The ancestor of the pen should be the writing brush praised as one of the "Four Treasures of the Study" by China literati. However, because the brush is fragile and difficult to preserve, ancient pens that have been passed down to this day are rare. The manufacturing history of brushes is very long. As early as the Warring States period, the use of brush was quite developed. China's calligraphy and painting are inseparable from the use of brush.
The earliest writing brush can be traced back to about two thousand years ago. Generally speaking, the source of the brush is Meng Tian in Qin Dynasty, but the bamboo calligraphy and ink left on the Oracle bones unearthed in Kaoyin site are all written with the brush. It can be seen that the brush originated before the Shang Dynasty, and Meng Tian was actually an innovator of the brush. According to legend, Meng Tian, a general of Qin Dynasty, once took wool to make pens in Shanlian Village, and was regarded as the originator of pen-making locally. It is also said that Meng Tian's wife, Bu Xianglian, is also proficient in pen-making, and is enshrined as the Queen of Pen.
In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, pens had different names, such as "pen", "jade" and "symbol". It was not until the Qin Dynasty that "books are the same, and cars are on the same track" that various names of pens were called "pens". By the Han Dynasty, pens had become more elegant. Besides rabbit hair, there are wool, deer hair, raccoon hair and wolf hair. , both soft and hard. At the same time, the texture and decoration of the pen tube are also more abundant. According to official historical records, China's famous Xu Anbi was invented in the Han Dynasty.
Although there were no brush objects in the Western Zhou Dynasty and above, some signs of using a brush can be found in prehistoric painted pottery patterns and Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty. During the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the brush was widely used to write bamboo slips and silk books. The writing brush of the Spring and Autumn Period was found in the tomb of Zeng Houyi in Leigudun, Suizhou City, Hubei Province. It is the earliest pen found so far.
After the Yuan Dynasty, the pen-making industry centered on Huzhou became increasingly prosperous. Chinese brush has entered the second important period of development-the period of lake brush. Among them, Yang Haobi is the most famous, deeply loved by scholars and appreciated by the court. At this time, Huxi Pen is as famous as Xu Anbi, even surpassing Xu Anbi, and has become a famous representative of Chinese painting at home and abroad. Tiger skin, known as "the best in the world", was originally from Shanlian Town, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province. In ancient times, Shanlian belonged to Huzhou Prefecture, so the brush produced here was called Hubi, and Shanlian was also called "Pen Capital". At that time, tiger skin was called "Four Treasures of the Study" together with Huimo, Duanyan and Xuan paper.
The Ming and Qing Dynasties were the heyday of the pen-making industry in China. It goes without saying that it is used by the royal family and the government to make exquisite and gorgeous pens. Even the brush used by the people pays great attention to decoration and beauty. At that time, bamboo, jade, carved lacquer, ivory, porcelain, enamel and other materials were used as pen tubes. In the decoration of the pen tube, everything is done, reaching an unprecedented richness.
the west
Perhaps because there are many curves in European characters, it is not suitable for soft pen writing. Therefore, the brush was not introduced to the West like other ancient inventions in China. Europeans have their own unique writing tools-quill pens.
Feather pen was invented by ancient Egyptians. With quill pens, the strokes of characters can be thickened with greater force and thinned with less force. The quill pen can be dipped in ink for a long time to write continuously. But once it is used for a long time, the nib will be worn bare, which is inconvenient for long-term use.
1829, the British james bailey successfully developed the nib. After special treatment, it is smooth and elastic, and it is quite smooth to write, which is deeply loved by people. But this pen must be dipped in ink to write, which is very troublesome. Brama, an Englishman, made a pen out of silver, and then filled it with ink, so that the ink flowed out of the nib, and it seemed that he could write fluently. However, the control of ink is always insufficient, and it is easy to make the paper messy. Brama added a capsule filled with ink to the pen holder, and someone put a thin metal needle on the pen tip to control the passage of ink. However, the problem of water leakage still cannot be completely solved.
It is said that once, Walter Mann, a salesman of an American insurance company, finally negotiated a big business in the competition with several peers. When signing the contract, wolman handed the customer a beautiful fountain pen for him to sign. Unexpectedly, just as the customer was preparing the signature pen, a big pool of ink dripped from the tip of the pen, which stained a written contract. Just as Walman hurriedly turned to get a new contract, his competitors took advantage of it and signed a contract with the customer, taking away this considerable business. This incident gave wolman a great stimulus. While he was depressed, he was determined to design a real fountain pen, which could control the amount of water freely.
After four years' efforts, wolman finally invented a practical fountain pen at 1884, which is an indispensable pen in people's life today.
1888, four years after walt whitman invented fountain pen, Robbie of the United States put forward a new concept pen, which is different from fountain pen. Instead, a ball is installed on the tip of the pen. When writing, as the ball rolls, the ink remains on the paper. This is what people call a ballpoint pen today. Unfortunately, Robbie's attempt failed, on the one hand, because the ball did not roll well and could not write; On the other hand, the ink flowing through the beads can't be controlled, and there will be a lot of water leakage. The invention was delayed.
More than half a century later, on 1943, the proofreader of a Hungarian printing factory was named Laszlo Josef Bick. He found that the fresh samples just printed on the machine contained a lot of water, which would be blurred if they were revised with a fountain pen. To this end, he often ponders how to improve. He is a man who collects old ink pens. He and his colleagues always complained that either the hands or the paper were stained with ink, so in the late 1930s, when Biro saw quick-drying ink in a paint shop, he decided to try it.
Once, Bick found a round tube, filled it with oily pigment, and changed the nib into a steel ball, thus the world's first ballpoint pen was born. By the time they perfected their idea, the two brothers had moved to Argentina permanently. They found a patron there, Henry Martin, who was an English businessman. 1943, they made a ballpoint pen, and Bick provided this invention to the Royal Air Force. Soon, an airplane factory in Britain launched the first batch of commercial ballpoint pens.
At that time, an American businessman named Renault saw this ballpoint pen, just like a hound with a keen sense of smell found its prey. With the unique sensitivity of businessmen, it is concluded that this is a promising new product.
At that time, at the end of World War II, the atomic bomb was successfully made in the United States. In order to impress the audience and attract customers, Renault ingeniously called his ballpoint pen "ballpoint pen". Renault claims that his ballpoint pen can write underwater, can be used in the cold Arctic, can write for a long time, and is easy to carry.
Before the invention of ballpoint pen, writing could be a dirty thing. In the principal's office, people use simple steel-tipped pens and must always dip them in ink. Ink bottles are easy to repair, easy to knock over, and easier to get ink stains or stains. In the years after World War II, due to the development of low-cost manufacturing methods, ballpoint pens gradually became a favorite writing tool.