20 Interesting Facts About Pens

Pens are the most useful items in our day. They make a major chunk of office supplies, helping us with note-taking, checklist making, signing important documents, leaving notes for people, sketching, and more. Whether you are a student or a scholar, a corporate employee, or a business owner, pens are the essential items needed by all. 

The use of pens is not new but ancient. The sophisticated, modern writing instruments that you hold in your hand today have had a long evolution for various millennia. Let’s dive into the pen journey with 20 facts about writing instruments that are bound to amaze you. 

20 Pen Facts You Should Know 

1. Pens date back to 5000 years ago. Pens have been in use since ancient times with ancient Egyptians utilizing reed straws as pens and making ink out of soot mixed with beeswax.

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2. The word ‘pen’ comes from the Latin word ‘penna’, meaning feather. Humans used feathers that had sharpened quills for writing and began calling them pens (Middle English).

3. Ballpoint pens don’t leak at high altitudes. During World War 2, ballpoint pens became pilots’ favourite as they didn’t leak while pilots were flying at high altitudes and proved to be a useful writing instrument. 

4. When given a new pen, 95% of the time the first word written is the receiver’s name. Think about what you wrote with your new pen most of the time.

5. Generally, an average pen has the ink to write 45,000 words. Every time your pen runs out of ink, think of the 45,000 words you have written on paper so far.

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6. The largest pen in the world is a ballpoint pen that weighs 37.23 kg. It holds the Guinness World Record and is 5.5 meters (18 feet, 0.53 inches). 

7. Gold-nibbed fountain pens can adapt to your writing style. It happens due to gold being a soft metal. The gold nib flexes and softens when used. 

8. Quill pens made of bird feathers were all the rage from 700 AD to 1700s. The best quills were made from swan feathers and were rare and expensive. So common folks used goose feather quills and got crow feather quills for making fine lines. 

9. Pens were patented in 1888 by John Loud, though there lies evidence of their abundant use since the 1700s. He is the man credited for inventing the original ballpoint pen. 

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10. The ink container pen idea was conceived in 973 A.D. by Ma’ād al-Mu’izz. He was an African caliph who despised ink spills when he was working. Thus, he commissioned someone to solve the issue and the fountain pen, similar to the modern design in use today, was invented.

11. The oldest preserved pen is a fountain pen that dates back to 1702. It was designed by M. Bion from France.

12. Ballpoint pens are the left-handers’ first choice. Due to their quick-drying ink, ballpoint pens don’t smudge or smear. 

13. Fulgor Nocturnus by Tibaldi is the most expensive pen globally. Adorned with rubies and black diamonds, it fetched a staggering $8 million at an auction.

14. The first affordable pen was designed in 1949 by Marcel Bich. It is the pen you see in use every day.

15. Over 100 people die by suffocating on pen caps. To save lives &  prevent choking, BIC pens introduced holes in the pen caps.

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16. Pens make one of the best promotional tools. They are the everyday items that produce great brand recall.

17. Space pen, designed by Paul Fisher, worked in zero gravity, underwater, upside-down, and even on oily surfaces. It was designed for the 1968 Apollo mission, lasted 3 times longer, and endured extreme temperatures (from -40°C to 120°C).

18. The biro pen, the British ballpoint, is a commercially successful ballpoint pen. It was invented by Laszlo Biro who is deemed as the designer of the modern pen.

19. Modern ballpoint pens use metal balls made of tungsten as the writing point. They are three times tougher than steel. 

20. The most common pens in use are the ballpoint pen, gel pen, fountain pen, brush pen, and marker pen. Highlighters and markers are also used to mark and highlight texts widely by people. 

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Writing, note-taking, journaling, record-keeping, drafting, and signing have existed since ancient times and that is why there are billions of pens in the world produced to meet the needs of the generations, that come and gone. 

The modern version of the ancient pen is more sleep and sophisticated yet traditional in much sense. Hope you enjoy writing with your pen even more after knowing the context in which they developed and became so mainstream.