Fountain Pens For Field Work In The "old Days"?

[Moynihan]

The thread here Best FP's for field work , got me thinking, back in the day before the ball point say the first 1/2 of the 20th century, what fountain pens were popular for field work? Many scientist i imagine used pencils, then at camp used India ink with dip ens (due to permanency issues)... Anyone know?

[Randal6393]

The old logs I have seen were done in pencil and redone in blue-black dip pen ink, usually an iron-gall. But, not all. A lot depended on the tastes of the engineer.

 

Enjoy,

[Parker51]

Well, I do not know about all fields were note taking was important, but in the newspaper business which my Grandfather was in they used grease pencils which are impervious to water and write on just about anything. They also,used grease pencils in the military, especially to mark maps.

[welch]

Most rough work -- outdoors -- was done in pencil, with a few exceptions. For a good description, see Henry Petroski, "The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance", 1990.

 

Two exceptions: Lewis and Clark used ink; each had a portable desk...really a flat surface. They wrote their journals in the evenings.

[balson]

they did make pocket inkwells but from what i understand most people used pencils for writing anywhere.

[proton007]

Copying Pencils?

[Bo Bo Olson]

They had stagecoach proof twist capped inkwells in a small securely closed little box....also. In the day of the dip pen.

 

Interesting info about the grease pencil.