Ancient fountain pen. History of the writing pen

History of the pen- This is the centuries-old evolution of writing, which occurred, sometimes independently, in different countries and on different continents.

It cannot be reliably said that there is someone who took and invented the pen. As a rule, each person added or improved something to an existing product.

Background 1

Reed handles Let us recall that the essence of writing is the reflection of signs and symbols in any form on any arbitrary surface for the purpose of their subsequent repeated reading.

Accordingly, you can squeeze out these signs, scratch them, burn them, or, of course, just draw them. For example, using any liquid substance such as paint or ink.

Since time immemorial, around 4000-3000 BC, people have used bronze, stone or iron sticks, with the help of which they scratched or squeezed out the first writings on clay tablets, tree bark (the prototype of modern paper) or, as in Rome, wooden boards covered with wax.

Ink and feathers

Pen and ink When ink and parchment came into use, the approach to writing changed significantly. However, the use of ink for a long time remained far from a trivial activity. There is even such a word - calligraphy, meaning neat writing without blots or blots.

Preparing the pen Obviously, a lot depends not only on dexterity and skill, but also on what tool we use. For example, if the object used for writing or drawing is sharpened, the lines will be thinner and more accurate.

So, over a record-long period of 12 centuries, starting from the 6th century AD, steel was the most suitable material for making writing objects. feathers of large birds. On the one hand, the feathers were always at hand, on the other hand, they were easily sharpened and cost practically nothing.

In the 18th century, Russia supplied England with several million goose feathers for writing annually.

Feather problems

A fountain pen The main problem with writing nibs was that the nibs became dull quite quickly and had to be constantly sharpened. In this regard, even the most expensive and beautiful feather pens were very short-lived.

Another difficulty was that only 3-5 of the outermost feathers of the bird were suitable for use for writing. Moreover, whether the bird’s wing was right or left mattered, so only feathers from the bird’s right feather were suitable for right-handed people.

One of the most not only obvious but also effective solutions was found in dividing the pen into two components - pen tip(thrown away after it became unusable) and pen holder(a beautiful, expensive and at the same time durable part).

It is noteworthy that in Russian, pens that used a feather as a writing element were called - fountain pens. While the analogue of a fountain pen in English is called - fountain (ink) pen, which can be translated as - ink pen.

Penknife- a small folding knife used for sharpening (sharpening) quills for writing.

Etymology of words

The division of the pen into two parts - the pen-tip and the pen-holder, and the transformation of the latter into just a holder (i.e. the holder could be anything, not necessarily a pen), led to the fact that the pen-tip began to be called simply pen, and the holder began to be called pen for pen(i.e. the part by which we hold an object with our hand, just like the handle of a bag or a door handle).

But with the advent of ballpoint pens, the need for a pen completely disappears. A penholder naturally (there is no more pen) turns into just handle- a word that has since become independent and which we currently use (without even thinking) to denote a completely writing pen.

In English, things happened a little differently. So the word pen(in English - pen), which comes from the Latin word penna(in Latin - feather), has retained its original meaning.

In Russian the word feather transformed into a word pen, in English, it’s all one word - pen.

Brahma machine

Joseph Bramah In 1809, the famous English inventor, Joseph Bramah 2 (Joseph Bramah) invented and patented a machine for cutting pens, which allowed some degree of automation in the process of sharpening pen nibs.

At the same time, Brahm’s machine made it possible not only to cut the pen barrel into separate tendrils by dividing it into three or even four parts (thereby optimally preparing the tip for writing), but also to actually cut the pen tip in the transverse direction into 4 or 5 parts, practically preparing several tips in reserve.

The division of the pen into two components, as well as the use of the Brahm machine and similar devices, made it possible to some extent to solve the difficulties with the use of the first fountain pens.

Joseph Bramah also known for such inventions as the hydraulic press (1785) and the toilet flush (1775).

Metal feathers

Metal feathers In 1803, a patent was received for a metal pen invented 10 years earlier. At the same time, it received real success in the writing instruments market only 30 years later, when in the English city Birmingham 3 their mass production began.

