Family and Friends 6 (Reading 5)

The History of the Pen

Over 10,000 years ago

People used stones to draw pictures on the walls of caves. They also used sharp objects or bones to make marks on clay.

7,000 years ago

The Egyptians invented paper and also pens to write on it. Pens were made from reeds. Reeds are hollow plants. One end of the reed was cut into a point, or a nib. Then the pen was filled with ink by dipping it into an ink pot to fill up the inside. People squeezed the pen when they wanted the ink to come out.

In the 7th century

People started using quill pens. Quill pens were made from the feathers of birds.

The part which the feathers are attached to is hollow. They worked better than reed pens because they were softer and you could squeeze them more easily to make the ink come out. They could also be washed and dried and used lots of times.

In the 10th century

The first fountain pen was made in Egypt. The pen held ink in a reservoir inside the pen and the ink travelled down to the nib. It wasn't necessary to dip the nib into an ink pot, so they were cleaner to use. However, sometimes big drops of ink came out of the pen and ruined the paper.

1938

László Biró invented the ballpoint pen. It had a tiny ball in its tip which rotated as it moved along the paper and picked up ink from a cartridge inside.

It worked well because big drops of ink couldn't come out so it was better because the paper could not be ruined.

1965

The Space Pen was invented. The Space Pen can write underwater, upside down, in extreme temperatures and at zero gravity! For this reason astronauts use them in space. This pen can do everything! But who knows what pens will be invented in the future!