INK UTENSILS (QUILL PEN STEEL PEN).
THE QUILL PEN THE MOST SUCCESSFUL AND FITTING OF
ALL WRITING INSTRUMENTS--TENDENCY TO "WEAR"
OUT--THE SOMETIMES AFFECTION FOR OLD PENS--DR.
HOLLAND'S LINES ON THE PEN--SELECTION OF QUILLS
TO BE MADE INTO PENS--METHOD OF PREPARING
THEM--BYRON'S ESTIMATION OF HIS QUILL PEN--ITS
INVENTION BEFORE THE SIXTH CENTURY UNCERTAIN--
EMPLOYMENT OF THE REED AND QUILL PEN
TOGETHER UNTIL THE TWELFTH CENTURY--WHEN
THE STEEL PEN CAME INTO VOGUE--WHO WAS ITS
INVENTOR--SOME OBSERVATIONS ABOUT IT--QUANTITY
OF MATERIAL SIXTY YEARS AGO CONSUMED IN PEN
MANUFACTURE--A FEW REMARKS ABOUT GOLD, FOUNTAIN
AND STYLOGRAPHIC PENS--MORE STEEL USED IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF PENS THAN IN THAT OF SWORDS
AND GUNS--POETICAL LINES ABOUT THE PEN.
THE quills belonging to the feathers of birds seem
to have been the most successful and fitting of all materials
for pens, for, though steel and other metals are
now used for this purpose to an immense extent, there
is a power of adaptation in a quill pen which has never
yet been equalled in metal. Quills, however, like
other things, have a tendency to "wear out," and the
trouble resulting from the necessity of frequently
mending quill pens and a desire to write with more
rapidity have been the main causes of the introduction
of steel substitutes. A kind of affection has often
been felt by an author or official, or their admirers,
for the pen with which he has written any large or
celebrated work or signed some important document;
old worn-out pens, as well as new ones, have been preserved
as memorials in connection with such matters,
and Dr. Holland, who translated Pliny's "Natural
History" in the sixteenth century, recorded an exploit
connected with it in the following lines:
"With one sole pen I wrote this book,
Made of a gray goose-quill:
A pen it was when it I took
A pen I leave it still."
The quills employed for pens were generally those
of the goose, although the crow, the swan, and other
birds yielded feathers which were occasionally available
for this purpose. Each wing produced about five
good quills, but the number thus yielded was so small
that the geese reared in England could not furnish
nearly enough for the demand, hence the importation
of goose quills from the Continent was very large.
The process surrounding the manufacture of a quill
pen proves of considerable interest.
"The geese are plucked of their feathers three
or four times a year, the first time for the sake both
of the quills and the feathers, but the other times
for the feathers only. The pen quills are generally
taken from the ends of the wings. When plucked
the quills are found to be covered with a membranous
skin, resulting from a decay of a kind of
sheath which had enveloped them; the interior
vascular membrane, too, resulting from the decay
of the vascular pith, adheres so strongly to the barrel
of the quill as to be with difficulty separated,
while, at the same time, the barrel itself is opaque,
soft, and tough. To remove these various defects
the quills undergo several processes. In the first
instance, as a means of removing the membraneous
skin, the quills are plunged into heated sand, the
high temperature of which causes the external skin
of the barrel to crack and peel off, and the internal
membrane to shrivel up. The outer membrane
is then scraped off with a sharp instrument,
while the inner membrane remains in a state to be
easily detached. For the finest quills the heating
is repeated two or three times. The heat of the
sand, by consuming or drying up the natural
moisture of the barrel, renders it harder and more
transparent. In order to give the barrel a yellow
color, and a tendency to split more readily and
clearly, it is dipped in weak nitric acid, but this
was considered to render the quill more brittle and
less durable, and was therefore a sacrifice of utility
for the sake of appearance."
"Oh! nature's noblest gift--my gray goose quill!
Slave of my thoughts, obedient to my will,
Torn from thy parent bird to form a pen,
That mighty instrument of little men!"
BYRON.
To locate an exact period for the invention of the quill
pen is impossible. It could hardly have been in use
before the fourth century, probably not earlier than
two centuries later. Some writers have assumed that
it was employed by the Romans, but as no distinct
mention is made of them by early classical authors we
must accept the only information at hand.
Isidore (died A. D. 636) and contemporaries state
that the quills of birds came into use as pens only in
the sixth century. It is also known, St. Brovverus
being the authority, that in his time (seventh century)
the calamus or reed pen and the quill pen were
employed together, the calamus being used in the
writing of the uncial (inch) letters and capitals, and
the quill for smaller letters. Mention is also made by
many writers of the five centuries which followed
Isidore's time of the calamus, indicating that
notwithstanding it had been superseded by the quill
it was still a favorite writing implement in some places.
The use of the "steel pen" did not spring immediately
from that of the "quill pen." There were
several intermediate stages adopted before the fitness
of steel for this purpose was sufficiently known,
From about 1800 to 1835 the number of proposed
substitutes for the quill pen was very considerable.
