Magic Inkless Pen

[Keyless Works]

This is interesting:

 

http://www.pininfarina.com/media/files/comunicati_stampa/2014/4_ever_pininfarina_cambiano_eng_2.pdf

 

Supposedly its a pen that doesn't need ink...

[Opooh]

So Pininfarina reinvented the slate pen and the slate with which I learned writing in first grade 50 years ago.

[Moshe ben David]

To paraphrase what dear old Dad used to say, "forever is a heck of a long time..." sooner or later the material stub will wear out.....

 

I guess the new way to spell gimmick is 'P-i-n-i-n-f-a-r-i-n-a'

[martinbir]

Or there is this one -

 

http://www.cultpens.com/acatalog/Napkin-4ever.html

 

No doubt less expensive and available elsewhere as well.

[mhphoto]

This one too.

[Cyber6]

This one too.

 

Just remind me of the NASA pen story...

 

 

Subject: NASA's Zero Gravity Pen

When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered the ballpoint pens would not work in zero gravity. To combat the problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and $12 Billion to develop a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on almost any surface including glass and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to 300C.

......The Russians used a pencil.

Edited February 6, 2014 by Cyber6

[bleair]

Not to be snide, and I do think the Pininfarina marketing ad is over the top, but Russians using a pencil isn't right - graphite flakes floating about and shorting out things = very bad in micro gravity.

 

 

http://history.nasa.gov/spacepen.html

 

Fisher developed his space pen with no NASA funding.

 

 

 

A great point of this story is of course to be open to simpler solutions that you hadn't first considered.

 

 

 

 

 

Just remind me of the NASA pen story...

 

 

Subject: NASA's Zero Gravity Pen

When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered the ballpoint pens would not work in zero gravity. To combat the problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and $12 Billion to develop a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on almost any surface including glass and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to 300C.

......The Russians used a pencil.

Edited February 6, 2014 by bleair

[mirosc]

talk about "feedback" or "scratchiness"...

[mhphoto]

Just remind me of the NASA pen story...

 

 

Subject: NASA's Zero Gravity Pen

 

When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered the ballpoint pens would not work in zero gravity. To combat the problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and $12 Billion to develop a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on almost any surface including glass and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to 300C.

 

 

......The Russians used a pencil.

An urban legend, but an entertaining story nonetheless. Floating graphite particles and sensitive electronics in an oxygen-rich atmosphere don't mix.

 

In the 1950's there were dozens of ballpoint models, and nearly every one took a different cartridge. In 1953 Paul Fisher invented the "Universal Refill" which could be used in most pens. It was a good seller, since stationery store owners could reduce their stock of assorted refills. Not content, Paul continued to work on making a better refill. After much experimentation he perfected a refill using thixotropic ink-semisolid until the shearing action of the rolling ball liquefied it-that would flow only when needed. The cartridge was pressurized with nitrogen so that it didn't rely on gravity to make it work. It was dependable in freezing cold and desert heat. It could also write underwater and upside down. The trick was to have the ink flow when you wanted it to, and not to flow the rest of the time, a problem Fisher solved. Fisher's development couldn't have come at a more opportune time. The space race was on, and the astronauts involved in the Mercury and Gemini missions had been using pencils to take notes in space since standard ball points did not work in zero gravity. The Fisher cartridge did work in the weightlessness of outer space and the astronauts, beginning with the October, 1968 Apollo 7 mission began using the Fisher AG-7 Space Pen and cartridge developed in 1966.

 

1965 - Patent # 3,285,228: Anti-Gravity Pen The original AG7 Anti-Gravity pen was developed by Paul Fisher

 

1968 - Fisher Space pens used on Apollo 7 after two years of testing by NASA

[MisterBoll]

Kinda like silverpoint.

[inkstainedruth]

Kinda like silverpoint.

Yeah, especially the one at Cultpens.

Someday I want someone to make me a silverpoint "lead" of the size and shape to fit into a technical pencil/leadholder like a Berol Turquoise....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[MisterBoll]

Yeah, especially the one at Cultpens.

Someday I want someone to make me a silverpoint "lead" of the size and shape to fit into a technical pencil/leadholder like a Berol Turquoise....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

Your wish has been granted (I have a couple of these myself) -

http://www.naturalpigments.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=silverpoint

[Inkling13]

Not to be snide, and I do think the Pininfarina marketing ad is over the top, but Russians using a pencil isn't right - graphite flakes floating about and shorting out things = very bad in micro gravity.

 

 

http://history.nasa.gov/spacepen.html

 

Fisher developed his space pen with no NASA funding.

 

 

 

A great point of this story is of course to be open to simpler solutions that you hadn't first considered.

 

 

 

 

Fisher was developed without nasa funding, and pencils make dust, and that in space is a no-no, especially being conductive. Grease pencils and china pencils were preferred.

[Edwaroth]

If there is no ink, tis not a pen but a pencil with no lead. Edwaroth is NOT impressed, nor will he buy one.

[inkstainedruth]

 

Your wish has been granted (I have a couple of these myself) -

http://www.naturalpigments.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=silverpoint

Oh KEWL! Thanks for the link. Feeling poor at the moment, but that website looks quite interesting -- I took a workshop on doing fresco a number of years ago, and one on gilding (also one on egg tempera, and yes we did use egg yolks!); there was supposed to have been one on encaustic, but it never got scheduled.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[MisterBoll]

Oh KEWL! Thanks for the link. Feeling poor at the moment, but that website looks quite interesting -- I took a workshop on doing fresco a number of years ago, and one on gilding (also one on egg tempera, and yes we did use egg yolks!); there was supposed to have been one on encaustic, but it never got scheduled.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

Very cool indeed. I do egg tempera once in a while but I have always wanted to try my hand at encaustics. I did, however, just get some wax medium that I plan to do some rather interesting art with.

[Moshe ben David]

mhphoto: thanks for quoting the history line of the development of the Fisher pen. Always wondered why the 'astronaut' pen was labelled AG.... never thought of 'anti-gravity'!

 

It is a great pen. I always carry it on flights, in particular.