Pen facts for kids
A pen is a handy tool we use for writing or drawing. It puts ink onto paper, and the ink usually dries very quickly. The word "pen" comes from the Latin word pinna, which means "feather."
Contents
Types of Pens
Ancient Reed Pens
The very first pens were called reed pens. These pens were made from reeds, which are tall grasses that grew near the Nile River in ancient Egypt. The ancient Egyptians were clever! They invented these pens and also created black ink. This ink was made from soot (like what you find in a chimney) mixed with gum arabic, which is a sticky substance from trees.
Reed pens had a special tip called a nib that was split. This split helped control how much ink flowed out when you wrote. This simple way of making a pen is still used today in calligraphy, which is the art of beautiful writing.
Quill Pens
Another very old type of pen is the quill pen. A quill pen is actually a feather from a bird, most often a goose. The end of the feather, called the quill, was cut to be very sharp. You had to dip the quill into ink after writing just a few words.
Dip Pens
Both reed pens and quill pens are known as dip pens. This is because you have to dip them into ink many times while you are writing or drawing. Today, some modern dip pens are still used, but their nibs are usually made of metal instead of reed or feather.
Fountain Pens
Fountain pens are a bit like dip pens, but they are much more convenient! They can hold enough ink inside them to write several pages without needing to be refilled. The ink is stored in a special bag called a sac or in a small container called a cartridge inside the pen.
Ballpoint Pens
A ballpoint pen is a very common type of pen today. It usually has a cylindrical plastic body and is smaller than a fountain pen. At the writing end, there is a tiny, hard ball. This ball rolls as you write, picking up ink from inside the pen and rolling it onto the paper.
Stylus Pens
A stylus is a special kind of pen that doesn't write on paper. Instead, it can write on surfaces like clay or wax. People have used styli made of wood or metal for thousands of years. For example, they were used for cuneiform writing, which was an ancient way of writing on clay tablets.
Today, a modern computer stylus is usually made of plastic. It might even have electronics inside! We use these styli with touchscreen devices like tablets or phones to draw, write, or select things on the screen.
Pens in the Modern World
With the rise of computers and digital devices, we don't always need to write on paper as much as we used to. However, writing a letter by hand still feels special. It can show someone that you cared enough to take the time and effort to write a "real" letter just for them.
Related pages
Images for kids
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A luxury pen
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Writing tip of a ballpoint pen and 1mm white bar for scale
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Historic pens
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M. Klein and Henry W. Wynne received US patent#68445 in 1867 for an ink chamber and delivery system in the handle of the fountain pen.
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Lines created by a gel pen (top) and a ballpoint pen (bottom)
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A gel-based rollerball pen
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A brush pen
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The writing tip of a fountain pen
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The writing tip of a marker
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Computer with computer stylus
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An ink brush
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Quill and ink
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A reed pen
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1915 advertisement for "Vulcan" Ink Pencils.
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Modern marker pens.
See also
In Spanish: Pluma (escritura) para niños
