What is the function of the small hole in the side of some pen caps? I haven't acquired any with said hole but have seen quite a few on pens I have looked at.
Hole in pen caps
- Thread starter drathgeb
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #4
Very interesting. I wonder if it worked as it is a pretty small hole.
Nah, they have been around long before child safety laws were put in place -- most are so tiny you couldn't breathe enough air to survive long. The breather hole lets air in to equalize the pressure quickly as the cap is removed, preventing a vacuum from forming and pulling ink out of the reservoir and into the cap.
The inner cap still seals the feed so it won't dry out, the hole is below or outside the inner cap.
- Thread starter
- #6
That makes sense as it is just slightly larger than a pin hole and on the side of the cap. A world without child safety laws.... how did we ever get this far in evolution with lead paint, sharp corners and cars without seatbelts?
Its truly a miracle we survived. I shudder when I think of all those car rides I took as a child, just sitting there in the front seat....
Anyway, the holes also help with pressure equalization due to changes in altitude.
Front seat? Hell, I used to lay across the back dash on long road trips. Not that most of you young'ns even know what a "back dash" is.
Front seat? Hell, I used to lay across the back dash on long road trips. Not that most of you young'ns even know what a "back dash" is.
No kidding.
My parents had a "back seat bed" for the '57 Buick.
It was a hinged steel panel with a foam mattress that only a sailor could love. The front of the panel had a series of slots in it.
Through these slots hooked a pair of devices that looked like they came from a middle-ages Austrian dungeon.
They were (inverted) "J" shaped steel straps that hooked over the top of the front seat.
The sides of the long part of the "J" were hooked, not unlike a chain saw, and were used to adjust the height of the front of the mattress support.
Of course, once this thing was installed in the car and you were on vacation, there was nowhere to put it other than to remove the hooks and fold the panel in half... so it and the mattress became the new seating surface for the back seat.
The hooks? A child could likely rip their neck open without even being in an accident.
@nemo thanx for that piece of information
Doug, thanks for the information!
