Editing Fountain pen (section)

== History ==

=== Early prototypes of reservoir pens ===

There is compelling evidence that the first working fountain pen was constructed and used during the [[Renaissance]] by artist and inventor [[Leonardo da Vinci]].  Leonardo's journals contain drawings with cross-sections of what appears to be a reservoir pen that works by both gravity and capillary action.  Historians also took note of the fact that the handwriting in the inventor's surviving journals is of a consistent contrast throughout, rather than the characteristic fading pattern typical of a quill pen caused by expending and re-dipping.  While no physical item survives, several working models were reconstructed in 2011 by artist Amerigo Bombara that have since been put on display in museums dedicated to Leonardo.<ref name="tusc_Lape">{{Cite web | title = La penna di Leonardo alla sala regia - Tusciaweb.eu | trans-title =  | author =  | work = Tusciaweb.eu | date = September 7, 2011 | accessdate = 2016-11-09 | url = http://www.tusciaweb.eu/2011/09/la-penna-di-leonardo-alla-sala-regia/ | language = it  | quote =  }}</ref>

[[File:Patent fountain pen.png|left|thumb|The world's first patent on the fountain pen awarded by the French Government to the [[Romanians|Romanian]] inventor [[Petrache Poenaru]] on 25 May 1827]]

[[Image:US68445.png|left|thumb|M. Klein and Henry W. Wynne received US [[patent]] #68445 in 1867 for an ink chamber and delivery system in the handle of the fountain pen]]

===European reservoir models===
[[Image:Schwenter - Deliciae physico-mathematicae oder Mathemat. und philosophische Erquickstunden, 1636 - 4696404.tif|thumb|''Deliciae physico-mathematicae'', 1636]]
The fountain pen was available in Europe in the 17th century, and is shown by contemporary references. In ''Deliciae Physico-Mathematicae'' (a 1636 magazine), [[Germans|German]] inventor [[Daniel Schwenter]] described a pen made from two [[quill]]s. One quill served as a reservoir for [[ink]] inside the other quill. The ink was sealed inside the quill with [[cork (material)|cork]]. Ink was squeezed through a small hole to the writing point. In 1663 [[Samuel Pepys]] referred to a metal pen "to carry ink".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Pepys|first1=Samuel|title=Diary entries from August 1663 (Pepys' Diary)|date=August 1663|publisher=Samuel Pepys|url=http://www.pepysdiary.com/archive/1663/08/|accessdate=27 July 2016}}</ref> Noted Maryland historian Hester Dorsey Richardson (1862–1933) documented a reference to "three silver fountain pens, worth 15 shillings" in England during the reign of [[Charles II of England|Charles II]], c. 1649–1685.<ref name="Hester Dorsey Richardson 1913, pp. 216-217">{{Cite book|first=Hester Dorsey|last= Richardson|chapter=Chapter XLVII: The Fountain Pen in the Time of Charles II |title=Side-lights on Maryland History, with Sketches of Early Maryland Families|publisher=Williams & Wilkins Co.|location= Baltimore, Md.|year=1913|pages= 216–17|isbn=0-8063-1468-0}}</ref> By the early 18th century such pens were already commonly known as "fountain pens".<ref>Matthew Henry, ''Commentary on the Whole Bible'', Zechariah  iv. 2 (1710), describing a type of self-replenishing oil lamp: "Without any further Care they [i.e. the lamps] received Oil as fast as they wasted it, ('as in those which we call Fountain Inkhorns, or Fountain Pens')".</ref> Hester Dorsey Richardson also found a 1734 notation made by Robert Morris the elder in the ledger of the expenses of [[Robert Morris (financier)|Robert Morris the younger]], who was at the time in [[Philadelphia]], for "one fountain pen".<ref name="Hester Dorsey Richardson 1913, pp. 216-217"/>

===First patent===
Progress in developing a reliable pen was slow until the mid-19th century because of an imperfect understanding of the role that air pressure plays in the operation of pens. Furthermore, most inks were highly corrosive and full of sedimentary inclusions. The [[Romania]]n inventor [[Petrache Poenaru]] received a French [[patent]] on May 25, 1827, for the invention of '''the first fountain pen''' with a barrel made from a large swan quill.<ref name="Best Fountain Pen">{{cite web|title=Who Invented The Fountain Pen?|url=https://www.bestfountainpen.com/who-invented-the-fountain-pen|website=Best Fountain Pen|accessdate=27 July 2016}}</ref>

