Fisher Contractor Tool Space Pen
Just like the rest of Fisher's "Space Pens," this model comes with a gas-pressurized cartridge which forces out the ink no matter at which angle you may be writing.
It doesn't even use normal ink, instead containing "thixotropic ink" which has a consistency similar to that of thick rubber cement. The shearing action between the ink and writing ball briefly liquefies the ink allowing it to adhere to hard-to-write-on surfaces like metal and plastic -- or even wet surfaces.That's not what makes this "Contractor Tool" model special—it's the case. Made of ABS plastic, it has a built-in level, reference angles and ruler, and a magnetic case that keeps it from getting away from you as you write lewd messages on a hunk of pig iron.
A Space Pen for the Handyman [Toolmonger]
Update: "Anonymous" adds this great anecdote:
The sample space pen I picked up at a trade show years ago contained an interesting tale. Apparently one night, as Paul Fisher worked on the project, his deceased father appeared to him in a dream, and told him the answer to a sticky technical problem. Paul went back to work armed with this solution... and soon found that it didn't work. Still, he kept trying, and eventually invented the space pen.As I see it, this is instructive in two ways -- 1) Mystical shortcuts are no substitute for perseverance, and 2) Being dead doesn't automatically make you a genius.
And look! Paul's running for President!
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So the pen writes in space...but isn't the level entirely useless in zero G?
This reminds me of a joke I heard once, about the difference between American and Russian space programs...went something like this:
The American space program invested millions of dollars in developing pens that could write in space.
The Russian space program gave their astronauts pencils.
http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp
Nooo! No pencils in space! They aren't used as the tips can break off and are then hazardous in a zero-g environment (think shorting out electrical equipment etc). What would work is a biro. With no gravity you can write at any angle - gravity isn't needed to 'push' the ink to the end, but it can prevent it from getting there if it is opposing the flow.
How did the Russians keep the floating broken off pencil leads from gumming up their spacecraft?
Simple isn't always a better answer.
Of course your joke is just an urban legend, the Fischer space pen was developed over many years, starting before the space program with their own money. It became the "Space Pen" as a marketing ploy, and the pens were given to NASA. The Russians started using the Space Pen as soon as they could get it. Normal pencils can't be used in space, you don't want pencil dust - conductive pencil dust - floating around your spaceship getting into the electrical components or your lungs. Before the fancy pen, they used grease pencils.
Amusingly, it appears that normal unpressurized pens work in space -- stickiness, surface tension, and air pressure is enough to get the ink to continue to wet the ballpoint.
And, again, this gadget promises of imminent failure because of the apparent lack of IS (common, inches!)
I can also testify that the Fisher Space Pen will survive, unharmed, a cycle through a commercial washer and dryer, having found this out firsthand last weekend.
I do not, however, recommend you try this at home.
(I love my fisher space pen)
A bubble level is useless in space.
Oh come on, everybody knows Russian spacecrafts don't use electronic components. Pencil tips can't do any harm!
The sample space pen I picked up at a trade show years ago contained an interesting tale. Apparently one night, as Paul Fisher worked on the project, his deceased father appeared to him in a dream, and told him the answer to a sticky technical problem. Paul went back to work armed with this solution... and soon found that it didn't work. Still, he kept trying, and eventually invented the space pen.
As I see it, this is instructive in two ways -- 1) Mystical shortcuts are no substitute for perseverance, and 2) Being dead doesn't automatically make you a genius.
And look! Paul's running for President!
http://www.spacepen.com/Public/MeetPaulFisher/index.cfm