History Of Pens

1. The History of Pens

2. •The “Pen” (Latin for pinna,feather) officially
began in India approximately 5,000 B.C.E.
•It was made of feathers or bamboo sticks.

3. •The literature of Ramayana (4
th
Century B.C.E.) was
written in this manner.
•The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic.
•It is attributed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an
important part of the Hindu canon

4. •As was the Puranas (1,500 B.C.E.).
•The Puranas is a group of important Hindu religious texts, notably
consisting of narratives of the history of the universe from creation
to destruction, genealogies of kings, heroes, sages, and demigods,
and descriptions of Hindu cosmology, philosophy, and geography.

5. •Ancient Egyptians used thin reed brushes made
from Juncus Maritimus as far back as the First
Dynasty (3,000 B.C.E.).

6. •Reed Pens continued to be
used until the Middle Ages.

7. •Reed pens were slowly replaced by quills
in the 7
th
Century.

8. •The Quill pen was used in Qumran, Judea to
write some of the Dead Sea Scrolls and then
introduced to Europe by around 700 C.E.

9. •After the fall of the Roman
Empire Europeans experienced
some difficulty obtaining reeds
and began using more quill
pens.

10. •This was
specifically
mentioned in
the writing of
St. Isidore of
Seville.

11. •The Quill pen was
used to Sign the
Declaration of
Independence in
the United States
in 1787.

12. •Quill pens were used up until the 19
th
century.

13. •A copper nib
was found in
the ruins of
Pompeii.
•This indicates
that metal
nibs were
used as far
back as 79
C.E.

14. •A metal pen point was patented in 1803.
•John Mitchell of Birmingham was the first to
mass produce pens with metal nibs in 1822.

15. •From that point the quality of steel nibs
had improved enough that dip pens with
metal nibs came into general use.

16. •The earliest
record of a
reservoir fountain
pen dates back to
the 10
th
century.

17. •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 via gravity
and capillary action.

18. •While a student in
Paris, Romanian
Petrache Poenaru
re-invented the
fountain pen,
which the French
Government
patented in May
1827.

19. •Fountain pen patents and production then
increased in the 1850s, especially steel pens
produced by the same John Mitchell.

20. •The first patent on a ballpoint pen was issued on
October 30 1888, to John J Loud.

21. •In 1938, László Bíró, a Hungarian newspaper editor,
with the help of his brother George, a chemist,
began to work on designing new types of pens
including one with a tiny ball in its tip that was free
to turn in a socket.
•As the pen moved along the paper, the ball rotated,
picking up ink from the ink cartridge and leaving it
on the paper.

22. •Erasable ballpoint pens were introduced by
Papermate in 1979 when the Erasermate was
put on the market.

23. •In the 1960s the felt-
tipped pen was
invented by Yukio Horie
of the Tokyo Stationery
Company, Japan.

24. •Papermate's
Flair was among
the first felt-tip
pens to hit the
U.S. market in
the 1960s, and it
has been the
leader ever
since.

25. •Marker pens and
highlighters,
both similar to
felt pens have
become popular
in recent years.

26. •Rollerball pens were introduced in the early
1980s. They make use of a mobile ball and
liquid ink to produce a smoother line.

27. •In 1997 the grip less ring pen was developed.

28. •The Fisher Space Pen was invented by
American industrialist and pen manufacturer
Paul C. Fisher and is manufactured in Boulder
City, Nevada, USA.
•Fisher first patented the AG7 "anti gravity"
pen in 1965.
Technologically Enhanced Pens

29. •Scanner Pens – can scan text right into the
computer

30. •Dictionary Pens –
can scan and tell
the meaning of a
word

31. •Livescribe's Pulse Smart Pen can record and write