The History of Writing Instruments

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The History of Writing Instruments | Timeline

Scientists, linguistics and philosophers argue that communication is innate, it is something that as human beings we are predisposed to do, something we desperately want to do, and in a variety of ways. As we all know, you can’t always speak to someone verbally. In this modern age we can text or email them, but before technology, we had to use other forms of written methods. It was this desire to communicate in a written form that birthed the need for the pen. Let’s take a look at the history of writing instruments.

The pen, like everything, has changed and evolved over time. We thought it would be interesting to take you on the journey of the pen, to show you where it all began and how it has evolved over the years to become the pen we know and love today.

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Where did the history of writing instruments begin?

  • 39,000 BCE
    How did we communicate 40,000 years ago?
    During the Upper Palaeolithic era of the Stone Age period, humans made their first sculptures and artwork and first physical forms of communication. By carving symbols and signs onto cave walls using hammerstones and stone chisels and/or using berries and their fingertips, they created murals called petroglyphs. These depicted scenes of animals and archaeologists believe that they may have been used as early maps to show rivers, trails and landmarks, as well as astronomical markers and symbols that most likely reflect time and distance.
  • 8,500 BCE
    But, you can’t carry a cave wall around with you for when you happen to need to write a note, so how did people overcome that?
    In 8,500 BC, people began using wet clay and a piece of straw to write. They would inscribe their writing into the clay and then let it dry and harden. This made ‘portable writing’ possible, as evidenced by the clay tokens that were discovered dating back to this time. These tokens were used by merchants and they had pictographs that recorded the quantity of material that was traded or shipped.
  • 3000 BCE
    When was the first ‘pen’ made?
    In 3000 BCE, the Egyptians began using reed pens to write with. They were made out of the hollow, tube stems of marsh grasses like bamboo. One end was cut into the shape of a pen nib or point and then the reed’s stem was filled with a writing fluid that flowed down to the nib when the reed was squeezed.
  • 1700 BCE
    When was the alphabet first formed?
    Between 1700 BCE and 1500 BCE, we began to see abstract figures replace pictures, giving rise to the ‘alphabet’.
  • 400 BCE
    When was the modern day alphabet formed?
    In 400 BCE the Greeks developed their own alphabet to replace pictures, it included only uppercase letters and this became the foundation for Byzantine, Roman, and then Latin writing, which inevitably became the foundation for our modern day alphabet. At this time, the Greeks, Egyptians, Romans, and Hebrews, began using parchment and papyrus to write on, and reed pens to write with.
  • 600 AD
    When was the first Quill Pen made?
    Answer, 600 AD. Between 7th and 19th century Europeans began using bird feathers from swans, turkeys and geese as a quill. The feathers were heated to dry them and remove any oils that might interfere with the ink, then the end of the feather was shaped and sharpened with a knife. This was then dipped in ink which fills the hollow shaft of the feather, thus acting as a reservoir. It was also around this time that the Hebrew alphabet was first created.
  • 1500
    When was the first fountain created?
    It is alleged that Leonardo DaVinci created a fountain pen during the 1500’s. His journal shows drawings of a reservoir pen that worked with both a gravity and capillary action.
  • 1565
    When was the first pencil developed?
    The first depictions of a wooden pencil were created by Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner in 1565, the invention quickly spread through Europe.
  • 1600
    When did fountain pens become available in Europe?
    In 1600
  • 1791
    When was the first mechanical pencil created?
    The earliest example of a mechanical pencil was amongst the wreckage of the HMS Pandora, which sank in 1791.
  • 1795
    When was the modern-day lead pencil created?
    In 1795 Nicolas-Jaques Conté was granted a patent for his new formula of mixing powdered graphite and clay to make a pencil, a process that modern pencils are based on.
  • 1809
    When was the first British patent on a fountain pen?
    The first English patent for a fountain pen was issued in May 1809 to Frederick Fölsch.
  • 1822
    When was the first patent for a refillable pencil filed in Britain?
    It was filed in 1822 and it had a lead-propelling mechanism.
  • 1822
    When did steel start to become used as a pen nib?
    In 1822 John Mitchell from Birmingham, UK, developed a made-made steel-point pen. They worked exactly the same as quills, but they were must sturdier and cheaper.
  • 1844
    When was free-flowing ink created?
    It was patented by Louis Waterman in 1884 and it created the first efficient and function modern-day fountain pen.
  • 1888
    Who first tried to create a ballpoint pen?
    American inventor John J. Loud patented the earliest design for a ballpoint pen, however, he could never perfect the ink flow.
  • 1900’s
    When was the first ballpoint pen created?
    Ballpoint pens actually made their appearance during the late 19th century, but they were not commercially available or exploited.
  • 1915
    Who created the mechanical pencil?
    In 1915 the Ever-Ready Sharp Pencil was introduced in Japan by Tokuji Hayakawa
  • 1940’s
    Who created the biro?
    Josef and Georg Biro created the biro we know and love today in the 1940’s after feeling Nazi German and moving to Argentina. They presented their first working ballpoint pen at the Budapest International Fair.
  • 1943
    When was the biro patented?
    In 1943 the Biro brothers decided to patent and protect their pen.
  • 1963
    When was the first rollerball pen created?
    It was invented in 1980 by a Japanese Company, Ohto.
  • 1990’s
    When was the first pen with s rubber grip made?
    Made in the 1990’s, these pens are designed to provide better grip for the writer.

Although the evolution of pens is likely to slow now that we are no longer solely reliant on them to communicate in a written form, it is still incredibly interesting to see the history of writing implements and how the pen has developed and transformed over the years.