Parker 51 carnage

[Shangas]

Hah...A thousand years in the future...

 

"Johnny get rid of those priceless antiques, those Van Gough paintings and that antique Steinway piano! I need to fit my pen-collection in the trunk!"

 

Oh dear...

[ethernautrix]

I think the Earth will exhaust its resources to sustain the human population saturating it long before the sun goes super nova. Hopefully by then we'll have mastered space travel and have gone elsewhere, taking our precious pens with us. :roflmho:

SINK: Single-Income, No Kids -- Doing my part to control population growth.

 

 

Yer welcome, earth!

 

 

 

Edit: I just remembered what a friend told me years ago when I was complaining about a problem. He said, "One day you'll be dead, and none of this will matter." I laughed and laughed. All you ever need is a little perspective and optimism. Thanks, nihontochicken and MYU!

Edited August 26, 2008 by ethernautrix

[ANM]

I think the Earth will exhaust its resources to sustain the human population saturating it long before the sun goes super nova. Hopefully by then we'll have mastered space travel and have gone elsewhere, taking our precious pens with us. :roflmho:

SINK: Single-Income, No Kids -- Doing my part to control population growth.

 

 

Yer welcome, earth!

 

 

 

Edit: I just remembered what a friend told me years ago when I was complaining about a problem. He said, "One day you'll be dead, and none of this will matter." I laughed and laughed. All you ever need is a little perspective and optimism. Thanks, nihontochicken and MYU!

 

 

I guess that makes me SINKA... OHH MIA. Single income, no kid anymore...Oh Hell He Moved In Again

[Iridium]

In five billion years or so, our Sun will go red giant, and fry the Earth to a cinder, and perhaps even engulf it. It is anticipated that even Parker 51s might succumb (though this is debatable). So you have just accelerated history a bit, not to worry.

 

Even if humanity gets its act together, I doubt that the Earth will remain habitable for anywhere near five billion years because the Sun will keep putting out an ever-increasing amount of energy. In geologic terms, we've appeared at the tail-end of the Earth's habitable period (at least for large, multi-cellular organisms). To change this outcome, we would have to literally move the Earth--speed it up in order to move it to a larger orbit. This may save the planet when the Sun begins to grow in size, as well. Does anyone have an idea as to how to accomplish such a feat, preferably involving fountain pens?

 

Of course, this is all moot since we have the capability of destroying ourselves, and it's only a matter of a relatively small amount of time until this capability is utilized. I knew that we should have at least put a "51" on each of the Voyager and Pioneer probes, since it is a pen from another planet, after all.

[Nihontochicken]

To change this outcome, we would have to literally move the Earth--speed it up in order to move it to a larger orbit.

 

To pick a nit, yes, we would have to put a lot of energy into the Earth to move it out of the potential energy well into a larger orbit, but, perhaps counter-intuitively, once in a stable, bigger diameter orbit, it would actually be moving slower. That aside, will global warming (more likely from the Sun radiance as opposed to the current protest de jour, carbon dioxide) end humanoid dominance of the Earth, or will we handily take care of that by ourselves beforehand?

[J English Smith]

My father always used to put it this way, ether:

 

"Just remember, in a hundred years...all new people."

 

In other words...this too shall pass.

[Iridium]

To change this outcome, we would have to literally move the Earth--speed it up in order to move it to a larger orbit.

 

To pick a nit, yes, we would have to put a lot of energy into the Earth to move it out of the potential energy well into a larger orbit, but, perhaps counter-intuitively, once in a stable, bigger diameter orbit, it would actually be moving slower.

 

I was just referring to how orbital maneuvering is usually done. If you want to pick nits, there are several to choose from, including my deliberate misuse of the term "energy" when I could have more correctly said "power"--"energy" just seemed better for a forum not devoted to physics.

 

That aside, will global warming (more likely from the Sun radiance as opposed to the current protest de jour, carbon dioxide) end humanoid dominance of the Earth, or will we handily take care of that by ourselves beforehand?

 

This is quite off-topic by now, but sadly I just can't envision a species that possesses the capability to destroy itself surviving for more than a brief moment of geologic time. All it takes is a few nuts to ruin everybody's day, and there are more than a few nuts running around. Just look at what happened (and nearly happened) during the 20th century alone. Then there are asteroids, comets, and potential "nearby" supernovae to consider--overpopulation problem solved.

[ethernautrix]

This is quite off-topic by now...

Broadly speaking, we're still on the topic of carnage.... Judges?

 

 

(Judges nod.)

[FarmBoy]

That aside, will global warming (more likely from the Sun radiance as opposed to the current protest de jour, carbon dioxide) end humanoid dominance of the Earth, or will we handily take care of that by ourselves beforehand?

 

I have no idea but if you add an extra coat of talc on the sac it should keep the pen from hoiking up ink caused by the higher ambient temperature.

 

 

[ducly]

Ryan Roossinck - LOOK AWAY!

 

Okay, first let me explain (and please don't take my other pens away from me). This is what I think happened.

