SOLIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY-COLLEGE OF CRIMINOLOGY

Questioned
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Examination

LESSON TEN: WRITING INSTRUMENTS

WRITING INSTRUMENTS
A. FLEXIBILITY OF PEN POINT - One quality of the nib pen is its pliability. This quality varies which different pens and can be measured by the
amount of pressure necessary to cause a spreading of the nibs or a given degree of shading.
B. FOUNTAIN PEN - A fountain pen is a modern nib which contains a reservoir of ink in a specially designed chamber. After complete filling the
pen is capable of writing a number of pages without refilling.
C. INK - is a fluid or viscous marking material used for writing or printing.
D. PEN - A tool for writing or drawing with a colored fluid, such as ink; or a writing instrument used to apply inks to the paper is a pen. It came
from the Latin word "PENNA", meaning feather.
E. PEN NIBS - The tow divisions or points which from the writing portion of a pen are its nibs.
F. QUILL PENS - It is a hollow, horny part of large feather usually from goose and was used for writing on parchment. Poland, Germany, Russia,
and the Netherlands were the largest producers of quill.
G. WRITING INSTRUMENTS (WRITING IMPLEMENTS) - Writing Implements, manual devices used to make alphanumeric marks on or in a
surface.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
A. REED PENS/SWAMP REED
1. It came from especially selected water grasses found in Egypt, Armenia and along the shores of the Persian Gulf, were prepared by
leaving them under dung heaps for several months.
2. It was the first writing tool that had the writing end slightly frayed like a brush. About 2,000 years B.C., this reed pen was first used in
NEAR EAST on papyrus and later on parchment.

B. QUILL PEN
1. Although quill pens can be made from the outer wing feathers of any bird, those of goose, swan, crow and (later) turkey, were preferred.
The earliest reference (6th century AD) to quill pens was made by the Spanish Theologian ST. ISIDORE OF SEVILLE, and this tool was
the principal writing implement for nearly 1300 years.
2. To make a quill pen, a wing feather is first hardened by heating or letting it dry out gradually. The hardened quill is then cut to a broad
edge with a special pen knife.
3. The writer had to re-cut the quill pen frequently to maintain its edge. By the 18th century, the width of the edge had diminished and the
length of the slit had increased creating a flexible point that produced thick and thin strokes by pressure on the point rather than by the
angle at which the broad edge was held.

C. STEEL POINT PENS (BRAZEN PENS)

1. Although pens of bronze may have been known to Romans, the earliest mention of "BRAZEN PENS" was in 1465. The 16th century
Spanish calligrapher JUAN DE YCIAR mentions brass pens for very large writing in his 1548 writing manual, but the use of metal pens did
not become widespread until the early part of the 19th century.
2. The first patented steel pen point was made by the English engineer BRYAN DONKIN in 1803.
3. The leading 19th century English pen manufacturers were WILLIAM JOSEPH GILLOT, WILLIAM MITCHELL, AND JAMES STEPHEN
PERRY.

D. FOUNTAIN PENS
1. In 1884, LEWIS WATERMAN, a New York insurance agent, patented the first practical FOUNTAIN PEN containing its own ink reservoir.
Waterman invented a mechanism that fed ink to the pen point by capillary action, allowing ink to flow evenly while writing.
2. By the 1920's, the fountain pen was the chief writing instrument in the west and remained so until the introduction of the ball point pen
after WORLD WAR II.
 SOLIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY-COLLEGE OF CRIMINOLOGY

E. BALL POINT PEN:

1. JOHN LOUD, in 1888, patented the first ball point writing tool. A ball point pen has in its point a small rotating metal ball that continually
inks itself as it turns.
2. The ball is set into a tiny socket. In the center of the socket is a hole that feeds ink to the socket from a long tube (reservoir) inside the
pen.
3. As early as the 19th century, attempts had been made to manufacture a pen with a rolling ball tip, but not until 1938 did Hungarian inventor
brothers LADISLAO and GEORG BIRO invent a viscous, oil-based ink that could be used with such a pen. Hence, they are attributed for
the invention of the first practical ballpoint pen.
4. Early ball point pens did not write well; they tended to skip, and the slow-drying oil-based ink smudged easily. However, the ball-point pen
had several advantages over the fountain pen:
a. the ink was waterproof and almost un-erasable;
b. the ball point pen could write on many kinds of surfaces;
c. could be hold in almost any position for writing; and
d. the pressure required to feed the ink was ideal for making carbon copies.
5. Ink formulas were improved for smoother flow and faster drying, and soon the ball-point replaced the fountain pen as the universal writing
tool.

