Who Invented the Fountain Pen

Necessity might be the mother of invention, but frustration fuels the fire – or at least that  was the case for Lewis Waterman. Waterman was an insurance broker in New York City in 1883, getting ready to sign one of his hottest contracts. He bought a new fountain pen in honor of the occasion. Then, with the contract on the table and the pen in the client’s hand, the pen refused to write. Worse, it actually leaked onto the precious document. Horrified, Waterman raced back to his office for another contract, but a competing broker closed the deal in the meantime. Determined to never suffer such humiliation again, Waterman began to make his own fountain pens in his brother’s workshop. The First Fountain Pens Writing instruments designed to carry their own supply of ink had existed in principle for over 100 years before Waterman put his mind to improving the concept. The earliest inventors noted the apparent natural ink reserve found in the hollow channel of a birds feather. They tried to produce a similar effect, creating a man-made pen that would hold more ink and not require constant dipping into an inkwell. But a feather is not a pen, and filling a long thin reservoir made of hard rubber with ink and sticking a metal nib at the bottom was not enough to produce a smooth writing instrument. The oldest known fountain pen – still around today – was designed by M. Bion, a Frenchman, in 1702. Peregrin Williamson, a Baltimore shoemaker, received the first American patent for such a pen in 1809. John Scheffer received a British patent in 1819 for a half-quill-half-metal pen that he attempted to mass manufacture. John Jacob Parker patented the first self-filling fountain pen in 1831. Most of these were plagued by ink spills such as the one Waterman experienced, and other failures made them impractical and hard to sell.   The earliest 19th-century pens used an eyedropper to fill the reservoir. By 1915, most pens had switched to self-filling soft and flexible rubber sacs -- to refill these pens, the reservoirs were squeezed flat by an internal plate, then the pens nib was inserted into a bottle of ink and the pressure on the internal plate was released so the ink sac would fill up, drawing in a fresh supply of ink. Waterman’s Fountain Pen Waterman used the capillarity principle to create his first pen. It used air to induce a steady and even flow of ink. His idea was to add an air hole in the nib and three grooves inside the feed mechanism. He christened his pen the Regular and decorated it with wood accents, obtaining a patent for it in 1884. Waterman sold his hand-made pens out of the back of a cigar shop in his first year of operation. He guaranteed the pens for five years and advertised in a trendy magazine, The Review of Review. Orders began filtering in. By 1899, he had opened a factory in Montreal and was offering a variety of designs. Waterman died in 1901 and his nephew, Frank D. Waterman, took the business overseas, increasing sales to 350,000 pens a year. The Treaty of Versailles was signed using a solid gold Waterman pen, a far cry from the day when Lewis Waterman lost his important contract due to a leaky fountain pen. William Purvis’ Fountain Pen William Purvis of Philadelphia invented and patented improvements to the  fountain pen in 1890. His goal was to make a more durable, inexpensive and better pen to carry in the pocket. Purvis inserted an elastic tube between the pen nib and the ink reservoir that used a suction action to return any excess ink to the ink reservoir, reducing ink spills and increasing the longevity of the ink. Purvis also invented two machines for making paper bags which he sold to the Union Paper Bag Company of New York, as well as a bag fastener, a self-inking hand stamp and several devices for electric railroads. His first paper bag machine, for which he received a patent, created satchel bottom-type bags in an improved volume and with  greater automation than previous machines. Other Fountain Pen Patents and Improvements The different ways that reservoirs filled proved to be one of the most competitive areas in the fountain pen industry. Several patents were issued over the years for self-filling fountain pen designs: The Button Filler:  Patented in 1905 and first offered by the Parker Pen Company in 1913, this was an alternative to the eyedropper method. An external button connected to the internal pressure plate that flattened the ink sac when pressed.Lever Filler:  Walter Sheaffer patented the lever filler in 1908. The W.A. Sheaffer Pen Company of Fort Madison, Iowa introduced it in 1912. An external lever depressed the flexible ink sac. The lever fitted flush with the barrel of the pen when it was not in use. The lever filler was the winning design for fountain pens for the next 40 years.Click Filler:  First called the crescent filler, Roy Conklin of Toledo commercially produced the first pen of this type. A later design by Parker Pen Company also used the name â€Å"click filler.