Editing The Pen Addict 475/transcript (section)

== Stipulonetto Ink Patent ==


'''Myke:''' The first had to do with the mysterious Stipulonetto ink wall. Since they claim it is patented, I went and found the patent. It's in Italian, but Google Translate seems to do the trick. I'll put a link in the show notes in case, I don't know, you want to find the patent for yourself.

'''Brad:''' But right away, we know we're not dealing with a normal human being right here.

'''Myke:''' Yeah, yeah.

'''Brad:''' We're in it now. Ed's like a real hero right here.

'''Myke:''' Uh-huh. Here's how it works. We've referenced one of the patent figures. There is an internal tube, and the bottom of the tube is immersed in ink. The tube has grooves inside the tube wall, which draws the ink up from the bottom to the top, where the nib is then inserted. The pen's section contacts a rubber ring around the mouth of the ink wall, which is labeled 7 in the figure. So when you then draw back the plunger of the pen's filling mechanism, there is a seal at the top, and it draws ink up from the bottom of the ink wall. The ink passes the grooves inside the wall of the tube and comes out of the tube to fill the nib's reservoir. Basically, rather than having an ink miser arrangement where you have to turn the ink bottle upside down, this will let you draw ink into the special nib reservoir using just the suction from the pen's own filling mechanism. Then the bottle's cap seals the nib reservoir so you only ever have that small amount of ink exposed. The big advantage over the ink miser setup seems to be that the pen's section wouldn't touch ink, so it won't get messy. I hope that was clear. That was clear, and I actually think this is a pretty clever product. Is it $250 clever, Myke? No, because it's not that much of a problem for me, but I do think it's smart.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, I get it. I didn't know that this was a thing. I didn't know this was a thing that we needed. Apparently, we don't. But this is basically allowing you to fill your pen and keep the section above the ink is the short version of the way I read this. And it's really wild that someone designed this, and it's kind of cool. Like, I have no intention of getting one, even at 50% off, but I wouldn't be opposed to someone else doing it. Let me know how it goes for you, just because I'm not going to keep, like, a bottle specifically for that. But I'm kind of intrigued with the explanation that Ed gave. I still don't technically know how it works, but I get that there's, like, some sealing off. And it's basically drawing the ink up through the nib and feed without sealing off the section completely or dipping the section, like, below oxygen level to really seal that off. So, yeah, cool. I think it's cool. When I saw this email, like, the image popped up in there. I'm like, oh, my gosh. What is happening here? Then I read it, and I was like, Ed, you are my hero. So, it was really, really good. So, thank you for doing this, Ed. I'm fascinated. I'm going to look at this picture a little bit more. But I had to read the description a couple of times to get it, but I think I've got it. And, yeah, it's wild. So, I'm glad we have these type of listeners that go, oh, yeah, I know how to go get the patent for the thing in Italy. Yeah, I'm in.

'''Myke:''' Love it. All right, but there's more, though. There's more. We're not done. The other thing that was discussed was the Kaweco whole situation, that IP thing. I was the IP lawyer whose Reddit comment Tokyo Inklings read out in their podcast. There you go. It is a ridiculous mess, and I think the only thing keeping Kaweco from serious legal trouble is the fact that the Chinese companies don't care enough to fight them on it.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, obviously, I don't know enough about this in relation to Ed, but after listening to the Tokyo Inklings and thinking about it and discussing it here, there's – I'm failing to see any benefit to Kaweco from, at minimum, a public perception perspective, right? They're obviously looking at it differently because they're looking at a business slash bottom line perspective. And that's maybe not wrong of them to look at, but it also puts a certain PR stamp on it publicly. Hopefully, that may end in a different result than they think it might, and is it worth it to continue?

'''Myke:''' Yeah, and I think if I'm reading it right, it's like they're trying to say that they have an intellectual property claim that they probably don't, and if somebody fights them on it, they could end up losing big time.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, yeah. So, anyway, I thought it was interesting, and Ed is now our go-to IP lawyer for the Pen Addict. Official IP lawyer of the Pen Addict. Welcome, Ed.

'''Myke:''' We now have an IP person.

'''Brad:''' He's on the pretend payroll that we also have.

'''Myke:''' All right, two last questions. Kyle says, as a new Pen Addict who has only used a couple of pens and never been to a pen show, what should I expect, and how should I prepare for the 2021 San Francisco Pen Show?

'''Brad:''' Love it. Love this question. There's always some great content around the Internet. We'll put a couple of links into the show notes. One recently by our friend Myke at Ink Dependence did a video called How to Pen Show, and it's really great, and it's really current, especially in the new COVID times. Like, I know San Francisco is under some different restrictions, and their masks are going to be mandatory. I don't know what else is going to be mandatory for the show.

'''Myke:''' Yeah, we actually, like, preparing for a pen show right now is not what it was like to prepare for a pen show before, and honestly, we both are a little bit lost, because neither of us have been to one or are going to one. So it's slightly different at the moment than it has been in the past.

