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Writing
Instruments - Fountain pens
More
and more people are rediscovering fountain pens. It's a good thing
too, as a fountain pen is still the most satisfying way to write.
Essentially a fountain pen is a tube full of ink with a nib at one
end. The nib has a slit in it. When pressure is applied to the nib,
the slit opens slightly and ink is drawn down to the page by capillary
action. Behind the nib is the filler mechanism - a series of tubes
or coils which allows air to flow into the pen and ink to flow out.
This mechanism must be carefully balanced, otherwise the pen will
not write (not enough air coming in/ink coming out) or flow too
fast (too much air coming in/all the ink coming out). A fountain
pen is filled either by cartridges (convenient but more difficult
to regulate ink flow) or some form of bladder. Most modern pens
use a piston bladder mechanism, which allows for much better control
of ink flow and larger ink capacity.
Pens can be divided into two very rough categories - Heavy and light.
Heavy pens usually have bodies made of metal, which may be covered
with lacquers or enamel or some other decoration. Light pens are
made of precious resins, wood or celluloid. Some people prefer a
light pen because it seems easier on the hand, while others find
that a heavier pen does not require as much downward pressure to
write smoothly.
Nib
design varies wildly from company to company, but the basic dichotomy
is formed by whether the nib is made of steel or gold. To understand
this, you have to look at why nibs are made of steel or gold. Early
inks were usually made of metals dissolved in acids. People using
the pens found that the ink would eventually eat away the steel
nibs of their pens, so manufacturers looked for another material
that was workable enough to form nibs but not affected by acid.
Gold is the perfect material on both counts. Unfortunately, soft
gold nibs wear out quickly, which is both frustrating and costly.
Eventually this problem was solved by placing a ball of hard alloy
such as iridium or rhodium on the tip of the nib to take the wear.
This basic design is still used by most pen manufacturers and preferred
by most pen aficionados. A gold nib will, over time, mold itself
to the user's writing style, eventually becoming a truly personal
writing instrument.
Steel
nibs have generally been associated with lower quality pens, as
they are less expensive to manufacture and traditionally lacked
the flexibility, smoothness and intrinsic value of gold. As technology
and manufacturing techniques have advanced, the quality of steel
nibs has steadily improved. The main complaints about steel nibs
on fountain pens were the lack of flexibility and the tendency of
the nibs to dig into the paper. To a large extent both of these
problems have been solved. Nibs are now made from more flexible
alloys and machined to such a fine degree that great variances in
nib flex are possible. A better quality steel nib fountain pen can
be a pleasure to write with, particularly for those who are moving
up to a fountain pen after years of writing with a ballpoint or
roller. Most pen users will agree however, that there is no better
writing experience than using the right gold nib.
aFountain
Pens
aBallpoints
aRoller
Pens
aMechanical
Pencils
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