Enterprising Egyptians are involved in the creation of a felt-tip pen. In the tomb of Tutankhomon, archaeologists discovered an object resembling a copper pencil. He became the father of the modern felt-tip pen.
History of appearance
In 1960, in Japan, the Flo-master brand released felt-tip pens for the first time now known all over the world. However, it is believed that Yukio Hori invented them, back in 1942. His invention was a writing device that wrote with paint. In order to prevent the paint from flowing out immediately, a special reservoir was built into it, to which the tip was attached. Usually, the tip was made of some kind of porous material, which, on the one hand, retained excess moisture, and on the other hand, it was able to pass a small amount of it. As a rule, felt or nylon was used for manufacturing.
It is assumed that the felt-tip pen got its name from the English word "flow", which in translation means "to flow, flow". However, this is not known for certain.
After the invention of the felt-tip pen in Japan, this idea was bought by the German company Edding, which was engaged in the production of paints. And already in the 80s, markers finally conquered the world. It's hard to believe now, but initially felt-tip pens sold poorly. Only after they shot ads about Disney characters who paint them, their sales increased significantly.
Felt-tip pens production technology
At the moment, a huge number of subtypes of markers are produced, but, as a rule, the components are the same for all. These parts are: rod, ink reservoir, body, plug and cap.
The rods are made from materials such as lavsan, teflon or nylon. Interestingly, first, the material is impregnated with formaldehyde resin to give it strength, and then, due to the high strength obtained, they are forced to cut and sharpen them using diamond discs.
In turn, ink is a concentrated dye that is diluted with water. After that, hygroscopic substances are added to it to prevent the ink from drying out.
Typically, the ink reservoir is made of cotton or synthetic fibers that are pre-pressed into a swab. Then the resulting tampon is covered with cellophane.
The body and cap are made by pressing. For this, polypropylene raw materials are mixed with a dye and melted at a high temperature. After that, the resulting mass is pressed using a steel screw.
After all the component parts are made separately, they are assembled into a finished product.
