The term “pen,” which comes from the Latin word “pinna,” which means “feather,” refers to an instrument that is elongated, thin, and curved that is used to influence ink for the purpose of writing on paper. Historically, the most prevalent writing instruments were called dip pens, quill pens, and reed pens. In these modern times, pens may be purchased in a bewildering array of hues, yet they almost always contain either blue or black ink.
The following is a list of information and trivia regarding pens that you may not already know: –
- Each year, ballpoint pens are responsible for the deaths of around one hundred persons on average.
- Each year, the United States is responsible for the production of more than 2 billion pens.
- There are five primary types of pens that are used all over the world: ballpoint, fountain, soft-tip, rolling ball, and specialty pens.
- L.E. Waterman was the first person to design a fountain pen in 1883, and he patented it the following year in 1884.
- The Hungarian writer Laszlo Biro is credited with inventing the first ballpoint pen in 1938, while John J. Loud was the first person to get a patent for the device in 1888.
- Pilots in World War II often utilized ballpoint pens because the ink from them does not spill when used at high altitudes.
- The year 1702 is associated with the earliest surviving example of the fountain pen created by the Frenchman M. Bion.
- A shoemaker named Peregrin Williamson from Baltimore was the first person in the United States to be granted a patent for a pen.
- In the current day and age, the market is dominated by only four fountain pen manufacturers: Waterman, Sheaffer, Parker, and Wahl-Eversharp.
- In October of 1945, Milton Reynolds, following a previous trip to Buenos Aires where he discovered the Biro pen (invented by Laszlo Biro), copied the product in 4 months and launched his own massive campaign in New York City, selling USD 100,000 worth in the first day. This was the first time the Biro pen was sold in the United States.
- The Miles-Martin Pen Company in England is credited with having made the first sales of pens in December of 1945.
- In 1954, Parker brought its first ballpoint pen to the market. It was dubbed the “Jotter,” and it was superior to both the Reynolds and Eversharp versions of the pen. The “Jotter” wrote five times longer than the competition, which resulted in yearly sales of USD 3.5 million.
- The BIC Crystal, a very hip update on the classic Biro pen, sells 14 million units every single day all over the globe.
- The ink in black ballpoint pens made by Parker can be used for a total of five kilometers of writing before it runs out.
- In the year 1831, John Jacob Parker asserted his ownership of the patent on the first self-filling fountain pen.
- The earliest known usage of a quill pen was about the year 700 A.D., and they were the most used kind of writing implement for the next thousand years.
- The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America was written by Abraham Lincoln, the former President of the United States, using an eagle feather quill pen.
- President Abraham Lincoln used a steel dip pen created by the French company Blanzy, Poure & Cie to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. The pen was made in France.
- The Pilot Pen Company is the world’s most innovative and fastest-expanding company in the writing instrument market. It is ranked as the third biggest writing instrument maker in the United States.
- However, not many people are aware that the company that owns Pilot Pen is officially called Pilot Corporation Tokyo, and that it was founded in 1918. Pilot Corporation Tokyo is the oldest writing producer in all of Japan.