Where did it all begin?
Early Cross writing instruments.
The modern fountain pen can trace its roots to the lowly quill made from a goose’s tail feather (at least in Western history). But for the sake of saving a few pages, let’s leap forward to the fountain pen as we know it today with a nib, a feed and an ink reservoir. Starting in the 1850s there was a steadily accelerating stream of fountain pen patents and pens in production. In the 1870s Duncan MacKinnon, a Canadian living in New York City, and Alonzo T. Cross of Providence, Rhode Island created stylographic pens with a hollow, tubular nib and a wire acting as a valve. Today, stylographic pens are used mostly for drafting and technical drawing but in the decade beginning in 1875, were very popular writing instruments. It was only after three key inventions were in place, however, that the fountain pen became a widely popular writing instrument. Those inventions were the iridium-tipped gold nib, hard rubber, and free-flowing ink.
A pair of classic, collectible Parker VacumaticsWhile the oldest known fountain pen that has survived today was designed by a Frenchman named M. Bion and dated 1702 the first practical fountain pen was patented by Lewis Edson Waterman in 1884. Legend has it that Waterman, a 45-year-old insurance salesman, had an appointment with a very important prospect for a substantial insurance policy. On the way to the meeting, he decided to buy one of the new fountain pens that had come onto the market. His prospect agreed to take the policy, but when Waterman handed him the pen, all it would do was blot, and so with no signature, no policy. But this is arguably just advertising lore.
What is probably true is that Waterman experimented with faulty pens and similar instruments. He discovered the basic problem was the capillary action taking place in the pen. With his brother Elijah's help, he handmade his first fountain pen and used it until a customer insisted on buying it. Since he had to make himself another, he literally fell into the fountain pen making business by making and selling others. Similarly, George Parker, formerly a telegraphy teacher in Wisconsin, took on a line of fountain pens to help pad his meager income. When he wound up spending most of his spare time repairing the pens, he decided to build a better one, which he did, receiving his patent in 1889. He acquired other patents through purchase, steadily improving his product. Eventually, Parker was to become the largest pen manufacturer in the world.
In 1907, the joint venture of Hamburg stationer Claus-Johannes Voß, engineer August Eberstein and salesman Alfred Nehemias would mark the birth of one of the great international luxury brands: Montblanc. The now ubiquitous black fountain-pen with the white star on the cap claimed that it did not leak at all when closed! A problem for most fountain pens in that day. The inspiration for the name and even the white “star” was in fact the dark massif, the highest in Europe, with its snow-covered peaks and six icy glaciers. In 1924, the famous black Meisterstück 149 came to life. The number 4810 that adorns the nib of each Meisterstück symbolises the height of the eponymous mountain in the Savoy Alps. And perhaps the most significant development came in 1935 when Montblanc, whose customers were hit by inflation and so reluctant to spend their money, gave a lifelong guarantee. A sign that it was absolutely convinced of the quality of their writing instrument.
