Why Pistons, Not Syringes?

[fpconverted]

To me syringes involve a lot of faffing about, as opposed to a piston or C/C filler. Quicker, easier and less messy to use.

THe precision of screw type pistons i think are less problematic, less leakage, and more accurate.

[hari317]

 

That's true for the first stroke. For the second stroke, it functions as a Dunn filler does. Air is more easily vented through the vent tube than liquid is through the feed, so air is vented during the downstroke of the piston. Place the nib in a bottle of ink and pull the piston up and only liquid can enter.

 

The Ahab isn't exactly the same as a Dunn pen, but it isn't just a plain syringe filler either.

hello, in the Ahab, on any downstroke, like on any syringe filler, ink plus air, both are expelled. On a Dunn, only the air is expelled. I hope this helps...

[NedC]

You don't need a removable blind cap, which can get away from you, in a piston filler and it's much harder to to use a screw piston filler as a squirt gun than a syringe filler.

 

The syringe mechanism in my Belmont seems very robust, and in spite of jar's protestations I'd rate its design quite highly in part due to the materials used, I'm not sure which plastics the mechanism is fabricated from but they do seem very well chosen for their purpose. There are modern engineered materials that would make for a much more reliable syringe mechanism than would have been possible when the first screw piston fillers were introduced in the 1920s.

[Ted A]

It is a plain jane syringe filler with the shaft bored out to allow the breather tube to remain attached to the feeder which is of no consequence to the filling process.

 

So did Nathan create a new type of filling mechanism?

[Ernst Bitterman]

 

Syringe filling isn't the only system that needs a blind cap. What do you think about Delta's piston filler design or the Edison's bulb filling system?

Belatedly-- I don't know the Delta design, as I've only seen levers and C/C pens of theirs. Bulb-fillers are good fun, and allow for ED-style ink capacity without the mucking about with a dropper. I think the paucity of bulb fillers is even more mysterious than the want of syringes, and probably founded in the same concern about being thought quaint and ye-olde-style.

[mirosc]

My main objection to syringe fillers is the number of separate items drifting around at filling time-- cap, blind cap, pen, ink bottle, wiper.

[...]

Gosh, now that I think about it, this fountain pen stuff is a lot of work. I'm going back to charcoal.

 

That's why I like the Snorkel - just pen, cap and bottle. Who needs more? :-)

 

Parker makes one, they call it a "slide" converter. It's nice because you can operate it with one hand.

 

 

But the slider is so often stuck or tilted. I don't like that bugger.

[FLZapped]

 

That's why I like the Snorkel - just pen, cap and bottle. Who needs more? :-)

 

But the slider is so often stuck or tilted. I don't like that bugger.

 

Never had a problem with mine. I have several. *shrug*