F. FIBER TIP PENS -

1. In 1963, fiber tip markers were introduced into the U.S. market and have since challenged the ball point as the principal writing implement.
2. The first practical fiber tip pen was invented by YUKIO HORIE of Japan in 1962. It was ideally suited to the strokes of Japanese writing,
which is traditionally done with a pointed ink brush.
3. Unlike its predecessors, the fiber tip pen uses dye as a writing fluid. As a result, the fiber tip pen can produce a wide range of colors
unavailable in ball point and fountain pen inks. The tip is made of fine nylon or other synthetic fibers drawn to a point and fastened to the
barrel of the pen. Dye is fed to the point by elaborate capillary mechanism.

G. FELT-TIP MARKERS are made of dense natural or artificial fibers impregnated with a dye. These markers can be cut to a variety of shapes and
sizes, some up to an inch in width. A modification of the ball point pen using a liquid dye fed to a metal/plastic ball was introduced in the U.S. from
Japan in 1973.
COMPOSITION AND CHARACTERISTICS OF INKS (TYPES OF INKS)
1. Indian Inks - The oldest form of Indian ink consisted of a suspension of carbon black (soot or lampblack) in water to which glue or a vegetable
gum was added. Inks of these compositions are still on the market mostly in the shape of sticks or cakes.
2. Log wood Inks - These inks which were used extensively about a century ago, have now because obsolete and are no longer
manufactured. They were made from an aqueous extract of logwood chips and potassium chromate. These inks will be found only on old.
3. Iron Gallotanate Inks - This ink has been used as writing for over a thousand years. Formerly it was made of a fermented infusion of gall
nuts to which iron salts were added. The ink was composed of suspension of the black, almost insoluble ferric tannate.
4. Fountain Pen Inks - These inks are regarded as special fountain pen inks, and consisting of ordinary iron gallotannate inks with a
lower iron content in most cases but with a higher dyestuff content than normal inks.
5. Dyestuff Inks - These inks are composed of aqueous solutions of synthetic dyestuffs, to which a preservative and a flux are added.
6. Water Resistant Writing and Drawing Inks - These inks are special group of dyestuff inks. They consist of a pigment paste and a solution
of shellac made soluble in water by means of borax, liquid ammonia or ammonium bicarbonate.
7. Alkaline Writing Inks - These are quick drying inks which possess a ph of from 9 to about 11. They penetrate quickly through the size of
the paper allowing the ink to penetrate quickly into the paper. The dyestuff in these inks consists of acid dyes, sometimes combined with
phthalo cyanide dyes.
8. Ballpoint Pen Inks - The ballpoint pens did not appear on the European market before 1945. The development of the present pen was
accomplished during World War II because the Army and the Air Force needed a writing instrument which would not leak at high altitude and
which supplied quick drying water resistant writing.
a. In principle, the construction of all ballpoint pens is the same. The differences are in the finish, the precision with which the
instrument is made, the size and the material of the ball, and the composition of the ink.
b. As a rule, the diameter of the ball lies between 0.6 and 1.0 mm, the cheapest makes having the largest diameter. The ball is made
of steel while the more expensive makes of sapphire.
c. The quality of the pen is chiefly to be judged by the writing angle. The best writing angle for a ballpoint pen is 90 degrees, but a
normal hand of writing seldom uses this angle.
d. The cheaper makes have a minimum writing angle of 55-60 degrees. If one writes at too small an angle, the brass socket holding
the ball will scratch a lined into the paper, parallel with the ink line.
9. Stamp Pad Inks - They are made with the acid of substances such as glycerol, glycol, acetin or benzyl alcohol and water. Airline dyes are
added as coloring matter. For quick drying stamp pad inks, more volatile organic solvents are used as acetone, ethanol, etc. As a vehicle,
dextrine, gum arabic, or tannin is sometimes added. Through the addition of tannin, the stamp impression becomes water resistant after
drying.
10. Hectograph Inks - These inks very much resemble stamp pad inks and are exclusively made with basic dyes. To the
dyestuff solution several other substances are added such as glycerol, acetic acid and acetone.
11. Typewriter Ribbon Inks - These inks are usually composed of a blend of aniline dyes, carbon black and oil such as olein or castor oil. The
two-tone ribbons however contain no dyes, but pigments suspended in oil base. This is necessary because aniline dyes tend to bleed and
would cause the sharp division between the differently colored halves of the ribbon to merge.
12. Printing Inks - Printing inks often consist of a mixture of colored pigments, carbon black and a "base" which may consist of oil, resins,
synthetic resins or a mixture of these. It is possible to remove printing ink from a document by scrubbing the document with an aqueous
solution of a suitable detergent. The rubbing and breaking up of the surface of the ink and the detergent facilitates the suspension and
eventual removal of the carbon and other ingredients by the water.
13. Canceling Inks - These inks often contain carbon and this fact should be burned in mind when it is required to decipher faint cancellation
marks on a postage stamp and wrappers. Carbon is opaque to infra-red sensitive plate and be relied upon to improve the legibility of any
marking affected by a carbon containing canceling ink. Erasure of canceling ink on valuable stamps is usually affected by attack on the
medium which bind the carbon to the surface of the stamp and it is to be regretted that many canceling inks are manufactured with media
which offer resistance to attack so that the resistant carbon can simply be swabbed off. This can be usually be detected by infrared
photography which will reveal the traces of carbon, which almost invariably remain on the stamp.
 SOLIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY-COLLEGE OF CRIMINOLOGY

