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Laurie
October 7th, 2015, 10:52 PM
I had recently acquired a Parker 51 Aerometric. No real issues until today. I pulled the top off and was about to write and noticed a large blob of ink sitting on top of the hood. I wiped it off and no trouble since. I cleaned the cap and there was a little ink in there. I had the pen in my trouser pocket for a very short time. Am I right in assuming that sometimes if you pull the cap off quickly you can suck some ink out of the collector. The pen hasnt been inked for a while so it would not be an issue of overfilling.

mhosea
October 8th, 2015, 12:56 AM
I don't think you can pull any ink out by pulling the cap off quickly. Hard to say what the cause was. The Aerometric should be fairly resistant, but under some circumstances, I don't doubt that heating can cause a burp, and of course, any sort of impact might do that kind of thing. If it floods while you're using it, I would suspect an air leak somewhere or a hood that needed adjustment, at least. Probably a wait and see thing, I would think.

Laurie
October 8th, 2015, 04:56 AM
Really appreciate your prompt and expert input Mike. Will monitor the circumstances if it occurs again

pajaro
October 8th, 2015, 06:05 PM
On another pen forum it was stated that when filling a P51 aerometric, you should press the bar the recommended number of times and then after pressing the bar down with the section in the ink bottle you should, nay, must, hold the press bar down while withdrawing the section from the ink and only release it after. Purpose being to pull some air into the sac to keep some vacuum effect from causing a burp like what you experienced.

Trouble is that I tried that and the result was only a small amount amount of ink in the sac. What worked better for me was to follow like what Montblanc recommended for their pens in the 1980s. Fill the pen, pressing four or six times on the press bar, take the section out of the ink and then hold the section over the bottle and push three or four drops of ink out. It lets air in, and supposedly prevents ink burps.

I have a nice Parker 51 aerometric pen that I bought new in 1970 and have used since. It is still in great shape. Sometimes I get ink deposited in the cap, and sometimes there is also ink on the section. If I am lucky I notice it before posting the cap and getting ink on the barrel and putting the pen back in my shirt pocket. This stuff happens to me with many of the fountain pens I have used. It's one of the drawbacks of using this kind of pen. It is not impossible that the design of fountain pens is defective and cannot be remedied to absolute perfection. It's too bad, but the present day rollerballs and ballpoints were no doubt invented and perfected to build a better mousetrap.

Laurie
October 9th, 2015, 05:56 PM
Thanks Pajaro, Yes I read that tip about refilling but the pen was only about half full anyway. I thought if you pull a tight cap off quickly you sought of feel a little suction and a pop. Seems logical that there would be a bit of a vacuum there that could suck a little blob of ink out. I have been taking the cap off a bit easier and slower and no problems thus far.

pajaro
October 9th, 2015, 09:20 PM
Usually when I uncap any of my 51s, and any pen with a tight cap, I grip the pen in my hand holding the barrel between fingers and palm, and I use my thumb to push the cap off gently. My reason is just to be gentle with pens. Avoiding a vacuum pop is a good reason, though.

mhosea
October 9th, 2015, 11:31 PM
The hood is acrylic, and the inner cap is acrylic, and the hood just presses into the inner cap, hard plastic abutting hard plastic. It's not "wedged" in there or anything, though there is a slight taper on the inner cap to meet the hood. Still, they will separate instantaneously when uncapping because of the curvature of the hood and the fact that neither has any "give" to speak of. The cap is held on at the clutch ring, but air can flow around the 5 fingers of the clutch, so the clutch ring cannot be very much like a piston head. If you put your ear to it when uncapping it, you may hear a sound that you might think was a vacuum "pop", but I think that's only the sound of the clutch fingers sliding on the clutch ring and then letting go. At any rate, I just tried doing this with an inked 51 aero and there was nothing, no indication that pulling out any ink by yanking off the cap was even possible, no matter how fast. Perhaps it is possible if you are violent enough with the pen body in the process, but you can shake ink out of any fountain pen if you shake it hard enough.

pajaro
October 10th, 2015, 01:28 AM
If a pen drops, ink might get into the cap. If I drop a pen onto the carpet, I'll have to clean it out.

I get little inky messes in the pen cap occasionally, sometimes for no apparent reason. I just figure that I am carrying around a pen with liquid ink and stuff happens. It's the price you sometimes pay for using these pens.

RayCornett
October 27th, 2015, 11:00 AM
Sometimes pulling a cap without a pinhole in it can create suction when pulling it off. Especially if it is a tight cap. Body heat can also sometimes cause ink to rise upwards. Was it nib down in your pocket? If it was a big pocket and you walk a lot or walk fast it can get jossled around just like being shaken.

Flounder
November 3rd, 2015, 03:29 PM
Without knowing more, I would put this down to jostling during walking. Any pocket than your trouser pockets would be better, really.

In a working 51 with no pinholes in the sac etcetera, uncapping the pen shouldn't cause blobs on the hood. The lucite (and celluloid) inner caps inside are vented btw - one of the reasons I wash out caps on first receipt, to clear out old vented ink, but also to make sure the vents are not clogged.

In re: clearing the aero collector after filling - I have not seen Parker instructions advising this. I think folk have extrapolated this from the vacumatic instructions.

Trouble is, one cycle of the vacumatic pump does not equal once press of the aero bar, in terms of volume displacement. Personally speaking, when I fill an Aero, I'm pretty much with Paj. i give the bottle 3 drops back, turn the nib upright, and release the bar.

pajaro
November 4th, 2015, 03:06 PM
In any case, give thanks that the 51 has an effective inner cap which keeps the ink from drying up, unlike many modern pens like Sonnet and Waterman Kultur.

You won't likely have an ink mess in a Sonnet, because it will be dried up. Restarting that sucker is a pestilence. My inked 51s stay moist month after month, making them a more serviceable pen. So, you get a little ink in the cap once in a while. Is it preferable to have the pen dry out?