From nibs to rollerballs
Faced with a wall of ballpoint pens, an hour or so ago, I had to pause and remember that life wasn’t always so simple for the writer. Back when I was learning to print, the tool of the trade involved a bottle of ink, blotting paper, a wooden handle and a box of nibs. Nibs, alike like peas in a pod. There were many brands, but I was a railway child, so the box may have resembled this.
Ink was something you handled with care, because spillage ruined things; papers, other papers, important papers, clothes. And with the manual skillset of a small child, the big fella always knew.
By the time I arrived in the important stages of my education, we were allowed to use a fountain pen for formal examinations. We also had foolscap, that you had to purchase by the sheet. The pens, for those who weren’t dealing with hand-me-downs, took cartridges that were pierced on insertion, alleviating much (not all) staining of papers, etc.
But then, progress took things in hand. Someone invented the ball point, and mankind was saved. Sort of. The ink still had an ability to leave the confines of the pen, all at once, and mark shirt pockets forever. Good for the garment trade, not so much for boys with parents who could discern disaster.
Jump forward to an hour ago. My quest was easily attained, because I wanted a box of cheap, disposable pens. The man with his son had a more difficult task. His son required a fine point pen. For the inexperienced, that wall of pens was as hard to understand as the hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt. Worse, the Rosetta stone for pen displays is still missing. I did my part to explain the jargon; V5 vs V7, roller vs whatever. But, my heart goes out to that parent who had no idea what the industry wanted to convey.