In 1822 two brothers John And William Mitchells, for the first time in history, created mass production of pens with a metal nib (in Birmingham).

Joseph Guillot At the same time, production technologies were constantly improving, so in 1828, Joshua Mason further improved the pen nib, adapting it to a fountain pen, and soon Joseph Guillot(William Joseph Gillott) William Mitchell(William Mitchell), and James Perry(James Stephen Perry) introduced the world to a new machine for the production of metal feathers, which was highly efficient and significantly reduced production costs.

By the mid-1850s, half of the world's metal pens and metal nibs were produced in Birmingham's manufactories, of which there were about a hundred and employed about 8,000 workers (70% of whom were women).

According to historians in XIX century - 75% everything that was written was produced precisely in Birmingham.

Pen with ink tank

Daniel Schwenter Attempts to create a pen that would contain ink inside itself, and thereby be autonomous, continued throughout the use of quills and fountain pens.

For example, back in 1636, the German inventor Daniel Schwenter 4 (Daniel Schwenter) wrote a work entitled - Entertaining physics and mathematics 5 (Delicia Physic-Mathematicae), in which he described a pen containing a reservoir of ink.

Schwenter's work
(1636) Daniel's basic idea was that one pen was inside another and served as a reservoir for ink. In this case, the ink located inside the reservoir was localized using a simple plug and squeezed out through a small hole at the other end.

In 1809, in England, Bartholomew Folch(Bartholomew Folsch) received the first patent for a pen with an ink reservoir. Of course, in practical terms, the pen with a reservoir was of little use for constant use and was not widely used at that time.

The Myth of the First Inventor

Lewis Waterman It is widely believed that the inventor of the first fountain pen was a simple American insurance agent - Lewis Edson Waterman(Lewis Edson Waterman). Another American “success story” that famously entered the consciousness of ordinary people, flavored with a story about how Lewis wanted to sign an important contract and supposedly his pen turned out to be writing and so he, sad and upset, took it and invented the real first automatic pen.

Waterman's patent
(1884) Of course, Lewis improved one of the models of the fountain pen, which he had long used and which was invented long before his first patent in 1884 7 . However, the company Waterman, went on to become America's leading fountain pen manufacturer and remained so until the mid-1920s, thus benefiting most (at least in America) from an invention that had been around long before they released their first fountain pen.

Neither Luce Waterman nor his company not invented the first automatic fountain pen, as is commonly considered.

Petrasche Poinaru Over the course of the 18th and 19th centuries, dozens of patents were received in different countries for inventions and improvements to various models of automatic fountain pens.

However, one of the very first patents for a fountain pen is a patent issued by the French government May 25, 1827 Romanian inventor Petrasche Poinaru 6 (Petrache Poenaru).

Poinaru Patent (1827) While still a student in Paris, Petrash invented a pen, which he patented for no other reason than - Never-ending portable pen with automatic ink supply 8 (Plume portable sans fin, qui s’alimente elle-meme avec de l’ancre).

Since then there have been many improvements, the key ones being the invention of the iridium tip, the discovery of ebonite, and the improvement of the ink supply system. It was only after all these discoveries that fountain pens gained widespread popularity and the era of their mass production and use began in the 1880s.

Invention first fountain pen took shape over centuries, during which hundreds of patents were obtained.

Prehistory spanning 6,000 years. The first means of depicting symbols were the hand, stick and stone. You could draw on the sand with a hand and a stick, and on a rock with a stone. Around 4000 BC man began to use moistened clay tablets. In this case, a wooden or bronze stick, or bone served as a handle. Around 3000 BC The Egyptians invented a form of writing in the form of hieroglyphs.

To write on papyrus, scribes used thin reed brushes or reed pens. The paintings on the tombs brought to us images of these tools (Archaeological Museum, Cairo). Around 1300 BC The Romans began to use writing on wax. The wax was poured into wooden tablets. At this time, the name of the writing instrument was given - stylus. The stylus was made of metal. When the recording was no longer needed, it was erased using the flat back end of the stylus. Due to the similarity of Roman tablets with modern palm-top computers, the tool for working with the display was also called a stylus.

