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"At first, a steel pen was no more flexible than a copper or gold one, but refinements were gradually introduced. A number of inventors had a part to play in this process, but the man who probably did most to popularise the steel nib was Joseph Gillott, the Birmingham pen-manufacturer, who started as a button maker. Gillott is said to have discovered that he could use techniques learnt in making buttons to produce steel pen nibs, and he patented an example in 1831. Ironically, Gillott himself was probably illiterate, but "His Nibs" completely transformed the activity of writing for several generations." Excerpted from the book, Writing by Leonee Ormond |
