Pen Cap, Lid or Top?

[Rob Houghton]

Lol! Well, this certainly got people talking!

[Wolfgang]

I wouldn't be surprised if she had had the chance to answer the question, she'd have answered that she didn't use it because she didn't know the right expression either .

[Anita Bensoussane]

From the first chapter of The Mystery of the Secret Room:

"I think we ought to find a better name," said Fatty, putting the cap back on his fountain-pen.

[Courtenay]

I wouldn't be surprised if she had had the chance to answer the question, she'd have answered that she didn't use it because she didn't know the right exprerssion either .

From the first chapter of The Mystery of the Secret Room:

"I think we ought to find a better name," said Fatty, putting the cap back on his fountain-pen.

Hooray, that settles it! Well spotted, Anita.

[sixret]

True. Thank you, Anita. We can depend on you to find the phrase for the right usage.

[Fiona1986]

I asked Ewan a minute ago and he immediately said "lid" in the sort of tone that suggested it was a silly question, and there could be no other answer must be a Scottish thing.

[Fiona1986]

Ok I've also asked Stef and she has gone for lid also. We are a growing minority!

[Pippa-Stef]

I want to ask you all a bit of a silly question, for research purposes, as I'm not sure what to call - this -



is it a 'cap' a 'lid' or a 'top'? Or maybe you call it something else?

I particularly would like to know if anyone remembers what Enid called it, if she ever mentioned one in a book?

Help appreciated!

I think she maybe called it a Top in one of the school series. I'd probably call it a Lid.

[Katharine]

Just asked my parents (without any options, so as not to sway their answer) and one said 'lid', the other said 'top'.

I think I'd probably go for cap or lid myself. A pen top immediately makes me think of some novelty fruit and vegetable shapes that were all the rage back in the 1970s to put onto of pencils.

[Courtenay]

I would say "cap", but I'm Australian.

[Rob Houghton]

From the first chapter of The Mystery of the Secret Room:

"I think we ought to find a better name," said Fatty, putting the cap back on his fountain-pen.

Thanks Anita! That settles it then - 'cap' it is!

[Daisy]

Phew!

[Rob Houghton]

It made me smile to see this topic now has its own thread, lol!

[Katharine]

I think it's great that this question has a liddle thread of it's own. However I've got confused, so can we re-cap, as I can't work out which suggestion came out top?

[Moonraker]

As I said earlier, it is definitely a cap! I used to be a staff trainer in W H Smith's and held several sessions concerning fountain pens. The Parker 45 (the cap Rob provided looks very much like a 45) could be unscrewed into all of its parts - except for the clip!

I have looked online to see if i can find a diagram showing the parts, and this is quite a good one.



As well as using the more convenient ink cartridges (albeit a very expensive way of buying ink), there were one or two ways of filling the pen. A small lever on the barrel would fill the sac with ink, sometimes there was a plunger, and Parker even used a capillary action filling at one point. You just dipped the pen into the ink bottle, and it would fill itself!