At this time, styluses made of bronze were used in China. Writing on wax existed practically unchanged for about 18 centuries until the Anglo-Saxons invented parchment. With the advent of parchment, used to make handwritten books, people continued to use wax tablets for everyday writing and layout of books. For these purposes, the same metal or bone stylus with a flattened end was used. In the period 600...1800 AD, the cheapening and spread of parchment led to the need for a publicly available writing instrument. Europeans (primarily the Spaniards) discovered that by using a quill pen sharpened in a certain way to write on parchment, it was possible to change the style of writing - make it capital and oblique. This is how capital letters were invented 14 centuries ago. Previously, only capital letters were used when writing.

Goose feathers lasted for a record long time - until the end of the 18th century. They also gave the name to the folding knife, which was used to straighten feathers. The knife was called a penknife.

At the end of the 9th and beginning of the 10th centuries, the first Slavic alphabet appeared: Cyrillic and Glagolitic. The Cyrillic alphabet was created on the basis of the Greek statutory letter with the addition of several letters. The Glagolitic alphabet differs from the Cyrillic alphabet in the shape of its letters. Glagolitic was widespread in the 10th...11th centuries. in Bulgaria and Moravia, in Croatia existed until the end of the 18th century. Cyrillic is used by the southern, eastern and, probably, western Slavs.

In 1708 in Russia, the civil font (civil alphabet) of the Russian alphabet was introduced in publications of the civil press after the reform of the printed Cyrillic charter carried out by Peter I. The civil font is the basis of the modern Russian font.

Many experts, including foreign ones, recognized the Cyrillic alphabet as the best alphabet ever invented. It does not contain so-called diacritics (supra- and subscripts), combinations of letters to convey one sound, typical of the Latin alphabet in its various variants. The Cyrillic alphabet also compares favorably with other systems, especially hieroglyphic ones. “This is a real masterpiece! How far is the alphabets of the Anglo-Saxons and Irish from it! - the prominent French linguist J. Vandries admired.

Of the 200 most common languages, the Cyrillic alphabet is used today by approximately 60 countries, the Latin alphabet by about 70, the Arabic script by approximately 10, and the hieroglyphics by 3.

In the spring of 1736, Russian troops set out on a campaign against the Crimean Khanate and took the Perekop fortress. The first to climb the ramparts of the fortress was not a battle-hardened warrior, but a mustacheless boy soldier named Vasily. For this he received an officer's rank. But bad luck: he turned out to be from an old family of princes Dolgoruky - personal enemies of the then reigning Empress Anna Ioannovna, and youths from this family were ordered not to be promoted to officer ranks on pain of death. The empress was ashamed to take away the officer rank from the “sucker,” but she strictly forbade teaching him to read and write. Vasily Mikhailovich Dolgoruky took part in many battles, became a general, then governor-general of Moscow, but never learned to write. Ashamed of his illiteracy, he always referred to bad pens: “It was poorly repaired - I can’t write, let the adjutant write.”

Goose feather. Engraving from the early 17th century. (1605).

And at that time, as you know, they wrote with real feathers, taken from birds. Mostly goose feathers were used, but raven and peacock feathers were also found. To prepare the pen for writing, it was first cleaned in hot sand, then cut at a certain angle and sharpened. Moreover, the quality of what was written largely depended on how the pen was cut and sharpened. Many writers and poets did not trust anyone with this “important” matter. It was even customary to give good feathers as gifts. In Pushkin’s office, Goethe’s own pen, sent by him as a gift to the great Russian poet, was kept in a rich case.

Around 1790, the Australians and the French independently invented the pencil lead. Then the writing instrument industry arose.

The reign of goose feathers ended in the 18th century. Luck came in 1884 to New York insurance broker Lewis Waterman. He managed to create a compact and reliable pen with capillary ducts, which became the prototype of modern fountain pens. A failure in life pushed him to solve this problem.

