Hello, today I am going to introduce to you the fabulous world of fountain pens.
[b]History[/b]
[quote=Wikipedia]The earliest historical record of a reservoir pen dates back to the 10th century. In 953, Ma'ād al-Mu'izz, the caliph of the Maghreb, demanded a pen which would not stain his hands or clothes, and was provided with a pen which held ink in a reservoir and delivered it to the nib, and could be held upside-down without leaking, as recorded by Qadi al-Nu'man al-Tamimi (d. 974) in his Kitab al-Majalis wa 'l-musayardt.[1] No details of the construction or mechanism of operation of this pen are known and no examples have survived.
M. Klein and Henry W. Wynne received US patent #68445 in 1867 for an ink chamber and delivery system in the handle of the fountain pen.
In his Deliciae Physico-Mathematicae Which was a magazine(1636), German inventor Daniel Schwenter described a pen made from two quills. One quill served as a reservoir for ink inside the other quill. The ink was sealed inside the quill with cork. Ink was squeezed through a small hole to the writing point. Noted Maryland historian Hester Dorsey Richardson (1862–1933) documented a reference to "three silver fountain pens, worth 15 shillings" in England during the reign of Charles II, ca. 1649-1685.[2] She also found a 1734 notation made by Robert Morris the elder in the ledger of the expenses of Robert Morris the younger, who was at the time in Philadelphia, for "one fountain pen".[2]
Progress in developing a reliable pen was slow, however, until the mid-19th century. That slow pace of progress was due to a very imperfect understanding of the role that air pressure played in the operation of the pens and because most inks were highly corrosive and full of sedimentary inclusions. The Romanian inventor Petrache Poenaru received a French patent for the invention of the first fountain pen with a replaceable ink cartridge on May 25, 1827.[3] Starting in the 1850s there was a steadily accelerating stream of fountain pen patents and pens in production. It was only after three key inventions were in place, however, that the fountain pen became a widely popular writing instrument. Those inventions were the iridium-tipped gold nib, hard rubber, and free-flowing ink.
Waterman 42 Safety Pen, with variation in materials (both red and black rubbers) and retracting nibs.
The first fountain pens making use of all these key ingredients appeared in the 1850s. In the 1870s Duncan MacKinnon, a Canadian living in New York City, and Alonzo T. Cross of Providence, Rhode Island created stylographic pens with a hollow, tubular nib and a wire acting as a valve. Stylographic pens are now used mostly for drafting and technical drawing but were very popular in the decade beginning in 1875. It was in the 1880s that the era of the mass-produced fountain pen finally began. The dominant American producers in this pioneer era were Waterman, of New York City, and Wirt, based in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. Waterman soon outstripped Wirt, along with the many companies that sprang up to fill the new and growing fountain pen market, and remained the market leader up until the early 1920s.
At this time fountain pens were almost all filled by unscrewing a portion of the hollow barrel or holder and inserting the ink by means of an eyedropper. This was a slow and messy procedure. Additionally, fountain pens tended to leak inside their caps and at the joint where the barrel opened for filling. Now that the materials problems had been overcome and the flow of ink while writing had been regulated, the next problems to be solved were the creation of a simple, convenient self-filler and the problem of leakage. Self-fillers began to come into their own around the turn of the century; the most successful of these was probably the Conklin crescent-filler, followed by A. A. Waterman's twist-filler. The tipping point, however, was the runaway success of Walter A. Sheaffer's lever-filler, introduced in 1912, paralleled by Parker's roughly contemporary button-filler.
Waterman pens, including fountain model, made for Air France's Concorde
Meanwhile many inventors turned their attention to the problem of leakage. Some of the earliest solutions to this problem came in the form of a "safety" pen with a retractable point that allowed the ink reservoir to be corked like a bottle. The most successful of these came from F.C. Brown of the Caw's Pen and Ink Co. and from Morris W. Moore of Boston. In 1907 Waterman began marketing a safety pen of its own that soon became the most widely distributed such pen. For pens with nonretractable nibs, the adoption of screw-on caps with inner caps that sealed around the nib by bearing against the front of the section effectively solved the leakage problem (such pens were also marketed as "safety pens", as with the Parker Jack Knife Safety and the Swan Safety Screw-Cap).
Parker Duofold, ca. 1924
In Europe, the German supplies company which came to be known as Pelikan and was started in 1838, first introduced their pen in 1929, based upon the acquisition of patents for solid-ink fountain pens from the factory of Slavoljub Penkala from Croatia (patented 1907, in mass production since 1911), and the patent of the Hungarian Theodor Kovacs for the modern piston filler by 1925.
The decades that followed saw many technological innovations in the manufacture of fountain pens. Celluloid gradually replaced hard rubber, which enabled production in a much wider range of colors and designs. At the same time, manufacturers experimented with new filling systems. The inter-war period saw the introduction of some of the most notable models, such as the Parker Duofold and Vacumatic, Sheaffer's Lifetime Balance series, and the Pelikan 100.
Parker Duofold, ca. 1928
During the 1940s and 1950s, fountain pens retained their dominance: early ballpoint pens were expensive, prone to leaks and had irregular inkflow, while the fountain pen continued to benefit from the combination of mass production and craftsmanship. This period saw the launch of innovative models such as the Parker 51, the Sheaffer Snorkel and the Eversharp Skyline, while the Esterbrook J series of lever-fill models with interchangeable steel nibs offered inexpensive reliability to the masses.
