INFORMATION
The Origin and Development of Fountain Pens
In 1809, the United Kingdom granted the first patents for fountain pens, marking the official birth of the fountain pen.
In early fountain pens, ink could not flow freely. Writers had to press a piston to make ink flow, and had to press it repeatedly during writing, otherwise no ink would come out. Naturally, this made writing very inconvenient.
In 1829, James Bailey, a British inventor, successfully developed a metal fountain pen nib. Specially processed, it was smooth and elastic, offering smooth writing experience and gaining wide popularity. However, this type of pen still required frequent dipping in ink, which was quite troublesome.
Then in 1884, Lewis Edson Waterman, an employee of an American insurance company, invented a method of ink supply using capillary action, which effectively solved the above problems. The pen tip could be removed, and ink was injected with a small dropper.
The earliest self-filling pens appeared in the early 20th century, using a piston to draw ink. After the rubber ink sac was adopted, a metal sheet was inserted into a slot to squeeze the sac for filling. In 1952, the Snorkel pen, which used a tube to draw ink from an ink bottle, was introduced. It was not until 1956 that the commonly used capillary-filling fountain pen was invented. There are also art fountain pens and other specialized types.
