Fountain Pens - Eye Drop Fillers

[Gawain]

When discussing various pens, most of the fountain pen vendors describe how to turn this pen or that into an eyedropper filler.

 

Why would you want to do that?

I will argue here that you don't actually receive a larger ink capacity by using an eyedropper filler.

Let me explain.

As you use the ink in the barrel, and the ink is replaced by ambient air, and your hand warms up said ambient air, your pen will soon drop a glob of ink on your writing paper, creating a mess and destroying all your hard (and/or beautiful) work.

 

This is a warning for folks new to fountain pens.

Think twice about being excited with your new fountain pen with an eyedropper filling system.

Don't let the ink get too low.

How low is too low? Only a physicist could tell you. You would have to know the thermal properties of the pen material, the temperature of the pen user if that temperature varies from 98.6 deg. f. You would have to know the volume of the barrel and the expansion properties of the ink when heated to 98.6 deg. f. Also, different feeds would behave differently, so you would have to come up with a number for each type of feed and nib combination.

 

Converters are simple and safe.

 

I happily await opposing views for discussion.

 

Have a great weekend.

Edited June 14, 2019 by Gawain

[Gawain]

Actually, the calculations seem pretty hard to me, but an engineer with proper training could figure out the answer with time and patience.

[Lloyd]

I favor and mostly use eyedropper fillers. I've almost never had a blob of ink fall. I top 'em off if they get low based on

(1) their sound, or lack thereof, when gently shaken

(2) they seem to be writing wetter

(3) seeing the level if they have a translucent or clear body

 

I find them the easiest and cleanest method of filling (no need to clean off the nib nor section), easiest to thoroughly cleanout, nothing to break, and no need to worry about poorly designed ink bottles.

Edited June 14, 2019 by Lloyd

[PaulS]

sorry, why does an e.d. have a lever - have I missed something? Lloyd are you speaking of original e.d. pens from the early part of the C20, or much later pens that have been converted?

I would have though there couldn't be much more of a simple ink delivery system than a cartridge.

On the other hand genuine early f.ps. designed as e.d., do have often stunningly flexible nibs - whereas most modern pens post 1950 are nails.

[Lloyd]

Typo...fixed "lever" → "level".

[PaulS]

thanks.

[Karmachanic]

Well. I'm the happy possessor of a transparent, turned acrylic ED, with shut-off valve, that has never burped, is easy to fill, a joy to use and a pleasure to behold. Opus 88 Koloro.

Edited June 14, 2019 by Karmachanic

[Bo Bo Olson]

Conklin came up with first a dime to squeeze the bar and later a Crescent....killing off the burping eyedropper.

In 1912 Sheaffer invented the swift and easy to re-load lever pen. Doing even a better job.

 

I would guess the heat and humidity of India limited the rubber sac..........could be a replacing a rubber sac was very expensive...so were avoided by the thrifty....(Pens in the US ended up in the back of drawers for decades and all they needed was a new sac.)

 

For over a decade I listened to lots of ink....lots of burping.

Lots of large pretty Indian ebonite pens................lots of folks greasing closed other cheap cartridge pens.

IMO not wanting to carry a second fountain pen...........or buying a big Sheaffer that takes a 1.60ml cartridge as much as a MB 149.. Or buying a 400/400nn with it';s 1.95/2.0 ml. If not fully loaded and not sticking a spare cartridge in the pan immediately (same day)....a single short cartridge can be a pain.....for a one pen man.

 

Well, eventually the Indians went over to making a CC pen out of the eye burper.

To bad they didn't invent the super long converter......the worlds largest. In it did look like lots of lost space in those pens even with a Long cartridge., much less once of those tiny converters.

 

I only have one eye dropper a Safety Pen. Permission by Penboard.de they take a much better picture. The engravings are slightly different. I don't use the pen as often as I should....great first stage superflex nib (easy full flex). But I got to dig out the syringe and fill the pen..............it's seldom I re-fill a cartridge....owning few cartridge pens...........so that is a different step to my piston pen procedure. .

I should ink that pen which Francis not only re-corked but built me a new spindle in some idiot had superglued it back together.....as soon as some 10 pens get empty. I too often have 17 inked.

 

At the live auction, I'd thought someone not only stole the gold nib, but the feed too.....

The nib and feed screwed out.

Fendomatic....Italian made Fend (German pen company)....made in Milan....'20-30's.

I've not used it enough to find out if it burps....Next time I use it, I'll fill it completely (all I did was enough to test it) and keep track of how much ink the pen holds. Its a standard sized pen, so it won't be the world of India pens.

18k rolled gold overlay. I think the final is real neat.

[sidthecat]

I'm using a couple of eyedroppers and a coin-filler these days, and I haven't noticed a problem. I can usually tell when they want more ink by their reluctance to write, rather than any other symptoms.

[PaulS]

yes, running out of ink speaks volumes, or rather it doesn't Love the clip and cap terminal on BBO's pen - but to be truthful I love the whole pen, so please donate to me in your will. Agree most of these early pens had nibs with much flex - why was this - were all the scribblers prior to 1920 ink artists - my opinion might be that nib flex was related to a very late almost art nouveau style of copperplate handwriting, and only a flex nib could achieve that effect.

