Matthew's Collectibles: A Brief History of the Fountain Pen

The Feather Pen

The Fountain Pen was first the dip pen, a very simple system which started in the 1000's as a sharpened
feather, or a feather with a primitive steel point or nib. Later, towards the early 1800's it came to be more stylish with designs and having the body of what we now call a pen. But this was primitive in the way as to refill it because it was also a dip pen. In 1832, John Jacob Parker (he has nothing to do with the fountain pen company Parker) invented the first self-refilling pen, or Fountain Pen. The way of filling it was that you would dip the pen in the ink for the time required, then by turning the outer case the pen would as today with pressure would draw the ink up through the lake of the nib and through the bladder into the inside of the

The Dip Pen aka Desk Pen

outer case or the barrel, which stores the ink for about an hour of use. A major development from dipping basically a stick with a nib on it into ink every few characters.

The feed was invented by a man named L.E. Waterman, an insurance salesman developed himself a workable Fountain Pen as a result of losing money by accidentally spilling ink over important documents a wealthy client was to sign. He developed this new Fountain Pen with something called a feed which all modern Fountain Pen manufacturers use in their nibs. The feed, located in the area below the nib, creates an ink duct reservoir which stores the ink and, with the application of gravity, send the ink into the lake of the nib which flows the ink through the stream and onto the paper when writing. This system helps because it stores the ink for over two days as opposed to an hour or so. L.E. Waterman later created the famous Fountain Pen company, Waterman, still in operation today making quality pens.

L.E. Waterman's new feeded system

After the Feed was invented by Mr. Waterman, it was applied to all Fountain Pens. New interesting systems of refilling the Fountain Pen was implemented such as: the Crescent Filler, the Suction Filler, the Pressure Filler, and probably the most famous, the Lever Filler developed by the Shaefer Company of Iowa which still
runs today. The way the Lever Filler works is that once the lever is lifted upwards, it presses onto the ink sack which with pressure and gravity, lifts the ink through the lake of the nib and through the bladder into the sack, which flows the ink into the feed.

Lever Filling Fountain Pen

The most common filling mechanism of the late 1960's through today is the cartridge. The cartridge stores the ink and sends the ink into the feed. A cartridge is placed inside the pen by firmly pushing it or screwing it into the nib section.

Converter Filling Fountain Pen

Another more modern filling mechanism is the converter system. Twisting the top of the converter clockwise will, with pressure and gravity, bring ink through the lake of the nib and into the converter that sends the ink into the feed. Almost all Fountain Pen manufacturers use this very modern system.