Technical Description of a Pen

 Technical Description of a Pen

A pen is a writing instrument. There are many types of pens available in the market now. They are made of plastic fiber or steel or any metal and are available in variety of colours and designs.  Previously, it was made of a bamboo stick or a reed by sharpening one end and people wrote with it on the paper by dipping the sharpened end into the ink.

A pen may be divided into three categories.

1. Ink Pen

An ink pen is made of two plastic or metallic tubes of which one functions as ink tank and the other as the cap of the pen. The ink tank is in fact a tube closed at one end open at other end which has a holder for the nib of the pen. A metallic nib riding a plastic tongue is inserted into the writing end of the holder. The other end the holder is tightened into the ink tank with the help of threads cut on it and the threads inside the open end of the ink tank. The plastic tongue has grooves on its surface, which facilitate the flow of ink from the tank to the nib. The flow of the ink is maintained by gravitational force and surface tension. (on the nib)


The other tube, which functions as its cap, has threads inside its open end. It may be tightened over the holder with the help of the threads on the outside of the open end of the ink tank. The cap has a metallic clip on its closed end to fasten the pen with the pocket.  

2. Ball Point Pen Or Dot Pen

A ballpoint pen is very much similar to a dot pen. The difference is that it does not have an ink tank but a refill instead of it. A refill is made of a plastic tube open at both ends. It contains semisolid ink. One end of the refill holds a metallic ballpoint nib which is actually a small metallic tube containing a metal ball at the writing end adjusted with a spring. When we write on the paper, the ball is pressed inside and the ink starts flowing for writing. Similarly, when we do not write the spring presses the ball at the indented end and the flow of the ink is stopped.

A refill may contain ink in jell form also. Such a pen is termed as jell pen. The ball point pen was in fact invented for the use of pilots at high altitudes because ink pen flew ink at high altitude and spoiled the pockets. 

 3. Sketch Pen

A sketch pen is very much similar to a ballpoint pen. The difference is that it contains a soak tube containing ink instead of a refill besides having a fiber thread nib instead of a ballpoint nib. A soak tube is a plastic tube open at both ends and wider than a refill containing sponge to hold the ink. One end of the fiber thread nib is used for writing and the other end is inserted into the sponge of the soak tube from where it gets ink for writing. The ink in this pen moves due to surface tension. The gravitational force does not have any effect on it.

Sketch pens are generally used for drawings and highlighting. Some sketch pens use permanent ink. They are termed as permanent markers. Some sketch pens use glittering ink also. Writing sketch pens are very smooth in writing.

Hybrid Pen

When a pen is is manufactured by using a mix of two or more technologies mentioned above, it is termed as hybrid pen. For example, a pen may have a ballpoint pen but may be ink fed by a soak tube. Or a pen may use a very special refill which contains a fiber nib and a soak tube and so on.
Location: Satna, Madhya Pradesh, India

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