The Joy Of Filling Systems

[sombrueil]

Being recently attracted to Edison pens, I have become aware that apparently, for a substantial number of people, the act of filling a fountain pen with ink has intrinsic fascination. Different ink filling systems draw intense interest, and this, I imagine, is a large part of the joy of demonstrator pens. Which leave me totally cold.

 

Obviously, I am one of those people for whom the apparatus by which I get ink into the barrel of my pen does not spark my imagination. I am pretty much: how much ink does it hold? Is it hard or expensive to fix? And that is it. So clue me in: is it true? Are clever filling systems part of your joy? Can you hardly wait to experience a bulb filler or take apart a vacumatic to understand its secrets?

 

And if you have experienced a wide variety of filling systems, what are your favorites? And why, please.

[Cob]

Well of course a lever/sac system, especially if it is engineered decently (Waterman's Lever box, early Swans, and the odd Conway Stewart) is very effective. I suspect that all the creativity demonstrated by the inventors in the teens, twenties and thirties was either a case of getting around patents and/or driven by the marketing departments of their respective employers.

 

I like bulb fillers, the magic never palls - especially when the barrel is transparent - it's wonderful to see the ink rush in - and so much of it. And I love the oh-so-clever Onoto system: you pull up the rod and push it down; there is a satisfying "click" at the end of the travel and a lot of bubbles in the ink; never fails to fascinate. Mabie Todd's twist filler is an elegant development of the button/pressure bar system and works very well - there is a photograph in the Pen Repair Manual of a transparent demonstrator showing how fully the sac is compressed; very effective. Can be a pain to repair though. In fact I like button fillers too; many of them would benefit from the addition of a breather tube.

 

Then there's the French accordion fillers - these are great so long as the bellows is intact - they work on the same principle as the bulb fillers or the Parker aerometric system. You get a little clear chamber to push on (like that in a Swan Visofil V which is the same system really but more complicated) and it's fun to see the ink appear after a few pumps.

 

The piston filler has much in its favour - visible reservoir, easy maintenance, but be careful when buying an old one I have had a several that cannot be repaired - no parts and the parts are not something one can jury-rig on the kitchen table!

 

And that's enough from me

 

Cob

Edited January 24, 2015 by Cob

[AZBennett]

Snorkel: fascinating when it works, irksome beyond words when it doesn't.

 

I too enjoy bulb fillers, what seems like gallons of ink without the need to use an eyedropper. The ease with which I can fill a Touchdown.

 

But for the most part it comes down to how easily and thoroughly can I repair it and as a user how much time does it take to clean and maintain it.

[Stu L]

....... be careful when buying an old one I have had a several that cannot be repaired - no parts and the parts are not something one can jury-rig on the kitchen table!

.........

 

Been there and fallen down that trap.

 

For me I enjoy anything where I can see the ink filling - I get less excited if it's gone once it's passed the nib...

[AustinMalone1999]

I love a filling system that takes just a little bit longer to use. Vacumatic, Aerometric, Converter, Piston. I like it to feel like a ritual. It is part of the experiment.

[Parse Error]

I like eyedroppers for my primary portable pen, because I don't want a pen to run out, and if it does run out, the ease of refilling doesn't quite matter since I don't have ink handy anyways. The pen in question is a Kaweco Ice Sport, so I don't see it breaking on me. As I use it to take a lot of notes, that it burps really isn't a problem, since the fins should be empty by the time that I finish my notes.

 

My main portable pen before that was a Lamy 2000. It had a satisfyingly long write out, but it didn't quite survive a long math study session at the library -- I went from completely full to completely empty with two or three problems on the problem set.

 

At the desk, more or less I don't care, so long as I could fill it quickly and cleanly. For this reason I ditched my Pilot CON50 for a CON20 in my VP...

[ISW_Kaputnik]

My main hope with any new pen is that it will be a good writer, and practical to carry around with me. Some of my pens, however, were bought in part because I didn't have one yet with that kind of filler, particularly some of my vintage ones. When you already have more than enough pens that write as well as you could hope for, you may start to focus on things that you just find interesting. These could be aesthetic factors, or they could be technical ones, like different nibs and filling systems.

 

I can think of nine types of filling mechanism represented among my pens. Make that twelve if you break down "cartridge converter" into cartridges and the three different filling mechanisms represented by my different converters. Or thirteen if you count the possibility of eyedroppering some of the C/C pens.

 

Of the ones I don't have, I'd like to get a vintage button filler at some point, but there's no hurry, and it would have to be one with a good nib. A modern vacuum filler, like the Pilot Custom 823, would also be good. I wouldn't turn down a bargain price on some vintage type fillers, like a twist filler or capillary, just out of curiosity to see how they work.

 

For simple problem free operation and good ink capacity, a built in piston filler like my Pilot Custom Heritage 92 would be my favorite, but there are other systems that work perfectly well for me.

