Parker IM: "Breather Hole" Contributing to Hard Starts?

[Man O War]

I have a Parker IM and like most modern Parkers I've seen and the few I own (two IMs and one Urban), there is a rectangular hole under the feather portion of the arrow clip that I'll call a breather hole until someone corrects my nomenclature.  I try to show this in the close-up picture of the cap below, but no matter how I took it, it was difficult to capture.   In all three pens, I have had starts, even when using ink that never gives me that problem in other pens, e.g. Iroshizuku take-sumi.  Seeing the light penetration from inside the cap where the nib would end up when capped, I surmise the nib has direct access to the air and thus, dries out enough to create these hard starts.  Has anyone else experienced this?

 

This engineering seems to be the opposite of say Platinum and others who build in the nib sealing pieces in the tips of their pen caps.  Does this hole serve some purpose?  

 

My "fix" has been to cut a very small piece of scotch tape to cover the hole, but not so big as to make it protrude from the feathers in the arrow clip.  This reduced but not eliminated the hard starts.  Any other thoughts/hacks to fix this?  And yes, I took a close look at the tines, using brass sheet to ensure nothing clocked and proper spacing as well as examining the nib for baby's bottom, which I don't think the nib had.

 

Thanks!

Ryan

 

 

[Rupert A]

I am told that the hole in the cap is to prevent choking if the cap is swallowed, so as to maintain an airway if the cap is stuck in the throat. Apparently it is a legal requirement in some countries. I have heard of using tape to cover this hole and prevent hard starts. It occurs to me that it should not be too difficult to design a valve mechanism, a sliding cover which shuts off this hole when the cap is on the pen and opens it when the cap is off and liable to be swallowed.

 

 

[Bristol24]

13 hours ago, Rupert A said:

I am told that the hole in the cap is to prevent choking if the cap is swallowed, so as to maintain an airway if the cap is stuck in the throat. Apparently it is a legal requirement in some countries. I have heard of using tape to cover this hole and prevent hard starts. It occurs to me that it should not be too difficult to design a valve mechanism, a sliding cover which shuts off this hole when the cap is on the pen and opens it when the cap is off and liable to be swallowed.

 

 

Actually, no that is not the reason.  I doubt that a hole that small could prevent chocking and suffocation.  The hole is very common in the vast majority of fountain pen caps, especially those with air tight inner caps.  The hole is generally placed just below the lip of the inner cap.  When the cap is in place, the section is supposed to seal against the lip of the inner cap.  This reduces the amount of air available to the tip and keeps the nib and feed from drying out.  The purpose of the hole?  When the cap is removed, the hole is positioned to allow some air into the cap as the cap is being removed.  This reduces the amount of vacuum created by removal of the cap and helps prevent the sudden drop in air pressure from drawing ink out onto the nib's surface (or worse).  The objective is to prevent a stray ink drop from going flying or ink blob when the nib first touches paper.

 

Why Man O War's IM is drying out, I have no idea.  Either the inner cap is not there or it is not in its proper position to seal against the section.  Cheaper vintage pens from the 1930s (Wearevers, Arnolds, etc.) often used cardboard tube for the inner cap.  Obviously once wet with ink, the cardboard breaks down and the inner cap ultimately falls out or is removed.  In such cases, the vent hole now accelerates nib dry out.  An alternative to scotch tape would be a very small dab of poster tack worked into the hole and the rest rubbed off and away.  I find this to be a great expedient for pens now lacking an inner cap.

 

Cliff