One day, Lewis Waterman was about to sign an important contract; the client was already waiting for him in his office. In preparation for this important task, Lewis bought a new fountain pen. When the contract was already on the table and the client with a brand new pen was ready to sign, but, alas, the fountain pen refused to write. While Waterman was looking for a new pen, the client signed a contract with another broker. Lewis

Waterman decided to take revenge, but not in a simple way, but to invent a fountain pen that would always remain a reliable writing instrument.

Waterman very quickly realized that the catch was that the ink supply system must not only allow the ink composition to reach the pen, but also control the filling of the air in the reservoir as ink is wasted in it. Without a technical background, Lewis Waterman came up with the idea of ​​using the capillary principle.
The cunning American used very narrow channels to supply air into the pen, so narrow that under the action of capillary attraction, ink did not leak into these channels, while at the same time allowing the air to be quietly drawn through them inside under the influence of reduced pressure.

Further improvement of the fountain pen is associated with the name of George Parker, a rural teacher from the American state of Wisconsin. Parker patented his invention in 1889. The ink fountain pens he created were called “Eternal Pen” and, due to their high quality, gained recognition throughout the world.

In 1890, there were 58 companies producing fountain pens in the United States, but George Parker decided to open his own company and was right. The quality of his products, due to the precision of fitting of parts, was unrivaled. The most famous model from the Parker series of pens is the Parker Duefold, which was launched on the market in 1921. This eye-catching fountain pen was not only the most attractive on the market, but also one of the most expensive, at $7 per pen, a price much higher than the competition's pens. However, this price did not scare buyers and subsequently the Parker Duofold pen became one of the most used pens of the 20s of the last century.

In 1933, the Parker VACUMATIC pen was released, becoming another engineering masterpiece. This pen had a completely exclusive refill mechanism that could hold twice as much ink as the Parker Duefold. This pen has been a leader for 30 years.

There are so many feathers that have been invented over the past century!

They were in the shape of the Eiffel Tower, and with portraits of Napoleon or the Queen of England. And noble people even decorated personalized feathers with their coats of arms. Only at the beginning of our century did the steel pen migrate to the school bag.

For many years, during penmanship lessons, schoolchildren dipped their pens in ink and wrote with emphasis:

“Yes, it’s mo-lo-ko.”
The feather clings to "ko"
And the blot is black, like a beetle,
It suddenly slides off the end of the pen.

Also in 1933, the famous New York artist Joseph Plath developed the trademark of Parker pens - an elegant arrow clip.

Parker pens have gone down in history. Although pens are made to special order for signing treaties between countries, Parker’s products have more than once become instruments of world politics. In 1945, American General Douglas MacArthur signed the surrender of Japan on board the battleship Missouri using a Parker Duefold pen. In 1991, the historic Arms Reduction Treaty was signed by George W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev with a Parker 75 pen in a ballistic missile titanium case adorned with a red sapphire star.

The feather is not only the heart of the pen, but also its face, and the main active one. The nibs of modern fountain pens are made of metals. But pure metals, due to their mechanical properties, are unsuitable for production, so in most cases alloys based on brass, steel, nickel, silver and gold are used. If the nibs are made from base metals such as stainless steel or brass, then electroplating them with gold or silver helps increase their resistance to corrosion and improves their appearance.

If we are talking about executive-class writing instruments, then, as a rule, their nibs are made of silver or gold. “The feather performs one of the main image functions of a gift fountain pen,” says Alexey Levitsky, “so sometimes the feathers are made deliberately larger, they are artistically engraved and gilded. A gold or silver nib especially enhances the prestige of the piece.”

However, according to a number of experts, the choice of material does not have a decisive influence on the elasticity and flexibility of the pen. More significant factors are the size of the pen, its shape and design, the thoroughness of grinding, and the processing of the tip. If the pen is made not of gold, but of stainless steel, then it can be as strong and at the same time flexible and elastic as gold. Since both steel and gold wear out quite quickly when writing, the tip of the pen is made of a more expensive and harder metal, usually the platinum group - iridium or rhodium.

