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Question for the Pen Experts
- Thread starter tortoise
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 3, 1998
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- 4,670
Roller balls are classified into two categories: regular and free ink. The regular type roller balls (e.g. Sanford Uni-Ball Grip) use a cotton resevoir to hold the ink. The ink is then fed through to the tip. Free ink rollers (e.g. Sanford Uni-Ball Vision Elite, Pilot V5/V7 Rollers)) have a resevoir that holds the actual liquid ink. The free ink styles write smoother due to the free ink flow. Almost like a fountain pen.
Ball points use a thick, almost gel type ink. Gravity feeds the ink against a tungsten carbide steel ball and the ball then transfers the ink to the paper. Pressurized ball point cartridges such as those manufactured by Fisher Space Pen, rely on a thick gel type ink almost the consistency of rubber cement. The ink is forced against the tungsten carbide ball by pressurized gas. The action of the ball rolling across the paper "shears" the ink and liquifies it, allowing the pen to write. Because of the gas pressure on the ink supply, this is why Fishers are famous for being able to write in zero gravity, upside down, withstand a variety of temperatures, and also survive airline travel.
Hope this helps.
Ball points use a thick, almost gel type ink. Gravity feeds the ink against a tungsten carbide steel ball and the ball then transfers the ink to the paper. Pressurized ball point cartridges such as those manufactured by Fisher Space Pen, rely on a thick gel type ink almost the consistency of rubber cement. The ink is forced against the tungsten carbide ball by pressurized gas. The action of the ball rolling across the paper "shears" the ink and liquifies it, allowing the pen to write. Because of the gas pressure on the ink supply, this is why Fishers are famous for being able to write in zero gravity, upside down, withstand a variety of temperatures, and also survive airline travel.
Hope this helps.
Also for you people who like to chew on pens:
Those super crappy erasable pens made by PaperMate are PRESSURIZED, I found out one day when I pulled on the metal tip and it came off, and it shot 3 inches of the most viscous, oily, impossible to remove crap all over my hands. I can't imagine what I would have done if it did that in my mouth
Ball points require much more pressure to write with, roller balls in general just need enough pressure to move the ball out of the way so the ink can flow.
Adam
Those super crappy erasable pens made by PaperMate are PRESSURIZED, I found out one day when I pulled on the metal tip and it came off, and it shot 3 inches of the most viscous, oily, impossible to remove crap all over my hands. I can't imagine what I would have done if it did that in my mouth
Ball points require much more pressure to write with, roller balls in general just need enough pressure to move the ball out of the way so the ink can flow.
Adam
- Joined
- Oct 3, 1998
- Messages
- 4,670
Originally posted by Uranium
Also for you people who like to chew on pens:
Those super crappy erasable pens made by PaperMate are PRESSURIZED, I found out one day when I pulled on the metal tip and it came off, and it shot 3 inches of the most viscous, oily, impossible to remove crap all over my hands. I can't imagine what I would have done if it did that in my mouth
I've never understood why folks chew on pens....used to see a lot of that through high school and college. If you buy quality writing instruments (read: metal or brass barrels), you'll be reminded in a not so pleasant way to not chew on pens. Ever seen a Waterman with teeth marks??
Why is it that roller ball type pens seem to have the ink smear more if the paper being written on happens to get wet? I presume it is because the ink in a roller ball is less viscus than a ball point pen....
Personally I prefer a muli-writing instument. Combination pencil/pens. These allow one to carry just one writing instrument but have both a pen and pencil available.
My favorite is a Zebra Rubber Sharbo that has both a pen and a pencil - the type is selected by rotating the barrel of the instrument one direction for the pencil, the other for the pen.
I have others including one that is a pen, pencil, and a stylus for a PDA. But the barrel is so thick I use it only at work.
Personally I prefer a muli-writing instument. Combination pencil/pens. These allow one to carry just one writing instrument but have both a pen and pencil available.
My favorite is a Zebra Rubber Sharbo that has both a pen and a pencil - the type is selected by rotating the barrel of the instrument one direction for the pencil, the other for the pen.
I have others including one that is a pen, pencil, and a stylus for a PDA. But the barrel is so thick I use it only at work.
The Fisher is actually what spurs my question.
I have a couple,(a Bullet and an Astronaut) and I can get refills from Fisher that are either ball point, or rollerball, for either pen. So I'm trying to figure out why would I choose one over the other.
I saw something on the Parker site, that said rollerballs use a capillary action, like fountain pens, rather than a gravity feed, like ball points. Of course the Fisher's are pressurized, so that changes things too, but they had no diagrams. Anyway, I don't know what any of this means for real world use, which is what I'm ultimately concerned about.
Anyone able to identify performance differences, like which would you choose and why?
I have a couple,(a Bullet and an Astronaut) and I can get refills from Fisher that are either ball point, or rollerball, for either pen. So I'm trying to figure out why would I choose one over the other.
I saw something on the Parker site, that said rollerballs use a capillary action, like fountain pens, rather than a gravity feed, like ball points. Of course the Fisher's are pressurized, so that changes things too, but they had no diagrams. Anyway, I don't know what any of this means for real world use, which is what I'm ultimately concerned about.
Anyone able to identify performance differences, like which would you choose and why?
- Joined
- Aug 30, 1999
- Messages
- 192
Normal rollerball ink is very similar to fountain pen ink in that they are both water soluble. The newer gel rolerballs use a different formulation; these inks actually have volatile components (solvents of some type no doubt) that keep the dyes (pigments or whtever they are colored with) in solution. Once the ink dries it is permanent. There was an article in Pen World a while back about "check washing"; whereby checks could have the pay to and amounts changed by criminal types. Since solvents (unspecified of course) were used; water based inks were difficult to change without leaving evidence of the attempt. The easiest to modify were dye based ballpoint inks; with black using carbon black as the pigment being hardest to remove. The gell rollerball inks were unremovable.
Anthony Lasome
Anthony Lasome