Stationery

The term stationery today includes a wide range of paper and office items that are used for all sorts of purposes. This page is especially about writing instruments, which are not only reserved for writing, but also drawing, painting or sketching. Gel pens, fineliners, multifunction pens, pencils, highlighters, ballpoint pens, edding, mechanical pencils or felt-tip pens - there are countless pencil variants that are equally suitable for use with a variety of substrates.

Stationery - many variations

Already the history of stationery shows us that almost every object that can leave a mark in any form was used as a writing instrument. Starting with the carving in the rocks over the stylus and triangular tip to the filigree bird feathers, which are still used today as a calligraphy utensil.

Today's stationery is divided into the following sections:

Mine Pencils: The Mine is made of a writable material in a pencil, in former times alloys of lead and silver, nowadays graphite. The mine is surrounded by another material or wrapped to serve as a writing instrument.

Examples: pencils, colored pencil, copying pencil, mechanical pens. Mechanical pencil

Spring pins: The name of this writing instrument is Program. Either the ink or the ink is applied to the writing material with a pen tip.

Examples: Quill pen, pen holder, glass pen, nib, pen, ink pen

Ballpoint pen / rollerball pen: In the 20th century, the Hungarian inventor created the ballpoint pen. Apart from that fall into these categories also Gelschreiber and rollerball.

Examples: pens, rollerball pens, gel rollers

Felt pens / felt pens: felt pens and fiber pens are named after the predominant fiber material which has been uniformly soaked in a dye solution. This color is directed to the tip of the pen. Other variants are the edding, highlighter and whiteboard markers.

Examples: felt-tip pens, fiber pens, highlighters, edding, board markers

Other pens: Many other types of pens are on the market, which depending on the utensil have a different structure and a different production.

Examples: multifunction pens, fineliner, brush, stylus, crayons

The most famous stationery - from pencil to pen

In our everyday life, we usually only use a handful of stationery, which have proven to be particularly suitable for everyday use.

  • Handwritten notes are usually written with a pen or a pencil.
  • Should it be optically very noticeable hints, then Fineliner and Edding are used.
  • For writing or greeting cards, on the other hand, writing pens, ink pens and other fine stationery are particularly suitable.

Every pen and tool has its own purpose and is combined with the right tool. This can be sharpener, eraser, inkwell, ink killer and other utensils to apply the font and drawings and / or remove again.

Ballpoint pen - one of the most common stationery in our everyday lives

Whether it's an entry in the diary, the writing of the shopping list or a short phone note - the pen is widely used worldwide and enjoys great popularity due to many positive features. The short form of the ballpoint pen is "coolie", whereby this designation was actually intended for the Tintenkuli 1928 developed. However, after the pen was on the rise in the 40s, this term is now used exclusively as a short form for the pen.

Advantages of a ballpoint pen:

  • Elegant, simple or playful housing possible
  • Mines can be changed with many ballpoint pens
  • high-quality pen refills do not dry out
  • different ball diameters for different line thickness
  • Ink of the pen is waterproof
  • In many cases the ink according to ISO 12757-2 is also document-proof
  • Ink dries very fast
  • very smudge-proof
  • high opacity
  • low consumption of ink
  • efficient writing performance

Disadvantages of a ballpoint pen:

  • Exchangeable refills mostly only with higher quality ballpoint pens
  • Ballpoint pens need to be held down with their heads when writing, otherwise the ink can not be conveyed to the ball by the conventional pens
  • Ballpoint pen color is difficult to wash out of garments

Good to know: Although the ballpoint pen is an integral part of our everyday life, it is subject to stricter rules in German schools. In most schools, the use of a ballpoint pen is only permitted when the appropriate grade has completely learned writing as well as the use of a fountain pen. This is usually the case in the second or third grade. Some exceptions are made for left-handers, as they would have to live with a fountain pen and their left hand with constant blurring.

Pencil - erasable pen for drawings and scripts

Another, often encountered writing instrument is the pencil. In every household and every stationery this utensil may not be missing, which, however, requires an eraser and a sharpener to complete. In a shaft, a mine is embedded with a pencil. Interestingly enough, the internal material is not lead ore, although the graphite deposit discovered in 1564 was originally assumed to be. Instead, it was then a mistake, whereupon the pencil (also called Bleier) got his name.
Instead of lead, however, a pencil contains a graphite mine, now a mixture of graphite and clay. The shank, on the other hand, is usually made of wood.

Worth knowing: There are classic pencils and colored crayons. For this purpose, mechanical pencils or case pencils are offered, which are provided with a metal or plastic jacket.

Numerous names of pencils

The popular stationery is known in Germany not only as pencils, but under numerous other terms.

  • Plumbago
  • writing lead
  • water lead
  • White lead pins
  • Crayon

Application areas of a pencil

Those who deliberately use a pencil usually have the goal of being able to erase the written words or numbers quickly and easily. In this case, erased pencils leave significantly fewer marks than, for example, when erasing ink. Another large area of ??application is drawing. It's not just about private drawings, but also about artistic or technical sketches. For first-time and often second graders, pencils are also the only used writing utensil before they learn how to handle other stationery.

The reasons why pencils especially for beginners are used, are obvious:

  • easy to handle
  • can be erased
  • also writable with a top
  • high lightfastness
  • blurs only a little

Hardness term of pencil stationery

To distinguish the individual pencils in their mines, so-called hardness designations were introduced for these stationery. Each degree of hardness has its own character and thus also suitable applications.

Scope of Application Character Hardness
Artistic sketches, designs and studies deep black and very soft mine 9B, 8B, 7B, 6B, 5B, 4B
Drawings free hand and limited writing soft and mattate mine 3B, 2B, B
Writing and linear drawing medium mine HB, F
technical and mathematical drawings hard mine H, 2H
graphic representations and technical, detailed plans very hard mine 3H, 4H, 5H
for special purposes (for example cartography) extremely hard mine 6H, 7H, 8H, 9H

Conclusion - Stationery for every application

Anyone looking around a stationery shop or online will discover a wealth of stationery. There is a suitable writing instrument for almost every need. For example, technical drawings are often made with a hard pencil. Notes on a piece of paper are marked with an eye-catching edding and at school children often write only from the second grade with a fountain pen, at the beginning with an erasable pencil. Also the pen reusable is widely used in everyday life and is made in noble versions, but also as a cheap giveaway from many companies.