The History of Pens

• The “Pen” (Latin for pinna,feather) officially began in India approximately 5,000 B.C.E.

• It was made of feathers or bamboo sticks.

• The literature of Ramayana (4th 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

• 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.

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

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

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

• 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.

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

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

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

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

• A copper nib was found in the ruins of Pompeii.

• This indicates that metal nibs were used as far back as 79 C.E.

• A metal pen point was patented in 1803.• John Mitchell of Birmingham was the first to

mass produce pens with metal nibs in 1822.

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

• The earliest record of a reservoir fountain pen 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 via gravity and capillary action.

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

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

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

• 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.

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

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

• 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.

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

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

• In 1997 the grip less ring pen was developed.

• 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

• Scanner Pens – can scan text right into the computer

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

• Livescribe's Pulse Smart Pen can record and write