The Fountain Pen
A fountain pen is a nib pen that contains a reservoir of water-based liquid ink. Reservoirs today are available in disposable cartridge and refillable cartridge styles and fountain pen inks come in a wide variety colors. The ink is drawn from the reservoir, through a feed to the nib then is applied to the paper as you write. The fountain pen's ability to operate and deliver ink is by a combination of gravity and capillary action. The result is a writing instrument that requires very little pressure to write on a piece of paper.
Throughout history many variations of a writing instrument that would hold ink inside the body would be introduced. Early in history was the quill, which is a bird feather containing a natural reservoir in the center that would hold ink. People would continually dip the quill in an ink bottle as they were writing. In the 19th century, an eyedropper would be used to refill a pen that contained an internal reservoir. After filling the pen with ink, the filling hole was plugged with a cork or the cap screwed back on the end of the pen. Major problems with early fountain pens would be leaking, ink flow and messy to refill. The early 1900s would see a fountain pen emerge that contained an internal self-filling rubber sac as the ink reservoir. Several patents were introduced for the styles of refilling mechanisms, which included the button filler, lever filler and click filler to name a few. All of the variations simply provided a way to squeeze the internal sac flat. Once the pen tip was put in the ink bottle, the pressure was released and the sac would fill up with ink. The disposable ink cartridge was introduced around 1950. The cartridge was made out of glass or plastic and made refilling the fountain pen so much easier. The ballpoint pen was also introduced around this same time and fountain pen sales would drop dramatically. Today the fountain pen has become a "classic" writing instrument admired by collectors and enthusiasts.
Many years ago the fountain pen was a writing instrument used on daily basis. Many owners of these exquisite writing instruments would use the same fountain pen their whole life, replacing their pen only if lost or damaged beyond repair. Over the years, the fountain pen has been replaced by the ballpoint pen and today the mass majority of people have never even written with a fountain pen. The fountain pen is still used today by those that are collectors, enthusiasts and those that just really enjoy writing with the fine writing instrument. The fountain pen offers you an experience like no other writing instrument. When writing with a fountain pen, there is very little pressure required as the tip glides across the paper and the ink embeds in the paper. The more you write with a fountain pen, the more the pen becomes "your" pen, as the tip forms to your personal writing characteristics.