Dip pen

Refilling can be done by dipping into an inkwell, but it is also possible to charge the pen with an eyedropper, a syringe, or a brush, which gives more control over the amount of ink applied.

Flexible dip pen nibs allow for the production of a line that naturally varies in thickness.

There is a wide range of exchangeable nibs for dip pens, so different types of lines and effects can be created.

[5][6][7][8] The steel pen is first attested in Daniel Defoe's book A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain – 1724–26.

In Letter VII Defoe wrote: "the plaster of the ceilings and walls in some rooms is so fine, so firm, so entire, that they break it off in large flakes, and it will bear writing on it with a pencil or steel pen."

His brother William Mitchell later set up his own pen making business in St Paul's square.

The Mitchell family is credited as being the first manufacturers to use machines to cut pen nibs, which greatly sped up the process.

Some of those companies were Joseph Gillott's (established in 1827), Sir Josiah Mason (1827), Hink Wells & Co. (1836), Baker and Finnemore (1850), C. Brandauer & Co. (1850), D. Leonardt & Co.

Many new manufacturing techniques were perfected in Birmingham, enabling the city's factories to mass produce their pens cheaply and efficiently.

Esterbrook approached five craftsmen who worked for John Mitchell in Navigation Street with a view to setting up business in Camden, New Jersey, US.

School desks were made with a socket for a small ceramic inkwell which had to be refilled on a daily basis, a task often delegated to one of the pupils.