Platinum OLEeNU

Platinum OLEeNU Mechanical Pencil Mechanism

Rather than reviewing a mechanical pencil, in this post I’m reviewing a mechanism.

In August 2009 Platinum Pen of Japan announced the release of their OLEeNU range of mechanical pencils. So, what does OLEeNU mean? Well I don’t really know, but the English language version of the Platinum website says “‘OLEeNU’ mean that the lead is not broken easily when you drop off the pencil or take writing.” I’ve also been told that it means “unbreakable”. Anyway, let’s forget about the finer nuances of the translation, the effective meaning of OLEeNU is abundantly clear. It is a mechanism that, amongst other things, claims to significantly reduce lead breakage caused by shock to the pencil, for example if the pencil is dropped to the floor. It essentially does this by having a tube which supports the lead in between the chuck and the sleeve, thus reducing the chance of a lead break between the two. Check it out.

See how the lead is unsupported between chuck and sleeve in this ordinary non-OLEeNU mechanical pencil.

So, personally I don’t have a lot of trouble with this sort of lead breakage, but recently I received a parcel of pencils from overseas and…you guessed it…every single pencil had a broken lead in its tip. The parcel and the pencils were all outwardly undamaged, but clearly somewhere along the way they had taken a right beating. So, OLEeNU popped into my mind. Would OLEeNU mechanisms have made any difference? Time to head on down to the mechanical pencil test laboratory.

Warning:
Movies involving animals frequently carry a disclaimer along the lines of “No animals were harmed in the making of this movie”. Well, I’d like to say “No mechanical pencils were harmed in the writing of this blog post” but that be would a damn lie. The pencils involved in this article were treated harshly and may never recover from their grievous injuries. Those of a delicate disposition or squeamish nature should read no further.

Right let’s get down to business. It’s pretty simple, I’m going to get three mechanical pencils and do bad things to them to see if the lead breaks in their tip and sort out the tough guys from the wussies. The three guinea pigs are


Top to Bottom: Pentel Fiesta, Platinum OLEeNU MOL-200, and Paper Mate Flex Grip Elite.

I loaded each pencil with the same brand of 0.5mm HB lead. I’m not going to say which brand, suffice to say it’s a brand that I don’t think has particularly good strength. Before each test the lead was advanced until it just emerged from the sleeve and then carefully pushed back in so it was flush with the end of the sleeve.
Now then, let the games begin.

I held all 3 mechanical pencils horizontally and dropped them simultaneously onto the concrete floor of the test lab. They hit the deck and bounced freely. A total of five drops were carried out with the drop height randomly varying between “waist high” and “shoulder high”. The results were convincing. The Fiesta lead broke in 4 of the 5 drops, the Flex Grip Elite broke in a different 4 out of 5, and the OLEeNU didn’t break in any of them. I won’t bore you with the details of a few more pencil crash and bangs around the lab because the results are just more of the same. The champion is clear.

I’m the type who takes all these claims of “super new and improved” with a big dose of cynicism, and regard most such claims as little more than marketing department dross. This time though I believe the advertising is true, the product performs as claimed, the lead in an OLEeNU mechanical pencil really “is not broken easily when you drop off the pencil or take writing.” It may not be unbreakable, but it’s getting close.

Platinum Pen Company Interview

Platinum Pen Ltd Interview

I recently made contact with Mr Osamu Fukuoka, International Marketing Manager of Platinum Pen Company of Japan, and he agreed to answer a few questions about Platinum and their products.

Dave - Platinum Pen aren’t particularly well known outside of Asia so some readers of this blog won’t be too familiar with your company. To start with, could you tell us a little about Platinum’s history?

Osamu - Platinum Pen Co was established in 1919 as manufacturer of fountain pen. During 1930’s, Platinum started manufacturing Maki-e fountain pen. Maki-e is the Japanese traditional hand crafting. Also Platinum is the first company to adopt the fountain pen cartridge system. Mechanical pencils were added to range in 1935, multi-pens in 1978.

Dave - And what about Platinum today?

Osamu - Platinum main office is in Tokyo, Japan, and we have two factories in Japan. We also have the factory in Shanghai (China), Shenzhen (China), Taiwan and Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam).

Japan’s factory is making the middle-high end writing instruments; other factories (China, Taiwan, and Vietnam) are making the low writing instrument & OEM products. In Japan we have 250 persons, overseas factory staff total 400.

Dave – I note that compared to many writing instrument companies Platinum seem to have a large selection of multi pens. What is Platinum’s speciality, your strongest product group?

Osamu - Platinum’s main product is fountain pen and multi-function pen. We have good sales of multi function pen in Japan market. Best sale is 3 action multi pen - black & red ball pen with mechanical pencil. Market price JPY 1000 - 3000 model is good sales.


