How Does a Fountain Pen Work?

It contains a liquid ink reservoir. The ink is passed to the nib of the pen by means of capillary action and gravity when the pen is used. While ink refill techniques varied in the early models, modern fountain pens are often refilled by simply replacing the ink cartridge. Fountain pens come in nine different nib sizes with three different nib tip cuts: straight, oblique, and italic. While the advent of the disposable ballpoint pen has diminished the popularity of fountain pens for everyday use, people still do use them for reasons of comfort and legibility. Today, about $25 will buy you an everyday fountain pen and several years worth of ink, while a high-end fountain pen can cost upward of $200. Fountain pens today sell as classic writing instruments, and original pens are considered collectibles. Prestige fountain pens from Mont Blanc and Omas, as well as older model and commemorative fountain pens, are most highly valued. Here at FountainPens.us, you can compare and shop for a ...  more

A pen that carries a supply of ink inside it is called a fountain pen. This ink supply is in a reservoir, either a disposable cartridge or a rubber, sac-like container inside the pen's barrel. Disposable cartridges can be removed completely and replaced with a new one when they run dry, but the sac is filled by a different method. On the side of the pen's barrel is a lever. When you pull out on the lever, its other end pushes inside the pen and presses against the sac. This forces out the air from the empty sac. Then when you place the tip, or nib, of the pen into a bottle of ink and release the lever, the ink is drawn up through tiny tubes into the sac. This is called the vacuum method, since the vacuum inside the sac draws up the ink. The first working fountain pen, developed in 1884 by Lewis Waterman, had to be filled with ink from an eyedropper!  more

Instructions The Fountain Pen Step 1: Although fountain pens may seem quaint to many people, they actually represented a big advance on the pens that came before them. Before fountain pens, people relied on dip pens, quill pens, reeds and brushes. All of...  more