'''Brad:''' Right. So you should also read the recaps from the DC Pen Show from the Gentleman Stationer from Kimberly at the Pen Addict, and then Myke also did a, Ink Dependence Myke also did a walkthrough, live walkthrough, and there's a couple other things. So we'll put, I'll get those links for the show notes, but in short, in short, Kyle, you should go with the expectation to browse. Right? You know, have a list of things you want to check out, not necessarily purchase, but, you know, I haven't seen a vanishing point. Let me see how that feels in my hand and how the knock clicks, and would I enjoy the clip being in that particular spot. You know, how does a Leonardo grip section feel in my hand? You know, these are the type of things you should be thinking about, you know, what you personally are trying to accomplish with, like, your own writing or your own fountain pens. You know, how does this paper handle pens? Like, you'll see some people selling paper, they'll have a sample book out, and you can see, like, oh, does this handle these inks well? So, what I really implore you to do is browse a lot. Don't go in there, like, have to buy all the things. Don't go in there seeing, oh, my gosh, this is overwhelming. Go slow. Look. Ask questions. Touch things that you can. I know we're in a little bit different COVID times. There might be some different rules there. But go in with more of a list of questions that you want to try to answer for yourself as opposed to a shopping list, if that makes sense. And that's kind of how I would approach it being new. Really, really, I implore you to just take it slow because it can be overwhelming.

'''Myke:''' And as my wife, Adina, is pointing out in the Discord, quite rightly so, we did do an episode about going to your first pen show, which I'll also put a link to in the show notes. But again, just bear in mind, as Brad said, there are different things. So, like, maybe, like, we have our basics and then add in some of the other stuff now.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, and Adina's was the San Francisco show, right? Yeah. Like, that was the show we referred to in the podcast. So, even though, yes, it will be very different setup-wise, the ideas will be great. It's great perspective from Adina not having experienced that before and then coming and talking about it.

'''Myke:''' Mm-hmm. And the last question that we have today comes from Judica, who asks, do you have a way to calculate how much ink you'll need on a trip based on the amount of writing that you expect? I'm hoping to not bring quite so many pens on my trip this time.

'''Brad:''' So, I kind of have an answer for this, and it's probably not going to be the answer you're looking for. I will at least bring one pen that takes cartridges and bring extra cartridges.

'''Brad:''' So, if I'm going to go on a trip and I have my awesome piston fillers or my converters filled with ink in bottles that I don't want to carry around, I'll make sure they're full. And then I will have one pen that I only use cartridges with, and therefore, I can pack extra cartridges for that particular pen. So, I end up taking less pens that way. I try to take less pens in general because I always end up writing less than I need, unless I know I'm doing something specific that's going to take a lot of writing. So, take your favorites, ink them up completely, then make sure you have a really enjoyable pen that takes a cartridge and pack extra cartridges for that. That's my tip.

'''Myke:''' That's a very good tip.

'''Myke:''' Do you do this?

'''Brad:''' Yeah. I always take, like, the Pilot Vanishing Point would always be that pen for me. Right. So, I would bring, like, three or four pens, and they're all inked and ready to go with my green ink or my orange ink or my purple ink. And then I'll have a Vanishing Point with a Pilot Blue-Black cartridge and then take, like, two extra Pilot Blue-Black cartridges. And that's it. Like, I would never worry. And, of course, I would never, never once have I popped in one of those cartridges because I've written so much. But that covered me. That kept me from worrying about having, oh, do I need to bring this ink because I'm going to run out? I just wouldn't worry about it. I would use what I had, and then if it got extreme enough, I would pop in a new cartridge in a pen that I enjoyed with an ink cartridge that I enjoyed.

'''Myke:''' Nice. Mm-hmm. Very nice. All right. If you would like to send in a question for us to answer on the show, you can send out a tweet with the hashtag RSTPA. You can use question mark RSTPA in the RelayFM members' Discord or email them to hello at penaddict.com. At penaddict.com, the website is where you can find Brad's work along with many other talented pen aficionados and writers. You can go to knock.co and spokedesign.com for Brad's products. And you can also catch Brad on Twitch. It's twitch.tv slash penaddict. Brad streams multiple times a week. Do you have a schedule right now, Brad, or are you like?

'''Brad:''' I do. I do. Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. Eastern, usually until about noon, so about two hours each stream. And then Wednesday after we record the podcast, as long as the podcast is on a normal schedule, I will go around between 11.30 and noon Eastern time on Wednesday. So it's Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.

'''Myke:''' Nice. Very nice. You can find Brad on Twitter. He is at dowdyism. He's penaddict on Instagram. And Brad on micro.blog. I am iMike. I-M-Y-K-E. Thank you so much to Squarespace and Ooni Pizza Ovens for their support of this week's episode. And of course, to you for listening. We'll be back next time. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.

[[Category:Podcast Transcripts]]
[[Category:The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript]]