Silver alloys typically use 925 sterling silver and reinforcements such as copper, nickel, or zinc. In its pure form, silver is used only for silver plating. The softness of pure gold makes this metal completely unsuitable for making feathers, so to give it hardness, copper, nickel, silver or zinc are also added to the alloy. Changes in the concentration of individual metals in the alloy affect the appearance and characteristics of gold. For example, the color of 18 karat gold ranges from light yellow to pink and red depending on the additives. All gold alloys have extremely high resistance to atmospheric and water corrosion, which is why they hardly tarnish.

There are three main types of industrial gold alloys used in fountain pens:

9K gold (375 parts pure gold per 1000 parts alloy). The hardest and cheapest gold alloy.

14K gold (585 parts pure gold per 1000). A medium-cost alloy from which most gold feathers are made.

18K gold (750 parts per 1000). Softer than previous alloys, but hard enough to be used in feathers.

White gold is an alloy of gold with silver and palladium. White gold is usually produced in the 18K version, but is used very sparingly in industry.

Also for the production of feathers, metals of the group are used, which include platinum, rhodium, iridium, osmium and palladium, which have the same physical, mechanical and chemical properties. They are all white and extremely resistant to corrosion. Platinum is a soft metal, but with the addition of a small amount of other metals it quickly hardens, and for the production of products it is used in the form of an alloy containing 950 parts per 1000. Osmium and palladium are used mainly for the manufacture of pen tips, the strength of these metals makes nibs extremely durable and durable.

No matter how ancient a writing instrument a fountain pen is, today it remains a very high-tech product. Many operations in the manufacture of pens are still performed by hand. Thus, the production of just a feather can involve up to thirty consecutive operations.

It is known that the metals used in the production of feathers, over time, “attach” to the owner’s hand, once and for all remembering the features of his handwriting and inclination. However, this does not mean that you cannot choose a pen to suit your writing style. Manufacturers, as a rule, offer several degrees of pen thickness, which are designated by the Latin letters F, M, B; their combinations with U and E determine intermediate thicknesses.

The following notations are traditionally accepted:

UF is an ultra-fine nib designed for artistic work, but not for writing;

EF - extra fine - for writing with thin lines with light pressure;

F - thin - ideal for normal writing with thin lines with medium pressure;

M - medium - for medium pressure and medium line thickness, universal pen;

B - wide - with a massive rounded tip for thick lines;

EB - Extra Wide - Features a large, rounded tip for thick lines and bold signatures;

EEB - Extra Extra Wide - for people who write quickly with thick lines and want their signature to have a distinctive look.

Feathers of the first and last degrees are extremely rare on the mass market. Also, nibs are available for oblique fine (OF) and thick (OB), straight and oblique italic writing styles. The effect of italics and calligraphic handwriting is achieved by placing a specially flattened small ball made of wear-resistant iridium on the tip of the pen, which changes the thickness of the line when moving in different directions. In addition, some manufacturers make special inclined nibs with a changed angle for left-handers.

Companies that produce prestigious writing instruments often not only provide a lifetime guarantee on their products, but can also replace the nib at the buyer’s request. “For classic Pelikan pens, the nib is usually made of yellow gold and decorated with rhodium,” says Marina Borisova, director of Avantre. — The pen is always made with special care and you can choose your own for each type of handwriting, because the pen must be chosen according to your hand. If the nib in the purchased pen does not suit the owner in some way, Pelikan will replace it with another one. The markings on the nib always indicate the thickness of the nib, the gold standard and the logo of the manufacturing company.”

Modern fountain pens have several ink delivery systems. These systems can be designed on the converter or cartridge principle. Ink is pumped into the converter using a pump or piston system, while cartridges are analogues of conventional refills that cannot be refilled; as a rule, less prestigious models are equipped with them. After use, cartridges are discarded.

