Daily Vignette for 22 November -- The Steel Pen
On November 22nd 1809, Peregrine Williamson of Baltimore filed a patent for a steel pen. Williamson, a native of New York, had moved to Baltimore and set up shop as a jeweler. He fabricated his first steel ink-pen in 1800, and spent nine years working on the design until he was satisfied that it could be mass-produced at a profit.
The idea of a steel pen, rather than a quill, was not new. Steel pens had been fabricated as far back as 1635, but they were expensive and required skill to produce. Thus, the steel pen remained a novelty while most writing was done with quills, which were easily available and could be quickly trimmed with a penknife.
Williamson's pens were made from steel wire rolled around a wooden or bone handle. The tip of the wire was cut, hammered flat, and filed into a blunt chisel-point shape that held up to many pages of script without appreciable wear. Any wear that did occur could be quickly addressed with a jewler's file at very little cost. As with quill pens, the steel wire pens were dipped into ink by the writer.
Williamson's patented steel pens were inexpensive enough that they became locally popular in Baltimore, but steel pens wouldn't become universally popular until 1822 when Joseph Gillott adapted the stamping press to the manufacture of steel pens. Where Williamson's pens had to be wound, cut, shaped, and filed; Gillott's pens required a single operation of the press to produce a finished steel nib complete with the manufacturer's name impressed on it. The Gillott nib pen quickly replaced earlier steel pen designs and quills as the pen of choice for businesses throughout the world, with quills disappearing from office supply catalogs by 1835.
Also, on this day in 1963, John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.
The idea of a steel pen, rather than a quill, was not new. Steel pens had been fabricated as far back as 1635, but they were expensive and required skill to produce. Thus, the steel pen remained a novelty while most writing was done with quills, which were easily available and could be quickly trimmed with a penknife.
Williamson's pens were made from steel wire rolled around a wooden or bone handle. The tip of the wire was cut, hammered flat, and filed into a blunt chisel-point shape that held up to many pages of script without appreciable wear. Any wear that did occur could be quickly addressed with a jewler's file at very little cost. As with quill pens, the steel wire pens were dipped into ink by the writer.
Williamson's patented steel pens were inexpensive enough that they became locally popular in Baltimore, but steel pens wouldn't become universally popular until 1822 when Joseph Gillott adapted the stamping press to the manufacture of steel pens. Where Williamson's pens had to be wound, cut, shaped, and filed; Gillott's pens required a single operation of the press to produce a finished steel nib complete with the manufacturer's name impressed on it. The Gillott nib pen quickly replaced earlier steel pen designs and quills as the pen of choice for businesses throughout the world, with quills disappearing from office supply catalogs by 1835.
Also, on this day in 1963, John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.