Horn pens, tortoise-shell pens, nibs of diamond or ruby
imbedded in tortoise shell, nibs of ruby set in fine gold,
nibs of rhodium and of iridium imbedded in gold,--
all have been adopted at different times, but most of
them have been found too costly for general adoption.
Steel is proved to be sufficiently elastic and durable
to form very good pens, and the ingenuity of manufacturers
has been exerted to give to such pens as
many as possible of the good qualities possessed by
the quill pen.
The original flexible iron pen of modern times was
an experimental affair probably, being mentioned by
Chamberlayne as far back as 1685.
The first steel pens in regular use were made by
Wise, in London, in 1803, and for many years thereafter.
His pen was made with a barrel, by which it
was slipped upon a straight handle. In its portable
form it was mounted in a bone case for the pocket.
Prejudice, however, was strong against them, and up
to 1835 or thereabouts quills maintained their full
sway, and much later among the old-fashioned folks.
To him, however, is due the credit of being the inventor
of the modern steel pen.
It has been the thought of some people that Gillott
was the progenitor of the steel pen, but he was not.
Arnoux, a French mechanic, made metallic pens with
side slits in 1750. Samuel Harrison, an Englishman,
made a steel pen for Dr. Priestly in 1780. Peregrine
Williamson, a native of New York, while engaged as
a jeweler in the city of Baltimore, made steel pens in
1800.
Perry's first pens were of steel, rolled from wire,
the material costing seven shillings a pound. Five
shillings each was paid the workman for making them;
this was afterward reduced to thirty-six shillings
per gross, which price was continued for several
years.
It was Joseph Gillott, however, originally a Sheffield
cutler, and afterwards a workman in light steel articles,
as buckles, chains, and other articles of that class, who
in 1822 gave impulse to the steel-pen manufacture.
Previous to his entering the business the pens were
cut out with shears and finished with the file. Gillott
adapted the stamping press to the requirements of the
manufacture, as cutting out the blanks, forming the
slits, bending the metal, and impressing the maker's
name on the pens. He also devised improved modes
of preparing the metal for the action of the press,
tempering, cleansing, and polishing, and, in short,
many little details of manufacture necessary to give
them the required flexibility to enable them to compete
with the quill pen. One great difficulty to be
overcome was their extreme hardness and stiffness;
this was effected by making slits at the side in addition
to the central one, which had previously been
solely used. A further improvement, that of cross
grinding the points, was subsequently adopted. The
first gross of pens with three slits was sold for seven
pounds. In 1830 the price was $2.00; in 1832, $1.50;
in 1861, 12 cents, and a common variety for 4 cents a
gross. About 9,300 tons of steel are annually
consumed, the number of pens produced in England alone
being about 8,000,000,000.
Bramah patented quill nibs made by splitting
quills and cutting the semicylinders into sections
which were shaped into pens and adapted to be
placed in a holder. These were, perhaps, the first
nibs, the progenitors of a host of steel, gold, and
other pens.
Hawkins and Mordan, in 1823, made nibs of horn
and tortoise shell, instead of quill. The tortoise shell
being softened, points of ruby and diamond were imbedded.
Metallic points were also cemented to the
shell nibs.
Doughty, about 1825, made gold pens with ruby
points.
Gold pens with rhodium or iridium points were
introduced soon afterwards.
Mordan's oblique pen, English patent, 1831, was
designed to present the nibs in the right direction
while preserving the customary positions of the pen
and hand.
The fountain pen carries a supply of ink, fed gradually
to the point of the instrument. The first made
by Scheffer was introduced about 1835 by Mordan.
The pressure of the thumb on a stud in a holder
caused a continuous supply of ink to flow from the
reservoir to the pen.
The "stylographic" is a reservoir pen shaped like
a pencil, in which the flow of ink is regulated by
pressure of a style or fine needle with blunt point
upon the paper. It must be held in a vertical position.
All marks made with one, both up and down
strokes, are equal in width.
Gold pens are now usually tipped with iridium,
making what are commonly known as diamond points.
"The iridium for this purpose is found in small
grains of platinum, slightly alloyed with this latter
metal. The gold for pens is alloyed with silver to
about sixteen carats fineness, rolled into thin strips,
from which the blanks are struck. The under side
of the point is notched by a small circular saw to
receive the iridium point, which is selected with the
aid of a microscope. A flux of borax and a blowpipe
secure it to its place. The point is then ground
on a copper wheel of emery. The pen-blank is next
rolled to the requisite thinness by the means of rollers
especially adapted for the purpose, and tempered
by blows from a hammer. It is then trimmed
around the edges, stamped, and formed in a press.
The slit is next cut through the solid iridium point
by means of a thin copper wheel fed with fine emery,
and a saw extends the aperture along the pen itself.
The inside edges of the slit are smoothed and polished
by the emery wheel; burnishing and hammering
produce the proper degree of elasticity."
It is asserted that more steel is used in the manufacture
of pens than in all the swords and guns in the
world. This fact partly verifies the old saying, "The
pen is mightier than the sword."
"Three things bear mighty sway with men,
The Sword, the Sceptre, and the Pen;
Who can the least of these command,
In the first rank of Fame will stand."