About Fountain Pens

The fountain pen has a number of marked dates in terms of its development.

Around 1884 L.E. Waterman played a part in the history of the fountain pen by inventing theink feed system - ink could be stored in the pen and then flow through a feed, over the nib and onto the paper.

The next series of changes related to the way ink was got into the pen. At one time pens were filled with droppers to draw up the ink from a bottle and then drop it into the pen itself. Great inventions along the way replaced that with the use of a sac inside the body of the pen.

Conklin and Sheaffer in 1897 and 1909 came along with wasy to press down and deflate the rubber ink sac so as to draw ink up into the pen. Conklin has a crescent shaped bar that protruded from the side of the pen, and Sheaffer a lever that laid flush with the pen body. Both methods can be seen in pens produced today. Parker came along and had a bar that would press down on the sac, creating the vacuum to draw up the ink. Sheaffer received a patent for the first level filling fountain pen and Sheaffer started producing their pens in 1912.

There were also pistons that would draw ink up into the holding area of the pen, and snorkels and other methods all to get the ink from the bottle into the pen.

In 1953 Waterman came up with the idea of a plastic cartridge that would hold the ink and snap into the pen. A major advancement and the cartridge of course is still around today.

The 1920's is often referred to as the beginning of the Golden Age for pens. During this time numerous companies in North America and Europe produced fountain pens. Numerous pens could be mentioned, but in reading it seems that the Waterman Patrician, issued in 1929, is a good example of the classic style and appearance that illustrates the "Golden Age".

Black rubber was the material primarily used to construct the pens. There were also coloured bodies and experimentation with different materials.

Sheaffer came along with one of the first plastic, cellulose nitrate, pens around 1924. Parker also produce pens and even dropped one from a plane to demonstrate that the pen body was unbreakable. With the use of plastic came options for great colours.

The cellulose nitrate opened up greater colour options, but the curing of the material meant the production time was considerable.

The Great Depression marked the end of numerous pen companies although fountain pens were produced throughout the war. You needed a pen to write.

There were numerous innoventive pens produced, many still sought after today by collectors. The Parker 51 is considered one of the best pens every produced by many. Introduced around 1941 it had a sleek body that was made from Lucite, a material that was used to make aircraft and was the pen used to sign the Peace Treat between the United States and Japan. Parker, even produced a special line of ink, Parker 51 Ink, for the pen. There are websites and books devoted to this pen... it has a following.

During the 50's plastic became the new medium for pens. It was heated and injected in molds. This has the economical advantage of shortening the production time as it did not involve the length of time to cure the previously used cellulose nitrate.

By the 50's the ball point pen started making the scene. It was in 1945, at Gimbels Department Store in New York, that marks one of the significant entry points of the ball point pen into the market.

All Great Eras come to an end, and the 70's seem to be the time frame when the use of the fountain pen started to diminish and the ball point pen became the primary pen of choice. I remember using a fountain pen in grade four buy by grade five the school district replaced the fountain with the ball point pen so even in the school system, my use of a "real pen and ink" was some what limited.