Editor's note: Este artículo está traducido al español.
The Fisher Space Pen factory in Boulder City is marking 50 years in Southern Nevada.
The company — known for its iconic pen that writes everywhere from outer space to underwater — originally operated out of Chicago and Van Nuys, Calif., before relocating to Boulder City in 1976.
“This is now the mothership, where we reside, and it’s home,” said Matt Fisher, vice president at Fisher Space Pen Co. and grandson of founder Paul C. Fisher. “Home is Boulder City. Home is Clark County.”
The Fisher Pen Company, as it was originally called, launched following World War II with its first chrome bullet space pen — a ballpoint that’s unique industrial design makes it the company’s leading seller to this day and earned it a permanent spot in the Museum of Modern Art, Matt Fisher said.
By the time of NASA’s tragic Apollo 1 mission in the late 1960s, Paul Fisher had determined there was a need for a nonhazardous, functioning writing instrument in all environments — including space.
“He was always perfecting things,” Matt Fisher said. “And he’d go crazy if he didn’t develop something worthwhile. And so, with a million of his own dollars — no commercial investment whatsoever … he finally developed the first sealed and pressurized ink cartridge that would write upside down, no need for gravity, writes at any angle, extreme temperatures, boiling, freezing cold, writes through grease, dirt, grime, anywhere and everywhere.”
Around the same time, he said, NASA was trying to find an alternative to pencils because graphite could flake off in zero gravity and be hazardous to astronauts. The two eventually made a connection.
“He says, ‘Where the hell have you been?’” Matt Fisher said of his grandfather. “‘I have exactly what you need.’”
The pen made its space debut in 1968 aboard Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, and has continued to be a mainstay in space flight in America and beyond ever since, Matt Fisher said.
The company found its new home at its facility in Boulder City less than a decade after that first space flight. The town was the right choice of location for Fisher Space Pen because real estate was cheaper, the space industry was developing and the region — including Las Vegas down the road — was still up and coming, said Eric Bond, head of sales and marketing at the company.
“Being based in Clark County gives us great access to transportation, logistics, tourism and a strong workforce, while still maintaining the close-knit community feel that fits our company culture well,” Matt Fisher said in an email.
Fisher, who has been volunteering or working at the factory since he was a kid, said the company values its employees and many of them have such a long tenure at the factory that they held him when he was a baby.
Some have been at the Boulder City site since the business first moved there 50 years ago, he said.
“We really hold on to our people,” said Fisher, whose father, Cary Fisher, is the company’s president. “We believe in long-term partnerships and understanding, and treat everybody with respect and dignity. My dad and I both still know everybody on a first-name basis.”
There are generations of employees at Fisher Pen, he said, citing the example of a grandma, daughter and grandson who all work at the factory.
“It’s a really beautiful family business — not just the ownership, but throughout the company,” he said. “And we’re really proud of that.”
He believes Fisher Space Pen shares its core values of long-term growth, interconnectedness regionally and reliable long-term partnerships with its fellow business owners in Clark County, Fisher said.
There’s “respect and dignity all around” for employees across the region, Fisher said, to which he attributed the retention of workers in Southern Nevada long term.
“I truly feel like it’s a community here, both in Boulder City, Henderson and Las Vegas, where business owners look out for one another and look out for the community and how we can support the community,” he said. “And I see that on a yearly basis.”
He’s proud that Fisher Space Pen has been able to provide long-term manufacturing jobs locally and contribute to the economy for decades, Fisher said. The company, too, takes a lot of pride in providing a home for employees and keeping manufacturing and craftsmanship in Southern Nevada.
“We’re incredibly grateful to have called Boulder City and Clark County home for the last 50 years,” he said in an email. “We’ve always appreciated the support from the community, employees and local partners who have continued our growth as a globally recognized brand.”
As it marks 50 years in Boulder City, Fisher Space Pen is celebrating another milestone anniversary: that of the patent for Paul Fisher’s sealed and pressurized ink cartridge, which was filed 60 years ago in 1966.
Most pens rely on gravity for ink flow, but Fisher Space Pens are sealed and pressurized, so no matter the angle or extreme environment one is writing, as soon as pressure is applied to the point, it can write, Matt Fisher said.
“You can leave it in your car for 50 years, and … it won’t dry up, it won’t leak out all over your shirt,” he said. “So it’s dependable. We’re in a digital age these days, so pens aren’t used as frequently as they used to be. But as I mentioned, if you’re going to need a pen once in a blue moon, it should be a space pen, because it’ll last you a lifetime.”
Paul Fisher didn’t necessarily invent the Fisher Space Pen exclusively for astronauts, Bond said. He was in pursuit of creating the best ink writing instrument possible. The sealed and pressurized ink cartridge just also happened to work without gravity in outer space, he said.
“People always say, ‘Well, I don’t know the next time I’m going to go to space,’” Bond said. “‘So why do I need a space pen?’ And the reality is the pen also works on Earth and is one of the best writing experiences on the planet, with very little fail rating, very little inconsistencies.”
The pen was invented infusing nitrogen and thixotropic viscoelastic ink into ballpoint pen technology, Bond explained.
“Instead of needing gravity to pull the ink out of the pen, it uses nitrogen and that ballpoint technology to push the ink out of the pen, thus not requiring gravity,” he said.
The space pen is not limited by its name, and is used by military, law enforcement, outdoor enthusiasts, journalists, tradesmen and more, Fisher said.
“There’s always going to be a need for the written form of language — the written form of note taking and studying,” Bond said. “And I think as we pursue the skies and the endeavor of space travel and traveling between universes, potentially, there’s going to be a need for a reliable writing instrument.”
Many of the longtime pens produced at Fisher Space Pen have largely stayed the same in terms of design, with some improvements for functionality, Fisher said.
“But what you see is pretty much exactly what you got that long ago,” he said. “And the fact we’re still going strong, and these are still very popular designs, I think speaks to the timelessness of the product and the quality and reliability of its performance.”
The company is still innovating, however, he said. Most recently, it offered a special-edition Artemis Space Pen that Fisher said sold out before the launch of NASA’s Artemis II mission in April.
A legacy, vintage and historical brand that is family-owned and operated and has been around for nearly 80 years has its growing pains, Bond admitted, and Fisher has had to adapt with the times.
Some ways it does so is by partnering with major players in the space industry, and also making the outside of the pen as versatile as the inside, he said, by adding measuring mechanisms or reinforced clips for the different uses people may have for them.
“I think Fisher is definitely getting caught up in today’s world,” Bond said. “And the story wrapped around that is — we’re made in America. We’re a family-owned business, and we still tie into the space legacy and future.”
Fisher Space Pen has grown from being known for its Original Astronaut Space Pen and its use aboard all crewed space flights to a well-established, globally recognized brand servicing all walks of life, Fisher said.
“I absolutely love the company,” he said. “This is my livelihood. It’s my grandfather’s legacy; my father’s. And it’s paramount that I put the same amount of effort and integrity into the company that they did. They were extremely great role models.”