So here is something you would never have thought could be a item of contemplation. Separating the cap of a pen from the barrel to allow us to write. Simple. We talk about removing the cap, yet for many of us it is actually the opposite. We remove the body.

Now, like most/all of you I had never thought about this until I saw a circle of ink in the transparent cap of one of my pens. My instincts told me it was from the pen being carried around but then I noticed how I removed the cap. The thing is we hold the barrel with our dominant hand, after all we’re about to write with the pen. Imagine my surprise when I realised I actually held the cap firmly in place with my off hand and rotated the body. Being a threaded cap/pen, I was enlightened to the fact I was actually spinning the body to remove it and this was the result of the ink splatter inside the cap. It was 100% my fault.

Cap Types

So let’s look a little deeper in to this. There are three main types of cap fitting mechanism, all old or ancient in design. These are threaded, click/pull, and hook lock. I will cover each and I challenge you to find a pen in each category, remove and replace the cap, and then watch as you repeat the process a few times.

Threaded Cap

Most higher end pens come with screw threads. Some people do not like too many full rotations, no more than one to two. Others, such as me, are not so bothered. Arguably this form of closure produces the better seal. Almost certainly you will keep the cap in place with your off hand (especially if there is a clip) and rotate the body with the other.

One thing I have noticed is my body turning speeds up as a I proceed, so a short thread results in a slow turn, where as a long thread results in me starting to spin the body after a short while. Impatience to get the removal complete? I do not know. Certainly threads where the cap takes more than one rotation to be removed do result in this behaviour from me with the result being screw threaded pens are where I most see ink splatter.

Click/Pull Cap

There are a few high end manufacturers who use this mechanism such as Pineider and Yard-O-Led, plus a few who use it for their flagship models, such as Lamy with the 2000, however most pens where you pull the cap off are at a lower price point.

I find there are two ways I remove these caps. The first, where there is a very tight fit (and I know it is a pull cap) I will initially use the same amount of force with each hand until the vacuum/grip is broken and then complete with my dominant hand. For all others I noticed I actually place the thumb and forefinger of my dominant hand on the cap and use the lower half to pull the body away. If this sounds weird just try and watch yourself. Certainly before I started this article I assumed I just grabbed and pulled the body with finger and thumb of my right hand. The net result for me is I am actually quite gentle when it comes to opening pens with this cap type, so little to no ink splatter.

Hook Lock

I can hear now various Visconti fans shouting that this is proprietary to this brand and protected by copyright. Plain matter of fact is this mechanism was being used by the Chinese and Greeks over a millennia ago and as such any other maker would probably have little issue with using it if they were willing to set up the manufacturing process, however I suspect they would not. I personally see this mechanism as little more than a gimmick. It does work and is a quick mechanism to use, but it is not a great seal and there is a fine margin between a tightly closed pen and a cap that is near impossible to remove. Also I too many times have put a Visconti in a jacket pocket, put that down, and on picking up the jacket found the pen body at the bottom of the pocket having opened itself under its own weight.

With this type of closure I find myself using my main hand to push the body into the cap and then rotate the body, with my off hand keeping the cap in place. This is both when removing and replacing the cap. Net result is a lack of ink splatter.

Worse Offender and Summary

For me, as you will note above, I really only get ink splatter with the screw cap. It is the effect of spinning the body after half to one turn. With a pull cap I tend to use my thumb and forefinger to carefully prize the cap and body apart at the initial stage, and thus no need to pull hard. With the hook lock mechanism there is too short a movement for me to ‘create splash’.

So having read this, what do you do ? I now deny any resultant loss of sleep is nothing to with this article ….