PENS. The word pen, in Holy Scripture, refers either to an iron style or to a reed; the latter being the earliest form of pen used for writing on papyrus with a fluid ink. Reed pens are still in use in the East, and are said to be better adapted to the Arabic character than quill pens. Quills came into use about the fifth century, and continue to maintain their ground, notwithstanding the general employment of metallic pens. The goose furnishes the chief supply, vast flocks being maintained in Russia and Poland for the sake of their quills, of which as many as 27,000,000 have been received in this country in one year from St Petersburg alone. The swan, the crow, the ostrich, the turkey, and other birds occasionally contribute. As there is still a considerable demand for quill pens, a few words on the method of preparing them will not be out of place. The quills, as imported, are tough and soft in texture, and covered with a membrane, so that they will not make a clean slit; the vascular membrane which adheres to the internal surface of the barrel also renders them opaque. These defects are got rid of by the operations of quill-dressing or quill-dutching. The quills are first sorted into primes, seconds, and pinions. They are next plunged into hot sand, which causes the interior lining membrane to shrivel up and detach itself from the barrel, and so far loosens the outer membrane that it can be removed readily by scraping with a sharp instrument. The heat also dries up the oily matter of the quill, and renders the barrel transparent, like fine thin horn. By dipping the barrels in dilute nitric acid they become hardened, and acquire a fine yellow tint. In some cases the quills are exposed to the action of steam, and scraped under the edge of a fine instrument, which flattens and apparently spoils them; but they are restored to shape by exposure to a moderate heat.
The first attempt at metallic pens was to arm the points of quill pens with metallic nibs. Pens have also been constructed of horn, tortoise-shell, and glass. Small pieces of precious stones, such as the diamond and the ruby, have been embedded in the points of horn and tortoise-shell pens by pressure. Thin pieces of gold or other metal have also been attached to tortoise-shell. Nibs of metal set in fine gold have also been employed; and to prevent injury to the points, the ink-stand was lined with india-rubber. Dr Wollaston constructed pens with two flat slips of gold placed at an angle, and tipped with rhodium. Messrs Wiley of Birmingham have pens of gold, palladium, gold and silver, and silver, pointed with the native alloys of iridium and osmium. Such pens have the advantage of presenting the writing always of the same character and of not being corroded by the ink; they are, however, too costly for common use.
Steel pens were introduced about the year 1803; but many of the improvements which led to their present ex-
tensive use were introduced by Mr Gillott of Birmingham and by Mr Perry of London. Birmingham is the chief seat of the manufacture; the steel is rolled for the purpose at Sheffield into thin sheets, and these are cut into strips about three feet long and four inches broad. After annealing, the scales are removed by pickling in dilute sulphuric acid, when the strips are again rolled to the required thickness. From these strips blanks or flats are cut out by means of a stamping-press, the fibres of the steel being made to take the direction of the length of the pen. After this the hole which terminates the slit is pierced, and the superfluous metal is removed. The blanks are now annealed in a muffle, and the maker's name is stamped on each blank by means of a small punch. The next operation is to make the flaps concave for nib-pens, and to form the barrel for barrel-pens: this is done at a stamping-press with an appropriate bed and punch. The pens are next inclosed in an iron box raised to a red heat, and quenched in oil, which hardens them. The adhering oil is got rid of by agitating the pens in a tin-plate barrel. They are tempered at a moderate heat, and are placed in a revolving cylinder with sand, which restores the natural colour of the steel. The nib is next ground upon a small emery wheel, after which the slit is made by means of a chisel with a flat side fixed to the bed of a press, the descending screw of which has a cutter which accurately corresponds with the chisel. The pens are coloured brown or blue by placing them in a revolving cylinder over a charcoal fire, and removing them as soon as the film of oxide of the desired colour is formed. A gloss is given to them by immersing them in a solution of lac in naphtha, after which they are dried by heat, counted, and made up in boxes. Steel pens are liable to be corroded by the ink, a defect which does not apply to the pens of thin laminated zinc recently introduced. Pens have also been formed of the new metal aluminum, and pen-holders have been made of the same light material, which, however, is too costly for such common applications.
Pens have been made of vulcanized india-rubber, the ingredients for which are first rolled out in a thin sheet of the thickness of a strong quill, then cut into strips of the width suitable for pens, next heated between two surfaces of glass, one convex and the other concave, and raised in the course of six hours from the temperature of 230° to 305°. This effects the combination of the ingredients, and gives a permanent form to the semi-cylinders, which are made into lengths, and formed into pens by appropriate cutting instruments.
Numerous patents are taken out every year for pens, pen-holders, lead-holders, and pencil-cases; so numerous, indeed, that a list of them for the last few years would occupy considerable space. Purchasers are fond of novelty; and novelty, however slight, is sure to claim the protection of a patent. It is not creditable to our inventive skill that in so copious a patent list so very small a number of inventions should retain a permanent hold on the public. (C. T.)