The Trinity - 3 nib, 3 feed fully working fountain pen.

Long story short. Some big company recently made a fountain pen that can switch 4 colors for a simple fountain pen nib and feed and sold it at an astronomical price thinking there is a "technological breakthrough". I will like to think otherwise. While I could appreciate the effort, I couldn't understand the profit. Thus, I challenge to prove myself right.

Within 2 weeks that I am left with, i made a total of 10 different working prototypes. Each prototype is based on different number of nibs it can take and the mechanism used. The number of nibs are 3,4,5 and 6. I stopped at 6 nibs because i cannot find any sane reason for having more than 6 nibs in a pen. The mechanism used are bolt-action, rotating barrel and automatic. They simply means the same thing as in guns : bolt action rifle, rotating barrel magnum and automatic pistol.

To aid explanation, i will just call my nib and feed unit as "the nib".

To make things clearer,

Mechanism code :

Type 1 : bolt-action - pen user is required to manually switch the nib.

Type 2 :  rotating barrel - the nib is stored in a rotating barrel. the nib will be rotated to the loading barrel and pushed out by the user. the old nib will be retracted (not extracted) into the barrel via a backward action first. Nib and feed are loaded via the rear of the barrel.

Type 3:  automatic - the nib is stored in a parallel fashion. loading is done via a magazine method, except they can be stored in 2x2 or 2x3. to load, position the nib to the barrel and push it out.the old nib will be retracted (not extracted) into the barrel via a backward action first. Nib and feed are loaded via the rear of the magazine.

Note that different nibs are used. Pilot, platinum, parker, sheaffer are just a few that I can remember. The key isn't the nib, it is the construction.

Type 2 and Type 3 are extremely complicated in terms of construction. A lot of special parts are made to cater to its mechanism. To be honest, some new feeds are created for type 2 and type 3, with a very special feed where it can automatically remove small clogging due to dangerous mixture of inks specifically for a type 3 model. It isn't rocket science actually. This feed can revolutionized the fountain pen world though and push it forward by 10 years. but well, let's just take things slow and steady.

The coding structure is as such {number of nibs}-{mechanism}. Thus:

3-1 - code name : Trinity. using preppy nibs only.

3-2 - .

3-3 - .

4-1 - .

4-2 - .

4-3 - .

5-1 - .

5-2 - .

5-3 - .

6-3 - code name : Infinity.

I will be releasing Trinity only. The other 9 prototypes will be stored in my vault and only released after a couple of years. As mentioned, I am going to be bounded by the law that my discoveries and inventions are the property of those who feed me, and i don't really like copyrights. And no, I am not working for any pen company. So either they will be revealed later, or someone who inherits my vault will do so. If that person knows how to read the manual in the pen...

Lastly, I don't make designs on paper. Everything is conceived in my head in 3D, calculated and assembled in there, like an inbuilt autocad system. Only the prototypes are made. So, either the prototypes are left behind, or not.

The Trinity 

 The name is given in honour of my maker (Father, Son, Holy Spirit - The Holy Trinity), whom gave me the wisdom, courage and strength to create this first prototype, that would give rise to the other 9 prototypes. 

This is a 3 nib and feed fountain pen. The first in the world I believe. Measured 15 cm cap to cap. A mere 1.5cm in width. It is a normal sized pen. placed side by side with a twsbi-AL.
 

13 cm measured for the internal pen.

All 4 sides

The nib unit. This uses the preppy nib and a specially created ink reservoir. As preppy nibs come in EF gold plated, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.5, you can choose any 3 to fit into this pen. And that the reservoir is different means you can load any ink, any ink of your choice, be it brand, color, type, pigment etc. it is just a unit of its own. This reservoir acts like a rubber sac and can be used to suck ink up, thus doubling as as converter. However, i prefer to use it as an eyedropper mode instead. cleaner and simpler.




















Testing with water first for leakages. Nope.












Making sure the depth of the pen cap is calculated for :













 The full dis-assembly:

 How it works:
 Front nib extraction. This shows why it is a "bolt-action". You can extract the nib full unit by "pushing" it out.

Rear nib storage extraction.

 And finally, writing with it.

Some initial photos of the pen before its external structure is beefed up.