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New Fountain Pens
FOUNTAIN PENS – A BRIEF HISTORY
Historical records indicate the existence of a reservoir ink pen as far back as the 10th Century, if not earlier. Yet it was , German inventor, Daniel Schwenter, who first wrote the first description of a pen made from two quills, with one quill serving as a reservoir for ink inside the larger quill.
Yet it wasn’t until the mid 1800s that the critical parts of the fountain pen were first patented and produced - the gold nib, hard rubber and free-flowing ink. Paris student, Romanian Petrache Poenaru had his fountain pen invention patented by the French government in May, 1827.
Later, in the 1870s, Duncan MacKinnon of New York and Alonzo T. Cross of Providence, RI created stylographic pens (early ballpoint pens) that contained a hollow, tube-like nib with an enclosed wire acting as an ink valve.
In January, 1890, American William B. Purvis patented the first ink-feeding tube. Seventeen years later in 1907, Waterman fine writing instruments introduced a safety pen with a retractable point that stoppered the ink reservoir like a bottle. This leak-stopping design made Waterman fountain pens the most popular pens of the times.
The art of fountain pen design was married to these new technological leaps in the early 1900s with the advent of some of the great international names in pens like Aurora, Pelikan, Sheafer, Parker and more.
This rich history, the myriad of designs, the connection with the past are all reasons we love and respect the fountain pen, the finest of all fine writing instruments yesterday and today.