Fountain Pens

In the early years of writing, pens were as much as feather sticks or quills. The word ‘pen’ derives from a Latin word ‘Penna’ that defines a feather. The basic idea of a pen is to be able to store ink and utilize it on the paper taking the same direction and movements as the writer wants. After the invention of the pen, many other kinds were produced such as felt pens, cross-pens, ballpoints, quill pens, reed pens, etc.  Adding to the types, different colors as red, green, blue and black made a diverse combination.

The very first problem a writer faced was the dipping of the quill in the ink many times that exhausted and disturbed the mind while writing. Therefore, the first invention was a quill pen that covered the problem of dipping by creating ink storage within the pen.  The next problem arose was the extra flowing of the ink from the nib.

After years of testing and modifications on the fountain pen problems, Lewis Waterman in 1884, refined all the technicalities and produced a complete fountain pen with zero errors. He patented the fountain pen and hence became the pioneer of the writing source.

These days, fountain pens come with all sorts of accessories. They come in about nine different sizes with varying writing styles like straight, italic or oblique. For the ink, they use herb extracts and inks made using chemical fusion. Ink reservoirs have also many kinds for different professions. Corporate offices prefer cartridges while other writers prefer piston fillers and some even do with the pouches.

Modern fountain pens after years of research and development now practice the combination of capillary action (the liquid movement in thin tubes) and gravity. This makes the pens write soft without exerting extra pressure.