Fountain Pens At 14,115 Feet Elevation

[JLZenor]

Yesterday I drove up to the top of Pikes Peak, and of course I had my fountain pens in my pocket. Some interesting things happened...

 

My Jinhao and Monteverde Intima pens did just fine. Not a drop of excessive ink spilled from them. Granted, I didn't try to write with any pen, but I was expecting things to get messy. Both pens were filled about half way and had been filled fairly recently so there wasn't a lot of extra air in the converter, except what was behind the stopper.

 

However, my Pilot Metropolitan, which I filled last week and was probably a quarter full, completely emptied itself of ink. Every drop of ink that was in the converter was forced out the top. My cap was full of ink and it was even seeping out where the cap meets the body. It was a mess! I had to clean it out up there on the mountain. There was still a good amount of ink left in the nib feed so I could have written with it for a short time, but the converter was dry.

 

Really strange...

 

Anyway, I thought I would share this experience because... why not? I'll find any excuse to talk fountain pens.

 

For pictures of me and my geeky Star Trek friends at the top of the mountain, go here (sadly, I didn't take any pictures of the pens) http://mylife.jonzenor.com/

[dcwaites]

When going uphill for kilometres, either by plane or car, it is generally best to make sure your pens are reasonably full, are kept upright when changing altitudes, and make sure the ink is at the bottom of the reservoir. That way the air can vent without pushing ink ahead of it.

[DrDebG]

RFLOL! Sorry, but even though I am an avid FP nut, I can't imagine taking three fountain pens up to the top of Pikes Peak. I guess I have had too many "accidents" while flying.

 

But truthfully, I also chuckled at your pictures. Definitely NG kind of people. Don't misunderstand, I am a lifelong Trekkie grown on the original Star Trek. And I love NG (who doesn't love Jean Luc Piccard), but I also really loved ST: Enterprise.

 

Anyway, thanks for letting me know to not take my FPs to the top of Pikes Peak when I am in CoSpgs this fall.

[Betweenthelines]

I go up over the Volcano here in Hawaii quite often, and have had similar results as you - my Pilot metro is the one that vomits its entire contents into the cap, every time. I'm wondering if it's because I'm using the squeeze converter with it, which will more easily compress than the hard plastic on the con-50. I'm thinking this is exactly why because if i recall my Parker 51 tends to do the same thing (also the squeeze converter).

 

Are you using the same converter in your Metro?

[JLZenor]

I go up over the Volcano here in Hawaii quite often, and have had similar results as you - my Pilot metro is the one that vomits its entire contents into the cap, every time. I'm wondering if it's because I'm using the squeeze converter with it, which will more easily compress than the hard plastic on the con-50. I'm thinking this is exactly why because if i recall my Parker 51 tends to do the same thing (also the squeeze converter).

 

Are you using the same converter in your Metro?

Interesting... No, I was using the con-50.

 

I don't know when I'm going up the mountain again, probably next summer, but I'll have to do a more scientific test.

[VladislavS]

Metropolitan has a large closed space between barrel and cartridge. It creates additional pressure on the cartridge.

[weltyj]

Okay, you got the nerd in me curious. Some quick back of the envelope calculations say the pressure change from 6000' to 14,000' (assuming identical temperatures) would cause the air volume of 3/4 of the converter to expand to fill the converter completely in the Metropolitan (which you thought was about 1/4 full)

 

To me, what that means is even with the nib up, all of the ink in the con-50 stayed above the air pocket in the converter, and the air expansion pushed all the ink out of the converter.

 

Might be interesting to unscrew the body of the pen and visually inspect the location of the ink in the converter with the nib up when you have about 1/4 of the ink remaining.

[dcwaites]

Yes, nib up, ink down.

[Sabin]

Isn't the pressure in the airplane cabin maintained equal to the one on the ground?

[dcwaites]

Isn't the pressure in the airplane cabin maintained equal to the one on the ground?

 

I believe that it is kept at about 6,000 feet, but that may need to be corrected.

[pajaro]

I think it is kept at 8,000 foot equivalent pressure.

[dcwaites]

Thanks, I knew it was somewhere around there. It ensures there's less stress on the plane, while still being comfortably breathable.

[Bookman]

This seems to be a lesson learned the hard way all too frequently, either driving over a mountain or flying on a plane. (I learned mine driving over the Sierra Nevada mountains near Yosemite.) And yet this phenomenon is a regularly-discussed topic. Too bad we can't find a way to put this info in a spot where all FPN newbies are likely to see it, like those five bad things that happen to new pens. I'd been a FPNer for months when my accident happened. In those early months I spent maybe an hour a day here most days, trying to educate myself on the basics. I just never stumbled across this altitude-pressure info that seems to be everywhere when you don't need it and nowhere in sight when you do.

[HamFist]

So as the denser air inside the pen gets "sucked out" it drags ink along with it?

[yogalarva]

So as the denser air inside the pen gets "sucked out" it drags ink along with it?

 

The air inside the pen expands because the air pressure outside the pen is decreased (this is assuming a not perfectly sealed pen). The ink, being non-compressible, has nowhere to go with a greater volume of air in the converter and is pushed out so that the air can continue to expand.