† When two protruding tabs on the outside of the pen pressed, the ink sac deflated. The tabs would make a clicking sound when the sac was full.Matchstick Filler:  This filler was introduced around 1910 by the Weidlich Company. A small rod mounted on the pen or a common matchstick depressed the internal pressure plate through a hole in the side of the barrel.Coin Filler:  This was Waterman’s attempt to compete with the winning lever filler patent that belonged to Sheaffer. A slot in the barrel of the pen enabled a coin to deflate the internal pressure plate, a similar idea to the matchstick filler. Early inks caused steel nibs to quickly corrode and gold nibs held up to the corrosion. Iridium used on the very tip of the nib eventually replaced gold because gold was too soft. Most owners had their initials engraved on the clip. It took about four months to break in a new writing instrument because the nib was designed to flex as pressure was put on it, allowing the writer to vary the width of the writing lines. Each nib wore down, accommodating each owners writing style. People did not loan their fountain pens to anyone for this reason. An ink cartridge introduced around 1950 was a disposable, prefilled plastic or glass cartridge designed for clean and easy insertion. It was an immediate success, but the introduction of ballpoints overshadowed the invention of the cartridge and dried up business for the fountain pen industry. Fountain pens sell today as classic writing instruments and the original pens have become very hot collectibles.

Sectionalism Due to Western Expansion Essay - 668 Words

The Antebellum period from 1800 to 1850 marked a time of sectionalism in American history. Furthermore, new territories gained during western expansion added to this conflict between different sections of America. Southern states wanted new slave territories, while the North wanted to contain the spread of slavery. While Western expansion contributed to growing sectional tensions between the North and South from 1800-1820, sectionalism intensified significantly from 1820-1850. Since the turn of the nineteenth century, Western territorial expansion started to increase a sense of sectionalism throughout America. President Jefferson obtained the Louisiana purchase from Napoleon in 1803, gaining unfamiliar territory West of the Mississippi†¦show more content†¦Any state admitted into the Union bellow this line would decide the legality of slavery for their new state, by popular sovereignty. This temporarily maintained the balance of slave states and free states in the Union, whi le increasing sectionalism throughout America. Neither the North or South wanted the other section to have more states favoring their own slavery ideals, in fear of biased representation in the Senate. Furthermore, sectionalism was demonstrated by the fact that congress felt the need to implement â€Å"The Gag rule†; This disallowed congress from discussing the issue of slavery for the next thirty years (while only lasting a decade). Though members of the house tried to pass the Wilmot proviso, which would ban slavery in newly acquired Mexican territories, Southerners naturally opposed this. Disagreements over how to decide the newly acquired land’s position on slavery, further intensified sectionalism between the North and South. At one point the South even tried to pass the Ostend Manifesto in an attempt to purchase Cuba from Spain, and admit it into the Union as a slave state. Although this effort failed, it strongly represents the intense sectionalism during the ti me: As an entire portion of the country acted autonomously to secure an additional state to gain power over their Northern neighbors. Finally, the compromise of 1850 was passed, declaring popular sovereignty as the determining factor of the position of slavery among the landShow MoreRelatedThe Impact Of Westward Expansion On The United States1571 Words   |  7 Pagesopened the door to westward expansion. Thomas Jefferson purchased this extensive plot of land with the hopes of strengthening and expanding the Republic, unaware that it would have the opposite effect. Jefferson’s fateful decision to expand the United States nearly destroyed the Republic that Americans worked so hard to build. It triggered the rise of divisions amongst Americans. These small cracks continued to grow and tear at the seams of the nation. 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Humboldt Squid Free Essays

