Welcome to the Pen Biology 101 class. On this class we are going to peer into the mysteries of essentially the most harmful instrument of all: The Pen. Many individuals quote Edward Bulwer-Lytton once they say “The pen is mightier than the sword”, however how can this be? Let’s discover by beginning with the fountain pen.
The Historical past
Fountain pens are a refinement of pens which have been round for a mind-boggling very long time. The truth is, the primary pens bore little resemblance of what fountain pens are in the present day. For pens, it began with a sharpened reed. This reed was dipped in ink after which was used to write down on papyrus. This was the commonest (and presumably solely) kind of pen used when the Bible was written. However, this fixed dipping was painstaking and messy. The ink was both dried up or was consumed on the paper inside seconds of writing, so it needed to be dipped continuously. Moreover, the ideas did not keep sharp for lengthy.
The long-lasting quill pen got here subsequent and solved a few of these issues. The quill pen was barely higher than the reed as a result of it had the attribute slit lower into the quill permitting for ink to be saved and the ideas stayed sharper for longer. This pen was utilized in medieval occasions to write down down information of deaths and different helpful info. It was even used to write down the US Declaration of Independence and Invoice of Rights.
However even earlier than that, some historians consider that the primary fashionable fountain pen was used means again within the tenth century by an early innovator. It’s believed that the person utilizing this pen did not need to get his fingers soiled anymore along with his ink so he requested some intelligent engineers to provide you with one thing higher. They created a nib with an ink reservoir, comparable in idea to what’s used in the present day.
The Species
There are numerous sorts of fountain pens, however the commonest is the nib and cartridge pen. These pens use metallic nibs with a slit within the metallic to dispense the ink. This slit is then linked to an ink cartridge or pump the place the ink is held. How the pen writes is pure science. Let’s take a molecule of ink, for instance. This molecule is surrounded by different molecules of the identical kind inside an ink cartridge. When writing, gravity pulls one molecule out on to the paper and, due to molecular bonding, one other ink molecule comes out with it, which pulls one other and so forth. That is referred to as Capillary Motion and it’s a main a part of how this sort of fountain pen works.
The subsequent kind of fountain pen is the dip pen. These, because the title implies, have to be dipped continuously in ink as a way to write with them. These are the predecessors of recent fountain Plantable pens and embody the aforementioned quill and reed pens together with fashionable dip pens. The trendy dip pen is ready to maintain a barely bigger quantity of ink than the quill pen and has a metallic tip.
The Physiology
Trendy fountain pens are available in all shapes, colours, and sizes. All of which, nonetheless, have two components: The nib and the ink.
The Nib
The nib is essentially the most attribute a part of the pen. It has the flamboyant metallic work and, extra importantly, does the writing. Nibs, like pens, are available in many sizes and widths. Nib sizes go from Additional-fine (actually, actually small print) to Additional-wide (consider the Grand Canyon). There are completely different classifications of nibs as nicely. Round nibs have what seems like a bit ball on the finish of the nib. A stub nib is similar as a round nib solely elongated horizontally. An italic nib is the widest nib horizontally and is commonly utilized in calligraphy. Every nib has a distinct impact when writing. The round nib’s writing is similar as a standard ballpoint pen, however due to how vast the stub and italic nibs are, you’ll be able to create particular results.
The Ink
The Ink is just like the fountain pen’s blood. Whether it is too runny, it bleeds. If it would not write, then it has a blood clot and it must go search medical consideration. What I’m speaking about known as the ink’s viscosity, or how liquid the ink is. Too viscous and the pen will not write in any respect, and if it isn’t viscous sufficient the ink flows an excessive amount of. Ink stream can be associated to nib measurement as to how a lot comes out via the nib. The larger the nib, the better the quantity of ink that hits the web page. One other facet of ink is its pH worth. pH measures the acidity of the ink on a spread of 0 to 14, the place 0 is acidic and 14 is primary (assume the alternative of acidic), and seven is impartial. Ink that’s at a impartial pH is good as a result of it won’t react with the paper it’s written on. Acidic and Primary ink will react with the paper and can degrade each the paper and ink, thereby sacrificing the integrity of the doc.
So why is a pen harmful?
The primary motive us that it’s sharp, not solely bodily but in addition socially. A person or girl with a fountain pen is a power to be reckoned with, particularly if she or he is aware of tips on how to use it. It will possibly create stunning traces of textual content and might make you appear to be a professional. In lots of circumstances, it’s a lot simpler to write down with as a result of little or no strain is required to make the ink stream. It has rubbed shoulders with the Declaration of Independence and has shaken fingers with the God of the Bible. All in all, the fountain pen is an admired murals for any group of individuals, younger and outdated, and shall be for years to return.