How do you fit double the ink into the refill of a ballpen? By twisting the tube into a spiral, that's how. Called the T&T Pen-Ink Chamber, the helical coil fits into any regular pen barrel and sits there for twice as long as a normal refill.
The concept design makes much the refill's reduced environmental impact, claiming that you'll create less plastic waste as you'll be tossing away fewer pens. But what about the refill itself? The normal, skinny refills can be packed close together into shipping boxes, whereas the spiral will take up a lot more space. Still, it's worth it, if only because most people throw away pens when they're empty.
Or do they? I rarely get to finish all the ink in a pen before it breaks. You'll be familiar with the problem: somehow, no matter whether it is stored nib up, nib down or horizontally, the tar-like, bitter-tasting* ink will slowly creep up the tube until it reaches the top, and it will then stickily ooze into the barrel of the pen itself. This is what needs to be fixed. Putting more ink into a spiral tube is just loading up more ink to be wasted later.
Spiral Makes a Difference [Yanko]
*No. I don't remember how I know what the ink tastes like. I just know.
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