The Invention of The Fountain Pen

The Fountain Pen - Savior of the World
      Today, one of the most important inventions in history will be explored. Without a doubt, the most fascinating tool to ever be created is... the fountain pen. With certainty, one can say that wars would have been fought for the ownership of the top tier of fountain pens, had the countries of the world not been pre-occupied with other, clearly far-less important issues like disease, economy, and railroads. Today, the history, usage, and impact of the fountain pen will be explored, while making connections to other significant creations of the time.
      Starting with the basics, fountain pens are writing utensils. From its inception, what differentiated the fountain pen from the common quill-and-ink was a metal body and a built-in ink supply. The fountain pen was revolutionary in that it had its own ink reservoir that continually leaked to the nib (tip) of the pen, eliminating the need to constantly dip the nib into an ink pot. The earliest known fountain pen design is from 1702 (around the time that Savery came out with his steam engine), credited to M. Bion, a Frenchman (no doubt a source of national pride residing in the hearts of all citizens of modern France). Sadly, the early incarnations of the glorious fountain pen had their faults that made them impractical, like ink spills. The first widely-usable and completely practical fountain pen was patented in 1884 by Lewis Waterman, a former insurance broker who destroyed a contract due to his pen leaking.
       While Waterman would die in 1901 before his pen truly took off, his nephew continued the business. Through a series of wise decisions, Waterman's nephew increased the sales of the Waterman fountain pen to 350,000 pens a year. Their dependable nature was definitely noted, and it is possible to project that Waterman's fountain pen saved the world. Just think, what if other, more valuable contracts were destroyed by ink spills? Depending on the documents, whole economies could have collapsed and the world could have plunged into war. What if a key strategical alliance (or trade agreement) between, say, Japan and England was desecrated by an ink spill? Both sides would see it as a bad sign and cut off the agreement. Should such a thing happen on a large scale, millions could be out of work or even dead. The Treaty of Versailles itself, one of the most important documents in history, was signed by a solid gold Waterman fountain pen.
      All good things must come to an end, however. Within five years of the arrival of the accursed ballpoint pen, sales of the fountain pen collapsed. Just like history itself (chunks of which were recorded with fountain pens), fountain pens became an obscure collector's item, overshadowed by newer and more efficient designs.

Here is a video that shows a modern Waterman fountain pen in action

Sources so far: http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa100897.htm
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/an-interview-with-vintage-fountain-pen-collector-jim-mamoulides/

Summary of the Impacts of the Transcontinental Railroad (TCRR)

By: Henry Allen

            The TCRR seriously impacted America in numerous ways. Despite not being as successful as expected, it opened America up to itself through easier travel, exchange of ideas, and the resulting rail offshoots (although Natives were a bit doomed from the start).

            The TCRR was not as successful as it was predicted to be. The TCRR was supposed to be the transportation feat of the century, but it wasn't  About six months after it was completed, Egypt finished the Suez Canal, which made the USA even less necessary for Asian-European trade. The TCRR was still highly regarded, but not nearly as much as was hoped.

           

            America was opened up to itself through the TCRR. All of a sudden, it was easy to travel from the east coast to the west coast, with some stops in between. It only took a few days, and the railroad was safe and reliable, not nearly as dangerous as a regular land or sea route would have been. The ease of travel allowed Easterners and Westerners to see each other’s land, and exchange ideas. A book published in Boston could end up in San Francisco in a week. Additionally, the faster transcontinental travel allowed goods normally only found in the east to be easily transferred to the west, and vice-versa.

            Have one massive centered railroad in the form of the TCRR was the first step. Eventually, offshoots sprung up on the rails that could direct trains areas the TCRR didn't go through. The result was that a web of rails crossed through massive chunks of the USA, allowing even easier travel, trade, and exchange of ideas.

            As with most of early US history, the Natives took it in the shorts. The TCRR needed a lot of land, a lot of cleared land. So, treaties were made and the natives were moved further out of the way. The resulting webs of rails required more land, so treaties were again renegotiated and the natives were moved to smaller reservations. Along with the webs of rails came hunters and sportsmen, who ended up mass-slaughtering the buffalo herds that the natives depended on.

To summarize further:

The TCRR encouraged reliable, safe trade and travel, allowing for exchange of ideas. It wasn't as popular as people thought it would be, but it still made tons of money. It set a precedent for other rails to expand off of, and the Natives ended up in rather small reservations with even smaller hers of buffalo to depend on.

Source: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/tcrr-impact/