Standard cartridge?

[Saintpaulia]

I recently purchased and just today received a L'Plume pen from the U.K. The seller described the pen very well except in the case of the filler system. He said that it takes "a standard cartridge". What does this mean? I have heard of an international standard short cartridge, but this pen is really big (144 mm long; 13.5 mm diameter barrel) and it seems to me that a standard short cartridge would look funny in it. Are there other interpretations to "standard cartridge"? Thanks, Breck

[ilangai]

The "Standard Cartridge" (aka "International Cartridge" or "European Cartridge") refers to the insert part of the cartridge. The length (Short-38mm,0.75ml | Long-72mm,1.45ml) depends on the size (length) of the specific pen.

[Saintpaulia]

Thank you! That makes sense. Now to find some place with long standard cartridges!
At Goulet's website they advertise a standard international ink cartridge, but there is only one kind made by Pelikan. This one is called T/6 & they look like the short to me. No mention at all of a long, as if that didn't even exist. I will need to do some more searching...

[Saintpaulia]

Well after 30 mins. of looking everywhere, I don't ever see any ink cartridges advertised as "standard long cartridges". They are just called "standard cartridges", no long or short about it. I've looked on ebay, penboutique, ipenstore, jetpens, you name it.

[ilangai]

If you have a "Big" pen, consider getting a converter which let you choose your inks (bottles) and have better capacity.
An example for one you can get here (http://www.amazon.com/bluRAFIA-Schmidt-K5-Fountain-Converters/dp/B002FCLMTO/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1362725627&sr=8-15&keywords=ink+converter+standard).

*Don't forget to check that the converter is a standard piston-style converter.

[Tracy Lee]

I am all for converters myself, but I have "long" standard cartridges from Levenger. You are limited in colors but they are about twice the size.

[snedwos]

If you can only find short cartridges, one thing you can often do is put a spare cartridge in the barrel underneath the installed one.

[Saintpaulia]

If you have a "Big" pen, consider getting a converter which let you choose your inks (bottles) and have better capacity.
An example for one you can get here (http://www.amazon.com/bluRAFIA-Schmidt-K5-Fountain-Converters/dp/B002FCLMTO/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1362725627&sr=8-15&keywords=ink+converter+standard). *Don't forget to check that the converter is a standard piston-style converter. ilangai

I am all for converters myself, but I have "long" standard cartridges from Levenger. You are limited in colors but they are about twice the size. Tracy Lee

Thank you both for your answers. Those converters are certainly cheap enough even with the $4.50 shipping. And the long stds. run about $7 all told so similar. I was hoping to find something even less in cost since I am not even sure I want to keep this pen. It was one of those 'ebay moments'. :) No one was bidding on it and it was going for like $4! And it looked pretty nice too! So being a sucker for a "deal" I got it. It's a monster and doesn't write well at all, yet. Not very good flow or something. The distance betw. the nib's tines is perfect so it's not that. The tipping looks new and generous. So it is either the feed or the ink. Again this is that arcane L'Plume, supposely "made in England". Or put together in England from Chinese parts?

[caribbean_skye]

I thought I had some empty international long cartridges but I don't. You can try the Pelikan ones you mentioned, I think jetpens has both the long and the short, however neither specifically say "long" or "short".

Here's the link for the long ones in blue.... http://www.jetpens.com/Pelikan-GTP-5-Fountain-Pen-Refill-Cartridge-Long-Royal-Blue/pd/5669