[thatotherguy1]

Oddly, I'm fascinated with filling systems, watching the ink being drawn into the reservoir of the pen, seeing how the mechanism functions, etc. and am enamored with demonstrators when they're used to... well, demonstrate. That said, there are very few demonstrators that rock my boat enough that I would actually use them, and fewer still that are true transparent demonstrators, not translucent ones. After working on a problematic demonstrator Noodler's Ahab of a friend's, I realized that I don't really mind not being able to see the feed in the section, the drops of ink spilt in the cap after leading an active day with the pen in a trouser pocket, and that I'm OK with not being able to see EVERYTHING on the pen as a tradeoff for not having to soak the cap, have to soak and flush the pen much more than I normally would because I can see a teensy little bit of stubborn ink in the feed, etc. Other than the TWSBI Diamond 580, which I find strangely beautiful as a true demo, I can't think of another pen that I would buy as a demonstrator if I had the choice. That said, I like how the Chartres blue Platinum 3776s, smoke TWSBI Vac 700s and half demo Wality 69Ts look, and I plan on buying one of each at some point in my collecting career.

As of right now, with my very limited experience, piston fillers/piston converters are my favorite filling system. They're simple, reliable, easily maintainable (assuming you don't need parts), durable, easy to clean and hold a respectable amount of ink. Oh, and they don't expel inky water into clean water when I try to fill it up all the way for flushing like aerometrics do.

Overall, a fountain pen for me should be akin to a mechanical watch with an exhibition caseback. You can see what's so very interesting about it and it can fascinate you if you choose to look at it, but it's sedate and simple otherwise. A true demonstrator is like an old Bulova Accutron Spaceview- nice for demonstrations and beautiful in its own strange way, but not something I'd like for daily use. YMMV.

[jar]

My favorite is a cartridge. Clean, reliable, easy to carry spares in your pocket.

[Namo]

Not fascinated. I am looking for a balance between something practical, something that works, and something that allows for a decent ink capacity - over 1.3ml is OK, but more is better.

I don't like any system that includes a sac. C/c filler are practical, and with large cartridge, ink voli!e is decent, but I've experienced flow problems too often. Piston filler is good, but the ink capacity not always what one might hope it is, esp. in contemporary ones. Vaccuum filler are troublesome sometimes.

Personnaly I like ED fillers, esp. Japanese style, with a shut off valve. True, it takes an eyedropper, but ink capacity is big, and the system is very unlikely to break... and related flow problems are zip! If I may add, "burping" problems are history, contemporary ED filler just don't do that.

My ideal pen is a Danitrio Densho, which I am a nappg owner of, and a I did like the Delta Dolce Vita Over Size I only it was too fat for me).

Someday I might buy an Edison Menlo since I did like the Vacumatic system when owning two Parkeers Vac, even if it's not the most practical.

Edit to add: probably that a Conid bulkfiller would be close to perfection!

Edited January 25, 2015 by Namo

[Trebster]

Snorkel: fascinating when it works, irksome beyond words when it doesn't.

 

....The ease with which I can fill a Touchdown.

 

 

 

Of the many filling solutions represented in my stable, the Touchdown is by far my favorite. To me, it's elegantly engineered simplicity. Snorkels are cool (I've two, including a PFM) but the Touchdown is just perfect for my needs.

 

/Agree, AZBennett, on the patience required to put a Snorkel from the wild back into working condition.

[Cob]

I like eyedroppers for my primary portable pen, because I don't want a pen to run out, and if it does run out, the ease of refilling doesn't quite matter since I don't have ink handy anyways. The pen in question is a Kaweco Ice Sport, so I don't see it breaking on me. As I use it to take a lot of notes, that it burps really isn't a problem, since the fins should be empty by the time that I finish my notes.

 

My main portable pen before that was a Lamy 2000. It had a satisfyingly long write out, but it didn't quite survive a long math study session at the library -- I went from completely full to completely empty with two or three problems on the problem set.

 

At the desk, more or less I don't care, so long as I could fill it quickly and cleanly. For this reason I ditched my Pilot CON50 for a CON20 in my VP...

Ah! What you need is a FORD pen - especially the Magnum model; horribly expensive if you can find one, but like the legendary Onoto Mammoth from the 1930s, it holds a stupendous quantity of ink, and the Ford has an extraordinary filling system - damned clever too.

 

Look it up - you'll be amazed.

 

Cob

Edited January 25, 2015 by Cob

[Bo Bo Olson]

I've always found cartridges to be more expensive than I can afford all the way back when most still had B&W TV.

Lever or Piston.

Cob hit a hell of a lot more nails on the head than I have.

My Snorkel works just fine...Australian, 'flexi'/maxi-semi-flex factory BB stub.

 

I could see starting out trying to get one working pen of each system.....but to do so you must drop your membership of your Pen of the Week in the Mail Club....pen of the month too.

 

While your at it....could chase the nib too....two for one.