===Mass-manufactured nibs===
In 1828, [[Josiah Mason]] improved a cheap and efficient slip-in [[Nib (pen)|nib]] in [[Birmingham]], England, which could be added to a fountain pen and in 1830, with the invention of a new machine, [[Joseph Gillott|William Joseph Gillott]], William Mitchell, and James Stephen Perry devised a way to mass manufacture robust, cheap steel [[pen nib]]s ([[Perry & Co]]).<ref>{{cite web|title=Perry and Co|url=http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Perry_and_Co|website=Grace's Guide|accessdate=27 July 2016}}</ref> This boosted the [[Birmingham pen trade]] and by the 1850s, more than half the steel-nib pens manufactured in the world were made in Birmingham. Thousands of skilled craftsmen were employed in the industry.<ref>{{cite web|title=Birmingham Heritage|url=http://www.birminghamheritage.org.uk/pentrade.html|website=www.birminghamheritage.org.uk|accessdate=27 July 2016}}</ref> Many new manufacturing techniques were perfected, enabling the city's factories to mass-produce their pens cheaply and efficiently. These were sold worldwide to many who previously could not afford to write, thus encouraging the development of education and literacy.<ref>{{cite journal |date=22 February 1851 |title=The Manufacture of Steel Pens in Birmingham |journal=[[The Illustrated London News]] |volume=18 |issue=471}}</ref>

===New patents and inventions===
In 1848, American inventor Azel Storrs Lyman patented a pen with "a combined holder and nib".<ref>''The Times'' (London, England), 15 September 1885, p. 6: Obituary</ref> From the 1850s, there was a steadily accelerating stream of fountain pen [[patent]]s and pens in production. However, it was only after three key inventions were in place that the fountain pen became a widely popular writing instrument. Those were the [[iridium]]-tipped [[gold]] nib, [[Ebonite|hard rubber]], and free-flowing ink.<ref name="Best Fountain Pen" />

[[Image:SafetyDemoRJJ PD.jpg|thumb|Waterman 42 Safety Pen, with variation in materials (both red and black hard vulcanized rubbers or [[ebonite]]) and retracting nibs]]
[[Image:Duofold.jpg|thumb|60px|[[The Parker Pen Company|Parker]] [[Duofold]], c. 1924]]

The first fountain pens making use of all these key ingredients appeared in the 1850s. In the 1870s Duncan MacKinnon, a Canadian living in New York City, and [[A. T. Cross Company|Alonzo T. Cross]] of Providence, Rhode Island, created [[stylographic pen]]s with a hollow, tubular nib and a wire acting as a valve.<ref>{{cite web|title=Stylographic Pens|url=http://www.vintagepens.com/stylos.shtml|website=Vintage Pens|accessdate=27 July 2016}}</ref> Stylographic pens are now used mostly for drafting and technical drawing but were very popular in the decade beginning in 1875. In the 1880s the era of the [[mass production|mass-produced]] fountain pen finally began. The dominant American producers in this pioneer era were [[Waterman pens|Waterman]], of New York City, and Wirt, based in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. Waterman soon outstripped Wirt, along with many companies that sprang up to fill the new and growing fountain pen market. Waterman remained the market leader until the early 1920s.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Binder|first1=Richard|title=Significant Pens of the Twentieth Century|url=http://www.richardspens.com/ref/misc/significant.htm|website=Richard Binder's Pens|accessdate=27 July 2016}}</ref>

