Fountain pen

The fountain pen is probably the most elegant and refined among writing instruments. For a long time considered old-fashioned, and now replaced by modern ballpoint pens, markers and roller, today is recovering a deserved rematch with the emergence of renewed interest in this tool so unique and personal.

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A short fountain pen history

Although the begin of writing instruments history is lost in the mists of time, the fountain pen has no more than two centuries. Although there are traces of reservoir pens up from the tenth century, when the sultan of Egypt commissioned a pen that should not make stains on hands and clothes (which is still continues to happen) and was brought a pen with a tank, forerunner of modern fountain pens. But the first examples at least partially functioning fountain pens are dating approximately to the half of 1800, and only at the beginning of last century the fountain pens has actually become a reliable writing instrument.

For many centuries in fact the main writing instrument was the goose pen, until the use of metal nibs began to spread in mid of nineteenth century. Although they were an important innovation, metal nibs presented the inconvenience of the need of a continuous ink retip. For this reason, in the era of the industrial revolution, people began almost immediately to try to equip the nibs of some form of tank to solve this problem. These first attempts, however, always worked in an occasional and poor reliability.

There are various precursors of what today is called a fountain pen, the most important of which, the first for which a patent is known (dated May 25, 1827) is probably the one created by Petrache Poenaru for a portable pen supplied with a sort of cartridge consists of a cylinder made from a quill pen. These first attempts, however, never knew a big spread, probably because their functioning still not reliable enough.

Therefore, despite the existence of various precursors, many people set the birth date of the modern fountain pen in 1883, when Lewis Edson Waterman, with the invention of the multichannel feeder, began the production of what is considered to be the first truly functional and reliable pen. This is only a partial truth, because many other functional fountain pens were produced at that same time, but is true that the Waterman invention was an important improvement, as well its contribution to the industrialization of production.

Since then the fountain pen experienced a period of great improvements, in the materials, in the filling systems, and also in style and design. In particular the period between the '20s and '50s is considered to be the golden age of fountain pens. Starting from the '60s, with the pervasive diffusion of cheap ballpens, the use of fountain pens has been decreasing. Today we assist to a new peak of interest in fountain pens because they had the characteristic of being very personal objects, capable to give uniqueness and distinction to any people writing.

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How to use a fountain pen

Il funzionamento di una penna stilografica è legato ad un complesso equilibrio di diverse forze che fan sì che la leggera pressione del pennino sul foglio permetta all'inchiostro di raggiungere quest'ultimo.

Come impugnare una stilografica

Per come è costruita, una penna stilografica non deve essere utilizzata mantenendone la punta verticale, ma appoggiata sul foglio in modo che la parte inferiore della punta del pennino strisci su di esso. Il grande vantaggio di una stilografica rispetto ad una penna a sfera o ad un roller (che devono essere usati verticalmente) è che questa consente di scrivere utilizzando angoli di scrittura molto diversi fra loro, ed una posizione della mano molto più naturale (basta lasciare che la penna si appoggi nell'incavo fra pollice ed indice, usando il medio come ulteriore punto di appoggio). Inoltre le dita devono essere usate soltanto per sorreggerla ed per eventuali piccoli spostamenti del tratto, e non per tenerla dritta o premere.

Infine una stilografica correttamente funzionante non richiede nessuna pressione per scrivere, il semplice peso della penna deve essere sufficiente a far iniziare la scrittura. L'uso della pressione serve invece a divaricare in maniera più o meno accentuata le punte del pennino (a seconda della flessibilità dello stesso), consentendo di variare la dimensione del tratto, e rendendo così la scrittura molto più personale.

Tutte queste caratteristiche rendono la scrittura con una penna stilografica molto più comoda e confortevole rispetto a qualunque altro tipo di penna, consentendo sessioni di scrittura molto più lunghe e meno faticose. Per questi motivi ancora oggi, nonostante siano state introdotte tante tecnologie alternative, la stilografica viene considerata da chi scrive con continuità (scrittori, amatori, appassionati) come il miglior strumento per scrivere e tracciare segni su un foglio di carta.

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