[Arkanabar]

That is, more or less, the current focus of my collecting. (Sort of. Impulses happen, like the Krakatoa Demonstrator Konrad my wife bought for me today.) The two pens I've had longest are modern piston fillers. Then my brother-in-law gave me a PFM II, NOS with chalk marks still on the barrel. It didn't fill, which led me eventually to this place. The PFM was the last of the Snorkels, and the first of the inlaid nibs. Then I got really curious, and decided I had to have a lever (mine is a copper Estie J), an aerometric "51" (it used to be my Dad's daily writer for 20-30 years; I asked my mom if I could have it, and if she'd dig it out for me, and she agreed), a touchdown Imperial (a gift from my mother-in-law), two syringe-filling Ahabs (gifts from my wife), and a Noodler's Indian (as opposed to modified Preppy) eyedropper. I've also got a few c/c calligraphy pens (one that Scuba Steve ground and PIFed, a 3.8mm Parallel, and 1.0 and 1.3mm Sheaffer Viewpoints) and a Platinum Plaisir.

I want a TWSBI 700 vac-fill, and a button filler, maybe a vintage Parker. I think that will meet my needs for interesting filling mechanisms, as I don't want to fool with something as trouble-prone as a vacumatic. Then it'll be interesting materials, like ebonite (I got to handle an ebonite Konrad at the same brick & mortar store where we got the Konrad mentioned above, and ebonite definitely has a different feel; it's a bit tacky), and perhaps some metal pens, like the Faber-Castell Loom or the Lamy Logo (more girth than I expected).

So far, I'd say I most prefer piston (especially when I want to try different inks, tho some cartridge pens are also easy to clean thoroughly and change over), aerometric, and the Snorkel. If my touchdown Imperial actually filled, I think I'd probably love it to death, presuming I could pick a specific color to use in it forever.

I don't like lever fillers. I always worry I'm going to snag the lever when I put the pen in a pocket. And when a pen is just plain hard to clean, that's a fairly serious downside, making it much harder to try new inks safely. (The Estie is easy. I can unscrew the nib unit and use a squeeze bulb to flush the sac to a fare thee well. The inlaid and hooded nib pens are not.)

[Runnin_Ute]

I have piston, cartridge/converter, lever, aerometric, and a preppy converted to eydropper.

 

The preppy the least favorite - it hasn't been used since fall of 2013. I was getting much more ink on my hands than I wanted to deal with. Not sure if there was a crack or what.

 

Piston and piston style converters are my favorites as they are easy to use and clean

 

My first piston was a Konrad, then my Pelikan's. The most recent was a TWSBI 580

I have used c/c pens since I bought my first pen - a Lamy Al Star in the late 1990's. The only converter I don't really care for? The one that comes with the Pilot Metropolitan. It's ok, just not a favorite.

[prighello]

I think playing around with different filling systems can be fun but its not a huge allure for me. I guess my favorite system would be aerometric since its easy and durable.

[lynxcat]

i'm fascinated by the various systems that are out there. i like to see clever ones; cartridges are dead to me, nowadays, because they're about as interesting (in terms of mechanical design) as your average stainless steel drinking bottle. what i really want, at present, is a vac filler.

 

aerometrics, lever fillers, anything whose basic function can be boiled down to "squeeze this elastic sac and then watch it suck up ink as it expands again" --- well, there's SOME cleverness there even if it's only in how people tried to get around one anothers' patents way back when. but various piston systems are really much more interesting, to me.

[hypnostene]

I don't necessarily care about the filling system, as long as it gives me enough ink and doesn't make it easy for me to spill ink everywhere. Even is nice and advanced systems are nice, I wouldn't mind all my pens having something like the Pilot CON-70 converter.

[StrawberryJam]

I had a crescent-filler pen once, and I hated the filling mechanism.

 

I now own 2 piston/power (?) fillers (although because they are Visconti push & turn fillers, it's probably a hidden cartridge converter system), and I am not sure how much I like them because I can't see the ink level. I also have the fear that for one of my lighter-colored pens, the 'neck' will get stained when dipped in the inkwell unless I rinse (because wiping it was not sufficient) immediately after the fill.

 

The remainder of my pens are all cartridge/converter, and I think I have re-confirmed for myself that this is my preferred filling mechanism after my experience with the piston/power fillers.

[Buzz_130]

Lots of great filling systems out there to solve a simple physics problem: how do I get ink in a bottle into the body of my pen? The engineering is really interesting, and I find two very unique. The snorkel filler is one of my favorites. Unscrew what appears to be a blind cap, and the snorkel is extended. One push on the system, and your pen is ready to write! The other is the capillary filler from the Parker 61. No moving parts, and yet it fills. They are my two least favorite systems to clean...

 

What I really need is a reliable system to fill the pen and deliver a continuous supply of ink to the feed. Fortunately, the engineers from fountain pen history gave us a wide range of options for a very simple task.

 

Buzz