Pen

From Free net encyclopedia

(Redirected from Erasable pen)

For other uses, see Pen (disambiguation).

Image:Pen.jpg A pen is a writing instrument which applies ink to some surface. Pens may be categorized by the kind of tip on them. The main modern types are:

Ballpoints, fountain pens and gel pens are sometimes erasable: their ink may be erased.

1 Terms and expressions
2 The ballpoint pen
3 Pens in culture
4 Pentop computer
5 See also
6 External links

[edit]

Terms and expressions

Originally the word meant quill, and is derived from penna, which is Latin for feather. This is because early pens were made from goose feathers by carving the feather with a penknife. Pen is also used as a verbal expression of "to create" or "to write"; for example, "Today, I think I'll pen the Great Canadian Novel." Pens may also be known, although not very commonly, as frindles. This word was invented by the author Andrew Clements in his novel Frindle, the premise of which is that a schoolboy decides to call pens "frindles" and the usage becomes common throughout America.

[edit]

The ballpoint pen

Image:GelPen.jpg

There are two basic types of the ballpoint pen: disposable and refillable.

A mechanical pencil that was very similar or the same as the ballpoint pen was first patented on January 24, 1906 by the Croatian scientist Slavoljub Penkala. The typical ball point pen was invented in 1938 by the Hungarian journalist Laszlo Biro. Biro developed a new tip consisting of a ball that was free to turn in a socket. The word used for ballpoint pens in Argentina is birome because Laszlo Biro lived there for many years; also, biro can be used to refer to a ballpoint pen in British English. It was originally invented for the British RAF, as problems occurred with fountain pens due to the low air pressure aboard planes in flight.

[edit]

Pens in culture

According to urban legend, NASA spent millions of dollars during the 1960's to develop a space pen, which could work in the absence of gravity and air pressure, and in extreme temperatures. The Soviets used a 50¢ pencil. In truth, the pen was developed long before the space program, by folks that wanted a pen that would write upside down. Prior to its discovery by NASA, American space missions did rely on lead pencils, but they tended to break, creating dangerous floating debris that could get in an astronaut's eye or create a short circuit, and they were prone to burning in a high-oxygen atmosphere. However, a special "space pen" is not necessary to write in space; the average ball point pen will work just as well in micro-gravity as mentioned by astronaut Pedro Duque.

Erasable pens were a Fad in the 1980's that lingered until the early 1990's. These ballpoint pens - available in blue, black, and red - had a special type of ink that could be erased with an eraser located on the pen's cap or opposite the nib, similar to a pencil. These pens faded out of style due to the faint quality of their ink, inconsistent "erasability", and the lack of a definitive functionality - they did not offer the permanence, bold ink and smoothness of a regular pen, and could not manipulate the size and pressure of lines like ordinary pencils.

After a failed break in the music career, Hollywood actor Johnny Depp became a pen salesman. American Idol singing competition finalist Jon Peter Lewis was mocked by judge Simon Cowell as looking like a pen salesman, a moniker that stuck on him throughout the competition.

[edit]

Pentop computer

Template:Main A new type of pen called the Fly pentop computer was created in 2005. The user of the pen can write certain symbols on a piece of digital paper to perform tasks. For example, the user can draw a calculator on the paper and use it as if it was a real calculator.

[edit]