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Tell HN: My US Government Skillcraft black pen still works

23 points by wankle ↗ HN
It's been almost 30 years since I left the service and my US Government Skillcraft black pen still works. I rarely use it and never changed the cartridge. I guess there is something to be said for MIL-SPEC.

15 comments

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GianFabien
Is that same model that NASA spent millions to develop?
blamazon
> Did it cost taxpayers millions?

> Nope. Paul Fisher at the Fisher Pen Company had already been working on a pressurized pen. That said, it would never have reached the heights it did, in orbit or in popularity, without NASA’s testing. [...]

> When NASA reached out to him looking for a pen that didn’t require gravity, he knew this pressurized ink cartridge could be just the thing – if he could solve the leaks. With NASA’s interest spurring him on, he finally succeeded when he added resin to the ink to make it “thixotropic” – almost solid until friction with the ball at the point of the pen liquefied it. He called the result the AG7, for anti-gravity, and sent several to NASA. [1]

[1]: https://spinoff.nasa.gov/space-pens

Postscript regarding the 'cosmonauts just used a pencil' meme -- regular pencils have a tendency to make graphite dust which is problematic in a zero gravity science situation. Thus, the Soviets used grease pencils in the early days, which were problematic for other reasons, experimented with mechanical pencils just like the US, and once 'space pens' were available they switched to them as well, shortly after the US. [2]

[2]: https://youtu.be/Hq8w97Z9BP0

eternityforest
Those things are the best pens ever for the modern world. Occasionally pen users don't notice when all their cheap ballpoints stop working, because it might be a month between uses. And when you do need one it's always when you're on the phone.

Uniball now has disposable pressurized pens(Power tank) which is awesome.

devwastaken
Mil-spec means the cheapest product that can be mass produced, marketed from a buddy of a guy that makes up the red tape somewhere high up the chain. Certain things are good, in spite of mil spec.
ljf
Military spec doesn't always mean 'better by all measures' too.

Eg some military spec velcro is weaker as it needs to pull apart much more quietly. So it is good at doing that job, but bit if you need it in ace if normal velcro and want to use a normal amount.

shanebellone
"in spite of mil spec" is the most accurate statement here.
MadVikingGod
That is freaking awesome, it's like a refrigerator that still had lead shielding.

I haven't worked for the government for 6 or so years, but the last box of skillcraft I had maybe 3 worked out of the box, and not one made it through annotating a paper. It was so bad that I bought a box of cheap store brand ones for myself so I could take notes.

CobaltFire
The old style hard black plastic with the striped metal collar in the middle took a nosedive in quality about 10 years ago. As another comment mentioned I don’t even get a 50% good rate brand new.

The newer all plastic models are far more similar to what those used to be and I have a few going on 8 or 9 years of off and on use that are great.

sasattack
Every skill craft pen is assembled by blind slaves who in order to receive the social services they require to exist in our society must work in Pen sweatshops

Edit: sorry the slave master approved term is a "sheltered workshop"

wankle
Is this what you were referring to?

https://nib.org/products/

If you feel strongly that people who are blind should not be able to work even if they want to work; please consider writing a blog post and posting on HN.

sasattack
It's not work to be paid pennies on the dollars just to receive the services you require because of society structure. Blind people deserve the right to have real jobs
Jtsummers
That's rather amazing, probably the only one that still does. They have a multi pen (red, black, 5mm pencil) that worked well. But all the other pens and markers they produce are terrible. We had a running gag at an office, tracking how many markers a single meeting might require. Unless we didn't use a marker at all or only wrote the date on the board and nothing else, the average was at least 3 per hour meeting.