Pilot Capless
The capless fountain pen of 1963: one click, and the gold nib emerges through a trapdoor.
Pilot, founded in Tokyo in 1918, launched the Capless in 1963. It combined a fountain pen’s gold nib with the ballpoint’s click.
A trapdoor at the front stops the ink drying. The pen has been made in several generations, later sold as the Vanishing Point in some markets.
Materials: Metal, gold nib
Manufacture: Industrially made in Japan.
No cap – a push button extends the nib.
The clip sits on the same side as the nib.
A small trapdoor at the front that closes when the nib retracts.
The nib sits right at the front in a cartridge that is pushed forward when the button is pressed. The clip is placed near the nib, so that the nib points upwards when the pen is in the pocket.