Fountain Pen Construction

Fountain Pen Construction

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	Site updated 30/7/04
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Cap

The cap protects the point of the pen, as well as the area in which it is being carried. The earliest caps were simple slip-ons, but to prevent accidental opening eventually the industry went to threaded screw-on caps. Later, the slip-on cap would make a return in the forms of the clutch cap (like the Parker 51 and 61, with a metal friction clutch) and the snap-on cap (like the Waterman Le Man or Gentleman with spring loaded retainers). a fountain pen in its component parts photo d

Most modern pens, in fact, have snap-on caps, which often leads to confusion when non-FP-users try to open vintage pens. The metal band usually found near the mouth of plastic and hard rubber caps is not merely decorative, it reinforces the portion of the cap that gets the most stress, and stops cracks in the cap lip from spreading. The band may be gold-filled or plated, and may be plain or engraved with a pattern

Picture courtesy of Penoply

Clip

The size, shape, finish, and construction of the clip all add personality to the pen. Clip design is important because the clip is the first part of the pen that a casual observer is likely to see.

Clips were originally an option. Waterman simply riveted the ball-end clips on its famous early ‘Clip-Cap’, but Sheaffer went for clips secured by internal springs.

Parker originated the washer clip, in which the clip is attached to a ring or washer that is secured to the cap by a decorative screw called a tassie or derby.

In its Personal Point and Doric pens, Wahl continued the use of the elegant roller clips used by the Boston Pen company, and later went to a fairly futuristic design in its Skyline pen. Many less expensive pens make do with clips secured to the cap by insertion and bending of tabs.

Point

Points are made of sheet metal, gold alloys (14 or 18 carats) on the more expensive pens, and steel or gold-plated steel on lesser pens. The original reason for using gold was its imperviousness to chemical attack from the somewhat caustic inks of the early years.

photo of a fountain pen nib dSince the gold is rather soft, and would wear rapidly if used for writing, a tiny blob of iridium (a very hard metal) is soldered to the tip. This blob is properly called the nib, although this word is popularly used to mean the entire point.

The point is slit after being shaped and fitted with a nib, and a breather hole may be cut to help with smooth ink flow and rapid filling. The breather hole also stops the tendency for cracks to form at the end of the slit.

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Sunday August 08, 2004 17:52 +0200