14. Skrip Ink - These are manufactured by W.A. Chaffer Pen Company since 1955. The inks contain a substance that is colorless in visible light
and has a strong affinity for the fibers of the paper, and yet is not bleached by hypochlorite ink eradicators or washed out by soaking on
water.

THE EXAMINATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF INK

1. In most cases the inks to be examined are not available in liquid form. One kind of examination centers on the question as to whether the
ink of some writings or of alterations in a police blotter is identical with the ink found in the possession of the suspect.
2. For this reason, the examination of questioned documents is restricted to a comparative examination of certain properties of these inks.
However the examination carries with it certain difficulties as the quantity of material available for examination is small and the examination
can be done only one.
3. It is necessary then that before a chemical examination is attempted, which results in a partial destruction of writing, an exhaustive
examination by non-destructive methods be carried out.
4. These non-destruction methods include visual examination with the aid of a binocular microscope as well as photographic
examination. They should be used first before any chemical examination is resorted to.
5. It is necessary therefore to be acquainted with the composition and developmental history, method of manufacture of the types of ink most
commonly used. Sometimes, antedating can only be proven by identifying a component of the ink, which was not yet included in inks at the
alleged date of the document.

THE CHEMICAL EXAMINATION OF INK

A. THE CHROMATOGRAPHIC EXAMINATION AND SEPARATION OF THE DYESTUFFS IN THE INK
1. This is restricted to a comparison of the dyestuffs in the ink but sometimes it is also possible to identify one or more of the components of
the dyes.
2. Regarded as the principal method of ink examination.
3. To identify a dyestuff, it is necessary to possess a collection as complete as possible of the various dyes used in the manufacture of inks.
4. The chromatographic separation of the dyes maybe carried out by paper chromatography.
5. Procedure:
a. Collection of the ink material
(1) Extraction of the inks stroke by scraping fragments from the ink stroke. Dyestuff inks can as a rule can be extracted with
water. Ball point ink can be extracted with organic solvent such as ethanol, acetone or butanone. Pyridine is the best solvent
for ball point inks.
(2) It is also possible to cut a small pocket at starting line in the chromatographic paper into which the ink fragments are placed.
The pocket is firmly pressed.
b. The vessel which is a beaker or a flask is filled with the solvent; then the filtered paper strip containing the ink material is lowered into
the vessel with the ends just touching the surface of the solvent and let it hang on the side of the vessel for 15-20 minutes.
c. The chromatography should be carried out in shaded light.

