Giardino Italiano – Blog

Its name is  Smartouch, and it’s absolutely innovative. Completely designed, developed and built inside Visconti laboratories, with their own machineries, in two years of studies and tests.

It’s been ages since nibs have the same shape and functionality. Maybe slightly different in models and decorations, but basically the nib is always the same.

Visconti changed it; and at the same time fixed several problems that seemed unfixable:
1) Ink dries up and blocks the feeder. Unavoidable event, unless you take care everyday with use, rinsing, cleaning, etc.

2) Price. Gold increased so much that a medium-level fountain pen doubles its price, with a gold nib.
3) Dirty filling:  nib, section, fingers, mainly when the inkpot is half-empty..
4) The pen should be used  angled at 45°, otherwise it writes with difficulty.

Here is the Visconti solution:

a tubular nib that wraps the feeder and delays the drying, made in Chromium 18, much more inexpensive than gold, equipped with a nice device for sucking even the last drop of ink, easy and  clean, and that allows even to write vertically.

And more: it’s beautiful, and modern.

Smartouch Tubular Nib

Its special shape is turned from a capillary tube in Chromium 18 that wraps closely around the feed and can delay the drying; it means a longer resistance to evaporation, respect to a traditional nib, in uncapped position; and better start even after long time of the pen capped.
Chromium 18 allows a such precise machining that the tolerance is <0.001 mm, and its resistance to corrosion is the highest available in metals.

Moreover, being the fountain pen often used like a ballpen (much more vertical than the classic fountain pen position at 45°), the inclination of the tip has been modified, for broadly extending its range of use and helping newbies.

Its unique design makes it absolutely desirable from anybody who loves modern art; and its new decoration is completely different from other traditional nibs’ one.

Snorkel

From its name you can tell its use: it’s a brilliant device for filling the pen, not even dipping the nib in the ink.
Thanks to the Snorkel, you can easily fill your pen even in case of little ink left in the bottle, by holding  the pen outside the inkpot! Easy to use, too:

• Place the tubular nib with the writing tip facing the mark in the snorkel.
• Gently press the snorkel until it touches the pen section.
• Fill the pen according to the instructions.
• Gently pull out the snorkel with a straight movement. Do not unscrew.
• Wipe the nib as usual.
• The snorkel has residual ink inside it, so you may wish to rinse it with clear water.

Warning :

• Always place the fountain pen nib pointing at the mark in the snorkel. Do not reverse or angle it.
• Never unscrew the snorkel, only pull it out. Unscrewing it will remove the nib and feed from the section

This short video, made by Visconti, clearly shows the procedure:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tISWwnxqFmI?rel=0]

So far, the Smartouch tubular nib has been mounted in these two pens, forecasted for the end of September:

Opera Typhoon, in blue resin with light blue veins, double reservoir filling system:

and Opera Crystal, in transparent resin, with double reservoir filling system as well:

Booking Promotion

Book now an Opera Crystal or an Opera Typhoon; with a small down-payment (40 €), you’ll get the precedence in shipping and a certain choice of nib; and you don’t have to pay the full amount in advance.
To thank you, we’ll give you a discount equal to your down-payment.
In fact, at the order, we’ll deduct the double of what you paid at booking.

The promotion is valid only until actual availability of the pen, scheduled for the second half of September.

.

Susanna Buffo

Giardino Italiano

www.giardino.it 

Tags: chromium nib, Mosquito, Opera Crystal, Opera Typhoon, Smartouch, Snorkel, tubular nib, Visconti