Thirsty Pens: Ebonite Pens Drank Up All The Ink.

[hari317]

Both, depends on what i have handy. How does that make a difference??

with a conventional glass dropper with the black/opaque bulb and typically stained glass tube, it is possible you think you are dropping ink into the pen, but it had sucked nothing from the ink pot in the first place, due to low ink level, dropper tube not submerged properly, inattention etc. I am just trying to make some sense out of this episode, not considering the paranormal of course.

Edited February 7, 2014 by hari317

[akstorm]

with a conventional glass dropper with the black/opaque bulb and typically stained glass tube, it is possible you think you are dropping ink into the pen, but it had sucked nothing from the ink pot in the first place, due to low ink level, dropper tube not submerged properly, inattention etc. I am just trying to make some sense out of this episode, not considering the paranormal of course.

 

Oh, That way, no no, i do not use a conventional glass dropper with a dark bulb, i use a modern plastic graduated dropper, and i am very specific when it comes to filling my pens. I am pretty sure i had filled the pens completely. I am also trying to make sense and not considering the paranormal (but hey, what do we know ). My most logical hypothesis is that the ebonite was an old batch and had microcracks and porosity in it. Due to which the fluid got sucked in and is now saturated and hence not anymore drying up. I want to do an experiment, but i am not willing to risk ruining a good pen.

[hari317]

Oh, That way, no no, i do not use a conventional glass dropper with a dark bulb, i use a modern plastic graduated dropper, and i am very specific when it comes to filling my pens. I am pretty sure i had filled the pens completely. I am also trying to make sense and not considering the paranormal (but hey, what do we know ). My most logical hypothesis is that the ebonite was an old batch and had microcracks and porosity in it. Due to which the fluid got sucked in and is now saturated and hence not anymore drying up. I want to do an experiment, but i am not willing to risk ruining a good pen.

if its the rippled pattern, rest assured it is new ebonite(with more chances of things going wrong, it is a cottage industry here with just a couple of fellows engaged in making pen rods with a loosely controlled manufacturing process).

 

the experiment is very simple. rinse the pen nicely and leave it in shade(not sunlight) to dry out for a few days. repeat filling experiment and see. take weight of pen just after filling and next day again.

 

what is the ink capacity of your pen in ml? assuming porosity, that much volume has to be absorbed into the walls, is it likely?

Edited February 7, 2014 by hari317

[akstorm]

if its the rippled pattern, rest assured it is new ebonite.

 

the experiment is very simple. rinse the pen nicely and leave it in shade(not sunlight) to dry out for a few days. repeat filling experiment and see. take weight of pen just after filling and next day again.

 

what is the ink capacity of your pen in ml? assuming porosity, that much volume has to be absorbed into the walls, is it likely?

Will try that in the long run. one is rippled, the other one is black.

 

both of them hold somewhere between 3-4 ml of ink. and considering the thickness of the walls, it is possible for that much liquid to be absorbed but then, as i said, as far as i know no rubber group materials absorb water based liquids. organic solvents maybe, but water, i cant seem to understand.

[hari317]

both of them hold somewhere between 3-4 ml of ink. and considering the thickness of the walls, it is possible for that much liquid to be absorbed but then, as i said, as far as i know no rubber group materials absorb water based liquids. organic solvents maybe, but water, i cant seem to understand.

 

if the material is porous/ spongy, capillary action will take the ink away into the porous spaces. Like a dry sponge sucking up all the water till it is saturated. I have not encountered spongy ebonite like that but who knows with the new materials and processes that they use.

[akstorm]

 

if the material is porous/ spongy, capillary action will take the ink away into the porous spaces. Like a dry sponge sucking up all the water till it is saturated. I have not encountered spongy ebonite like that but who knows with the new materials and processes that they use.

 

Maybe you are right. But then i will try to replicate by drying the pen with calcium chloride or KOH and warm air. Lets see if the pen does the same after all the water has been removed from it. If it does, then we have science at play, if it doesn't then who knows it was aliens after all.

[amk]

If you don't want to take risks with your nice new pens, then you should probably buy another two pens the same, and fill them first time with water, see if that too is absorbed by the ebonite. Scientific method.

 

.... and an excuse to buy more pens :-)

[akstorm]

If you don't want to take risks with your nice new pens, then you should probably buy another two pens the same, and fill them first time with water, see if that too is absorbed by the ebonite. Scientific method.

 

.... and an excuse to buy more pens :-)

 

I could do that, if i had any money left from buying pens.

