FPs and mountain passes

[enricof]

Had to do a business trip to a city at the far North of Italy. The journey included a nice pass (Montirolo, 1850m on sea level).

 

Out of a whim, I took a dozen different FPs so see how they do behave.

 

I started from home (sea level), and arrived to my destination (Grosio, 650m). In the hotel room I just (carefully) uncapped the pens, and here are the results, in no particular order.

 

During my business visits, all the pen remained in my notebook bag, therefore nib up or horizontal (on the car seat). No particular temperature variation, thanks to the air-con...

 

* Varuna Rajan, large capacity ED, 50% fill of PR Chocolate.

Almost a disaster, large quantity on ink in the cap and in the threads on the barrel. Only good thing, is did not exit from the vent holes on the cap.

 

* Varuna Vishal, large capacity ED, 50% fill of MB Racing Green.

Same as above, even more ink the cap.

 

* Sheaffer Balance OS, lever filler, 50% fill of Noodler's Navy.

No problems.

 

* Pelikan M605, piston, 50% fill of Pelikan blue.

No problems (already a wet writer, just a bit more initially).

 

* Hero 850, integrated aeromatic-style, 100% fill of Pelikan blue.

No problems.

 

* Pilot Capless, cartridge, 100% fill of Noodler's Navy.

No problems.

 

* Parker 51, Aero, 100% fill of Pelikan blue.

Great disappointment, section covered with ink, a couple drops in the cap.

 

* Hero 336 (P51 clone), integrated aero-style, 100% fill of N's Zhivago.

No problems (just a bit wet initially).

 

* Pilot M90, aero-style CON-20, 90% fill of N's Aircorp.

HUGE disappointment, front part of the barrel completely covered with ink, a couple drops in the cap.

 

* Parker Vac Std (3rd gen), 100% fill of MB White Forest.

No problems.

 

* Parker Duofold Centennial, cartridge, 50% fill of Pelikan blue.

No problems.

 

* Pilot Custom 823, plunger with safety valve, 70% fill of N's red/black.

No problems.

 

A note about this pen: on another occasion, I opened the valve while being at the Brenner Pass (1370m on sea level). Unfortunately it was uncapped and it emitted a small cloud of droplets, reaching 10cm distance. Pay attention if you use it on an airplane

 

 

Return trip tomorrow. I'm thinking about a detour for Stelvio Pass (2750m on sea level), for scientific reasons.

But I'll prepare my digital camera before uncapping... (and seal the two EDs in plastic bags ).

[Gran]

Enrico, this is interesting. 1850m is quite high. Thanks for your report.

[OldGriz]

ON the return trip have the pens all upright and you should see a big difference... especially in the Parker 51 Aero...

[enricof]

Enrico, this is interesting. 1850m is quite high. Thanks for your report.

Yes, it is high but still quite less than the pressurization height of a jetliner (so the Stelvio idea).

 

Just wanted to have an idea about what to to take on my next flight.

[rwilsonedn]

fascinating data. Thanks!

ron

[hari317]

Interesting, I will have to take my 823 the next time I travel, just to open the safety valve mid flight.

 

Enrico, what was the orientation of the pens during the travel? Nib up? I re-read the OP, I think you must ensure on your next experiment that the pens are nib up.

 

Best,

Hari

 

Edited September 9, 2009 by hari317

[Tsujigiri]

Cool test, thanks for posting!

[argonavis]

The Rotring Initial boasts a system to withstand these pressure variations. I haven't ever tested mine though. Please let us know what results you get from your further experiments.

[enricof]

Hari, OldGriz, I'm sure that nib-up I would have had less problems (the two EDs leaked more ink than their feed capacity!), but I wanted to make it a bit more "real life like".

I'll try to do it that way tomorrow.

 

I flight several times with a FP (most often with the 149) and it went most of the time "well enough", but not always perfect (my safety habit was to visit the toilet to carefully check the pens for leaks while waiting for the luggage).

 

I was shocked by the poor performance of the M90 (otherwise a perfect travel pen, if you convince the security guards it is a pen and not a weapon).

 

Nowadays, I'd feel perfectly safe with the 823 (paying attention if opening during flight).

If I take the Stelvio Pass (and nobody will be looking at me ), I'll try and document a "823 depressurization test" there.

[Johnny Appleseed]

Interesting, I will have to take my 823 the next time I travel, just to open the safety valve mid flight.

 

Enrico, what was the orientation of the pens during the travel? Nib up? I re-read the OP, I think you must ensure on your next experiment that the pens are nib up.

 

Best,

Hari

 

I actually think it is interesting to do the test with the pens horizontal - which pens can handle pressure changes without being nib up? It would be a really interesting experiment to take the same pens over these passes in both configurations - once sideways, once nib up, and see how they fared.

 

I am not surprised the ED pens did poorly - if they have the original feeds, which are pretty simple and not good at dealing with pressure change. However, I suspect they would have been just fine if they were kept tip-up.

 

I recently spent a week in Colorado, USA. The altitude ranged between 5500 and 10,000 ft for most of the time (about 1850 to 3000 meters). One day we drove from around 7500ft (2293m) to 12,183ft (3713m). One day we took the Cog rail to Pikes Peak, so we started the day in Colorado Springs at about 6000 ft ~1840m), drove to the Cog Rail depot at about 6400ft (~1940m) and then took the cog to the top (14110ft, 4302m). The trip to Pikes Pike was as much pressure change as any commercial airline, and much higher elevation than any airline is pressurized to. I had with me:

 

Golden Star (Chinese Parker 51 clone)

Sheaffer Triumph 444

Sheaffer Balance (vigilant? - military clip, white dot, war era)

Ratnamson 21 (hooded nib)

Waterman 12POC

Venus Hooded nib pen

3rd tier franken-pen syringe filler with a Sheaffer fineline feed and Wearever stainless nib (stubbed).