B. DETERMINATION OF THE AGE OF THE INK

1. In general, in order to determine the age of writing or the difference in the ages of different writings, the document examiner makes use of
a property of the ink writing which changes in the course of time. This selection of properties will be determined by the composition of ink
and the circumstances under which the writing ages.
2. Procedure:
a. Ball Point Pen Inks
(1) If a document has been written with a ballpoint pen, the writing in question is bound to date in all probability from a point of time
later than 1945.
(2) The analysis of ballpoint inks may yield an important clue to the age of the ink.
(3) The first ballpoint inks were practically without exception based on oleic acid. These inks will flow out when a drop of benzene or
petroleum ether is applied to them.
(4) Not until 1950 were these inks made on a basic of polyethylene glycols, which are resistant to treatment with benzene or petroleum
ether.
(5) However, the presence of oleic acid is not yet proof that the writing in question is old for oleic acid is sometimes also used in
modern ballpoint inks.
(6) In the later case, however, the ink will as a rule not flow out with the petroleum ether because these inks, no water soluble coloring
matter is worked out. Instead pigments and dyestuffs are used that will not dissolve in petroleum ether.
(7) The presence of phthalocyanine dyestuff is an indication of an ink produced later than 1954-1956.
(8) Thus it is not possible to determine the absolute age of ballpoint inks. Neither it is possible to determine the relative ages of two
ballpoint ink writings, not even if they are of the same kind. The ink dries rather quickly because the base is absorbed by the
paper.
(9) Recent ballpoint writing can be offset, and efforts have been made to use the copying power for age determination.

b. Dyestuff Inks
(1) The dyestuff inks lack properties that would permit age determination but the presence of an obsolete or modern dyestuff may
indicate age of writing.
(2) If a phthalocyanine dye is found in the ink, it would be improbable for the document to be dated prior to 1953.

c. Iron Gallotannate Inks - These inks show a remarkable change of color in maturing. This based on the chemical change of ferrous to
ferric in the course of time. The following are the methods used to show the gradual change of inks:
(1) Method based on the change of the Color of the Ink – This method is useful in those cases where the ink writing received for
examination is too recent that the process of maturing can be observed visually. The kind of ink must be known and one or more
writings of known age must be available for comparison.
(2) Methods based on the Solubility of the Ink – The solubility of iron gallotannate ink decreases considerably as the ink matures.
As with the color change, it can only be applied successfully to a very recent writing. This method can establish a difference in the
age of writings on one and the same document. The solubility is determined by a visual estimate of the quantity of ink which can
be withdrawn with a drop of water from a stroke. It is necessary however that the drop of water be applied to ink stroke of the
same intensity.
 SOLIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY-COLLEGE OF CRIMINOLOGY

(3) Method based on the amount of ferrous iron in the ink – In iron gallotannate ink, the iron is mainly present in the complex
bound ferrous form. As the manufacturing process goes on, the ric gallotannate is formed. A drop of aa 1-dipyridyl reagent (1% of
aa1-dipyridyl in 0.5N HCL (normal hydrochloric acid)) is applied to the ink stroke. The reagent is left in contact with the ink for 1
minute and then recovered with a piece of filter paper. If ferrous iron is still present in the ink, the paper will show a red zone of
ferrous aa1-dipyridyl around the stain of blue dyestuff. By repeating this test daily, it is possible to check the decrease in the
ferrous iron in the ink by the changes in the coloration of this red zone. However, this method is applicable when the questioned
writing is not more than a few days old.
(4) Estimation of age based on the detection of the dyes – Iron gallotannate inks contain an organic dye, (soluble blue) which is
oxidized or at least becomes insoluble complete or partially as the ink ages. It is claimed that the organic dye becomes completely
insoluble in four to five years. However, the application of this method appears to yield results in practice.