Shropshire Routes to Roots

5. Writing implements

Introduction

Although printing revolutionised the way thoughts and ideas could spread, only a proportion of writing was done in this way. From account books, to diaries, to journals and letters, handwriting was still the dominant form of daily communication.

In the same way that the writing surface has changed over the millenia, so has the type of implement used to create the marks on that surface. The basic idea of a stylus conveying an ink to a surface has not altered, but the way in which this has been accomplished is what has really changed.

Chisel and chalk, metal and stone

While we may think that mineral materials have disappeared as a writing medium, they are still very much with us. There are many people still alive who remember the use of chalk and slates in the schools of the 1940's and 50's. It is strange to reflect that the modern use of digitising tablet computers is only a technologically advanced form of the same method.

Similarly, the art of stone etching or metal engraving is still very much in use in the creation of gravestones and inscriptions on modern buildings.

Modern engraving Larger image, in a new window [19kb] [Photograph: Routes to Roots]

Stylus and ink

The early stylus was a stick. It may have been sharpened in various configurations to provide different effects, but is was very limited in its ability to hold ink. The first great advance was the use of feathers from geese or swans.

Quill pens

Many great ideas are simple. At some point a writer realised that a narrow, hollow tube could hold ink, and if the end was sharpened, it would release the ink in a steady flow. What better tube was there but the wing feathers of a goose or a swan? During the Middle Ages, the ink flow was improved by the subtle shaping of the quill end, and by adding the ultimate refinement, which was a fine cut, lengthways from the tip. This allowed the tip to spread and different widths of ink could be applied without blotting.

A quill pen Larger image, in a new window [30kb] [Shropshire Archive reference: 3607/I/A/30]

Metal nibs

Types of nibs Larger image, in a new window [33kb] [Illustrated Catalogue, International Exhibition of Industry, 1862]

The next great advance was the invention of the metal nib. Not only was it far stronger and longer lasting, but it could be shaped in so many different ways to provide a completely new range of writing styles. During the nineteenth century, the manufacturing of nib pens employed many people. Each phase of the process was carried out by one individual. You were a 'Slitter', a 'Cutter' or a 'Piercer', etc., and passed your nib on to the next person for their particular skill. This was one of the first examples of the mass production line.

Stages in pen manufacture Larger image, in a new window [17kb] ["The manufacture of Steel Pens", 1890]

Fountain pens

No matter how well the nib was made, its main drawback was that it had to be constantly dipped into the ink. The first pens with a reservoir of ink were made in the mid-nineteenth century, and immediately had great popularity, although die-hard writers still insisted that the quill or the straight steel nib gave better performance. The reproduction quality was the same on each, but one was far easier to use and look after.

Early fountain pens Larger image, in a new window [32kb] [Advertisment for Swan Pens, 1903]

Inks

Early inks were made from vegetable dyes and earth minerals in a suspension of water or gum. During the medieval period, there were two main types of fluid. One was a mixture of iron salt and oak galls, which tended to burn into the paper, and become brown with age. The other was made from some form of carbon - lamp black was normal - in a suspension of gum or water. Although this remained black on the paper, it did mean that the ink had to be stirred frequently to get an even texture.

Advertisement for types of ink Larger image, in a new window [41kb] [Robson's London Directory, 1838]

With the advent of steel nibs, the old inks were found to be too corrosive and new inks were developed based on the discovery of 'analine dyes' in the 1850's. One of the main commercial inks started in the period was 'Stephens' ink, which many can still remember. Indeed, it was only in the 1950's that the role of the 'Ink Monitor' faded away in many schools. Many have fond memories of making the ink from powder and water, and getting totally covered in it!

The ballpoint pen

Probably the one development in writing implements that really changed the way in which we write was the invention of the ballpoint pen. It was patented in 1943 by two brothers, Lazlo and Georg Biro, and was the first pen with a replaceable reservoir of (sticky) ink allied to a ball nib as opposed to a pen nib. Ball points had been tried for many years before, but it was Biro who made the first leakproof (well almost) ballpoint.

These pens were very costly when they first emerged, but in 1949 Marcel Bich developed a more robust yet cheaper made version. He called it a 'BIC', and by the 1960's the truly disposable pen had arrived. It costs very little, works for quite a long time and nowadays is the preferred, workaday writing tool for most people.

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