 

The pens all were kept in a 4-pen pocket in my bag, tips up, or in my shirt pocket. The only exception was the Pikes Peak rail, where I had two of the pens (Ratnamson and Franken-pen) in a pocket on the side of a shirt, which didn't completely keep them tip-up. The only trouble I had was with the franken-pen, which leaked into the cap after the trip up Pikes Peak.

 

I had expected trouble from the Ratnamson, which I assume has a very simple feed hiding under that hood - but maybe not because it has done quite well with a few mountain trips.

 

John

Edited September 9, 2009 by Johnny Appleseed

[hari317]

Hari, OldGriz, I'm sure that nib-up I would have had less problems (the two EDs leaked more ink than their feed capacity!), but I wanted to make it a bit more "real life like".

I'll try to do it that way tomorrow.

 

When the nib is kept up, a good feed should drain back the ink into the reservoir leaving only a miniscule amount of ink due to adhesion force between the feed material and ink. So when this experiment is done with the pen horizontal in such a way that the ink reservoir is always in contact with the feeder, the amount of leakage into cap will depend upon the air volume in the pen (How full the pen was), Lower the ink level, I expect more of the ink to be forced out. Am i right in thinking that no leakage will take place if the ink level left in the pen was less than the buffer capability of the feed or if the pen was perfectly full. So the variable which is air volume behind the feed must also be considered.

 

I had expected trouble from the Ratnamson, which I assume has a very simple feed hiding under that hood - but maybe not because it has done quite well with a few mountain trips.

 

John the feed is quite simple on the Ratnamson 21:

 

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Ratnam21/3RatnamhoodandnibcarrierDSC00477.jpg

 

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii197/hari317/Ratnam21/5Ratnamfeed.jpg

 

Best,

Hari

 

 

 

[richardandtracy]

That Ratnamson looks like an early 1900's feed. I'm amazed.

 

Regards,

 

Richard.

 

[Johnny Appleseed]

Hari,

 

Thank you for that picture of the internals of the Ratnamson feed. It looks like it has a few grooves in the bottom - I wonder if there are more hiding inside the "inner section". It has been a remarkably relaiable writer, even with air travel and elevation changes. I wonder if the feed on mine is just particularly well adjusted, or if the hood helps to create a little buffer as well.

 

How hard was it to get that apart? Friction fit, or soem adhesive? My mind is spinning with ideas for a replacement feed.

 

Richard - several of the Indian ebonite ED pens have more simple feeds than you would expect - more like an early 20th century feed. On the other hand, many lower-priced US pens had remarkably simple feeds up into the 1960s. The hood makes it more difficult to have a deeply notched or finned feed - note how Parker had to stick a lucite "collector" around the P51 feed to make it all fit. Venus hooded-nibbed pens from the 1940s and 50s had remarkably simple feeds under their hoods - even the Eversharp Fifth Avenue pens have skinny little feeds with a few slits that don't compare to other feeds at the time.

 

Either way I have been very impressed with the performance of the Ratnamson.

 

John

[argonavis]

In the interest of science: I recall flying with a Century II with a half full Cross Cartridge in it. No problem of any kind. It traveled nib up throughout, in my shirt pocket.

[enricof]

Well, as promised I managed a small detour on the way back home.

Just a 150 km and 3 hour more and I was able to fit a couple of minor passes plus the Stelvio in.

 

Test conditions:

• Pen used and closed at 500m on sea level.
• Nib up all the time, inside the notebook bag residing vertically on the front passenger seat.
• Uncapping done here (2.750m s.l.):

  http://i384.photobucket.com/albums/oo288/enricofacchin/stelvio-1.jpg

• Safety valve on the 823 unscrewed at starting position.

 

All the pens behaved very well, with no leaks (even on the two EDs), with this notable exception:

http://i384.photobucket.com/albums/oo288/enricofacchin/stelvio-2.jpg

 

So, if if you have to take a plane:

• be 100% absolutely sure to keep the pen nib up (or take the 823 )
• fill the pen as much as possible
• DO NOT take the M90 ...

Edited September 10, 2009 by enricof

[argonavis]

For such a view, the extra 3 hours are worth it! Beautiful! Not to mention the important contribution to science....

[daclark52]

Great info and beautiful pics. I carry my M90 in my jeans pocket all the time and so far have had no issues at all. I used to carry my 149 in my shirt pocket but after losing one on the floor at a clients office not having it returned, I won't take that chance again. I can feel if the M90 is not there quickly and I failed to feel the 149 slip out of my pocket.

 

As an IT guy I often am called to crawl around on the floor or under a desk to work on a computer and that is where I know I dropped the 149. Never again.

[enricof]

For such a view, the extra 3 hours are worth it! Beautiful! Not to mention the important contribution to science....

 

Yes, the view on a day like today is worth the effort.

 

Pity I was with the car and not with a motorbike (38 U-turns on the way up, 46 on the way down, just for the Stelvio).

 

There were the usual hundreds of bike (motor- and leg-), plus a TVR sport cars meeting, plus an half dozen Lotus Elite, plus...).

 

[pen2paper]

sigh.. I can just Hear the gearing up, and gearing down..sigh-I miss my clutch pedal, and stick shift-sigh...

beautiful scene Enrico..thanks for sharing, plus the scientific data:)

[reprieve]

What a view! Too bad about the M90. I must admit surprise at the sheer amount of ink midway up the barrel. I suppose I won't be taking that pen with me on any aeroplanes. The discussion of the Pilot Custom 823 makes me yearn for mine--I dropped it on my kitchen floor (ceramic tile) and it cracked badly, far beyond repair. I ought to try to replace it.