Fountain Pen
A fountain pen made by Waterman
Who did it?
In 1883, Lewis Edson Waterman invented of the capillary feed fountain pen. He started selling his invention behind a cigar store later opening a factory in Montreal, Canada. After he died in 1901, his nephew, Frank D. Waterman went over seas to sell the pens. Which later the sales increased to 350,000 pens a year.
How it works.
The tip of the pen is called the nib that is usually made of gold or stainless steel. A bunch of narrow tubes called the feed connects the pens reservoir to the nib. These pens use a highly fluid link. So these pens rely on a property called the capillary action, this action causes the inner tubes to attract ink and that ink attracts more ink so the ink form the pens reservoir to fill the feed. There are also a number of air passages that lead to the reservoir , so when the ink starts leaving the reservoir the air pressure is the same as the air pressure outside the pen so the ink flows easily. Because if the air pressure outside the pen is higher than inside the pen the ink will not reach the nib and the pen will not write. And if the air pressure inside the pen is greater than the air pressure outside the ink will flood out of the nib. To make sure this does not happen, these pens are designed with a collector which is located near the nib consists of a series of fins that have just enough room for forward moving ink.
Fountain Pens Are Actually Fascinating
FP101 How a Fountain Pen Works - Ink Nouveau