful pen inventing career.

Two months after he sold his pen patient to Columbia Pen and Pencil Nathan got a call from the Sheaffer Pen Company asking if he would come to work for them. Mr. Walter A. Sheaffer, Chairman of the Board called Nathan into his office and said he was interested in buying Nathan’s pen that doesn’t have a push button on top. He said “this would really be a pen to remember.” Nathan appreciated the offer, but asked why they were interested in his pen now, after they had previously given him 10 reason why his pen invention was a bad idea. Mr. Sheaffer replied “you taught us a lesson that one man can be right and a whole industry can be wrong. He was now willing to pay for that lesson.” Nathan joined the Sheaffer Pen Company in September 1959 and ultimately worked there for three-years at their headquarters in Fort Madison, Iowa as a product development engineer in the Research and Development Division. The Sheaffer Pen Company marketed Nathan’s invention as the Safeguard pen with the “Reminder” clip. After Nathan left Sheaffer Pen he moved to Chicago where he met June, received his U.S. citizenship, shortened his name to Zepell and at the age of 50 got married on June 22, 1965.

Nathan and June then moved to Santa Barbara, California in 1966, where he continued his pen inventing career and started his own manufacturing company, Zepell Products Co. . His final invention was the “Pentastic” pen, which was a flat plastic, dual cartridge ballpoint pen . that he manufactured in his own company from 1977 to 1979.

Since man first scribbled with quills, the shape of writing instruments has always been round; however, the Pentastic is so flat it can be used as a book mark. Ultimately, Nathan had patented 40 inventions and over 100 million of his pens have been sold worldwide

From the day Nathan was born he survived innumerable life and death moments. However, his final struggle was from within his own body - Nathan died of cancer on February 28, 1982. In Nathan’s final days for the first time in his life he felt free to be honest about everything, especially towards himself. Nathan faced death as he lived, with strength, courage and his infectious joy for life.

Epilogue

The following is an excerpt from an article Nathan wrote that summarizes his view of life:

"I am often asked how I was able to attain success in the face of so much misfortune. The answer is very simple. One must stay with a task and not give up no matter what the odds. We are in a sense masters of our own fate, and as I see it, success still takes a little imagination and a lot of hard work. There are no shortcuts or easy ways."

"Having experienced the basest cruelties and indignities, I know what malevolence is and what it can do to a human being. This would be a far better world if intolerance and discrimination against a people because of nationality, race or religion should suddenly disappear" .

Honors

Recipient of the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement for outstanding achievement. San Diego, CA (1976).

Guest speaker, National Innovation Workshop, U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, San Francisco, CA (May 17, 1980).

Guest speaker, Inventors Workshop International Convention, Costa Mesa, CA (October 25, 1980).

Memberships

Congregation B’Nai B’Birth, Santa Barbara, CA

Engineering Association, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA

Patents

• 1 - US 2559555, Zepelovitch, Nathan, "Fountain Pen with Retractable Tip Enclosure", issued July 3, 1951 

• 2 - US 2670710, Zepelovitch, Nathan, "Refilling the Feed Duct and Writing Tip Ink from the Ink Reservoir with the Fountain Pen Tip Point Upward", issued March 2, 1954 

• 3 - US 2678762, Zepelovitch, Nathan, "External Filling Device for Fountain Pens", issued May 18, 1954 

• 4 - US 2705573, Zepelovitch, Nathan, "Reusable Stopper for Carbonated Beverage Bottles", issued April 5, 1955 

• 5 - US 2729354, Zepelovitch, Nathan A., "Universal Hermetically Sealing Bottle Stopper", issued January 3, 1967 

• 6 - US 2874679, Zepelovitch, Nathan, "Fountain Pen with Improved Writing Tip, Increased Fluid Ink Capacity and Integral Cap", issued February 24, 1959 

• 7 - US 2874732, Zepelovitch, Nathan, "Fountain Pen Filling Device", issued February 24, 1959 

• 8 - US 2881736, Zepelovitch, Nathan, "Rocking Side Clip to Extend and Retract Ballpoint Pen Cartridge", issued April 14, 1959 

• 9 - US 3075496, Zepelovitch, Nathan, "Rocking Side Clip to Extend and Retract Ballpoint Pen Cartridge", issued January 29, 1963 

• 10 - US 3125993, Zepell, Nathan Alter, "Ballpoint Pen with Side Clip Mechanism", issued March 24, 1964 

• 11 - US 3127874, Zepell, Nathan Alter, "Ballpoint Pen with Improved Rotatable Applicator Member", issued April 7, 1964 

• 12 - US 3146758, Zepell, Nathan Alter, "Ballpoint Pen with a Writing Assembly and Opposing Eraser Element with a Cam Mechanism", issued September 1, 1964 

• 13 - US 3187724, Zepell, Nathan Alter, "Fountain Pen Not Subject to Barometric Pressure or Temperature", issued June 8, 1965 

• 14 - US 3200792, Zepell, Nathan A., "Ballpoint Pen with Side Clip Mechanism", issued August 17, 1965 

• 15 - US 3344484, Zepell, Nathan A., "Rocking Side Clip to Extend and Retract Ballpoint Pen Cartridge", issued August 17, 1965 

• 16 - US 3558233, Zepell, Nathan A., "Ballpoint Pen with Side Clip Mechanism", issued January 26, 1971 

• 17 - US 3652172, Zepell, Nathan A., "Sliding Clip Actuated Ballpoint Pen Mechanism", issued March 28, 1972 

• 18 - US 3709619, Zepell, Nathan A., "Ballpoint Pen with Swing Tongue Lock", issued January 9, 1973 

• 19 - US 3796501, Zepell, Nathan A., "Cam Action Side Clip to Extend and Retract Ballpoint Pen Cartridge", issued March 12, 1974 

• 20 - US 3797945, Zepell, Nathan A., "Dual Cartridge Ballpoint Pen with a Push Button or Side Clip Mechanism", issued March 19, 1974 

• 21 - US D232267, Zepell, Nathan A., "Flat Dual Cartridge Ballpoint Pen", issued July 30, 1974 

• 22 - US 3871775, Zepell, Nathan A., "Flat Dual Cartridge Ballpoint Pen with Side Clip Mechanism for Reciprocal Movement", issued March 18, 1975 

• 23 - US 3912401, Zepell, Nathan A., "Flat Dual Cartridge Ballpoint Pen with Side Clip Mechanism for Reciprocal Movement", issued October 14, 1975 

• 24 - US D238359, Zepell, Nathan A., "Flat Dual Cartridge Ballpoint Pen", issued January 6,1976 

• 25 - US 4185933, Zepell, Nathan A., "Flat Dual Cartridge Ballpoint Pen", issued January 29, 1980 

• 26 - US D267256, Zepell, Nathan A., "Design for a Combined Clip and Sliders for a Flat Dual-Cartridge Ballpoint Pen", issued December 14, 1982 

• 27 - US 4551034, Zepell, Nathan A., "Side Clip Mount Insert for a Flat Dual-Cartridge Ballpoint Pen", issued November 5, 1985 

External Links

Video of Nathan Zepell's presentation "Survival and Sucess" to the Million Dollar Round Table (June 1981) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mBdeAK2upk&t=18s

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