| It took the development of writing systems to break | | | | Biro in 1938. He was sick of the mess of primitive |
| mankind out of the Stone Age. Pictograhs on cave | | | | fountain pens and started experimenting with a tiny |
| walls and clay medallions gave rise to the formation | | | | ball bearing placed in the tip of his pen to be. They |
| of systematic symbol codes which in turn gave rise | | | | took off instantly, and besides a few resurgences in |
| to the first alphabet in the Sinai Peninsula. From there, | | | | fountain pen popularity, they have been the |
| it was the Hebrews and then the Greeks that | | | | preferred writing instrument ever since. In 1950, the |
| developed other alphabets and delivered civility to | | | | French Baron Bich, expanding on the idea, started |
| people worldwide. This happened as a direct result of | | | | selling Bic ballpoint pens and took over the world. |
| having the capacity to record our successes and | | | | Currently, there are over 14,000,000 Bic pens sold |
| failures for future generations to be able to witness | | | | worldwide every day! |
| and hence learn from. From scraping cave walls with | | | | Rollerball pens are similar to ballpoint pens in that they |
| sharpened stones to dipping bird feathers in primitive | | | | both have a ball in their tip to dispense the ink. The |
| ink to the writing instruments and methods of today, | | | | difference between them is primarily the ink. A |
| we have continually searched for and developed new | | | | ballpoint pen uses an ink made from an alcohol-based |
| writing implements and will undoubtedly do so in the | | | | paste. Rollerball pens use a water-based liquid ink that |
| future as well. Here is an overview of the world's | | | | flows more smoothly. Since the ink is water-based, it |
| most popular writing instruments: | | | | tends to dry slower, making it prone to smudging. |
| Quill pens were bird feathers. Around 700 A.D., | | | | There is also the possibility of the ink saturating |
| someone got the idea to use a goose feather dipped | | | | through the paper. |
| in Chinese "Indian Ink" to scratch messages on | | | | Gel ink pens use a pigmented water-based ink that |
| primitive paper. As the idea spread, a swan's feather | | | | flows smoothly and is very bold in color. You can use |
| became the luxurious choice. Also, eagle, hawk and | | | | colored gel ink to write on black paper. Black gel is |
| turkey feathers were fancied at different times and | | | | very black and many people like that. The only |
| places. It is highly notable that quill pens are still the | | | | problem with gel ink pens is that hey are sometimes |
| longest running mainstream writing instrument in | | | | prone to skipping. You can even get gel ink pens that |
| history - lasting over 1000 years! | | | | dispense glittered ink! |
| The quill pen was messy and needed constant | | | | Markers and felt tip pens complete our list and offer |
| dipping. It took a great deal of time and international | | | | their own diverse usages. Sometimes, nothing else will |
| experimentation to bring about the first fountain pen. | | | | do. They come in an endless array of colors and can |
| In their most primitive state, a fountain pen is simply | | | | write on just about any surface. For instance, it is |
| a ink reservoir with a nib (tip) attached to it. In | | | | quite impossible to write on plastic, glass or metals |
| modern form, they have a number of devices to fill | | | | with most other pen types. |
| them with ink including, converters, levers, suction | | | | The world of pens and ink is a diverse one. There is |
| devices and more. They also now come with | | | | a pen type that is designed to accommodate any |
| disposable ink cartridges that you simply snap inside | | | | writing need that you may be faced with. One thing |
| of the pen's barrel. | | | | is sure, we have come a long way from cave wall |
| Ballpoint pens were first introduced by a man called | | | | scratching and bird feather scribbling! |