Who invented the fountain pen

Who Invented fountain pen

There was an era when poets and literature experts used tips of the feather immersed in ink, quills to pen down their creation that we see today. So we can't neglect the significance of the pen in the evolution of the literature. Although, with time, the people tried to find some comfortable and convenient methods to write, which resulted in the remodeling of the pens, swapping the trend, and make writing trouble-free.

In the course of an educational era, the idea of creating a pen named the "fountain pen" took birth, a tool that contains ink reserved inside it and will flow itself out from the nib made from metal.

The real inventor

Petrache Poenaru, a Romanian educator, is known as the father of this incredible innovation. In 1826, when he was a student of geodesic and observing at the Ecole Polytechnic in Paris, he designed a pen in which a feather of the swan was used as the repository for the ink.

On May 25, 1827, Petrache Poenaru's invention was patented by the French ministry of the interior, and he considered his discovery as the original one. The ministry appreciated his creation as a movable pen that reloads itself with the ink. However, there was a dispute regarding the real discoverer of the fountain pen, and many inventors claimed that.

  • Unfortunately, there were no more accords of Poenaru after his wonderful invention.
  • Undoubtedly, he played a significant part in the evolution of the pen we see and use recently.
  • Because of the arrival of the ballpoint pen, which is considered the luxury one, we can't deny that the fountain pen helped the people of the enlightenment era to a more considerable extent.
  • The inventors made various innovations and discoveries, and each one of them designed it with some different features, but we all know vintage models can't be defeated.
  • The feathers, dip pen, and fountain pen are the shaft from where the innovations initiated.

History of the Fountain Pen

If we talk about the history of fountain pen, it was year 973, when the pen with the ink storage was marked in the first place. Ma'?d al- Mu'izz, the caliph of the Maghreb, Northwest Africa, wants an easier tool in writing due to the conventional feathers and always leaves his hands soiled through the stains created by the toner. To solve his problem, he was provided with a pen that contains ink inside its body. Although people were unaware of the physics of its working and mechanisms back then, they believed that it would not spill even if it will be reversed or unturned.

  • In the 17th century, Daniel Shwenter, a German developer, created a pen with two feathers in which one feather was sealed to forbid the leakage, though it had a small hole where the ink flows downwards, and another feather was used to seal the first one.
  • In 1663, Samuel Pepys, an English naval administrator, initially used a metal pen in his writings. However, due to the low price of steel nibs, the fountain pens were mainly manufactured.
  • Duncan Mackinnon and Alonzo T. Cross created the stylographic pen in 1870. This pen contains wire inside the tube that acted as the controller for the ink and can be filled with the help of an eyedropper.
  • At the starting of the 20th century, Crescent filler pens came into existence. These were the earliest self-filling pen where a curved button forces a rubber pouch, and another one is called the twist filler pen.

The modern scenario of fountain pens

In recent times, because of the continuous evolution of the world, and the discoveries that make everyone satisfied and trouble-free, the fountain pen utility is brought down as an output of the remarkable emergence of the ballpoint pen in the market.

  • Although the positive side is the various writing tools available outside contributed to the high price of the fountain pen and honored it with its sky-high value.
  • Nevertheless, the fountain pen is still used in calligraphy writings and now also actively fulfills its invention's beautiful purpose.





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