Pens
Is it unsafe to write on the back of your hand with a regular ballpoint pen?
Can any bad material from the pen get transferred into your system by writing on the back of your hand? I do it often as a reminder (rather than post-its or a piece of string on the finger). Nothing topical has appeared (no rash or even skin irritation), but I was curious if something might be “seeping” into my pores and into my body. Please keep in mind, I’m just using normal ballpoint pen ink, and the ink is never on my skin for more than 24 hours (if I don’t wash it off that night, I wash it off in the shower the next morning).
ive done this my whole life and im still here… never had any kind of skin problems from it either… ive used all kinds of ink…
Milestones in the History of Writing Pens
There is a great variety of writing pens nowadays. There are rollerball pens, fountain pens, reed pens, quill pens, ballpoint pen, dip pens, gel pens, antler ballpoint pens, etc. Among the most prominent pens manufacturers are Parker Pens, Mont Blanc Pens, Waterman Pens, Bic Pens, Cross Pens and many others. This remarkable writing instrument, with the help of which you can leave an ink trace on a paper surface, is an indispensable part of our life. In fact, it is an indispensable part of human culture.
The history of writing pens begins from the ancient times, approximately from year 3000 B.C. They were cut out from stalks of reed. The English word “pen” (a writing feather) came from latin “penna” meaning “feather of a bird”. It happened because of the great popularity of goose feathers, which were turned at the root. Since VI century B.C. bird feathers have been widely used by many civilizations. The best samples were made of big feathers of swans, turkey-cocks and geese. Archeological finds in ruins Pompeii include bronze variants of writing pens, however they have received wide distribution only by the end of XVIII century. After a century pens with a capillary system, or simply fountain pens, were invented by L.E. Waterman, a New York seller of writing goods. Laszlo Biro, taking into account the last methods of manufacturing of ball-bearings for machines and weapons, added the ball mechanism to capillaries and presented the ballpoint pen to the world in 1944. The Tokyo stationery firm Pentel became the first to present the felt-tip pen to the world in 1960.
The timeroad of writing pens history is about 6000 years long. Here are the main milestones on it:
About 3000-4000 years B.C. The ancient man scratched a damp clay plate with a bronze or bone stick.
About 3000 years B.C. Egyptians started to use images in their compositions. Thin reed brushes or feathers were used to make inscriptions on rolls of papyrus.
1300 B.C. Romans used metal pens to write on thin sheets of wax put on wooden bars. Writings were erased by the other end of the pen.
Middle Ages. Anglo-Saxons began to use bars filled with wax apart from parchment. They wrote with metal or bone pens, one end of which was sharpened and the other was used for deleting.
600-1800 A.D. Europeans found out that the use of sharpened pens changed the style of writing (handwriting). First they used only capital letters, but later on they began to use small letters to increase speed of writing. Quill pen (goose feather) that for the first time appeared in Seville, Spain, was used as a writing instrument from 600 to 1800 A.D.
1790ies. Independently the slate pencil was invented in France and Australia.
1800-1850ies. The metal fountain pen was patented in 1803, but the patent was not used in commercial purposes. Steel pens were widely adopted in 1830ies. In 19th century metal pens completely replaced pens from goose feathers. In 1850 the use of quill pens appreciably decreased, as quality of steel pens got higher: their tips were made of heavy alloys with addition of iridium, rhodium, and osmium.
Lewis Edson Waterman, an insurance agent, invented the first fountain pen in 1844.
1888-1916
Invention the ballpoint pen is officially dated to the end of the 19-th century. In 1888 John Loud took out a patent, in 1916 – Van Vechten Reisberg. Unlike other patents these were used in commercial purposes.
Invention of the modern ball pen is attributed to Laszlo Biro and George Biro. In summer 1943 the first industrial copies were manufactured. Patent rights were bought by the British Parliament. Ballpoint pens were used by militarians during the second world war as they were more convenient and reliable than quill pens.
In 1940ies ballpoint pens appeared on the market of the USA. They were sold as the first pens which wrote underwater. Ballpoints were a tremendous success. In one of the large store departments in New York more than 10,000 ballpoint pens were sold during a lunch on October, 29 1945.
In 1953 the first inexpensive ball pens appeared, when French baron Bich of BIC Co, engaged in manufacturing of ballpoint pens, managed to improve the technological process and lowered considerably manufacturing expenses. Bic pens were very cheap and soon became extremely popular.
In 1960 the felt-tip pen was invented in Japan. Soon felt-tip pens appeared on the American market and grasped it.
Rollerball pens appeared in the beginning of 1980ies. They had a moving ball and could use liquid ink that allowed to write smoother line on paper. Technological progress of the end of 1980ies – the beginnings of 1990ies considerably improved rollerballs in all parameters.
In 1990ies pens with a rubberized surface that reduced pressing on the pen came into use and were widely adopted.
In 1997 mass production of RingPens was started. These pens were developed to write without pressing three fingers on it while writing.
Technological progress doesn’t stand still. And who knows what kind of pens we will write with in a decade, a century, a millennium…
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Refilling The Omas Fountain Pen
The Omas fountain pen can be refilled in a variety of ways. The vintage pens might require you to use a dropper to fill ink into them. Then you also have the self-filling fountain pens which empty or fill when you apply pressure on the sac or the lever that encases it. But some of the Omas fountain pens make use of the piston filler. This technique uses a piston in the pen which is driven either up or down within the barrel of the pen by turning a knob towards the end of the pen.
Most of the Omas fountain pens today make use of cartridges or piston fillers. You also get converters that can modify a cartridge refill pen into a piston refill pen. Fountain pens which have to be filled with the help of a dropper are the ones that can hold a maximum amount of ink while the piston refill pens have the lowest capacity. Most often the piston occupies most of the space in the barrel leaving very little for the ink itself. But filling the Omas fountain pen with a dropper can be messy too if you are not careful.
International cartridges of several makes can be used with most of the Omas fountain pens while some fountain pens may accept cartridges of the same brand only. Also some pens will not allow you to fit a converter. So if you want to use a different ink in such kinds of fountain pens then you can fill the cartridge with the help of a syringe. There is a wide variety of inks available if one wants to refill a pen. Ink bottles too come in different designs, shapes and sizes. However, most users of the Omas fountain pen stock refills so as to avert the risk of ink in the pen getting over. And there are those who love to refill the pen cartridge on their own even though it involves getting your hands messed up with the ink.
Although there are plenty of Omas fountain pens which come in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, colors and styles to fit each person’s individual personality, it is not necessary that the Omas fountain pen has to be expensive for it to be of good quality and write well. Depending on your budget, arrive at a price that you are at ease with and compare it with other pens in the same range. You can surely get a good fountain pen without burning a hole in your pocket.
The Omas fountain pens are a result of the writing tools having taken a big leap towards success ever since the days of the quill pen. The rebirth of the fountain pens became profitably successful when all its negative aspects underwent a big transformation from being a leaking mess to securing the interest and notice of top society. If you are avid about handwriting as an art no matter if it is cursive or print, the Omas fountain pen is the perfect writing instrument for you.
About the Author
If you are looking for an Omas fountain pen to make your calligraphy even better, check out the wide variety of Omas fountain pens available here; there is one to suit every pocket and the prices are unbeatable.
how to prepare a new fountain pen for inking
Raining On Tech’s Parade
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