Fountain pen
A fountain pen, briefly known as fountain pen, fountain pen or pen is a writing instrument in stick form, the ink is transferred to paper by means of a metal spring. The ink then flows absorbed at the tip of the metal spring, where it is the paper of a conductive ink by capillary action from a memory (e.g., ink cartridge, the converter or in the piston, the tank filler ). Fountain pen in their daily life and education frequently use.
History
1636 Daniel Schwenter constructed from Altdorf a spring with three nested goose quills, which are still used today in calligraphy. Two Dutch travelers had seen in Paris in 1656, the first fountain pen. In the "Journal d'un voyage à Paris en 1657-1658 " such a device is described by author Armand Prosper Faugère. The oldest historical record of a fountain pen so dated from 1657. To 1786, the Leipzig mechanic Scheller built a " travel writing pen with resistant Dinten ". The earliest surviving fountain pen dates back to the 18th century. Until the beginning of the 19th century there was slow progress in the development, after which it accelerated and increased the number of fountain pens produced. The fact that he was such a popular writing instrument that he owes three key inventions: the gold nib with iridium tip, the hard rubber and evenly flowing ink.
The first fountain pen, which were equipped with these three key technologies that emerged in the 1850s. With the patent application on February 12, 1884 by Lewis Edson Waterman's ink head then began the era of the pen as a mass product. In the first fiscal year produced the Waterman Company 200 fountain pen on a kitchen table in the back room of a cigarette shop in New York. The dominant American producers in this pioneer era were Waterman Company in New York City, host Bloomsburg (Pennsylvania ) and Parker and Sheaffer. These companies outperformed soon the many other companies that emerged at this time, and remained leader until the early twenties of the 20th century.
In Germany, the manufacturer Friedrich Soennecken 1871 Koch / Weber began in 1872 with the production of fountain pens; Soennecken and KaWeCo were the main producers of fountain pens in Germany in the 1890s. The first commercially successful German fountain pen was developed in 1890 by the company Soennecken and was priced at an average weekly wage. The invention of the Gleichzugfeder for writing the Rundschrift by Soennecken was another innovation that made the modern writing with feathers possible. Montblanc was founded in 1906/1908. The company acquired patents for Pelikan fountain pen with solid ink Croatian chemist Eduard Penkala Slavoljub and 1925 the patent of the Hungarian Theodor Kovacs for the modern engineer piston filler and did not begin until 1929 with the production of fountain pens.
In the following decades there have been many technological innovations in the manufacture of writing instruments. Celluloid gradually replaced the vulcanized hard rubber, which allowed the production of a much wider range of colors and designs. At the same time, manufacturers experimented with new filling systems. The interwar period saw the introduction of some remarkable models, such as the Parker Duofold and Vacumatic, the Sheaffer 's Lifetime Balance series, the Toledo fountain pens and - from 1929 - the Pelikan 100 in 1949 came a new Piston filling on the market, the Soennecken already in 1939 had patented. At this time experienced in the U.S., the Waterman Company its economic decline and was sold to the competitors Parker.
During the 1940s and 50s the fountain pen maintained their dominant position among the pens, because early pens were expensive, prone to leak and had only irregular ink flow 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 with the lever filler models with interchangeable steel tips offered cheap and reliable mass products.
From the 1960s then the pens supplanted by improvements in production gradually the fountain pen in daily life. Although Cartridge, are still particularly at school, in use in Germany and France, some manufacturers market their pen today rather than collector's item and a status symbol and not (only) as a pen for everyday use. These include in particular the brands Mont Blanc, Faber -Castell with the line Graf von Faber -Castell and pelican with the series Majesty, Sovereign, Toledo, Limited or Special Edition.
Using the pen
Together with the mass produced pencil and the introduction of cheap paper on wood base of the fountain pen was responsible for a far-reaching revolution in the style of writing and the form of paperwork during the 19th century. They have been the forerunner of the modern office, which was about the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century with the gradual introduction of the typewriter and the early copiers.
The fountain pen and to a lesser extent the pencil replaced the difficult -to-use combination of dip pen, inkwell, blotter and the clear sand, which was used until then to write. The use of a dip pen was a complicated and often frustrating affair because of the irregular ink flow and the tendency to blobs.
