Visconti SmarTouch Tubular Nib
Visconti SmarTouch Tubular Nib
VISCONTI Tubular Nib & Snorkel filler
“There is anybody old enough to remember the last nib that was substantially different from those that usually are fitted in pens?” This is a question that is hard to answer.
For over 10 years during the nineties we have seen the rediscovery of the world of fountain pens, the great era of limited editions and incredible creations of unique pens. For over 10 more years , during the third millennium, we have seen a great consolidation of new pens with nice designs , new materials and even with retractile nibs.
For some mysterious reasons we have never seen a new nib design , any device that was really different from the classic nib shape.
Year 2010 is marked from a real innovation in writing when Visconti applied the Palladium material in 950 grade to a classical nib shape with unique features of flexibility that was called Dreamtouch.
Visconti was not yet satisfied from the world success of the Dreamtouch and, from the creative genius of Dante Del Vecchio, the company started to develop a brand new writing tool: the tubular nib.
The original idea was to simply wrap the feed with a nib, to create a piece of modern art that Visconti called : SmarTouch.
The technical problems to solve were many starting from the lamination, the nib has numerous different thicknesses, to its own flexibility, nib tipping and writing pleasure. The key point in a tubular nib is why to make it in such unusual shape? The tubular nibs pretend to insulate the feed from surrounding air sealing it from evaporation : in one word it means a longer resistance to evaporation in uncapped position and better start even after long time of the pen capped.
No need to say that its unique design makes it absolutely desirable from anybody who loves modern art. Such incredible nib has required a material that we wanted to be at highest technical level : Chromium 18.
Chromium 18 is available in such precise measurement that the tolerance is < 0.001 mm, and allows a very precise machining while its resistance to corrosion is the highest available in metals.
To spread the use of the pen to a wider number of people Visconti has modified the inclination of the point so the nib writes correctly even if the pen is hold in vertical position.
After having designed such masterpiece Visconti has designed the perfect companion of the tubular nib : the Snorkel Filler. We like the idea to fill the pen without dipping the nib into the ink and without using the lousy cartridges.
The SmarTouch nib is able to refill the pen by dipping only the tip into the ink, but to make the filling even easier and clean, the complimentary Snorkel Filler allows easy fills even in case of little ink left in the bottle by holding the pen outside the ink pot !
