A fountain pen is a writing instrument that uses a metal nib to apply water-based ink, or special pigment ink -suitable for fountain pens- to paper. It is distinguished from earlier dip pens by using an internal reservoir to hold ink, eliminating the need to repeatedly dip the pen in an inkwell during use. The pen draws ink from the reservoir through a feed to the nib and deposits the ink on paper via a combination of gravity and capillary action. Filling the reservoir with ink may be achieved manually, via the use of an eyedropper or syringe, or via an internal filling mechanism that creates suction or a vacuum to transfer ink directly through the nib into the reservoir. Some pens employ removable reservoirs in the form of pre-filled ink cartridges.
A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity which had to be periodically recharged by dipping the tip of the pen into an inkwell. Today, such pens find only a small number of specialized uses, such as in illustration and calligraphy. Reed pens, quill pens and dip pens, which were used for writing, have been replaced by ballpoint pens, rollerball pens, fountain pens and felt or ceramic tip pens. Ruling pens, which were used for technical drawing and cartography, have been replaced by technical pens such as the Rapidograph. All of these modern pens contain internal ink reservoirs, such that they do not need to be dipped in ink while writing.
A dip pen is a writing instrument used to apply ink to paper. It usually consists of a metal nib with capillary channels like those of fountain pen nibs, mounted in a handle or holder, often made of wood. Other materials can be used for the holder, including bone, metal and plastic; some pens are made entirely of glass.
The Parker Pen Company is an American manufacturer of luxury writing pens, founded in 1888 by George Safford Parker in Janesville, Wisconsin, United States. In 2011 the Parker factory at Newhaven, East Sussex, England, was closed, and its production transferred to Nantes, France.
Waterman Philéas is a series of writing instruments including fountain pens, rollerballs, ballpoints and pencils produced by the Waterman pen company. It is well-known because of its good price-quality ratio and is therefore often recommended for novice fountain pen users and collectors. This series is now discontinued.
Paper Mate is a division of Sanford L.P., a Newell Brands company that produces writing instruments. Paper Mate's offices are located in Oak Brook, Illinois, along with those of Newell Rubbermaid's other office products divisions.
Namiki is a Japanese brand of writing implements, most specifically, fountain pens, owned by the Pilot Corporation. Namiki is mostly famous for its handmade maki-e designs on urushi-based lacquers.
Rotring is a manufacturer of technical drawing tools and writing implements. Established in Germany in 1928 as a fountain pen manufacturer, Rotring went on to be acquired by Newell Brands in 1998. The name "Rotring" directly translates to "red ring" which is still placed around the barrel of their pens today. The company's name was changed to Rotring in the early 1970s to match the trademark.
Lewis Edson Waterman was an American inventor. He held multiple fountain pen patents and was the founder of the Waterman Pen Company.
A nib is the part of a quill, dip pen, fountain pen, ball point or stylus which comes into contact with the writing surface in order to deposit ink. Different types of nibs vary in their purpose, shape and size, as well as the material from which they are made.
A Flex nib is a type of fountain pen nib that can create different line widths. Due to its non-rigid structure, a flex nib allows a writer to control line width by adjusting the pressure of the pen on paper. Increased pressure will cause the two tines of the nib to separate slightly, allowing more ink to flow onto the page. A lighter grip will allow the tines to remain close together and produce a thinner line. Range of line widths from a fountain pen is limited; however, the most flexible nibs can produce a width about six times greater than that of a regular nib. The most flexible nibs are sometimes known among collectors as "wet noodles".
Onoto is a British brand of luxury fountain pens and accessories. Originally manufactured by Thomas De La Rue & Company, Limited from 1905 until 1958, the brand was relaunched by "The Onoto Pen Company Limited", based in Colney Hall, Norwich in 2005. Onoto pens have been used by numerous notable people from history such as Field Marshal Douglas Haig and Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Other famous names include Florence Nightingale, Edgar Wallace and Natsume Soseki, the foremost Japanese novelist of the Meiji Era.
Macniven and Cameron Ltd., later known as Waverley Cameron Ltd., was a printing and stationery company based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company was best known for its pen nibs, the "Pickwick", the "Owl", and the "Waverley", which were sold under the advertising doggerel:
They come as a boon and a blessing to men,
the Pickwick, the Owl and the Waverley Pen.
The Esterbrook Pen Company is a former American manufacturing company founded by English immigrant Richard Esterbrook and based in Camden, New Jersey. It was the largest pen manufacturer in the United States, having reached a record of producing 216,000,000 pens a year. The company produced dip pens, then concentrating on fountain pens until it was acquired by Venus Pencils in 1967, ceasing activities in 1971.
Speedball is a US manufacturing company of stationery and art products, based in Statesville, North Carolina. The company was originally established as the "C. Howard Hunt Pen Company" in 1899, to manufacture dip pens.
Sheaffer Pen Corporation is an American manufacturing company of writing instruments, particularly luxury fountain pens. The company was founded by Walter A. Sheaffer in Fort Madison, Iowa, and incorporated in 1913 to exploit his invention of a lever-filling fountain pen. The brand was sold by French company Bic to A. T. Cross Company in August, 2014. In August, 2022 the brand was sold to and is currently owned by William Penn Private Limited, a multi-brand retailer and distributor of writing instruments and accessories.
The Parker 180 is a fountain pen developed in the 1970s by the Parker Pen Company. Introduced to market in 1977 as an attempt to modernize the then-floundering fountain pen industry, the 180 was a slender pen with a very unusual flat nib design. The "180" is a play on 180°, because the pen was meant to be used in either a rightside-up or upside-down orientation to modify the width of the line drawn by the pen. It was offered in either an "X/M" or "F/B" configuration. Towards the end of its production the nibs made were not two point nibs, and was marked as X, F, M or B.
Newell Custom Writing Instruments is an American manufacturing company of stationery products. It is a division of Newell Brands, producing writing implements, in its plant of Atlanta, Georgia.