[SteveE]

Any pets? Maybe the dog did it. . . check his paws for ink stains.

 

What about roommates? Prank?

Edited February 7, 2014 by SteveE

[akstorm]

Any pets? Maybe the dog did it. . . check his paws for ink stains.

 

What about roommates? Prank?

No pets, and roommates are not the types who play pranks, they don't even talk. And plus the pens were in my bag, i sleep last, and wake up with them. so no way any one could have done that. and plus they have no idea about my pens (or any pens for that matter, for them a pen is a pen ), so how would they empty only the two kims, which were with two other pens.

Edited February 8, 2014 by akstorm

[Ego Id Veto]

Only thing to do is have them exorcised of their evil spirits by invoking a mightier and more evil one, like Bay State Blue :-)

Dear god no!!! *holds up crucifix*

[amk]

Indian pens really are magic! I just got out one of the little acrylic eyedroppers I bought in Aurangabad and filled it up with Waterman Green.

 

It's eaten half of it while sitting on my desk in front of me! and because it's got a clear midsection, I can see what's going on. It was full, now it's half full. I had a bad feeling that the cap would be full of ink... but it isn't. So where has the ink gone?

 

This now needs to be renamed "The Indian Ink Trick" to follow the Indian Rope Trick.

[mhguda]

You should get an acrylic demonstrator and watch it do the ink-drinking trick so we can all know where the ink goes... must be some evaporation going on! do you have airconditioning?

[amk]

Nope, no aircon - and this was just over 30 minutes, I don't think even a saucer of water would have evaporated that fast (spring in France isn't all that hot).

 

It remains a mystery. But the combination of Blue acrylic cap and barrel end with the green ink looks very tasty!

[Anirban4u]

Indian pens really are magic! I just got out one of the little acrylic eyedroppers I bought in Aurangabad and filled it up with Waterman Green.

 

It's eaten half of it while sitting on my desk in front of me! and because it's got a clear midsection, I can see what's going on. It was full, now it's half full. I had a bad feeling that the cap would be full of ink... but it isn't. So where has the ink gone?

 

This now needs to be renamed "The Indian Ink Trick" to follow the Indian Rope Trick.

Apologies for reviving an old (not so old !) thread.

 

I encountered similar things with a Clear Demonstrator Oliver Exam (tips hat to ASApens) & Sulekha Purple. A full 2-2.5 ml fill is evaporated in less than two days (wrote only a page or so!). All that's left is very little stain in the piston, but not enough to explain 2ml.

 

Only the feed is ebonite, rest is plastic.

 

I am looking at it right now, it's sitting nib down in a water + dishwash mix, with a full belly.

 

The Great Indian Ink Trick indeed.

 

Next,I'll feed him Waterman blue-black, and see.

[amk]

A CAUTIONARY TALE, or The Magical Mystery of the Empty Indian Pens Revealed

 

 

Somewhere in India - in a mysterious small temple in a cleft in the rocks in the Himalayas, or hanging from the side of a cliff near Mandu, or perhaps under a massive boulder by the Tungabhadra river - lives a sadhu of great magical powers.

 

He has a magic golden Parker 51 with a magic BBBBB nib that writes magnificently wetly, and he is using it to write out the whole of the Bhagavad Gita. And he writes fast.

 

He is fed up with having to stop to refill his magic Parker.

 

So he asked Shiva to give him one small gift.

 

What might that be, Shiva asked, thinking of the number of times a gift had turned out to be rather more trouble than was expected at the time. You're not asking for three steps of land, for instance?

 

No, said the sadhu. I just want an always-full fountain pen.

 

Since then, whenver the sadhu's golden 51 runs dry, it magically sucks the ink from any pen that is lying full and unused. It doesn't matter what colour the ink is, since the magic 51 writes only in letters of gold. It doesn't matter whether it is Waterman Violet, Herbin Lie de Thé or Bay State Blue.

 

There is no way to stop the magic working. Any Indian pen is vulnerable to the magic. You fill your pen, you leave it a little while, and when you come back, it is empty.

 

Or perhaps... I consulted a magician I know in London. He frowned, he bit his lip, he blinked twice, and then he said: There is a way. The magic only appears to work in the absence of the pen's owner, when a pen has been left lying full of ink and unused, when you are not actually using it to write with, which is, of course, the one and only purpose of filling the pen. And so, the way to prevent the sadhu magically stealing your ink is...

 

*Use* your fountain pen!