Camlin Trinity Fountain Pen-a handsome pen

I had written in one of my earlier posts that I had visited this town called Malappuram in Kerala …and the most pleasant surprise was finding a Camlin Trinity fountain pen on the first day of my visit itself…

Camlin is a long-standing pen and ink and other stationery manufacturing company in India and makes inexpensive fountain pens…and for most of us the first fountain pen that we got to use was usually Camlin…and many of us also have lots of memories of our first Camlin FPs…

I had seen a photo of Trinity pen in the Camlin website and from among the fountain pens featured in the website, this was the most good looking and the most expensive (Rs.70/-; around 1½ dollars) (of course, I didn’t know that Camlin had already brought out their signature pen called ‘SD’ in honour of their founder Sharad Dandekar which costs Rs.600). I couldn’t find this pen in the big pen stores that I usually visit in Hyderabad, and therefore it was a nice surprise to see this pen in Malappuram. It must have been a left-over pen or a never-bought pen because of its price considering the size of the town. Anyway, I bought this pen and the pen looked really good for its price. And the cardboard box in which it was housed said, ‘FIRST TIME IN INDIA: 3-IN-1 INK FILLING MECHANISM.’ Ink can be filled through a convertor (comes along with the pen), or a cartridge can be used or the pen can also be used as an eye . This could be the reason why it is called ‘Trinity.’

Looks-wise and considering its cost, the Trinity looks really good with a brushed steel cap and a black plastic body. Cost-wise, I would grab the pen just as I did as soon as I saw it. The most interesting part is the clip, which is gold coloured and not very wide. The clip originates from the centre of the upwardly tapering cap and kind of flows down till just above the company and model name engraved at the cap lip…like a tuft of hair flowing down from the top of a shaven head…the name Camlin and TRINITY are engraved at the cap lip.

Once the pen is uncapped, you see gold coloured trimmings at the neck of the section…and a gold coloured nib…the nib doesn’t have a hole (kind of an 'eyeless' nib...I got this tip from a fellow FP enthusiast on FPN) , though there is a faint circular indentation at the end of the slit on the nib…the nib itself is smallish and is curved on both sides half embracing the feeder…only half of the feeder can be seen and it has got horizontal fins running around the feeder (this kind of feeder has a technical name, I am sure). A gold coloured ring forms the border between the section and the barrel…this ring is not fixed, and therefore comes loose whenever the barrel is opened. The pen has a snap cap. It is 5 ½ inches capped; close to 6 inches posted; and close to 4 ½ inches uncapped.

I filled the convertor with Sheaffer Skrip Black ink. The nib is tipped ‘fine’ and lays down a fine wet line while writing with a hint of writing whisper. The nib is not ‘butter’ smooth, but is not scratchy either. The flow is smooth and looks like the feeder is functioning well. I wouldn’t take back points for lack of ‘butter’ smoothness. It is a really good, inexpensive and handsome pen for everyday use...