Modern ink supply systems in fountain pens are quite complex. The intensity with which ink flows to the pen depends on several factors: air temperature, atmospheric pressure, and also on the force with which the pen is pressed against the paper. That is why the ink supply system in modern pens, in addition to capillaries that equalize internal and external pressure and prevent ink from spilling out, is supplemented with a collector and a special pen pressure control chamber. All this is done in order to provide the pen with exactly the amount of ink that is currently required.

The collector is responsible for the portion supply of ink to the pen. If you use a wide nib or write very quickly with the pen, the collector increases the amount of ink supplied to the nib, and vice versa. The control chamber is designed to compensate for both increased atmospheric pressure and disproportionate pen pressure. It plays the role of a kind of pressure compensator so that when pressed hard, the ink does not spill out.

The cartridges are convenient and easy to use, but require fairly careful handling from the supplier. “The main difficulty is transporting the cartridges,” says Maria Volkova, marketing manager at Petropen Plus. At low temperatures, the ink may freeze and the cartridge may burst. Therefore, cartridges and pens have to be packaged separately; in addition, from September to March, shipments of cartridges to the regions are limited.”

In the 60s, felt tips were invented in Japan (Tokyo Stationery Company). Pens with felt tips are called “felt-tip pens” (“flowmaster” from the English “flow” - to flow). In the USA, the company Papermate (“Flair” pen), which launched the production of similar pens, still holds the palm to this day. Felt tips are most common in the well-known “luminous” markers.

In the 80-90s, roller skates appeared. Essentially, this is a “thinner” and more advanced technology of ballpoint pens. Thin bead, less viscous ink. In the early 90s, rollerball technology was greatly improved. An unprecedented variety of instruments and companies appeared.

And the most expensive writing instrument in the world was the “Mystery Masterpiece” pen - a joint product of Mont blanc and Van Cleef & Arpel. This pen can rightfully be considered a real masterpiece of jewelry art.

Each pen contains 840 diamonds and more than 20 carats of other precious stones, which are set using a special, secret Van Cleef & Arpel technology. There are three types of such pens - with sapphires, rubies or emeralds. Three pens of each type - a total of 9. Making one such pen takes a year. It's time to announce the price; it has become an absolute record - $730,000.

1990s. Computer era. White-collar diseases: carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis (one in 7 Americans has arthritis). The writing instrument market is looking for a solution in changing the shape. Rubber couplings, triangular handles, “inflated” handles are a traditional technique for improving the products of companies producing writing instruments. The most widespread are rubber couplings with a cylindrical cross-section and following the shape of the fingers.

In 1997, the first pen was developed that did not require squeezing when writing. It took GRANDEE Corporation several years of research to create a writing instrument with new properties.

True, it will take some time to evaluate the properties inherent in this device. You need to give up the long-term habit of static compression, feel: no compression - no pain. While holding the Ring-Pen, the hand “runs” easily and freely across the paper, carpal tunnel syndrome does not develop, and there is no callus on the middle finger.

Countless types of fountain pens have been invented: with a calendar, an electronic clock, and even with a miniature computer. This pen is a little larger than a regular pen, but it can perform four arithmetic operations and calculate percentages. The pen has a small display on which the initial data and the final result are displayed. One of the problems of “communication” between a person and a computer is the transfer of information to the machine. This is usually done using special punched cards. But their use requires some preparatory work. An electronic fountain pen will help here, as it synchronously transmits the characters written on paper to the computer.

The “smart” pen was invented specifically for builders. With its help, you can determine in a matter of minutes how many materials will be needed for your future home. The pen is drawn along the lines of the drawing, and thereby all the necessary data is entered into the computer memory. If you enter data on the scale at which the drawing is made, then the computer, using the program embedded in it, will calculate how much brick, glass, and concrete will be needed.

But among these electronic miracle pens, the old tried-and-true “insert” was not lost. The fashion for old wooden pens and sippy inkwells, which were once used by the grandfathers of modern schoolchildren, came to Europe from the USA. Elegant ladies solemnly take these writing instruments, which are experiencing a rebirth, from their purses and carefully dip the metal nib into ink...

