Fisher Space Pen Co.

    By Art Nadler

    Nothing is more irritating than trying to write with a ballpoint pen that skips, makes an anemic-looking line or fails to work in cold and hot weather.

    That won't happen with Fisher Space Pens.

    These pens are really scientific wonders - something out of this world - literally. That's because NASA officials make sure each astronaut carries a Fisher pen tucked in his or her spacesuit. Even the Russian cosmonauts use them.

    Paul Fisher of Boulder City, NV., invented the pens in the early 1960s. He founded the company in 1948 to make ballpoint pens. Fisher had previously worked for Milton Reynolds, the man who introduced ballpoint pens to Americans in 1945.

    Fisher came up with the idea of sealing a ballpoint pen cartridge and pressurizing it, so ink wouldn't be exposed to the elements of extreme heat and cold in Outer Space. He also developed a patented ink formula of synthetic resins that was thick in texture, but would flow freely when stirred by the movement of the ballpoint pen's rolling ball.

    "In 1965, when man had started to fly into Outer Space, I thought, `They will need a pen with a sealed, pressurized ink cartridge, so that it can be used in the boiling heat and vacuum of Outer Space..."

    Fisher's invention revolutionized the ballpoint pen industry. The ink cartridge's ability to withstand boiling heat of 250 degrees Fahrenheit and extreme cold of minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit was astonishing.

    Today, at 86 years of age, Fisher remains active in the everyday activities of the Fisher Space Pen Co., located on top of a hill at 711 Yucca St. in Boulder City, NV. He keeps an apartment above his factory and frequently comes down to experiment with new inks, or to make adjustments on the 25- and 40-year-old machines that spit out some 30,000 ballpoint refills a day.

    "I still try to work 60 hours a week,'' Fisher says while giving a visitor a tour of the machine shop and ink department. "I may be prejudice, but I think we make the best pen. And I'm not the only one.''

    In fact, a well-known German company that manufactures refills for the Mont Blanc pen company came to his factory and offered to buy his ink, but he wouldn't sell. They were impressed with its ability to not smear or ooze out the tip of the ballpoint.

    "Our inks will actually withstand 400 degrees Fahrenheit,'' Fisher says with a smile. "The only problem is that the blue turns to green at that temperature, but the blacks have no problem."

    Besides the pressurized cartridge and special inks, Fisher says what makes his pens so unique are the tungsten carbide ball and socket. Peering through a high-powered microscope, Fisher points out that the edge of the socket holding the ballpoint is beveled. This allows the ball to always touch the paper's surface, even when held at an angle, so the ink continuously flows.

    These innovative designs enable the space pens to write longer, upside down and more evenly, Fisher says. And two new designs, the Millennium and Mars Pens, never need a refill. The Millennium model is guaranteed to write for more than 30 miles, or the equivalent of 80 years.

    The Mars pens are guaranteed to write satisfactorily until mankind sets foot on the planet Mars, Fisher Space Pen Co. advertisements proclaim.

    "We are the official pen of the U.S. Ski Team," says Morgan Fisher, vice president and Paul's son. "We give 10 percent of the proceeds from each pen to the ski team. We are the official pen of the Thunderbirds (Air Force aerobatic team), and also the official Star Trek pen."

    Morgan Fisher says the company did approximately $10 million in gross sales worldwide in 1999. The company produces a line of 30 pens and is constantly adding new models. The latest, called the World Peace Pen, sports a globe-like fixture on top that when turned exposes the ballpoint.

    The pen will be given to anyone who promotes world peace and harmony, Paul Fisher says. Currently, the Fisher Space Pen Co. employs 80 people at its facility located 25 miles southeast of Las Vegas.

    "I work as a team,'' Paul Fisher says. "No individual is smart enough to run a pen company by himself. I come up with 90 percent of the ink here, but I never make ink without consulting two or three assistants. First you need an open mind, and then you need all the experience around that you can get."

    As an interesting footnote, the Fisher Space Pen not only has the distinction of being the first pen carried to the moon, but also the first and only pen used to rescued a NASA spacecraft.

    When Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were preparing to leave the moon's surface in July 1969, one of them accidentally bumped and broke the arming switch to the rocket engines. It looked like they would not be able to start the engines because they had thrown out all their tools and excess gear in order to lessen the load at liftoff.

    Mission Control in Houston suggested that the Fisher Space Pen they were carrying be used to activate the switch. Aldrin was able to successfully reach the inner workings of the switch with his pen, and the astronauts were able to blast off and join astronaut Michael Collins for their long journey home.

    In the annals of space-travel history, that little feat was definitely something to write home about.

    For more information, contact the Fisher Space Pen Co., 711 Yucca St., Boulder City, NV. 89005-1905. Phone: (702) 293-3011. Fax: (702) 293-6616.

    Web Site: www.spacepen.com