There are lots of multi pen company in Japan. Platinum supply the standard multi pen, also we’re supplying the wood body, leather body, sterling silver body, modern maki-e multi pen etc. We have many multi function pen types, so for that reason we think that we are the leading brand of multi pen in Japan market.

Dave - What sells more in Japan – technical drafting style pencils like the Pro-Use, or general writing style pencils like MOL-500 and A-Pen MAQ-1000?

Osamu - Pencils like Pro-Use MSD series are suitable for drafting, however these item are specialised, our sales of general everyday writing pencils are better sales than MSD series.


Our biggest selling model of pencil is MSIQ-200 series; they are using the soft silicon grip. Price is JPY200, reasonable price. This model is good selling mechanical pencil in Japan market.

Dave – Can you give us some data on the sales ratio of pencils by lead size?

Osamu - We don’t have many mechanical pencils, so our pencils are 90% 0.5mm. The pencil’s standard lead is 0.5mm in Japan market, most everyday writing pencil is 0.5mm. Other size 0.7mm and 0.9mm are not so popular in Japan. This is the same for fountain pen. For example, Japanese prefer fountain pen nib of Fine or Medium size. However European or American market prefer Medium or Broad nib.

Dave - Which countries are your primary market?

Osamu - Platinum’s biggest market is Japan. Our main export market is USA, Korea and Taiwan. USA and Korea’s main exporting products are fountain pen. In Taiwan main exporting items are fountain pen and middle class products. For our pencil sales, 90% is Japan market. USA, Korea & Taiwan are not big.

Dave – Do you have plans to try and expand sales in Europe, America, etc?

Osamu - Our next trying market should be Europe. We think that there is the custom to use the fountain pen in EU market, so we’re trying to expand sales in Europe market.


Platinum main products are fountain pen or multi function pen. Last 20 years main item is multifunction pen instead of fountain pen. We would like to export the multi function pen to overseas market. However in USA or Europe market they are not so popular. We’re thinking how to promote the multi function pen in overseas market. Also regarding the pencils, we’ll try to promote them for overseas market.

Dave – Thanks very much Osamu. I wish you luck with expanding the Platinum brand around the world.

Platinum Hayakawa Mechanical Pencil M-10000B

Platinum Hayakawa M-10000B Mechanical Pencil

You may have read of my recent escapade with the pencil sirens. Well I escaped from beneath their heel with my Mechanica bounty, but my mechanical pencil odyssey wasn’t over. I soon foundered on the fabled Isles of Bundoki where no sooner had I stumbled ashore than I fell easy prey to the charms and delights of a new set of exotic sirens.

I am sure that many of you will be familiar with the story of Tokuji Hayakawa, the founder of the leading electronics company Sharp Corporation, and father of the mechanical pencil industry in Japan. His success can be measured by the fact that in Japan, the name for a mechanical pencil is, a ‘sharp’. Sharp Corporation are no longer involved in the mechanical pencil industry, but Platinum Pen of Japan recently created a tribute pencil to Tokuji Hayakawa. I first read of this pencil on Pencil Talk, and in my siren trance, with it there staring me in the face, I could resist no longer. Now, Platinum’s original tribute pencil was a limited edition (M-10000A?) as shown on Pencil Talk, whereas mine is the follow up M-10000B limited edition - 10,000 pieces at JPY 10,000 recommended retail price. I have read there is a companion ballpoint pen, and that the 10,000 pieces is the combined total of mechanical pencil and ballpoint pens.

There is a metallic finish cardboard outer which protects the simple but impressive wooden display case. The wooden case is uncoated, but sanded smooth. The two halves fit tightly together.

Instructions – it’s all Greek to me - but at least I can read the pictures.

Sterling silver plated brass body. The body is decorated with a chevron type pattern. A modern repetition of an old style.

It feels fairly substantial in the hand - the chevrons and lines encourage your fingers to move around. Exploring, as it were.

Decorated capital on the head of the column.

The 0.5mm lead is advanced by a standard twist top ratchet mechanism. You twist the top cap to activate. A new twist on an old idea? Eraser beneath the top cap. Lead magazine beneath the eraser.

These old style pocket clips are never my favourite, but at least this one maintains some staunch square dignity rather than being pathetically spatulate.

The only markings on the pencil are “P Platinum Japan 0.5”

Now Helen might have been the face that launched a thousand ships, but on my package full of Bundoki treasure there was a good old fashioned ink-stamp, the stamp that launched a…debate with a sockpuppet? It was good to see the stamp in real life.

Some other bounty, treasure, flotsam and jetsam from the Isles of Bundoki and Pencils.jp.

Well, I think my odyssey is finally over. It’s going to take me (and my pencil budget) quite some time to recover from it all. I’m just glad it didn’t finish with me waking up on the floor, looking in the mirror and seeing something like this tattooed on my forehead.