Fountain+Pens

​ Why Fountain Pens Are Better A Short History:
 * **"It's clean, easy, and quick; the fountain pen is what you will pick."**
 * Quill pens had to be replaced on a weekly basis. Therefore, they became very costly over time.
 * One also had to use a knife to sharpen the quill.
 * Using quills required one to buy a separate ink bottle. [[image:http://www.wikispaces.com/i/c.gif width="22" height="22" caption="Insert Link"]]
 * The oldest known invention of the fountain pen was by M. Bion in 1702
 * 19th century pens used an eyedropper which proved to be highly inconvenient. To refill the ink, the reservoirs were flatten by an internal plate, then the nib of the pen was placed into an ink bottle and the pressure on the internal plate was released so that the ink sac would fill up drawing more ink.
 * The first PRACTICAL fountain pen was created by Lewis Waterman,a New York insurance salesmen in 1884. He was inspired to develop better pen when he accidentally destroyed a valuable sales contract with a leaky-pen ink.

Three Different Nib Types:
 * Straight
 * Oblique
 * Italic

Problems with early Nibs: Early problems of the auto filler:
 * Early ink caused steel nibs to quicklyn corrode
 * Gold nibs held up
 * Iridium replaced gold because gold was too soft
 * Spilled easy
 * Didn't fill correctly

Types of Fountian Pens
 * Lever Filler
 * Click Filler
 * Matchstick Filler
 * Coin Filler


 * The nib of a fountain pen is located at the tip of the pen. It allows the ink form inside the pen to flow on to a piece of paper.
 * A capillary feed is a system of narrow tubes that allows the ink from the pen to flow onto a piece of paper. This is because the feed has a number of air passages that lead to the reservoir. When air pressure inside the pen is equal to the air pressure outside the ink will flow onto the paper.
 * To stop the overflow of ink there is a collector (feed) which is a series of fins and spaces which stores extraneous amounts of ink.

"The ink [of a fountain pen] flows with certainty, and there is no scratching as with the ordinary pen.It writes with facility on either smooth or rough paper; writes even more smoothly than a lead pencil; may be carried in the pocket; is always ready for use; there is no spilling or blotting of ink" ("Writing Made Easy").

On January 3rd 1888, Caw's Ink and Pen Company had a sale from 8 to 1. They would sell their $4 gold-mounted Dashaway fountain pen and a seventy-five cent ink bottle for just $2 each. The pens were a huge success! "This crowd not only completely blocked and jammed the store [Caw's Ink and Pen Company], but it blockaded the sidewalk and overflowed upon the street, at times interfering with the car traffic" (Good News For Writers").

Bellis, Mary. "A Brief History of Writing Instruments." About.com Inventors. Web. 18 Dec. 2009. .

"Writing Made Easy." //New York Times// [New York City] 10 Aug. 1878: 1. //Historical Newspapers//. Web. 26 Dec. 2009. . //Fountain Pen Care & Use//. Photograph. //Vineyard Pens//. Josef Hall, 2009. Web. 3 Jan. 2010. .

"Pen." //World Book Student.// World Book, 2010. Web. 4 Jan. 2010. .

"GOOD NEWS FOR WRITERS." //New York Times// [New York City] 4 Mar. 1888: 1. //Historical Newspapers//. Web. 3 Jan. 2010. .

Owen Thomas. "The Mighty Pen." Christian Science Monitor Aug. 28 2001: n.p. //SIRS Renaissance// Web. 03 January 2010. .

Photograph. Vintage Advertisements-Waterman. //Waterman Advertisements//. Pendemonium. Web. 18 Dec. 2009. .

"Collectable Fountain Pens." Web. 18 Dec. 2009..

 Photograph. //About.com Inventors//. Web. 18 Dec. 2009. .