Evolution of pen – From Reed Pen to 3Doodler

In his book “A History of Writing” Steven Roger Fischer suggests that the reed pen might well have been used for writing on parchment as long ago as the First Dynasty or about 3000 BC.

Reed pen

A reed pen is cut from a reed or bamboo, with a slit in a narrow tip. The reed pen has almost disappeared but it is still used by young school students in some parts of India and Pakistan, who learn to write with them on small timber boards known as “Takhti”.

Quills slowly replaced them from about 7^th century. A quill is a pen made from a flight feather of a large bird, most often a goose.  Quill pens were used in medieval times to write on parchment or paper.

The earliest historical record of a pen employing a reservoir dates back to the 10th century.  In 953, Ma’ād al-Mu’izz, the Fatimid Caliph of Egypt, 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. This pen may have been a fountain pen, but its mechanism remains unknown, and only one record mentioning it has been found. A later reservoir pen was developed in 1636. In his Deliciae Physico-Mathematicae (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. In 1809, Bartholomew Folsch received a patent in England for a pen with an ink reservoir.

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.

A fountain pen uses water-based liquid ink delivered through a nib. The ink flows from a reservoir through a “feed” to the nib, then through the nib, due to capillary action and gravity. The nib has no moving parts and delivers ink through a thin slit to the writing surface. A fountain pen reservoir can be refillable or disposable, this disposable type being an ink cartridge.

The first patent on a ballpoint pen was issued on October 30, 1888, to John J Loud. A ballpoint pen dispenses viscous oil-based ink by rolling a small hard sphere, usually 0.7–1.2 mm and made of brass, steel or tungsten carbide. The ink dries almost immediately on contact with paper. The ballpoint pen is usually reliable and inexpensive It has replaced the fountain pen as the most common tool for everyday writing.

Photo:Trounce/Wikimedia Commons

Rollerball pens were introduced in the early 1970s. 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. A high quality drafting pen will usually have a ceramic tip, since this wears well and does not broaden when pressure is applied while writing.Marker pens and highlighters have become popular in recent times.This is how evolution of pen took place over years.

3Doodler- This is the world’s first 3d pen which enables one to draw in air that is 3d printing. 3Doodler is the brainchild of Peter Dilworth and Max Bogue, co-founders of WobbleWorks LLC.Lift your imagination off the page is what they say!!!

Watch YouTube video here….

Hope the computers,smartphones,tablets etc.. do not replace pens completely…….

Source: Wikipedia