At this time, fountain pens were almost all filled by unscrewing a portion of the hollow barrel or holder and inserting the ink by means of an eyedropper – a slow and messy procedure. Pens also tended to leak inside their caps and at the joint where the barrel opened for filling.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Binder|first1=Richard|title=Fillers: Eyedropper Fillers|url=http://www.richardspens.com/ref/fillers/ed.htm|website=Richard Binder's Pens|accessdate=27 July 2016}}</ref> Now that the materials' problems had been overcome and the flow of ink while writing had been regulated, the next problems to be solved were the creation of a simple, convenient self-filler and the problem of leakage. In 1890, W. B. Purvis became the first African-American to patent a self-filler. Self-fillers began to arrive around the turn of the century; the most successful of these was probably the Conklin crescent-filler, followed by A. A. Waterman's twist-filler.<ref>{{cite web|title=Filling Instructions: Twist-Fillers|url=http://www.vintagepens.com/filling_instructions_twist-fillers.shtml|website=Vintage Pens|accessdate=27 July 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Crescent Filler|url=http://www.hisnibs.com/crescent.htm|website=His Nibs|accessdate=27 July 2016}}</ref> The tipping point, however, was the runaway success of Walter A. Sheaffer's lever-filler, introduced in 1912,<ref>{{cite web|last1=Binder|first1=Richard|title=Filling Systems: Overview of How They Work and How to Fill Them|url=http://www.richardspens.com/?page=ref/fillers/lever.htm|website=Richard Binder's Pens|accessdate=26 July 2016}}</ref> paralleled by Parker's roughly contemporary button-filler.

===Pen leakage===
Meanwhile, many inventors turned their attention to the problem of leakage.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Binder|first1=Richard|title=Fillers: Wring It Out!|url=http://www.richardspens.com/ref/fillers/twist.htm|website=Richard Binder's Pens|accessdate=27 July 2016}}</ref> Some of the earliest solutions to this problem came in the form of a "safety" pen with a retractable point that allowed the ink reservoir to be corked like a bottle. The most successful of these came from Francis C. Brown of the Caw's Pen and Ink Co. and from Morris W. Moore of Boston.<ref>{{cite web|title=Safety Pens|url=http://www.vintagepens.com/safety_pens.shtml|website=Vintage Pens}}</ref>

In 1898, [[George Safford Parker]] released the [[Parker Jointless]], named so because its barrel was single-piece to prevent leakage. The section assembly fit into the pen's end like a cork stopper; any leaked ink was kept inside the nib.<ref>{{cite web|title=Middle-Joint, End-Joint & "Jointless" Eyedroppers|url=https://www.vintagepens.com/middle-joint_eyedroppers.shtml|website=www.vintagepens.com|accessdate=11 March 2017}}</ref>

In 1908, Waterman began marketing a popular safety pen of its own.<ref>{{cite web|title=Waterman Safeties|url=http://www.vintagepens.com/Waterman_safeties.shtml|website=Vintage Pens}}</ref> For pens with non-retractable nibs, the adoption of screw-on caps with inner caps that sealed around the nib by bearing against the front of the section effectively solved the leakage problem (such pens were also marketed as "safety pens", as with the Parker Jack Knife Safety and the Swan Safety Screw-Cap).<ref>{{cite web|last1=Binder|first1=Richard|title=Design Features: Safety Pens|url=http://www.richardspens.com/ref/design/safeties.htm|website=Richard Binder's Pens|accessdate=27 July 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Mabie Todd Swan Safety Screw Cap Eyedropper Filler|url=https://goodwriterspens.com/2011/05/07/the-mabie-todd-swan-safety-screw-cap-eyedropper-filler/|website=Good Writers' Pens|accessdate=27 July 2016|date=7 May 2011}}</ref>

===Further innovation===
In Europe, the German supplies company which came to be known as [[Pelikan]] was started in 1838, and first introduced their pen in 1929.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Propas|first1=Rick|title=The PENguin – Pelikan, Parker and Other High Quality Fountain Pens|url=http://www.thepenguinpen.com/pelikan/pelikan_history.jsp|website=The PENguin|accessdate=27 July 2016}}</ref> This was based upon the acquisition of patents for solid-ink fountain pens from the factory of [[Slavoljub Penkala]] from [[Croatia]] (patented 1907, in mass production since 1911), and the patent of the [[Hungary|Hungarian]] Theodor Kovacs for the modern piston filler by 1925.<ref>{{cite web|title=1929–1950 – The piston filling mechanism – Pelikan|url=http://www.pelikan.com/pulse/Pulsar/en_US.CMS.displayCMS.93699./the-piston-filling-mechanism|website=Pelikan|accessdate=26 July 2016}}</ref>

