Yes, Earl was pulling his grandson’s leg, but maybe by not that much. My first experience with writing in ink was in grammar school and we used split-nib dip pens and ink bottles. Ours were a lot cheaper than this one shown:
They required some skill to write neatly with them and I remember tediously having to write a short report in ink once. Yuck! I had to start over and over.
Catherine says she remembers writing with fountain pens, the ones you had to fill by sucking ink up from an ink bottle. I remember buying one of those with my allowance when I was still in grammar school, but it was a big disappointment because it was so messy. I had been excited to buy it and learned a good lesson — quality makes a big difference, supposed bargains can be a waste of money. Clearly a great lesson to learn at an early age.
Apparently ball point pens didn’t become inexpensive and reliable until the 1960’s, and my first memory of them is from shortly after I graduated from college. They’re a lot easier to use!
Do you have any memories of pens?
November 28, 2018
I don’t recall having to use fountain pens. but I do remember in NY and also Minnesota sitting at desks that had the hole for the bottle of ink! whoever went before us in those years apparently kept their own bottle in their own desk! when I was 13 or so… there was a fad that people ate sunflower seeds. they would put the shells in the holes of the desks. you’d reach in to retrieve your books for the next class and Ewwww!!! GROSS. cold wet shells from the person before you.
Yuck! Yes, the holes were where our ink bottles were. Some of the desks looked something like this:
As I recall, in the early years we even had some that looked like this:
Mom remembers those pens too. She went to Catholic school and the nuns really made the students tow the mark. They had to do part of the Palmer handwriting test with pen and ink, very tough, Mom says. Lots of ink blobs:)
Woos – Lightning, Misty, and Timber
Yes, that’s what I remember too, the messiness! And when we made a mistake like spelling a word wrong in a report we couldn’t erase, we had to start all over. I didn’t go to a Catholic school, but our grammar school gave us a good education, and I’m grateful.
I also used dip-pens and ink bottles (or at school, ink wells). The boys had lots of fun flicking ink-laden pellets at each other and at the teacher. I also used the earlier-version fountain pens which as you say were rather messy. The later-version used ink refills you just slotted into the pen, so weren’t at all messy. Jenny still uses one. I was very glad when biros came into general use.
You’re right, I should have said inkwell rather than ink bottle. Things were messy enough without having to deal with overturned bottles!
and don’t forget “blotters” – you would go into the bank or somewhere similar where you had write a cheque/other – and a huge blotter encased in something that you blotted your marks on, so they didn’t smear.
I remember lightweight lined pads for writing letters on, with a blotter conveniently glued to the pad toppers for each page… you could get different paper weight pads as well. I wrote to my parents on the aerogram construct and a blotter was extremely useful.
Then along came the ballpoint pen, “biro” …
Yes, blotters! That brings back memories.
I still have a tablet of lightweight aerogram paper, but I bought it in the 80’s and used either pencil or ballpoint pen, and only for a very few letters.
Hurray for ballpoint pens!
Our dip pens were wooden handles with replaceable nibs. They required just the right amount of pressure to release the right amount of ink. And our fountain pens had a bladder inside which you filled by lifting a lever on the pen then releasing it to create suction in the bladder. I felt so sorry for left-handers who had trouble not dragging a sleeve through the still wet ink. People who worked in fields that required a lot of writing, like bookkeepers, wore sleeve guards to protect their sleeves. My how life has changed.
I agree about poor left-handed people, and that life has changed a lot! The cartoon did bring back a lot of memories.
I used such a pen when I took a calligraphy class in school. I still have it, it has different tips. I also used it in some art projects too, back then.
I’m left handed but never seemed to have an issue but then I don’t curl my hand like most lefties do.
I’m still very much obsessed with pens.
I’m about to order some more off of Amazon!
(XOXO) I like the Sakura Pigma Micron pens. They are permanent, archival and acid-free so they should last and not fade long after I’m gone.
But I’ve been reading great things about Uni-Ball gel pens and I might try those instead as the nibs don’t hold up to much pressure when using the Sakura Pigma’s.
I’ve always loved pens.
My sister does too. She doesn’t draw but like to carry a nice pen that flows well. She’s got beautiful handwriting and we both take care in our penmanship and don’t understand when people are lazy and scribble out words.
Scribbling takes just as much time as writing it out nice and a good pen makes that easy.
I can understand your love of pens. I have a couple that I love and was sad to learn they don’t make them anymore. I’m experimenting with others, but so far I don’t like them nearly as much. 🙁
I recall occasionally using a dip pen with different points, but not a regular activity with ink wells, bottles in school. I vividly recall ink pens, lusting after an Esterbrook I finally received one Christmas. Longed for some of the really expensive brands. Recall later they made cartridges for ink pens so no longer had to fill the pen from a bottle. I also recall when ballpoint pens came out and how I collected any I could get, but received few in number. Some leaked in shirt pockets, so men wore a plastic protector of sorts in the beginning.
I think those ink cartridges were a great invention, and I’m glad they learned how to make ball points that didn’t leak. 🙂