Parker's pen of the future

[MYU]

I couldn't find anything on FPN about this pen, so I thought it would be good to add it here.

 

When Kubrick set out to create the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" with famous science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke (now both deceased), he incorporated a number of futuristic items that eventually became a reality today. Some of them have not, unfortunately. One of those items was the Parker Atomic Pen, which had a featured role during the Orion space shuttle sequence as it floated in the cabin of the spacecraft to the strains of the Blue Danube before being plucked out of the air by a stewardess.

 

According to the Parker Pen Company, the Atomic Pen had a tiny nuclear isotope in it to provide heat. The ink, which was nearly solid at room temperature, was melted by the isotope and supplied to the nib. By varying the output of the isotope, the user could control how thick to make the line from "barely visible to strikingly embossed," thereby adding a "third dimension to handwriting," which Parker figured was going to be a big winner in thirty three years.

 

Of course, no such pen was ever developed for real--this was science fiction, after all, and Parker had dreamed of something really far fetched. Anyway, they made a few prototypes that looked quite interesting. Here's a shot of the pen floating:

 

http://davidszondy.com/future/atomic/pen01.gifhttp://www.stanleykubrick.de/res/img/hg/4-all-1.jpghttp://davidszondy.com/future/atomic/atomic%20pen.jpghttp://www.projectrho.com/rocket/atomicPen.jpg

 

I think the older Parker website at one time might have had a page about this pen, but it's definitely not there in the latest version.

Edited May 6, 2008 by MYU

[I am not a number]

Great.

 

Now my wish list breaks into entirely new territory...

[macaddicted]

Ah ha. Schrodinger's Cat applied to the modern pen. Will it write or not. You won't know until you try. :roflmho:

[Deirdre]

Wow, yeah, now I want one.

 

Sigh.

[Nihontochicken]

Wow, can team up with my radium dial watch, now I can irradiate my right hand as well as my left!

[jhsiao]

Hmm. The thing would always be warm since it's likely containing a small capsule of an alpha emitter. A sheet of paper will stop an alpha particle so I wouldn't worry too much about the pen's radiation "shielding." I guess you'd have to set the distance from the heating cell to the quasi-solid ink. Still, I wonder how the melted ink would flow in micro-gravity?

 

However, while shielding is relatively trivial, God help you (and your fellow space passengers) if the fuel containment broke--especially in space. The last thing I want to do is accidentally inhale a floating piece of Plutonium-238 or Polonium-210.

 

 

[jonro]

It's doable today without the isotopes. Printers like the Tektronix Phasers use a solid "ink" that is melted with a thermal printhead. The same could be done with a pen, but it would not be a fountain pen as it wouldn't use liquid ink. There are some engineering issues and power might be a problem (or not).

[J English Smith]

Gee, a Fisher Space Pen would have been more practical, methinks. At least when you use it, you don't run the risk of blowing up the shuttle!

 

I read once that they got the shot of the pen slowly rotating in air by gluing it to a glass, which was then spun out of frame.

[michael_s]

Fascinating article. Let's hope Parker doesn't follow the path of Pan-Am (the Orion shuttle was operated by them in "2001")...

 

Out of curiosity, what is the source of your information?

 

-Mike

Edited May 6, 2008 by michael_s

[bluestocking]

I read once that they got the shot of the pen slowly rotating in air by gluing it to a glass, which was then spun out of frame.

 

Yes, that's essentially how they did it. You can see the flight attendant sort of unstick it if you watch closely in the movie. In fact, finding out how that scene was done sort of took the magic sheen off a bit, but replaced it with a new level of respect of the ingenuity involved.

 

MYU: Thank you so much, I'd been wondering about this for ages!

 

 

[hardyb]

STARDATE 2608

"Jim, I can patch up 36 different kinds of aliens and humans, perform surgery blindfolded, diagnosis 500 different kinds of STDs but I am not a nibmeister! You are just going to have to program the transporter to go back in time and bring back Richard Binder to fix your stinking Parker atomic pen!" Out - Bones

Edited May 6, 2008 by hardyb

[solaris]

I am positively sure next week Mr. Benz will have on eBay a couple of "ULTRA MINT, SUper RarE, never touched by the element, Nuclear Isotopic radiactivict PARKER PEN, NEVER INKED, NEVER USED, still wrapped in the original lead box". For extra $125 you receive a SUPER RARe ballpoint.

[MYU]

Yes, that's essentially how they did it. You can see the flight attendant sort of unstick it if you watch closely in the movie. In fact, finding out how that scene was done sort of took the magic sheen off a bit, but replaced it with a new level of respect of the ingenuity involved.

 

MYU: Thank you so much, I'd been wondering about this for ages!

You're welcome. Actually, that movie utilized a lot of clever tricks to achieve the illusion of weightlessness. I thought the "centrifuge" was a superb idea used in the Discovery One and Aries-1B spacecraft, that beautifully matched the anticipated futuristic design.

http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTcxNjY0MDc3OV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNTMxOTI2._V1._SY400_SX600_.jpg

 

http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTI3NjY0MjMzM15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwMTcxOTI2._V1._SY400_SX600_.jpg

 

The pen design was very carefully conceived. Kubrick had a penchant for achieving realism. He consulted with many industry experts, including NASA, to get practical ideas on realistic designs of the future. Unfortunately, Kubrick was quite an eccentric and in his paranoia of someone making movies with his sets and props, he had all of them destroyed after the movie was released. Even the design papers. Of course, years later the "2010: The Year We Make Contact" movie (intended "sequel") was made and various props/costumes were recreated (albeit not perfect replicas, but close enough to fool most people).

[JJBlanche]

That's really a slick looking pen. Maybe they should make it, sans Iron Man arc reactor.

[JDlugosz]

You're welcome. Actually, that movie utilized a lot of clever tricks to achieve the illusion of weightlessness. I thought the "centrifuge" was a superb idea used in the Discovery One and Aries-1B spacecraft, that beautifully matched the anticipated futuristic design.

 

The centrifuge is awesome. But the stewdasses walking in zero-gee with velcro slipper struck me as too phony. You would have to kneel to plant the foot; you would not "fall" onto it! The dynamics of movement just screamed "fake" to me. The best excuse I've heard is that this was before people knew what weightlessness looked like for real.

[sandy101]

OK, I'm resurrecting a thread, but I was at the Stanley Kubrik exhibition on Monday, and the Parker Atomic pen was there as one of the props for 2001.

 

It was a Parker ballpoint refill encased in a blue plastic, with the three "buttons" for line width.

 

Typewriters also featured - the Olivetti Valentine being a nod to the future.

 

There was a letter Kubrik sent to IBM, asking for an expert to tell him what computers might be like 30 years into the future to help him with the set design.