Pilot Capless/Vanishing Point. In 1963, Pilot released the first ever retractable fountain pen. After clicking the push button, the nib slides forward and pushes the lid down. By clicking the push button again, the nib retracts and the lid springs up, shutting the gap air-tight to prevent the ink from drying out. The nib is slim to fit inside the pen, and it folds down to grab the feed tightly to handle the constant movements. The very first version of Capless was actually a much more complicated mechanism to twist and expose the nib — and it was a result of 6 years research. It’s also worth noting that after the war in Japan, the businesses were booming, and many brands were willing to invest in product developments. Many brands we mentioned before such as Midori (Dimond Memo), Radar (SEED eraser) and Sailor (first ballpoint, first ink cartridge and first 21K gold nib) all had some notable products around this time. Pilot, too, was busy. Aside from Capless, Elite and Custom Series were introduced, and the first 0.5mm ballpoint with stainless steel tip was introduced by Pilot as well. For the past 50 years, there has been 11 different generations of Capless.