Piston Filler Versus Eyedropper

[zwack]

Greetings,

 

It seems to me that Piston Fillers get a lot of love for their large ink capacity, while eye droppers get shamed for their ability to burp ink if they have a significant air gap.

 

An eye dropper has a large ink capacity (potentially larger than a piston filler) and only the barrel separates the ink (or air) from the heat of your hand. Thus the possibility of burping if your hand warms the air sufficiently to expand it and push some ink out.

 

A piston filler sacrifices some of the possible ink capacity for the filler mechanism and only the barrel separates the ink (or air) from the heat of your hand. I never hear people warning about the possibility of ink burping from a piston filler.

 

So why is it that I don't hear complaints about piston fillers being prone to burping? Am I just missing those complaints or is there some other difference that makes them less susceptible?

Edited June 19, 2016 by zwack

[jar]

Quite often there is another layer, for example a binde, that helps regulate heat transfer in piston fillers.

[mhguda]

I've had my (Indian) piston fillers (also the Noodler's Ahab) blurp just like eyedropper-filled pens. Still, I like piston fillers because they are less messy to prime.

Alas - I have not seen them in my favorite material for pens - ebonite...

OTOH, I love the simplicity of the eyedropper filling system. So much less to go wrong, manufacturing-wise... and the system is beautifully simple.

[Cryptos]

It's a really interesting question. I've also wondered how modern vac fillers (TWSBI, Pilot etc.) differ from the older Sheaffer filling system. As far as I remember the Sheaffer pens don't require the blind cap to be partially unscrewed for use.

[catbert]

My vintage Aurora 88 can burp if near-empty or subject to temperature change, once emptying itself into a Nock lookout case on a cold day. Fortunately the ink was vert olive and washed out pretty easily. None of my other piston fillers does this. It’s an acceptable idiosyncrasy for such a nice nib.

It's a really interesting question. I've also wondered how modern vac fillers (TWSBI, Pilot etc.) differ from the older Sheaffer filling system. As far as I remember the Sheaffer pens don't require the blind cap to be partially unscrewed for use.

 

Yes, I read somewhere that rather than forming a seal in the closed position the plunger head is deflected to one side to allow ink flow. Certainly I’ve never had to unscrew the blind cap when writing with my 1940s Vigilant. But maybe it would leak on a plane.

 

http://www.richardspens.com/?page=ref/anatomy/vacfil.htm

 

(edit to add reference)

Edited June 19, 2016 by catbert

[sciumbasci]

With piston fillers you can push out air to avoid burping

[Sandy1]

Hi,

 

IMHO, it seems that burping happens when the pen's ability to buffer ink flow is overwhelmed. That is a matter of just how the capillary exchange of air and ink are balanced, and the design of the feed + collector [if any] + breather tube [if any] and the set-up of nib+feed to maintain that balance; and the headroom of that design under various conditions of temperature and pressure, plus inks' flow properties,. (Perhaps burping may be viewed as the opposite of feed starvation, when the written line fades-out as one writes.)

 

As such, I don't think that fill / reservoir type is a major cause of burping, but as simple pens without mechanised fill systems may also have simple capillary systems with low headroom, they are more subject to failure - co-relation rather than causation.

 

That said, my Waterman's 12 eyedropper is no more likely to burp than my Waterman's 52 lever fill, though perhaps I just have cold hands (but warm heart) and write in a somewhat expansive brisk light hand so the inky draw-down is rather high. And I've used FPs at temps of around 57C without problem, though under those conditions my hand was likely cooling the pen. It also helps to be on good terms with the Ink Putti who will take excess ink to correct punctuation, dot 'I's, cross 'T's, and who knows what they do with decimal points.

 

We have Topics about carrying pens on aircraft aloft, and adventures with modifications of Noodler's Ahab pen, so those should provide additional insight, as will an article about feeds by the renowned Richard Binder http://www.richardspens.com/?refp=feeds/evolution

 

Bye,

S1

Edited June 19, 2016 by Sandy1

[Ink Stained Wretch]

So why is it that I don't hear complaints about piston fillers being prone to burping? Am I just missing those complaints or is there some other difference that makes them less susceptible?

 

I've seen plenty of complaints/warnings here on FPN about piston fillers that are less than about one third full burping ink.