History of Fountain Pen
The following is the brief history of fountain pen:
- Early Writing Instruments: There are specimens of quills, reed pens, and metal styluses that date back thousands of years. Humans have been utilizing writing tools since antiquity. This early writing equipment was frequently inked up and needed refilling.
- Early Attempt at Fountain Pens: A pen with an ink reservoir in the 10th century which is nowadays known as the Earliest Attempt at Fountain Pens was done by an Egyptian Caliph. However, this design was not extensively used, and the first fountain pens were frequently messy and unreliable.
- Improvements from the 19th Century: Over the 19th century, several inventors produced important improvements to the fountain pen design. Poenaru’s invention, the barrel was constructed of wood or another material, and the nib was made of quill, gold, or steel. John Jacob Parker, an American inventor, received a patent for a self-filling fountain pen in 1830 that contained ink in a rubber sac. Francis Wolle, an English inventor, received a patent for a fountain pen in 1844 that featured a coiling barrel that could be turned to draw ink. Lewis Edson Waterman, an insurance salesman from New York, experienced the worst scenario with a faulty fountain pen in 1883, this faulty pen spilled all the ink over one of his important contract papers. This knowledge inspired him to create a better fountain pen, and in 1884 he obtained a patent for a model that controlled ink flow using a feed mechanism. The Waterman’s pen immediately gained popularity because it was more dependable and less messy than prior models.
- Innovations from the 20th Century: The first ballpoint pen, which subsequently replaced the fountain pen as the most common writing implement, was invented by the Hungarian writer László Bró in 1901.
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