A long time ago, in an auction win far, far away… I had a pen/pencil lot that turned up a curious oddity. It’s a very simple “elongated bullet” style design, with a twist deployment. No branding on it anywhere. The writing end uses a D1 type refill with screw knob at the back end. The mechanism is nicely firm and feels luxurious. And when the tip is deployed there’s a soft detent felt. Upon retraction? There’s a curious 2 mm “rise” before descending back into the opening. It’s almost “artful” in a way.
But the weird thing is the back end. There’s this “braided” fibrous thing installed. It has a dedicated screw mounting. And it deploys with a twist action, just like the ballpoint end.
So this raises a few questions:
- Is this “braided fibrous” end actually a broken mechanism, where this was an inner part of it… and the outer piece was lost?
- If this fibrous thing is intended to be as-is… what’s the purpose? It almost looks like it might be used to brush away debris on paper. But I’d expect that needed only for mechanical pencils.
ANSWER: The fibrous braid is a capacitive stylus. This is actually a common implement for touch screens that leaves virtually no scratches even after long periods of use.
The pen itself may have been a promotional one. There is no branding anywhere. Also the stylus screw mounting is rather long compared to others available today, so it may be a long retired pen.