Humboldt Squid Dosidicus gigas Domain: Eukarya Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Mollusca Class: Cephalopoda Order: Teuthida Suborder: Oegopsina Family: Ommastephidae Genus: Dosidicus Species: Dosidicus gigas Ecological Geographic range: Receives its name from its main location – the Humboldt Current This current is found in the East Pacific Ocean region The Humboldt squids are sometimes found along the coastal region of California, Oregon, Alaska and Washington Generally, found about 2,300 feet below surface Enter shallow waters to lay eggs Trophic level: Sharks, dolphins, whales, tuna swordfish, many types of rays as well as an abundance of crustaceans, mollusks, fish of all   sizes, and other cephalopods such as octopus can be found in the food web of the Humboldt The Humboldt is occupies a relatively high trophic level It feeds on krill and small species of fish Predators: Sperm whales, sharks, seals, swordfish, and marlin feed on Humboldt squids of all sizes, while gulls and large fish often capture juveniles Parasites include Chromidina elegans, a ciliate protozoan that lives inside the renal organs of the Humboldt Life Cycle: Average life span is 1 year; however, some can live up to 2 years Spend much of their short life in the ocean’s oxygen-minimum zone Come up at night to feed After 200 days, the squids reach sexual maturity They die shortly after mating Physiological Development Bilateral symmetry Arms and tentacles – 8 arms and 2 retractable tentacles Mantle – hollow structure and so internal organs are all exposed directly to the ocean water Funnel – water is pumped from out of the mantle to the funnel, which allows squids to move Fins – are used for both maintaining position and generating thrust Chromatophores – tiny elastic sacs of pigment. The Humboldt squid can turn their entire bodies from red to white to red again in less than one second Digestive system: Complete and ciliated Mouth, anus and complex stomach Use of a duck like beak to break up food A radula or ribbon horn found on the tongue directs the food down the esophagus Food is taken up by cells lining the digestive glands arising from the stomach and then passed into the blood Excretory System Undigested materials are compressed and packaged and discharged through the anus into the mantle cavity and carried away by ocean currents Excretory functions are carried out by a pair of nephridia (tubular structures that collect fluids from the coelom and exchange salts) Respiratory system: Contains three hearts to support the constantly moving lifestyle of the squid Hemocyanin is the copper-rich respiratory protein that transports oxygen throughout the body Circulatory system: complex, closed circulatory system (reason why they can move fast) contains two branchial hearts at the base of the gills which send unoxygenated blood through the gills A third ventricular heart then pumps oxygenated blood throughout the body (blood turns blue when oxygenated, colorless before) Nervous system: Highly developed and sensitive Brain consists of two fused nerve centers that are linked down the length of the body by two giant nerve axons The giant axons transmit nerve signals quickly Interesting fact – the squid’s nervous system is connected to structures called statocysts. These vesicles let the animal to orient itself to a gravitational field, allowing the squid to remain aware of its orientation and movement in a three-dimensional manner Reproductive strategies Highest fecundity of any cephalopod Reach sexually maturity after 200 days of life Timing and location of eggs is still guesswork for most scientists Sexual reproduction Semelparous reproduction (reproduce once in their lifetimes and die shortly after) Female Humboldt squids can have about 10 million eggs; however, the most to have been found has been between half a million and a million eggs After the eggs are laid, there is no further parental investment Kurth, J. We will write a custom essay sample on Humboldt Squid or any similar topic only for you Order Now and M. Garzio 2009. â€Å"Dosidicus gigas† (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed March 18, 2013 at http://animaldiversity. ummz. umich. edu/accounts/Dosidicus_gigas/ â€Å"Squid. † The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2012. Encyclopedia. com. 18 Mar. 2013http://www. encyclopedia. com. Humboldt or Jumbo Squid Fact Sheet – National Zoo| FONZ. † Smithsonian: National Zoological Park. N. p. , n. d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. â€Å"Humboldt Squid. † BioWeb. N. p. , n. d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. â€Å"A Humboldt Squid Dissection Guide for Educators. † The Gilly Lab. N. p. , n. d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. â€Å"Humboldt Squids: Systems. † Shorecrest Preparatory School. N. p. , n. d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. â€Å"Humboldt  Squid. † Squid-World. N. p. , n. d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. â€Å"Squid Sex and Babies. † Squid Sex and Babies. N. p. , n. d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. http://theseasproject. weebly. com/uploads/5/3/8/4/5384258/5500235_orig. png? 243 How to cite Humboldt Squid, Essay examples