Inkless metal pen will write forever | Hacker News Reader

Inkless metal pen will write forever

cnet.com.au

29 pointstestrun42 comments

A case study in solving a problem that doesn't really exist? Maybe this is just me, but it seems mean time to lose a pen is much smaller than the amount of time it takes to run out of ink. And replacement is hardly a pain - it's not onerous to keep a few spares around (and necessary anyway, again, because the damn things get lost)

Ok, so I'm going to have to disagree here about solving a problem that doesn't exist.

There are a number of problems with the standard ballpoint and fountain tip pens:

* They can ruin a pair of pants (or the inside of a purse). This is especially a problem with the "clicky" pens, as an accidental activation means that anything the tip touches gets a constant flow of ink.

* There are a number of situations where they do not write well, or reliably (and not just gimmicky answers like "in space").

* They do run out of ink; I have had several pens run out. This is not because I'm supernaturally good at holding on to things, but because I do a reasonable amount of hand writing.

I'm not saying the solution is necessarily a gazillion-dollar writing instrument / fashion accessory, but just like fancy features start out in the Mercedes S-class and then make their way to cars mere mortals might own, hopefully if this technology is truly viable we'll be finding it on drugstore shelves a decade or so hence.

I'll admit to being hyperbolic in "doesn't exist".

My actual point being: Even when I was writing a lot (note-taking in university), a nice-ish $2 fine-point pen solved my problem pretty well. The issues you cite are all real problems, but they're all pretty minor. All of those problems are/were waaaaaay down at the 'negligible' end the 'problems whose solutions would make a measurable improvement to my life' list.

So, to be precise: this isn't solving nonexistent problems, it's solving insignificant problems.

For you, maybe.

I'm apparently kind of a spaz when it comes to pens. I have to buy pens with caps, because my clicky pens always activate in my pocket and then literally ruin my pants by barfing ink all over them. It's also a huge pain when I've been out in the cold, or the pen has been upside-down in my pocket and the ink flows away from the tip, or there's some rubbish stuck in the nib and the pen just doesn't write consistently. And I don't run out of ink all that often, but the pens I use are opaque and so I don't know it's coming until I go to write one day and nothing happens.

In the grand scheme of things compared to things like world hunger and tribalism in Africa, yeah these are pretty insignificant, first-world problems. But in the writing implement space, they're legitimate.

So no, we're not curing cancer or anything here. But I bought the $29 one from a few years ago linked in the article, just to see if it will work out for me. Worst case, I'm out a few bucks and I leave a negative review so the next person maybe doesn't make the same mistake. Best case, I've upgraded my everyday carry and possibly saved some of my pants from an inky death.

And that, to me, would be worth thirty bucks.

Didn't NASA spend countless dollars trying to develop a pen that would work in zero gravity?

I'm sure there are some artists that would find use for this as well.

No, they did not. Fisher, the company which make the space pen, developed it themselves and sell it to NASA at the same price they sell it at retail.

The space pen is decent in the sense that it writes very reliably, but it's not a particularly good pen overall, especially for the price.

At these price points, we are only talking about problems of conspicuous consumption. (Which is a fair market to serve: the customers have money.)

> "As you write, tiny amounts of this metal are deposited onto the page."

Does it also have regenerative qualities that continuously replenish the metal that is deposited onto the page? If not it's an open-and-shut case of a journalist blindly parroting the marketing definition of "forever".

I think the idea is that it's such a small amount relative to the size of the source, that you wouldn't notice a difference over some ridiculously long period.

I could be wrong though!

Their other pens sell for $2046.45 & $1773.59 (US Dollars). I can only imagine what this will sell for. I'm pretty sure that even if I had more money than I knew what to do with... I still wouldn't pay $2000 for one pen.

The other one that article referenced is only $28 and looks to be pretty much the same: http://www.vat19.com/dvds/the-inkless-metal-pen.cfm

EDIT: And now they are all sold out. If only I had signed up for their affiliate program...

Or perhaps the pen will be cheap, but they will make it all up by overcharging for that sandpaper they have that makes the pen write well.

Safe bet that it will be 2x-5x the price of their fountain pen?

Still cool and it's pretty attractive.

It's a pencil that wears down very slowly and doesn't erase?

Looks that way. Possibly it's essentially the same thing as this:

http://www.amazon.com/Jac-Zagoory-Beta-Inkless-Pen/dp/B005GL...

EDIT: Not quite. Apparently the tip of that pen is lead, while the one in this post is some kind of alloy. Same idea, though, I imagine: soft metal that rubs off much like a pencil.

Doesn't have to be particularly soft. Coin silver wire (2mm to fit standard draughting leadholders) is "normal" for the silverpoint drawing technique, and there wouldn't be a whole lot of sharpening involved if super-fine cross-hatching wasn't one of the expectations ("scumbling" a duller wire will also achieve shading).

Yup. And due to the small amount of material deposit, it's going to be very light on paper.

reminded me of this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverpoint

Given they say

"Each pen will be sold with a notebook made of "stone paper"" I suspect, just like silverpoint, it doesn't work, or doesn't work well, on any random surface.

Inkless metal pen will write until the tip is all worn away. FTFY.

Forever isn't very long, then?

We'll I clearly don't speak for everyone, but I think an ink less metal pen that writes forever and looks like that is pretty cool.

I've had a pen like this before. It was not practical, the tip becomes very round very quickly and it requires a significant amount of downward pressure to write. Furthermore, the pen doesn't write very well on anything but paper on a hard surface. Just a word of caution.

In other words, it is a well made pencil.

That can't be erased. So really it's more like a pen.

A metal grease crayon?

I have a pen like this - Uses some sort of graphite-metal alloy. They are no replacement for real pens, or even pencil. You end up writing in what looks like faded pencil, not to mention there is a significant amount of friction between the tip of the pen and the paper, which makes it awkward to buy.

Don't feel bad about passing on these - Waste of money. Especially when it's wrapped in $$$$ worth of markup.

Last time I checked, to powder stone took more than 0 Joules of energy. Unless this powder was transported back in time from gigayears after the last sun burned out in this universe and entropy is near max, to now, to make this pen. In which case, it would be an stupendously awesome pen, and I'll totally buy one.

Would this work in space too?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Pen

I actually bought one of these. They work well.

From the description of pen at http://www.vat19.com/dvds/the-inkless-metal-pen.cfm

    Warning: Not intended for children (due to small amounts of lead in the tip)

Doesn't sound like something I'd want to use too frequently.

I wouldn't worry that much about it. A lot of electrical cords have tiny amounts of lead in them too.

"Forever" is a long time...

> Each pen will be sold with a notebook made of "stone paper", an eco-friendly, water resistant and durable paper made from powdered stone.

How on earth (pun intended) is powdered stone eco friendly? At least trees actually grow back...

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Is that a problem you commonly have with existing graphite/clay and wood pencils?

"The silvery markings may resemble pencil, but they are permanent and smudge-proof."

Awww, I was kind of hoping it would somehow take small amounts of dead skin from whoever was holding it, and then somehow turn it into graphite...

How about a photosynthetic process that makes graphite from atmospheric carbon dioxide?

It may well cost the better half of $2,000 but damn it looks nice. No wonder Ferrari uses them.

I don't understand. Does Ferrari lack sense, or are they giving them to valued customers, or what?

The company that made this pen is normally a car design firm whose clients include Ferrari.

Pininfarina actually does the industrial design for quite a few products besides cars. I've even seen their name on video projectors.

Same with Porsche Design.

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