The Fountain Pen That Never Dries Out

[Miskatonic]

This company thinks they have it sorted.

"With a marvelous bit of problem solving, done through re-engineering a product that hasn’t seen much innovation in over half a century, Indigraph eliminates the pen’s drying out problem. How does it do this? By constantly keeping the pen’s tip in contact with water!"

[BaronWulfraed]

This company thinks they have it sorted.

 

"With a marvelous bit of problem solving, done through re-engineering a product that hasn’t seen much innovation in over half a century, Indigraph eliminates the pen’s drying out problem. How does it do this? By constantly keeping the pen’s tip in contact with water!"

 

<snort>

 

I have a single example of a mid-70s Faber-Castell TG1 technical pen. The inner cap (exposed at the end) contains a blue-tone "pill" (I don't know what it is made of). One was supposed to drip water into the cap to soak this pill. It acted as a humidifier when the pen is capped.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Get rid of all but one or two pens, and use them daily....will not dry out.

It's this modern day, ink more pens than go comfortably in a shirt pocket (2) that leads to pens sitting around unused and drying out.

Sigh, we did have that problem as kids in school back in B&W TV days...we thought it a problem with cartridges....pre-converter. Had to open up the pen and squeeze the cartridge.

A lever pen sometimes needed a slight lift of the lever to get the ink flowing......or in either case.... shaking the pen/nib at the paper until ink splattered.. ..was also normal.

 

One can have a shot glass on the desk to dip the pen into....&or I have a rubber stamp cup with a sponge in it, that if kept damp, is poke and go.

Edited May 14, 2019 by Bo Bo Olson

[fabri00]

Also the platinum slip&seal serie never dry out.

I have at office a plaisire inked with BSB and it write also after weeks of no use.

[txomsy]

Didn't a safety retractable nib pen produce an equivalent solution one hundred years ago?

[Olya]

My understanding is that this pen has been specifically designed for use with India ink, so not really a comparison to the other fpens mentioned here.

But a great comparison to the mid-70s Faber-Castell TG1 technical pen as mentioned above by BaronWulfraed.

[A Smug Dill]

Also the platinum slip&seal serie never dry out.

Not exactly never. Platinum claims that the 'half-life' of a full 1.2cc ink cartridge plugged into the feed is two years, if a Platinum #3776 Century pen is stored horizontally in a cool dark place.

 

I have at office a plaisire inked with BSB and it write also after weeks of no use.

Sure; for such a short time-frame, that is as expected. But then so would many other pens that make no particular marketing claim about how resistant to drying out they are when capped and unused.

 

My Rotring 400 with a steel EF nib (and always, always inked with Noodler's X-Feather) has never dried out on me in five years, even though I only use it once in a blue moon, and have refilled it once or twice in all that time. It always wrote immediately when uncapped with no hesitation.

Edited May 15, 2019 by A Smug Dill

[langere]

Entropy - it will get you eventually.

 

Erick

[vicpen123]

I still have two Castell TGm drafting pens (0.25 white and 0.3 yellow) from the 70s that were used in the days before CAD. Note NOT Faber Castel but Castell.

 

The top of the cap has a small semi sealed water reservoir for a drop of water to keep the point wet when not being constantly used. The point could pass through the slits in the reservoir.

 

However, even the drop of water eventually evaporated and the pen dried out.

 

Rapidograph sold a pen holder for up to nine pens known as Rapidomat that had a wet sponge in the base to maintain moisture for constantly used pens. Worked very well so long as the sponge was kept wet.

 

Oh, the good old days when architectural drafting was a craft and not a series of clicks and inky fingers and hands were definitely not for decorative display and washed off every night.

[SoulSamurai]

FYI: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/344595-new-drawing-fountainpen-for-indian-ink

[georges zaslavsky]

Parker 51, Sheaffer PFM and Sheaffer Vac Fill Triumph

[Parker51]

Add Kaweco All Sport when kept n a place that is mobile.

[Noihvo]

 

[benbot517]

For real though, a pilot varsity practically never dries out

[rwilsonedn]

Second that. I have both Varsities (who can buy just one?) and a Pilot Petit1 that can go for, apparently, years without failing to write on the first stroke.

ron

[inkstainedruth]

For real though, a pilot varsity practically never dries out

 

Maybe yours didn't. Mine croaked in 3 days worth of journal entries.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[pajaro]

 

Maybe yours didn't. Mine croaked in 3 days worth of journal entries.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

Not everyone apparently has the same luck. I have found many reports of perfection don't jive with my experience. It's disappointing when this happens. Exceedingly few pens meet the expectations inspired by owner reports.

[A Smug Dill]

Not everyone apparently has the same luck. I have found many reports of perfection don't jive with my experience. It's disappointing when this happens. Exceedingly few pens meet the expectations inspired by owner reports.

I have yet to come across a "user report" or anecdote of a Platinum #3776 Century pen (i) drying out while capped and unused, and (ii) which Platinum refuses to regard as a defective product and fix/replace under warranty.

 

I have a handful of modern, gold-nibbed Platinum #3776 fountain pens that dried out on me in the span of a few months, but they aren't designated Century and aren't equipped with the Slip-and-Seal mechanism (i.e. spring-loaded inner cap). Irrespective of whether some fellow owners had better luck/experiences, I don't have a valid reason to expect those pens of mine to equal the performance of the Platinum #3776 Century pens I have -- even if I have the 'right' as a fallible individual consumer to expect whatever baselessly; I just cannot hold anyone else to account when I'm hence disappointed.

[Enkida]

I can't believe no one has yet named the obvious winner in the fountain pen that never dries out contest: the one that's never inked!

 

... sorry, I just couldn't help myself...

 

 

Not everyone apparently has the same luck. I have found many reports of perfection don't jive with my experience. It's disappointing when this happens. Exceedingly few pens meet the expectations inspired by owner reports.

 

I think part of the issue is that a pen that gets an owner excited enough to report about it generally is a pen that is performing well enough that you want to share that joy with others. It may or may not be a sample representation of the rest of that company's manufacture of that particular model, plus user preferences are always a subjective thing. I will say in general, when browsing Google or even FPN for pen reviews, it's harder to find critical (pen) reviews than glowing ones.

[A Smug Dill]

I think part of the issue is that a pen that gets an owner excited enough to report about it generally is a pen that is performing well enough that you want to share that joy with others. It may or may not be a sample representation of the rest of that company's manufacture of that particular model, plus user preferences are always a subjective thing.

But it should never have been considered representative, whether someone who obviously feels strong enough about it relates a positive or negative experience; it's just a single data point (even if that all that particular reviewer 'knows' from first-hand experience) out of thousands or even millions of other owners/users of that product, many of whom would be silently satisfied or disappointed, and yet others may have 'reviewed' it -- online, or by word-of-mouth to family, friends and acquaintances -- unbeknownst to the individual prospective buyer. As a consumer, one could very safely assume that he/she will have incomplete and/or imperfect information on a product when making 'informed' purchasing decisions; risk and uncertainty is part and parcel of all that.