The invention of the fountain pen is credited to multiple inventors over centuries, with key milestones as follows:
- The earliest recorded fountain pen-like device dates back to around 973, used by Fatimid Caliph Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah, who requested a pen that wouldn’t leak. This pen had an ink reservoir but was not a commercial product.
- Leonardo da Vinci's journals suggest he designed a reservoir pen using gravity and capillary action, but no evidence confirms it was built or used widely.
- The first patented fountain pen was by Frederick Fölsch in England in 1809, often credited as the official inventor of the modern fountain pen mechanism.
- Romanian inventor Petrache Poenaru also received a French patent in 1827 for a fountain pen made from a large swan quill.
- The American inventor Lewis Edson Waterman patented an improved fountain pen feed system in 1884, significantly improving ink flow and reliability, and founded the Waterman Pen Company. His design made fountain pens commercially practical, and he is often cited as a pivotal figure in popularizing the fountain pen.
In summary, Frederick Fölsch patented the first fountain pen in 1809, Petrache Poenaru patented a design in 1827, and Lewis Waterman invented the key functional improvements in 1884 that made the pen widely practical and commercially successful.