 

This pen, this Parker 51 with the perfect nib, was safely ensconced in a leather pen case with three other pens. I had used the pen at work in the morning, and it was fine. You know how it is when you find a pen with the nib, what a joy it is to use, even for the shortest notes. Later in the afternoon, the pen case was on my desk. I swung around on my chair or dropped folders or there was some other minor disturbance around my desk, and the pen case dropped approximately 30" to the floor.

 

GASP!

 

No, not really. Cos all it means when your pen case falls from a low height is ink in the cap.

 

So I uncapped each pen to check for ink spillage, and there was nothing on the first three nibs. Which in itself was unusual. I figured I was lucky. I took the P51 out and tried to take the cap off. It wouldn't budge. I mean, it felt glued on.

 

The arrow had been amputated from the cap before I got the pen. So I twisted the cap, or tried to, and I couldn't.

 

So I tried to, ah... um... bottlecap-opener loosen the cap. I mean, I leaned the stub of the amputated arrow on my desk and applied leverage.

 

It didn't work.

 

I got a little frustrated.

 

I was pulling, tugging, trying to twist, yanking, I might have tried to bottle-opener it on my teeth. Probably not, but maybe, I can't remember.

 

Then, trying to turn the cap, I heard a KEEE-RACK! But! The cap was loose! I was able to take the cap off! A piece of plastic hung on a like loose baby tooth. I clicked that back into place.

 

The nib... I wish I could get the cap off to show you the nib. It was the nib version of Linda Blair in The Exorcist. A little out of alignment.

 

BUT IT WROTE! It still wrote!

 

It felt weird, having to hold the pen in a way to accommodate the twisted nib, but it still wrote. It was just the almost-unnoticablyest scratchy; nothing to prevent me from using the pen.

 

An hour went by. I was still shaken by the experience.

 

Then I got a bright idea.

 

If I put the cap back on tightly and twisted THE OTHER WAY, I could fix the nib!

 

And this is what happened:

 

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2210/2779337147_81345f980f_o.jpg

 

And I can't get the cap off.

 

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3151/2779337315_52cc1f90c5_o.jpg

 

 

God, I'm so embarrassed.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited to fix the tenses.

I sort of know how you feel because I dropped my Hero 329 onto the concert floor at the studio in college. The other end broke but not the nib. I even used it for a while and still kept it as a momento. It was only just this year that I found another Hero 329.

[antonio ilmonaco]

Hi, i would try soaking the pen in a hot soap bath. The soap will act as a lubricant for cap removal and the heat will cause the cap to expand a little. If this doesn't work i would remove the jewel (your clip is broken anyway) and remove the brass screw that keeps the inner cap tight.

 

This will allow you to push the inner cap down a little (there is a little play between the inner cap and clutch ring) and maybe get the pen free.

 

All the best,

antonio

[Bearcat]

Sorry for your loss. Weird sometimes how forty to sixty-year-old plastic behaves.

 

The chemist say it is the volatilization of the phthalate esters that causes the plastic to become brittle.

 

In any event, I can use the cap for one of my orphans if you want to send it to a good home.

 

--BC

Edited October 28, 2008 by Bearcat

[Bill A]

The problem is fairly common and Parker actually made a tool to remove jammed caps. In most cases it is caused by dropping the pen on one end. The clutch ring slips above the top of the clutch in the cap and basically will not come out. Your barrel is trashed and the hood and collector are probably damaged beyond use. Your best option is to salvage what is left. You have recovered most of the good parts except for the nib and feed. The easiest way to save the nib and feed is to dissolve the inner cap and push the parts out the top. You can then push the rest out the bottom to recover the bare cap. Acetone will dissolve the inner cap in a day or two without damaging the rest of the cap, clutch or clutch ring.

 

Bill A.

[Inkapable]

...Your barrel is trashed and the hood and collector are probably damaged beyond use....

 

Bill A.

 

Acetone seems to be a Draconian method. Why assume the hood and collector are done in if the heat methods have not been tried?

[bobif]

This was sad looking at the poor broken pen. Either the pen was weak or you were strong but the result was the same. I paid more to get a Parker 51 repaired than I have have to buy a usable Parker 51. Unless you need this particular pen try to give a good home to another Parker 51, that suits your needs and keep this one as spares or just to remind you that they are not indestructable.

 

I have a few individual Parker 51s but my favourate is the one that I had repaired. I know how much effort went into making it write or should that be right !.

 

Bob

[SquelchB]

My sympathies.

 

A minute of silence, please.

[Gran]

Was there a happy ending to this? I do hope you were able to have your pen restored.

[vermiculus]

Save up, and get a flighter. This doesn't happen to them

[georges zaslavsky]

sorry for your loss

[penmanila]

another chapter in the annals of P51 disasters (this won't be pretty):

 

i felt great when i got this P51 (you know the model) for 25 cents at a thrift shop in ann arbor 20 years ago. it had a little crack then, and i knew nothing (or next to nothing, which was even worse) about fillers. i'd replaced a couple of diaphragms on my vacs, so i thought.... and here be the wages of hubris and impetuousness:

 

 

 

i've kept the parts with me for 20 years, as a grim reminder that some things are better left untouched (or sent off to the pros).