Space Pen

The Space Pen, marketed by Fisher Space Pen Co., is a pen that uses pressurised ink cartridges to allow for features beyond those offered by a standard ballpoint pen. The Fisher Space Pen was invented by American industrialist and pen manufacturer Paul C. Fisher and is manufactured in Boulder City, Nevada, USA. Pens claiming some or all of the same abilities have also appeared on the market from other manufacturers. There are two prominent styles of the pen: the AG7 "Astronaut pen", a long thin version shaped like a common ballpoint, and the "Bullet pen" which is considerably smaller. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 518 pixelsFull resolution (2304 × 1491 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 518 pixelsFull resolution (2304 × 1491 pixel, file size: 1. ... A ballpoint pen A pen (Latin penna, feather) is a writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper. ... An ink is a liquid containing various pigments and/or dyes used for coloring a surface to render an image or text. ... Ballpoint pen, disassembled (top) and complete (bottom) A ballpoint pen (also eponymously known in British English as a biro and pronounced bye-row in Britain but sometimes bee-row elsewhere), is a modern writing instrument. ... Boulder City is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States. ...

Claims and specifications

The Space Pen is claimed to write in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, over wet paper, through a pat of butter, at any angle, and in extreme temperature ranges. Several of the Fisher Space Pen models (the "Millennium" is one) are claimed to write for a lifetime of 'average' use, however the product literature states that the pen will write approximately 30 miles (approximately 48 kilometers). Astronauts on the International Space Station display an example of weightlessness. ... An underwater scene just beneath the surface. ... This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ...

The ballpoint is made from tungsten carbide and is precisely fitted in order to avoid leaks. A sliding float separates the ink from the pressurized gas. The thixotropic ink in the hermetically sealed and pressurised reservoir is claimed to write for three times longer than a standard ballpoint pen. The pen can write at altitudes up to 12,500 feet (3810 m). The ink is forced out by compressed air at a pressure of nearly 35 pounds per square inch (340 kPa). Operating temperatures range from -50 to 250 degrees Fahrenheit (-45 to 120 degrees Celsius). The pen has an estimated shelf life of 100 years. Monotungsten carbide, WC, or Ditungsten Carbide, W2C, is a chemical compound containing tungsten and carbon, similar to titanium carbide. ... Thixotropy is the property of some non-newtonian pseudoplastic fluids to show a time dependant change in viscosity; the longer the fluid undergoes shear, the lower its viscosity. ... The term hermetically sealed is used to describe something that has an airtight seal. ... Altitude is the elevation of an object from a known level or datum. ... A foot (plural: feet or foot;[1] symbol or abbreviation: ft or, sometimes, ′ – a prime) is a unit of length, in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... The metre or meter is a measure of length. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Fahrenheit is a temperature scale named after the German physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736), who proposed it in 1724. ... Celsius is, or relates to, the Celsius temperature scale (previously known as the centigrade scale). ...

Uses in the U.S. and Russian space programs

There exists a common rumor claiming that because a standard ballpoint pen would not work in zero gravity (which is false^[1]), NASA spent millions of dollars developing the zero-g capable Space Pen, with the humorous note that the Russian space agency opted to simply use pencils.^[2] This has been debunked several times, with proposed reasons such as the danger that a broken-off pencil tip poses in zero gravity and the high flammability of both the graphite and wood present in pencils. In fact, these issues are not a problem, and normal pencils are used in the International Space Station. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an agency of the United States federal government, responsible for the nations public space program. ... This article is about the handwriting instrument. ... Graphite (named by Abraham Gottlob Werner in 1789 from the Greek γραφειν (graphein): to draw/write, for its use in pencils) is one of the allotropes of carbon. ... Trunks A tree trunk as found at the Veluwe, The Netherlands Wood is a solid material derived from woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs. ... International Space Station insignia ISS Statistics Crew: 3 As of June 20, 2007 Perigee: 319. ...

NASA never approached Paul Fisher to develop a pen, nor did Fisher receive any government funding for the pen's development. Fisher invented it independently, and then asked NASA to try it. After the introduction of the AG7 Space Pen, both the American and Soviet (later Russian) space agencies adopted it. Previously both the Russian and American astronauts used grease pencils and plastic slates. Crayola brand crayons A crayon is a stick of colored wax, charcoal, chalk, or other material used for writing and drawing. ... A writing slate is a piece of flat material used as a medium for writing. ...

References in popular culture

• A bullet-style Space Pen is on permanent display at the New York Museum of Modern Art (MOMA).
• The Space Pen was featured on an episode of the American television show Seinfeld.
• The Discworld story The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett describes a spaceflight undergone with Renaissance technology. Amongst the items Leonard of Quirm invents for the flight is a quill pen with a pressurised ink reservoir "to write Upside Down during sojourns in the Void". In reference to the above urban legend, a note on the diagram says "Or invent better pencil".
• In Diane Duane's young adult fantasy novel So You Want to be a Wizard, the main character, Nita Callahan, owns a space pen that becomes not only the catalyst for the central conflict, but also the tool for solving the conflict.
• In an episode of the British Children's Television show, Bob the Builder Mr Bentley loses his prized Space Pen and Bob has to help him find it.

View across garden, in new MoMA building by Yoshio Taniguchi. ... The Pen is an episode from Seinfelds third season. ... Seinfeld is an Emmy Award-winning sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, running a total of 9 seasons. ... Cover of an early edition of The Colour of Magic; art by Josh Kirby Discworld is a comedic fantasy book series by the British author Terry Pratchett set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which are in turn standing on the back of... This article is about the fantasy novel. ... Terence David John Pratchett OBE (born April 28, 1948, in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England[1]) is an English fantasy author, best known for his Discworld series. ... The Renaissance (French for rebirth, or Rinascimento in Italian), was a cultural movement in Italy (and in Europe in general) that began in the late Middle Ages, and spanned roughly the 14th through the 17th century. ... Possible spoiler warning Leonard of Quirm is a fictional character in the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. ... A quill pen is made from a flight feather (preferably a primary) of a large bird, most often a goose. ... Diane Duane (b. ... So You Want To Be a Wizard is the first book in the Young Wizards series currently consisting of eight books by Diane Duane. ... Childrens television shows are television programs designed for and marketed to children, normally aired during the morning and afternoon hours, mainly before and after school. ... Bob the Builder is a childrens television clay character created by Keith Chapman. ...

References

1. ^ Pedro Duque's diary from space (2003-10-23).
2. ^ New Scientist Article (2006-12-20).

• Anthony DeBartolo. "Pen Name: Having perfected the ball-point, Paul Fisher wrote a plan to save the world", Chicago Tribune, 1991-04-28. 

// The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois and owned by the Tribune Company. ...

External links

• Fisher Space Pen Co.
• The Billion Dollar Space Pen
• Legend debunked (Urban Legends Reference Pages)
• Did Biros really revolutionise writing: BBC News 2006-11-23
• NASA Specification for writing instruments 1973-06
• NASA's initial rejection of some of Fisher's claims about the "Space Pen" 1967-10-25
• Considering A Fisher Space Pen? - Solid real-world review and analysis of the space pen