Sheaffer Snorkel Ink Flow

[scrivanofpn]

I am curious to know how the ink flows from the sac to the nib in a Sheaffer Snorkel pen. I understand that the snorkel tube functions to fill the reservoir (sac). But I have some difficulty to track the reverse path of the ink from the reservoir to the nib. Thank you.

[mariom]

The snorkel tube has a hard rubber insert which extends into the sac with an ink channel in it. The snorkel tube has a couple of fine slits in the end which allows ink coming down the insert to saturate the feed.

 

It's a complex and fascinating system.

[scrivanofpn]

Thank you! Very fascinating system indeed. To me the Sheaffer Snorkel is not simply a fountain pen, it is also a beautiful example of precision engineering.

 

Massimo

[shalitha33]

Feed inside the tube :

 

 

Cutouts on both sides of the nib / feed that connects with the feed.

 

 

[shalitha33]

i'm not sure if US / Canada versions are slightly different. this is an australian pen feed goes through the length of the tube covering one half circle of the tube. feed has a cut at the very end (nib side) that aligns with the cutouts at the end. tried to pull the feed out, but its kind of stuck it worried about braking it.

Edited September 29, 2020 by shalitha33

[gmark_wa]

I agree with Mariom - it is complex and fascinating. Here is my attempt to explain it:

 

The filler tube (snorkel) has an insert that is semicircular in cross-section and has a groove down the centre. The insert extends beyond the tube at the sac end.

Ink from the sac is drawn along the groove in the filler tube insert by capillary action.

At the nib end there is a slit in the insert that aligns with a slit in the top of the filler tube. These align with another slit that extends through the upper half of the feed to the underside of the nib, near the breather hole.

Capillary action draws the ink from the filler tube up through these slits to the nib and then along the nib slit to the tip.

Edited September 29, 2020 by gmark_wa

[KBeezie]

The tubes were usually steel as well, so while being stainless steel it was still possible for them to rust (especially if there was a rupture).

 

Early ones had 14K tubes though

 

 

The slit on top of the tube isn't usually cut to the end, and sometimes major flow problems are simply because the tube isn't turned a fraction of a millimeter enough to line up with the feed above it.

 

 

I've canibalised tubes before because the ebonite feed channel inside had been chipped at the end, preventing capillary flow. The fix I usually saw was pushing the hard rubber rod up a tiny bit and carving off the broken end, but only works for as long as you got enough sticking out the end to grab ink.

Edited October 7, 2020 by KBeezie