The Ancient Egyptians had developed writing on papyrus scrolls when scribes used thin reed brushes or reed pens from the Juncus Maritimus or sea rush [1]. In his book A History of Writing, Steven Roger Fischer suggests that on the basis of finds at Saqqara, the reed pen might well have been used for writing on parchment as long as ago as the First Dynasty or about 3000 BC. Reed pens continued to be used until the Middle Ages although they were slowly replaced by quills from about the 7th century.

Quills

The Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in 1947 on the northwest bank of the Dead Sea date back to around 100 BC. They were written in Hebrew dialects with bird feathers or quills. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Europeans had difficultly in obtaining reeds and began to use quills. There is a specific reference to quills in the writings of St. Isidore of Seville in the 7th century[2]. Quill pens were used until the nineteenth century.

Metal nibs

Metal nibs appear to have very early origins. A pen with a bronze nib was found in the ruins of Pompei showing nibs must have been in use in the year 79[3]. There is also a reference in Samuel Pepys diary for August 1663. A metal pen point was patented in 1803 but the patent was not commercially exploited. John Mitchell of Birmingham started to massproduce pens with metal nibs in 1822[4]. During the 19th century metal nibs replaced quill pens. By 1850 the quality of steel nibs had improved and dip pens with metal nibs came into generalized use.

Fountain pens

While a student in Paris, the Romanian inventor Petrache Poenaru invented the world’s first fountain pen, an invention for which the French Government issued a patent on May 25, 1827[5]. Lewis Edson Waterman, a New York insurance broker invented the capillary feed fountain pen in 1884 producing a much more reliable flow of ink[6].

Ballpoints

The first patent on a ballpoint pen was issued on October 30 1888, to John J Loud[7]. 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. Bíró filed a British patent on June 15, 1938. In 1940 the Bíró brothers and a friend, Juan Jorge Meyne, moved to Argentina fleeing Nazi Germany and on June 10, filed another patent, and formed Bíró Pens of Argentina. By the summer of 1943 the first commercial models were available[8]. Erasable ballpoint pens were introduced by Papermate in 1979 when the Erasermate was put on the market.[9]

Modern marker pens

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Modern marker pens

Felt tips

In the 1960s the fibre, or felt-tipped pen was invented by Yukio Horie of the Tokyo Stationery Company, Japan[10]. 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.

Rollerballs

Rollerball pens were introduced in the early 1980s. They make use of a mobile ball and liquid ink to produce a smoother line. Technological advances achieved during the late 1980s and early 1990s have improved the roller ball’s overall performance.

pen – The Ancient Egyptians had developed writing on papyrus scrolls when scribes used thin reed brushes or reed pens from the Juncus Maritimus or sea rush [1]. In his book A History of Writing, Steven Roger Fischer suggests that on the basis of finds at Saqqara, the reed pen might well have been used for writing on parchment as long as ago as the First Dynasty or about 3000 BC. Reed pens continued to be used until the Middle Ages although they were slowly replaced by quills from about the 7th century.

RE:
Who invented the pencil? Who invented the pen?

The “lead” pencil (which contains no lead) was invented in 1564 when a huge graphite (black carbon) mine was discovered in Borrowdale, Cumbria, England. The pure graphite was sawn into sheets and then cut into square rods. The graphite rods were inserted into hand-carved wooden holders, forming pencils. They were called lead pencils by mistake – at the time, the newly-discovered graphite was called black lead or “plumbago,” from the Latin word for lead ore – it looked and acted like lead, and it was not known at the time that graphite consisted of carbon and not lead. The English had a monopoly on the production of pencils since no other pure graphite mines were known and no one had yet found a way to make graphite sticks.

Ballpoint Pen:

The ballpoint pen was invented in Hungary in 1935 by Ladislas Biro and his brother, Georg.

Magic Marker:

In 1952, Sidney Rosenthal began marketing his “Magic Marker” which consisted of a glass bottle that held ink and a wool felt wick. By 1958, marker use was becoming common, and people used it for lettering, labelling, marking packages, and creating posters.

A Hungarian journalist named Laszlo Biro invented the first ballpoint pen in 1938. Biro had noticed that the type of ink used in newspaper printing dried quickly, leaving the paper dry and smudge-free. He decided to create a pen using the same type of ink. The thicker ink would not flow from a regular pen nib and Biro had to devise a new type of point. He did so by fitting his pen with a tiny ball bearing in its tip. As the pen moved along the paper, the ball rotated picking up ink from the ink cartridge and leaving it on the paper. This principle of the ballpoint pen actually dates back to an 1888 patent owned by John J. Loud for a product to mark leather. However, this patent was commercially unexploited. Laszlo Biro first patented his pen in 1938, and applied for a fresh patent in Argentina on June 10, 1943. (Laszlo Biro and his brother Georg Biro emigrated to Argentina in 1940.)

Pencil:

In ancient Rome, scribes wrote on papyrus (an early form of paper) with a thin metal rod called a stylus, which left a light but readable mark. Other early styluses were made of lead. Today we still call the core of a pencil the “lead” even though it is made from nontoxic graphite.

Graphite came into widespread use following the discovery of a large graphite deposit in Borrowdale, England in 1564. Graphite left a darker mark than lead, but was so soft and brittle that it required a holder. At first, sticks of graphite were wrapped in string. Later, the graphite was inserted into wooden sticks that had been hollowed-out by hand! The wood-cased pencil was born.

The first mass-produced pencils were made in Nuremberg, Germany in 1662. Until the war with England cut off imports, pencils used in America came from overseas. (William Monroe, a cabinetmaker in Concord, Massachusetts, made the first American wood pencils in 1812.) Benjamin Franklin advertised pencils for sale in his Pennsylvania Gazette in 1729. George Washington used a three-inch pencil when he surveyed the Ohio Territory in 1762.

Pencil- Sidney Rosenthal