Glossary Term: Pen
Ancient people were using crude pens made of hollow straws and reeds filled with a column of liquid as early as 444 BC. It was around 55 BC that people began to make pens using the wing feathers of swans and geese, hence their name "quill pens".

Quill pens were widely used until the 1800's when they were replaced by steel pens. The fountain pen was invented in during the late 1800's and was an improvement over the quill pen, because it had a reservoir of ink and didn't have to be repeatedly dipped in an inkwell.

Ball-point pens were invented in 1888, but didn't become popular until World War II. Pilots and navigators in warplanes liked the fact that ball-point pens did not leak ink in high altitudes.

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