Edited June 14, 2019 by PaulS

[Driften]

I don't have need for such high capacity to use a ED, but don't see why others shouldn't. The best are ones with a shutoff valve. With those you can control the flow and chance of burping. Like others have said the Opus 88 line of pens would all be good choices in that area.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Regular business used a stiffer to regular flex, perhaps semi-flex nib, and a script similar to the 1890's Palmer from the 1870's on.The clerks stood up at a tall slanted desk 12 hours a day, 6 days a week.

Originally carbon paper was double sided and one sent the copy as invoice. The back of the top sheet had the carbon of the sheet sent, as legal proof it was written.

 

Spenserian was for the well to do, as a signature nib for the boss who was the only one with a desk, or for letter writing where one was showing one's culture. They had the time to learn and practice Spenserian.

IMO everyone was not using superflex...........but if you were middle class.....such a pen was needed to show class when writing the many personal letters that once were sent.

[Honeybadgers]

I honestly don't run into burping issues in my ED pens. Ever.

 

I occasionally did with pens that didn't have properly fitting feeds. a Ranga 8c burped like crazy until I put a proper ranga feed back in it (was using a noodlers feed) as well as a feed from a wing sung 590, it never burped again to the last drop.

 

No burps from my moonman M2, noodlers charlie's (once heat set) or my moonman C1, none of my penbbs...

 

They do tend to get a little wetter towards the bottom, but not in a really bad way.

 

I don't really jump to use a pen as an ED unless it just REALLY begs to be used that way (some penbbs models, the moonman C1) or comes that way. If a pen has an option to use a converter, I will usually go for that.

[Namo]

I am using mainly two ED fillers with vintage Pelikan nib's units. They don't burp. I've been using various ED fillers, and modern feeds can deal with the ink pretty well, so no burping either. Indian pens might burp because their homemade feeds are pretty simple (but you can generally ask for a JoWo/Schmidt/Bock nib). I guess the same might be true about vintage ED fillers.

Edited June 15, 2019 by Namo

[mhguda]

The secret seems to be a good seal, and then the blurping is minimal. When the barrel is almost empty, the flow does get wetter - that's the sign to refill. I like the usually better flow the ED gives me, and one more thing! pens for which you can no longer find either a converter or a cartridge, if they can be converted to ED filled, have a new lease on life. As I discovered with my old Sheaffer school pens with proprietary cartridge that I could no longer find... very happy that I could convert them to ED filled and use them again. Especially because with the Sheaffer feed, the ink flow regulation is very good.

[sidthecat]

May I point out a very interesting one in Classifieds today.

[tonybelding]

When discussing various pens, most of the fountain pen vendors describe how to turn this pen or that into an eyedropper filler.

Why would you want to do that?

 

. . .

 

Converters are simple and safe.

I happily await opposing views for discussion.

 

It's funny that you should post this, as I have just been contemplating posting the opposite thesis: that eyedroppers now are better than ever, and it's time to reevaluate them.

 

Burping: This doesn't require any complex calculation, just some hands-on experience. With today's modular nib-and-feed assemblies I find that 2.5 ml capacity is about where burping can begin to become an issue. With pens holding less than that, I haven't seen it at all. (And if you are converting a pen, you can stuff some filler material into the body to reduce its excess capacity.) But now, thanks to Opus 88, we've got a good quality selection of dedicated eyedropper-filled pens with a shutoff valve, just to make them extra safe.

 

Filling: Using an actual glass eyedropper was always a bit messy and awkward. You can now get cheap syringes with a long, blunt tip that make it neat and easy. (Goulet sells these, BTW.) You can take every drop of ink from the bottom of a bottle, see how much you've got in the syringe, and put it exactly where you want it in the pen. With the Opus 88 you can also manipulate the shutoff knob to "pump" a drop of ink down into a dry feed and prime it. That's something I've had a struggle with sometimes when using cartridges.

 

Ink windows: Transparent acrylic is now a well proven and dependable material for fountain pens, and an ink window or even an entire transparent body is no problem. Not only can you easily monitor the ink supply without having to open up the pen, but it's kind of fun to see the ink sloshing around in there.

 

Reliability: I've always found converters to be finicky and trouble-prone. They can leak at the nipple where they attach to the feed. The converter piston can leak. An air bubble can stop the ink flow. An eyedropper pen bypasses all of that.

[cratz2]

I used an eyedropper-converted Preppy at work for a year and it never burped.

 

Ever.

 

I'd usually refill it when about 1/3 full.

[Dip n Scratch]

I only have two transparent barrel ED pens. What does your average cartridge or converter hold?

Aren't they somewhere between 0.5-0.8ml. My Indian ED pens seem to vary between around 2.5 and 3-ish. The really big one is a Ranga... Ranga 4 I think, but not sure. The end of the barrel is flat. The end of the cap is rounded. I haven't written with any ED pen to discover the point at which they burped. You'd have to do it scientifically: Fill the pen with a syringe & then measure the content of the barrel after it burped the first time. I reckon you'd still have an extremely respectable ink capacity, even if you don't ever empty the entire barrel.

[Arkanabar]

I don't have an ED with a high capacity feed. But given the issues I've had with ink-lock and ink starvation in my brown ebonite Himalaya, I might convert it. I'll have to find out its actual capacity, which is likely to be enormous.

 

But hey, it's a pen I'd be willing to put Bad Black Moccasin into, as I am sure I can knock it apart and scrub the feed with a toothbrush should the need arise.