Tag: pen

Inventions Mesopotamia Gifted to the World Still Used During the Modern Day

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The Mesopotamians invented large scale wheat production, the potters wheel which allows for the making of pottery bowls, cups, and plates, used for consumption and collection, boats which could sail all the way to India created from reeds, and the stylus which is effectively a pen created from reeds, which led to the development of the world’s first writing system. These are just a few examples gifted to the world by the first great civilization; Mesopotamia. Every written word in the western world can trace its origins back to the cuneiform of Mesopotamia and the study of mathematics also derives directly from the Mesopotamian civilization. Reeds were used for measuring distances, based upon the size of the Pharaoh Djer (pronounced “jur”), with the first standard measurement derived from Djer’s elbow crease to the tip of his middle finger, and the second standard measuring a full arm span of both arms spread as wide as the body will allow them. The Mesopotamians invented the mathematics of time keeping by using the creases of their fingers with each finger containing 3 creases therefore 12 creases for each hand. This system included the thumb and when accounting for the back of the hand, a base system was invented which was used to count between 0 – 60. This system was primarily used to tell time, as there are 60 seconds in a minute and 60 minutes in an hour, which meant that the day would be divided into 2 periods each of 12 hours

The Use of Pencils in Art Forgery Signatures

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In the art collectibles world, the pencil is referred to as the “forgers tool”. Forgers prefer using pencil as it’s nearly impossible to date its age and it displays upon pieces without being obtrusive which allows it to go undetected for longer than if the autograph were done in pen, paint, or some other medium

The Advent of the Ball Point Pen

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The ball point pen was invented by Ladislao José Biro and originally sold for $55.00 as it was not a cheap, mass produced, consumable product at the time. Accounting for inflation, the ball point pen retails in today’s market for approximately $0.19 (19 cents) per unit. Biro’s first idea was to have a ball tip made from brass, steel, or tungsten carbide with quick drying newspaper ink, but unfortunately it did not work. Biro then moved to a slower drying ink cartridge and to his good fortune, the idea worked. The ball point pen works by rolling and picking up a thin film from the ink cartridge held above the ball point. Until this point, quills and lead pencils were used for writing as the quill had been around since 600 A.D., and the lead pencil had been in circulation since 1795. Biro’s first major customer was the Royal Air Force, as Biro developed and introduced the ball point pen in 1940 which was towards the beginning of World War II. The Royal Air Force was interested in the idea because it allowed their military to write at high altitudes, unlike traditional fountain pens. Interestingly enough, Biro was not the first person to come up with the idea of a rollerball system for delivering ink to the nib of a pen. John Loud is widely believed to have patented the first ballpoint pen back in 1888, but he failed to turn it into a commercial product and so his patent lapsed