Fountain pens are generally considered as the most appropriate writing tools to write with ink on paper or draw. However, they are costly, complex to maintain and more sensitive than pens. Moreover, they can not be used with the various pigment, shellac, iron gall or acrylic inks and cover up the way they are used by artists preferably in combination with ( immersion ) steel springs, quills or reed pens ( exceptions: füllfederhaltertaugliche pelican, pigmented Fount India and the Kiwa - Guro Black pigment Ink by the Japanese manufacturer Sailor ).
Education writing assistance, and the "filler driver's license "
Learning to write with a pen represents the final stage of learning the handling of basic writing instruments in elementary school and is a systematic practice in an associated font. The use is - learned in most provinces in the second grade - after crayons and pencil. Here, the mastery of the usual depending on the province script is already provided. The rollerball or writer usually not considered as intermediate between pencil and pen, but offers often as an alternative for children who can not cope with the handling of a fountain pen. Writing with a spring forces the writer to a correct attitude, a control of the pressure force on the paper and careful handling to avoid blob border or faltering ink flow. In the first years of primary school, the use of pens is therefore not usually allowed.
The handling of a spring writing instrument is complex and requires skill and fine motor skills that do not raise all students equally. In Forums parents possible alternatives, the compulsion to use filler and inconsistent views of teachers on this controversial issue. Widely used, therefore, is the practice of so-called "filler license ", a document which is issued pupils if they have learned how to use the pen, and of course has only symbolic power.
Spring
The pen is the essential distinguishing feature between fountain pens and ink pens.
A fountain pen, the spring is usually made of stainless steel or gold. Modern springs are covered with a hard, durable tip, usually a platinum-containing alloy of nickel group or iridium. The material of the top is often referred to simply as iridium, although not all manufacturers use this special metal still in their alloys for the spring tips. Also steel springs typically have tips made of a harder metal, as pure steel tips wear out relatively quickly on the paper. Lately also increasingly made of titanium springs.
The spring is normally provided by the center to the tip with a thin cut through which the ink flows through the capillary from the reservoir to the pen tip. With the usual springs of fountain pens, the peak narrows to a point whereby the ink is housed in a thin, uniform line on paper. Width calligraphy pens have some more such cuts to the top, to increase the flow of ink and so to fill the broad lines evenly with ink. Tapered springs with two incisions are generally referred to as touch pens, since a large stroke contrast can be achieved by the double notch, which is necessary for the writing of musical notes.
Although the usual springs have a pointed tip, which are available in different sizes ( often: F = fine, M = medium, W = wide, rare: EF = Extra Fine, BB = double width ), and springs with different tip shapes are available. Examples are the left and right beveled springs ( Oblique, Oblique Reverse ), broad feathers, which give a band or Wechselzug ( stub), as well as elastic, narrow feathers, usually without hardened tip ( Italic ).
Fountain pen from the first half of the 20th century usually have a flexible spring, as they were required to write the preferred manuscripts that time. From the 1940s, the preference towards stiffer spikes that could withstand the greater pressure required for writing through copy paper to create documents with punch is moved ( carbonless spring). Served this purpose, the glass pens were times, also available in completely normal piston fillers.
Larger view of the spring peak
Close up of the spring; black particles represent residual ink
Spring of a filler
Tip of the quill of a filler
Ink stroke at high magnification
Comparison of two springs of the spring strengths M ( left) and R (right)
Fountain pen as value objects
Fountain pen can be found next to mass-produced as products of art - like mechanical watches and other ( historical ) commodities. Elaborate housing for fountain pens are made of special metals, other precious materials and sometimes provided with jewels. Still others are hand decorated with a fountain pen from Japan derived, as maki-e lacquer known elaborate design. Lovers gather and use ancient and modern fountain pens, and they exchange information about old and modern inks, ink bottles and bottles from. Collectors prefer even in historical writing instruments either those that can actually be used for writing or pure technical museum show or decorative objects as an investment. One of the most expensive fountain pens is the Montblanc Black Diamond, which is set with diamonds and has a value of over € 120,000.
At the lower end of the price scale " disposable" fountain pens as well as good Gebrauchsfüllfederhalter with steel springs are getting already for 10 €.