The decades that followed saw many technological innovations in the manufacture of fountain pens. [[Celluloid]] gradually replaced hard [[rubber]], which enabled production in a much wider range of colors and designs.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Nishimura|first1=David|title=What is celluloid, and why is it not the same as cellulose nitrate/nitrocellulose?|url=http://www.vintagepens.com/FAQmfr/celluloid.shtml|website=Vintage Pens|accessdate=26 July 2016}}</ref> At the same time, manufacturers experimented with new filling systems. The inter-war period saw the introduction of some of the most notable models, such as the [[The Parker Pen Company|Parker]] [[Duofold]] <ref>{{cite web|title=Parker Pens Penography: DUOFOLD|url=http://parkerpens.net/duofold.html|website=Parker Pens|accessdate=27 July 2016}}</ref> and [[Parker Vacumatic|Vacumatic]],<ref>{{cite web|last1=Binder|first1=Richard|title=The Parker Vacumatic|url=http://www.richardspens.com/ref/profiles/vac.htm|website=Richard Binder's Pens|accessdate=27 July 2016}}</ref> Sheaffer's Lifetime Balance series,<ref>{{cite web|last1=Binder|first1=Richard|title=Sheaffer's Balance|url=http://www.richardspens.com/ref/profiles/balance.htm|website=Richard Binder's Pens|accessdate=27 July 2016}}</ref> and the Pelikan 100.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dating a Pelikan|url=https://thepelikansperch.com/database/dating-a-pelikan/|website=The Pelikan's Perch|accessdate=27 July 2016|date=25 August 2014}}</ref>

During the 1940s and 1950s, fountain pens retained their dominance: early [[ballpoint pen]]s were expensive, were prone to leaks and had irregular inkflow, while the fountain pen continued to benefit from the combination of mass production and craftsmanship.(Bíró's patent, and other early patents on ball-point pens often used the term "ball-point fountain pen," because at the time the ball-point pen was considered a type of fountain pen; that is, a pen that held ink in an enclosed reservoir.)<ref>{{cite web|title=History of the pen|url=http://www.rickconner.net/penspotters/history.html|website=Rick Conner|accessdate=27 July 2016}}</ref>
This period saw the launch of innovative models such as the [[Parker 51]], the [[Aurora (pen manufacturer)|Aurora]] 88, the Sheaffer Snorkel, and the Eversharp Skyline and (later) Skyliner, while the Esterbrook J series of lever-fill models with interchangeable steel nibs offered inexpensive reliability to the masses.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sheaffer Snorkel 1952–1959|url=http://www.penhero.com/PenGallery/Sheaffer/SheafferSnorkel.htm|website=Pen Hero|accessdate=27 July 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=J Series Pens|url=http://www.esterbrook.net/j.shtml|website=Esterbrook|accessdate=27 July 2016}}</ref>

===Popular usage===
[[File:Lamy 2000 fountain pen, EF semi hooded nib.jpg|thumb|[[Lamy]] 2000 piston filler made of polycarbonate and stainless steel, designed in 1966 and still in production]]

By the 1960s, refinements in ballpoint pen production gradually ensured its dominance over the fountain pen for casual use.<ref>{{cite web|title=Pens – Overview|url=http://www.collectorsweekly.com/pens/overview|website=Collectors Weekly|accessdate=27 July 2016}}</ref> Although cartridge-filler fountain pens are still in common use in France, Italy, Germany, Austria, India, and the United Kingdom, and are widely used by young students in most private schools in England and at least one private school in Scotland,<ref>{{cite news | title = Fountain pens boost 'self-esteem' | publisher = [[BBC News]] | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/6143844.stm | accessdate = November 25, 2006  | date=November 13, 2006}}</ref> a few modern manufacturers (especially [[Montblanc (company)|Montblanc]], Graf von Faber-Castell and Visconti) now depict the fountain pen as a collectible item or a [[status symbol]], rather than an everyday writing tool.<ref>{{cite news|title=When Buying Fountain Pens, Splurging (a Little) Is Totally Worth It|url=https://www.wired.com/2014/09/fountain-pen-hi-low/|accessdate=27 July 2016|work=Wired|publisher=Condé Nast|date=September 2014}}</ref> However, fountain pens continue to have a following among many who view them as superior writing instruments due to their relative smoothness and versatility. Retailers such as The Goulet Pen Company or JetPens continue to sell fountain pens and inks for casual and calligraphic use.