Turn-up nibs

Some fountain pen nibs were designed with tips that angle upwards.  Waterman offered them as an option from an early date, calling them "turned-up" or "ballpoint" nibs.  Older examples bear no special imprint, but many examples from the mid-1920s on are marked "BALLPOINT".

Other companies offered turn-up nibs, including Parker, but they are uncommon.  Sheaffer, however, adopted a turned-up profile as standard for their nibs starting in the '30s, making Sheaffer turn-ups by far the most common today.  Sheaffer's conical Triumph nibs, introduced in 1942, nearly all display this feature. Turn-up nibs place the iridium tip more nearly parallel to the writing surface, and so are especially suitable for left-handers and others who hold their pens at a steep angle.