Pen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A pen (Latin penna, feather) is a writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper. Pens can be used with inks of any color but commonly make use of inks in shades varying between black and blue.
Contents |
[edit] Types of Pens
Pens may be categorized by the kind of tip on them. The main modern types are:
- Ballpoint pen
- Retractable pen
- Rollerball pen
- Fountain pen
- Felt-tip pen
- Erasable pen
Historically, pens also came in the form of:
[edit] History
[edit] Reed pens
The Ancient Egyptians had developed writing on papyrus scrolls when scribes used thin reed brushes or reed pens from the Juncus Maritimus or sea rush [1]. In his book A History of Writing, Steven Roger Fischer suggests that on the basis of finds at Saqqara, the reed pen might well have been used for writing on parchment as long as ago as the First Dynasty or about 3000 BC. Reed pens continued to be used until the Middle Ages although they were slowly replaced by quills from about the 7th century.
[edit] Quills
The Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in 1947 on the northwest bank of the Dead Sea date back to around 100 BC. They were written in Hebrew dialects with bird feathers or quills. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Europeans had difficultly in obtaining reeds and began to use quills. There is a specific reference to quills in the writings of St. Isidore of Seville in the 7th century[2]. Quill pens were used until 1800.
[edit] Metal nibs
Metal nibs appear to have very early origins. A pen with a bronze nib was found in the ruins of Pompei showing nibs must have been in use in the year 79[3]. There is also a reference in Samuel Pepys diary for August 1663. A metal pen point was patented in 1803 but the patent was not commercially exploited. John Mitchell of Birmingham started to massproduce pens with metal nibs in 1822[4]. During the 19th century metal nibs replaced quill pens. By 1850 the quality of steel nibs had improved and dip pens with metal nibs came into generalized use.
[edit] Fountain pens
While a student in Paris, the Romanian inventor Petrache Poenaru invented the world's first fountain pen, an invention for which the French Government issued a patent on May 25, 1827[5]. Lewis Edson Waterman, a New York insurance broker invented the capillary feed fountain pen in 1884 producing a much more reliable flow of ink[6].
[edit] Ballpoints
The first patent on a ballpoint pen was issued on October 30, 1888, to John J Loud[7]. In 1938, László Bíró, a Hungarian newspaper editor, with the help of his brother George, a chemist, began to work on designing new types of pens including one with a tiny ball in its tip that was free to turn in a socket. As the pen moved along the paper, the ball rotated, picking up ink from the ink cartridge and leaving it on the paper. Bíró filed a British patent on June 15, 1938. In 1940 the Bíró brothers and a friend, Juan Jorge Meyne, moved to Argentina fleeing nazi Germany and on June 10, filed another patent, and formed Bíró Pens of Argentina. By the summer of 1943 the first commercial models were available[8].
[edit] Felt tips
In the 1960s the fibre, or felt-tipped pen was invented by Yukio Horie of the Tokyo Stationery Company, Japan[9]. Papermate's Flair was among the first felt-tip pens to hit the U.S. market in the 1960s, and it has been the leader ever since. Marker pens and highlighters, both similar to felt pens, have become popular in recent years.
[edit] Rollerballs
Rollerball pens were introduced in the early 1980s. They make use of a mobile ball and liquid ink to produce a smoother line. Technological advances achieved during the late 1980s and early 1990s have improved the roller ball's overall performance.
[edit] The pen industry
Statistics on writing instruments (including pencils) from WIMA (the U.S. Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association) show that in 2005, retractable ball point pens were by far the most popular (26%), followed by standard ball points (14%). Other categories represented very small percentages (3% or less)[10]. There is however also a thriving industry in luxury pens, often fountain pens, sometimes priced at $1000 or more[11].
[edit] Bibliography
- Fischer, Steven R., A History of Writing, London: Reaktion, 2001, 352 p., ISBN 1861891016
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Urban Legends: the "Space Pen"
- Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association
- Extensive information about Early American gold pens and fountain pens
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Egyptian reed pen Retrieved 16 March 2007.
- ^ The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, Cambridge Catalogue Retrieved 11 March 2007.
- ^ Arnold Wagner - Dip Pens. Retrieved 11 March 2007.
- ^ More about the pen trade from The Birmingham Jewellery Quarter site. Retrieved 11 March 2007.
- ^ http://www.ici.ro/romania/en/stiinta/poenaru.html Petrache Poenaru]]. Romanian National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics. Retrieved 11 March 2007.
- ^ Lewis Waterman from the About Inventors site. Retrieved 11 March 2007.
- ^ GB Patent No. 15630, 30 October 1888
- ^ The Ballpoint Pen, Quido Magazin. Retrieved March 11 2007.
- ^ History of Pens & Writing Instruments], About Inventors site. Retrieved 11 March 2007.
- ^ WIMA website. Retrieved 12 March 2007.
- ^ [http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/16886417.htm Low-tech luxury Gift or accessory, jewelry designers see business in luxe writing tools], Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, 12 March 2007.