Many companies are working to develop their ideas and are fighting for the right to “set fashion” in the 21st century. A new mandatory standard for workplace organization is being adopted in the United States. Not all writing instruments can satisfy him. Perhaps something new will appear on the “historical” list. Maybe soon, or maybe only after centuries, as evidenced by history.

sources
http://historyaboutall.blogspot.ru
http://www.brand-senator.ru
http://www.altair.by
http://www.medn.ru
http://www.shanson.org

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For those who missed a significant and rather interesting piece of history, I remind you:

The history of the creation of a writing pen goes back more than 6,000 years. During this long period of human development, a significant modernization of writing instruments also occurred.

Writing instruments from different centuries

In the distant past, people used to paint on rocks. Later, to depict symbols, stones were replaced with bones or wooden sticks. Around 3000 BC. e. With the advent of writing and papyrus, thin reed brushes began to be used as writing implements.

In the subsequent long period from 1300 BC e. and before 600 AD, a common writing instrument was the stylus. The stylus was made of metal and used for writing on wax. Despite the invention of parchment a little later by the Anglo-Saxons, people still used a bone or metal stylus and writing on wax tablets for some time.

In those days, parchment was more used for handwritten books. However, with each century its distribution increased. There was a need for an inexpensive and accessible writing instrument. The pen became such a tool. Europeans learned to sharpen nibs in such a way that when writing on parchment, the style of writing changed. This is how capital letters appeared 14 centuries ago.

The pen as a writing instrument lasted for a record long period - almost until the end of the 18th century. Mostly goose feathers were used, but raven and peacock feathers were also used. Preparing the pen for writing began with cleaning it in hot sand. Then the pen was cut at a certain angle and sharpened, and special attention was paid to these stages, since the quality of writing depended on them. Famous writers of those times personally trimmed and sharpened the feathers, and good copies could often be expensive gifts.

The emergence of the production of writing instruments began in the 18th century. First, the pencil lead was invented in 1790. And by 1884 it was possible to create small practical handle with capillary ducts, which became the prototype of modern fountain pens. The inventor of this first pen was the American Lewis Waterman, who used the capillary principle to create it. It consisted of filling the pen reservoir with air, which was supplied through very narrow channels. The channels were so narrow that ink did not leak into them, and air was easily drawn in.

The fountain pen was later improved by the famous George Parker, a rural teacher from Wisconsin.. His invention was patented in 1889 and was distinguished by its high quality due to the precise fit of parts. Parker's products sometimes made world history - they were used to sign treaties between different countries.

The feather is considered the heart of the pen, its main operating part. In modern fountain pens, nibs are made of metal alloys and have several degrees of nib thickness. Ink supply can be carried out by various systems, designed on the principle of a cartridge or converter. Cartridges are analogous to regular refills and are thrown away after use. More prestigious models are equipped with converters; ink is pumped into them by a piston or pump system.

The era of the ballpoint pen

The first inventor of the ballpoint pen was an unknown American, John Loud. Back in 1888, he received a patent for a pen with a rotating ball-shaped tip. However, the writing pen never became a commodity at that time. Ink was the main obstacle. Liquid ink constantly left blots, and thick ink froze on the tip. From the end of the First World War until 1950, the popularity of ballpoint pens had an undulating nature, many tried to improve the invention and put it on sale. Among them were the Hungarian Biro brothers, whose handle design was not very successful. It was this design that was seriously improved in 1950 by the French fountain pen manufacturer Marcel Biche. Steel balls with a diameter of 1 mm were manufactured with an accuracy of hundredths of a millimeter. Marcel Bish managed to ensure that the ink did not leak through the writing unit, and there were no more dirty spots on the paper. In 1953, mass production of pens began in France, and in 1958, Biche founded the BiC company and entered the American market. The company began mass production of cheap disposable pens made of lightweight plastic. Gradually, other writing instruments were forced out of the market, and the world-famous BiC pens are still actively used today.