Looking back the usage of “Fountain Pen “ – The art of writing .

Looking back the usage of “Fountain Pen “ – The art of writing with an ink pen.

Of course everyone knows about fountain pen.

A fountain pen is a nib pen that, unlike its predecessor the dip pen, contains an internal reservoir of water-based liquid ink. The pen draws ink from the reservoir through a feed to the nib and deposits it on paper via a combination of gravity and capillary action.

But the joy of writing with fountain pen is not there for the present day youngsters or even  the oldies like me today !



Waterman Pen



Shaeffer

Today, fountain pens are often treated as luxury goods and sometimes as status symbols.

Price: $1,470,600 ( Approx. Rs.8 Crore)

The Aurora Diamante is the most expensive writing instrument till date. Only one is for sale per year. The Aurora Diamante contains over 30 carats of De Beers diamonds on a solid platinum barrel. It has a two-tone, rhodium-treated, 18KT solid gold nib and is personalized with a coat of arms, signature or portrait. Aurora Pens says it is the only over 30 carat pen in the world.

Fountain pens may serve as an everyday writing instrument, much like the common ballpoint pen.Fountain pens can serve various artistic purposes such as expressive penmanship and calligraphy, pen and ink artwork, and professional art and design. Many users also favor a fountain pen's air of timeless elegance, personalization and sentimentality, which computers and ballpoint pens seem to lack, and often state that once they start using fountain pens, ballpoints become awkward to use due to the extra motor effort needed and lack of expressiveness.

In yester years we used to write in schools only with fountain pen. In my school days , there was a poor man’s brand – “ Writer “ which was the cheapest pen and best writing pen also. In Mylapore , my father used to take us to a famous stationery  shop near Thaneer Thurai Market , “Amar’s Traders “ . There you can get  any variety of pen from “ Writer “ to “Parker”, “Swan” and later date “Hero” of Japan. I have used “Swan” pen also. Shaeffer pens were introduced to us by Jaggu and Gopal , two good friends of our neighborhood and close to us. But the other brands were costly and cannot afford.  In later days when we were studying , Suresh , my friend of School of Architecture , used to buy all drawing instruments from Amar’s Traders inclusive of “Rotring” pens and cartridges  , who later become a Gold Medalist in B.Arch and M.T.P from School of Architecture and Planning, Madras. My daughter is also an Architect , used to draw with Rotring pens with various sizes of tips. My great grandfather was a draughtsman in Survey of India , Madras and I have a few writing instruments in my antique collection.

The hand writing practice by using ink pen changes my bad hand to good hand. My 8^th standard class teacher VK ( Sri.V.Krishnamurthy ) , nick named by boys as ‘vengaya kudimi’ , from his hair style of ‘kudimi” beaten my hand for the bad writing and improved it to the best . My everlasting thanks to him.  

The best pen repair shop in Mylapore belongs to Sahul Ameed in Royapettah High Road opposite to the Palathope near the present Thiru Mylai Railway Station. The Sahul brothers were expert and they sell pens also.
The experience of a leaky pen in shirt or pant pocket , and smudge in both palms cannot be forgotten. Filling the barrel of the pen is an art without an ‘ink filler “. Many such occasion we loose quite an amount of ink . Some times when the bottle is empty at home, we used to get filled from a nearby shop for quarter anna ( the bygone coins of India ) . Those were the days of our daily life style  with ink pen !
For ergonomics, fountain pens may relieve physiological stress from writing; alternatives such as the ballpoint pen can induce more pain and damage to those with arthritis. Some also believe they could improve academic performance. In some countries, fountain pens are usual in lower school grades, believed to teach children better control over writing as many common mistakes of people not used to handwriting (like too much pressure or incorrect hold) feel unnatural or are almost impossible when using traditional pen tips.

Fountain pen ink is a water-based ink intended for use with fountain pens. The ideal fountain pen ink is free-flowing, free of sediment, and non-corrosive. Indian ink was famous for making charts. Chinese made Indian Ink sticks were there and if we mix with water and grind with hand , we get Indian ink for poster making and calligraphy art.

Filling the reservoir with ink may be achieved manually (via the use of a Pasteur pipette or syringe), or via an internal filling mechanism which creates suction (for example, through a piston mechanism) to transfer ink directly through the nib into the reservoir. Some pens employ removable reservoirs in the form of pre-filled ink cartridges. A fountain pen needs little or no pressure to write.
The Royal Blue colour ink of Brill make is common among students. Of course Camlin and Pelican were little costlier.

During the 1940s and 1950s, fountain pens retained their dominance: early ballpoint pens were expensive, were prone to leaks and had irregular inkflow, while the fountain pen continued to benefit the user.

The most remembered school days prank with the ink pen was , on April Fool’s Day ( First of April ) , we used to throw ink in a pattern on the back side of  shirt without the knowledge of the classmates or school mates.  We also had the pinch of others contribution in our shirts. When caught by teachers , there were punishments. But all in the game of enjoying April Fool’s Day.

We cut potato in two half and cut the two letters AF in bold in the centre and apply the fountain pen ink to stamp on others shirt to fool. The joy knew no bounds  in those days. 

I wish to share the past charm of my childhood days with you all readers just to kindle your thoughts back to your good old times and cherish it .

Even in the year 1971 , when I started my first employment in Richardson & Cruddas , Madras at the age of 19, I was given two ink pots and two ‘dip pens’ ( wooden holder and nibs ) for signing the office document by the Store Keeper , Mr.Gnanaprakasam Chettiar. One is for blue ink and other one for red. Off late I started using ball point pen. But I remember the art of using the dip pen also. For Caligraphy , it was very useful.



Dip pen



Dip pen nibs

"The pen is mightier than the sword" is a metonymic adage coined by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839 for his play Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy.

I believe  there will be no disagreement to the claim of the author.  If you look into  history ,  the written words by pen changed many kingdom’s fate.  Even today , whether with ink pen or ball point pen , our signature matters in all walks of life, for continuous changes for good  and  bad  sometimes!

Let us not forget the “Fountain pen “ which helped us in the art of writing and fixing  the destiny  of someone somewhere !

Be in possession of a Fountain Pen to continue with Art Of Writing.

Now-a-days, we  do not use pen for writing much. In today's electronic and computer advancement we write in social network like Facebook and  blogs like this , without a 'fountain pen' ! Even for writing a story or fiction computer is used for easy and fast writing and corrections without wasting paper , ink , time and so on. But when you are at liesure do write your memoirs or anything with a fountain pen and enjoy writing.