By the 1960s, refinements in ballpoint pen production gradually ensured its dominance over the fountain pen for casual use. Although cartridge-filler fountain pens are still in common use in France, Germany, India and the United Kingdom, and are widely used by young students in most private schools in England and at least one private school in Scotland,[4] a few modern manufacturers (especially Montblanc and Visconti now depict the fountain pen as a collectible item or a status symbol, rather than an everyday writing tool.[/quote]
[b]So why would I want one?[/b]
Fountain pens are extremely classy; I have received several complements from my classmates. They also write much smoother than their ballpoint counterparts, requiring barely any pressure to write. Artists may also love fountain pens, because of interchangeable nibs they can achieve an extremely fine line or broad line.
[b]That shit sounds awesome! Where can I buy one?[/b]
Fountain pens are available online at places such as Amazon, and can also be purchased from office supply stores. Waterman and Pelikan make great higher-end pens, but if you want a cheap pen to start out with, Lemy is a great choice. My pen that I use is a Pelikan Tradition 150. I advise you to stay away from cartridges, and use loose (bottled) ink instead. Cartridges do not offer the multitude of types of colors and properties that loose ink can offer, and they are more expensive and are lesser quality.
Here is a comparison of the writing of a fountain pen compared to a ballpoint pen:
[img]http://filesmelt.com/dl/img0023.jpg[/img]
As you can see, the fountain pen (top) is a deep, dark black and does not have the greyish tinge of the ballpoint pen.
I advise you to dive into the world of fountain pens. If you are in school, they can actually motivate you to do your schoolwork because you have a nice pen to write with (as they did to me). They are superior to ballpoint pens, and in the long run, cheaper due to the fact they never need to be replaced.
I love writing with a fountain pen, bitches get jealous. Some kid went in my locker and stole all mine. :saddowns:
I've tried to write with a fountain pen once, I ended up having ink blots everywhere on my clothes.
[img]http://filesmelt.com/dl/img0023.jpg[/img]
god that looks bad
ballpoint master race
[editline]7th May 2011[/editline]
'merge
I own a Lamy Safari and Waterman Phileas, F nibs for both. Fantastic for writing a shitload of essays, my arm doesn't get tired easily. A great place to get fountain pens is eBay, that's where I got my Phileas.
I use Noodler's Bulletproof X-Feather for ink, fantastic stuff. Never fades or bleed.
We used to get these at school when we were 7 when we got taught on how to write.
Also, if you wanna get into fountain pens, the Lamy Safari is a fantastic beginner's pen. It's relatively cheap and pretty durable, comes in an orgy of colours as well.
[editline]7th May 2011[/editline]
my automerge :argh:
Yeah, I got these to learn how to write when I was young, like em better than ballpoints, but they're more expensive, and I'm a cheap bitch.
I love huge throbbing pens.
Ugh, I can't write for shit with fountain pens.
I write so fast and neat with a ballpoint pen, and with a fountain pen its mostly just scribble.
Rollerball represent, easy as a ballpoint, deep black as a fountain pen :smug:
I could never write with fountain pens, always used the wrong side and covered my hand in ink.
I have a ton of these because my grandma was into calligraphy, but I never learned how to use them. Then again, I was 7 or so at the time.
[B]Edit:[/B] Also, using a different pen motivated you to do your schoolwork? A writing utensil is a writing utensil for something as trivial as that.
No real point in using them unless you can do a really nice calligraphic cursive style of handwriting.
I lose my pencils about twice a day so I don't think this would be the best thing for me
Both examples look horrible.
I honestly thought it said Fountain penis
Pens found under the table at the start of class master race
If I had a fountain pen I would keep dismantling it and eventually cover myself in ink
I'm more of a fan of Parker pens (non-fountain) with replaceable cartridges
I'm Left Handed :saddowns:
I love writing with a Fountain Pen, however I hate it when someone uses it, presses too hard and bends the fucking nib :(
The true writers use quills.
I even buy ink powder.
[QUOTE=The mouse;29672280]I'm Left Handed :saddowns:[/QUOTE]
me too :saddowns:
Would you believe that, where I used to live in the Middle-East, my school made it mandatory to use a fountain pen? I mean, ballpoint pens simply weren't allowed.
I usually use Pilot Varsity disposable fountain pens because they're the cheapest and they're at my local staples.
[img]http://www.meijer.com/assets/product_images/styles/xlarge/1002269_90011_A_400.jpg[/img]
a pack of three costs about $6, and they last a good amount of time, and I heard you can easily refill them on your own, though I've never done this.
For a person who constantly loses pens (like me), this is a good choice over the $15-200 fountain pen
Fountain pens are cool, they glide so easily over the paper...but since they're more expensive I usually use both fountain and ball-point. I save the fountain pen for "fancier" occasions...
I prefer those needle tip types.
Love fountain pens, I have a small collection. They really make you much more prideful in your hand writing. I still type school papers but I use my fountain pen for my musical compositions and for personal writing.
[url]http://isellpens.com/[/url] this website is the best for buying pens, anywhere from 5 dollars to like 600 dollars. The most I've ever spent is 40, but the pen I usually use (a Picasso matte orange) was only 15.