| Fountain pens can be refilled by different methods. In | | | | The eyedropper filler ink pens have the maximum |
| the USA, patents were issued for Button, Click, | | | | capacity to hold ink, with the least capacity attributed |
| Lever, Matchstick and coin methods of refill. All these | | | | to the piston refills pens. The piston sometimes |
| methods were used to put a little pressure and | | | | occupies half of the pen's barrel, leaving less room |
| deflate the sac or internal plate to allow ink to flow in | | | | for holding ink. But the eyedropper method could be |
| and out. The vintage pens may require eyedropper | | | | messy. |
| fillers. There are self-filling pens that have a sac in the | | | | International cartridges of all makes can be used in |
| pens. Upon squeezing the sac, the pen gets filled or | | | | some fountain pens, while others accept only |
| emptied of ink. The latest method is the use of | | | | cartridges of their own brand. There are some |
| cartridges or international cartridges; cartridges are | | | | fountain pens in which a converter cannot be fit. The |
| known as international cartridges because of the | | | | only way to use different ink in these pens is to fill |
| large number of European companies who use them | | | | the cartridge with a syringe. There is a wide range of |
| in the fountain pens. There is also the piston filler. | | | | inks that one can chose from when refilling a pen. Ink |
| This method uses a piston in the pen, which is driven | | | | bottles of different shapes and designs are in the |
| up or down inside the barrel of the pen by twisting a | | | | offering. Fountain pen users store refills to avoid the |
| knob at the end of the pen. Today, most pens use | | | | risk of running out of ink. Some users love the idea |
| piston fillers or cartridges. There are converters that | | | | of refilling a pen cartridge by themselves, even if it |
| can convert the cartridge refill pen to a piston refill | | | | means getting a little messy with ink. |
| one. | | | | |