| Rudimentary pens, made from hollow straws or reeds which sustained a short column of liquid, were employed by ancient civilizations as far back as 4000 B.C. Pens made from wing feathers and birds like geese and swans, made their debut circa 500 B.C. This process consisted of hardening the feathers' shafts, with the tip for writing wrought and cut to facilitate writing. Known as quill pens, these writing instruments were the primary choice until the discovery of steel-nib pens in the 1800s. It was also in the late 1800s that the early edition of the fountain pen was invented. This invention revolutionized the pen, as its characteristics contained a capillary feed and ink reservoir. The early version of the fountain pen could only detain a minuscule quantity of ink and needed to be refilled often.
Many historians believe that it was the ancient Indians who first used the pen, the earliest ones fashioned from bamboo sticks and bird feathers. Aged prose of Mahabharta, Ramayana and Puranas used this class of pens circa 5000 B.C. In ancient Egypt, reed pens made out of thin reed bushes were used to write on papyrus scrolls. In certain regions of Pakistan, reed pens designed from bamboo are still used by students, mainly to write on timber boards.
The quill pen found its early beginnings in Judea to record parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the ones discovered at the Northwest Bank of the Dead Sea in 1947 dated back to circa 100 B.C. The quill pen was later launched in Europe somewhere around 700 A.D. after the fall of the Roman Empire due to the sudden scarceness of reeds. One thing for sure, the quill pen was exercised to inscribe and mark the Constitution of The United States in 1787.
The earliest version of the copper nib pen was unearthed in the ruins of Pompei in the year 79. Although pens made of metal points were copyrighted in 1803, the patent was not viably developed, but John Mitchell did begin to manufacture massive quantities of metal nib pens in 1822 and these pens steadily molded into mainstream use.
The most primitive chronological evidence of the fountain pen was found in the 10th century when Fatimid Caliph of Egypt insisted a writing apparatus be devised which would not ruin his clothing. This was the first known record of a fountain pen with an in built ink tank which was then distributed to the tip through a vessel. The modern history of pens was marked by the invention of the felt-tip pens, which was devised by Yukio Horie who worked with the Stationery Company in Japan. In the same era of the sixties, the first felt-tip pens were the Papermate Flair, which stormed the United States market, and is still readily available to this day.
The creation of personal computers with keyboard inputs has radically altered the way we write, but the pen is still mighty and it is highly unlikely that it would make its exit anytime soon. Pens are a symbol of communication and will remain so for a long time to come. |
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