WRITING MATERIALS DEFINITION OF TERMS

A. ANACHRONISM – It refers to something wrong in time and in place. This means

that the forger has trouble matching the paper, ink, or writing materials to the exact
date it was supposed to have been written.
B. . PAPER – These are sheets of interlaced fibers - usually cellulose fibers from
plants, but sometimes from cloth rags or other fibrous materials, that is formed by
pulping the fibers and causing to felt, or mat, to form a solid surface.
C. . WRITING MATERIALS – Any material used primarily for writing or recording
such as papers, cardboard, board papers, Morocco paper, etc.

WRITING MATERIALS IN QUESTIONED DOCUMENTS - The common

(probable) questioned on paper is its age, whether the actual age of the paper
corresponds with the alleged date of preparation of the questioned document.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT - The evolution of writing materials culminated in

the development of paper. The oldest written records still surviving are the Sumerian
clay tablets dating back from the 4th millennium B.C.

A. PAPYRUS - about 3,500 B.C. - people of Egypt. Palestine, Syria, and Southern
Europe used the pith (soft spongy tissue of the stem) of the sedge (grass-like herb)
CYPERUS PAPYRUS to make a writing material known as PAPYRUS.
B. . PARCHMENT - writing material made from skin of animals primarily of sheep,
calves or goats - was probably developed in the Middle East more or less
contemporaneously with papyrus. It came into wide use only in the 2nd century B.C.
in the city of PERGAMUM in ANATOLIA.
C. . VELLUM - writing materials from fine skins from young calves or kids and the
term (name) was often used for all kind of parchment manuscripts, it became the most
important writing material for bookmaking, while parchment continued for special
manuscripts.

D. DEVELOPMENT OF PAPER MANUFACTURING

1. It is widely claimed that invention of paper is generally attributed to a Chinese

court official, CAI LUN (TSAI LUN), in about A.D. 105. He is the first to succeed in
making paper from vegetable fibers, tree barks (mulberry tree), rags, old fish nettings.

2. The art of papermaking was kept secret for 500 years; the Japanese acquired it in
the 7th century A.D.

3. In A.D. 751, the Arab city of Samarkand was attacked by marauding Chinese and
some Chinese taken as prisoners were skilled in papermaking and were forced by the
city Governor to build and operate a paper mill and Samarkand soon became the
papermaking center of the Arab world.
4. Knowledge of papermaking traveled westward, spreading throughout the Middle
East, the Moorish invasion of Spain led to the invention (A.D. 1150) or erection of the
first European paper mill, at JATIVA, province of VALENCIA.

5. Knowledge of the technology spread quickly and by 16th century, paper was
manufactured throughout most of Europe.

6. The first paper mill in England was established in 1495.

7. The first such mill in America in 1690.

8. The first practical machine was made in 1798 by the French inventor Nicholas
Louis Robert. The machine reduced the cost of paper it supplants the hand-molding
process in paper manufacture.

9. Robert's machine was improved by the British stationers and brothers Henry
Fourdrinier and Sealy Fourdrinier, who in 1803 produced the first of the machines
that bear their name.

10. The solution of the problem of making paper from cheap raw material was
achieved by the introduction of the ground wood process of pulp making about 1840
and the first of the chemical pulp processes approximately ten years later.

A. WATERMARKS

1. Definition – It is a term for a figure or design incorporated into paper during its
manufacture and appearing lighter than the rest of the sheet when viewed in
transmitted light. The earliest way of identifying the date of manufacture of the paper
is by the WATERMARK - a brand put on the paper by the manufacturers.

2. How watermark is made? The watermark was made when the semi-fluid paper pulp
(mixture of cotton or other fibers) was being drained on a grid of laid (warp) and
chain (woof) wires. Fine wires forming the desired design were tied on top of the grid
and impressed into the pulp.

3. Origin. Watermarks first appeared on papers produced in Italy around 1270, less
than 100 years after the art of papermaking was introduced to Europe by Muslims
from the Middle East. Early in the 19th century, papermakers began to solder the
watermark wires to the grid frame, thus insuring uniformity of impression and aiding
in the detection of counterfeiting and forgery. The first British postage stamps of 1840
bore a watermark, but stamps of the United States were not so marked until 1895.
When paper began to be machine-made, the watermark wiring was simply transferred
to the grid cover of the dandy roll, a turning cylinder that passed over the paper.

4. Concept of document’s age detection thru watermarks.

a. Usually watermarks are requested by their owners/manufacturers with the patent

office.
b. If present, watermark is one of the most reliable means of tracing the age of the
paper. However, the questioned documents examiner's finding is limited only to the
APPROXIMATE DATE (YEAR) of the paper manufacture.

c. In determining the age of the paper by watermarks, it is necessary to ascertain the

owner of the watermark in question or its manufacturer.

d. Obviously, document is fraud if it contains a watermark which was not in existence

at the time the document purports to have been executed.

B. DISCOLORATION - One way of tracing the age of the paper is through the
observance of the changes in its physical characteristics particularly
DISCOLORATION. Naturally, a paper will discolor after a passage of time due to
numerous environmental factors such as moisture, temperature, dust, etc. In case of
papers out of wood pulp, they start to discolor at edges from 2 to 3 years. While
RUG-SHIP QUALITY papers, they are very old before discoloration starts.

C. CAUSES OF DISCOLORATION - Discoloration is highly influenced by storage

of the papers or documents and conditions like the following:

1. due to process of oxidation brought about by natural means.

2. brown spots due to mold that are very obvious characteristics both in appearance
and distribution.

3. exposure to dust and dirt.

4. occasional staining of fruit juice, grease.

5. excrete of rats, mice and other insects.

6. may also due to heat, partial burning, etc.

D. DETAILED EXAMINATION OF WRITING MATERIAL

1. Collect standard document from the issuing institution, company or individual and
compare. Consider the physical characteristics of both questioned and standard
documents such as the size, the thickness, the surface (glossiness, opacity, etc.) and
the general texture of the paper.

2. Check with the issuing institution, company or individual about the dissimilarity of
writing material used in the questioned document.

3. Conduct further physical or chemical examination such as folding endurance test,

folding test, bursting test, etc.

WRITING INSTRUMENTS
I. DEFINITION OF TERMS
A. FLEXIBILITY OF PEN POINT - One quality of the nib pen is its pliability which
varies in 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. INK - is a fluid or viscous marking material used for writing or printing.

C. 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.

D. PEN NIBS - The two divisions or points which from the writing portion of a pen
are its nibs.

E. WRITING INSTRUMENTS (WRITING IMPLEMENTS) - Writing Implements,

manual devices used to make alphanumeric marks on or in a surface.

II. 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 flexi¬ble point that produced thick and thin strokes by pressure on the point
rather than by the angle at which the broad edge was held.

4. Poland, Germany, Russia, and the Netherlands were the largest producers of quill.

C. STEEL POINT PENS (BRAZEN PENS)

1. 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, patent¬ed 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.

3. A fountain pen is a modern nib which contains a reservoir of ink in a specially

designed chamber. E. BALL POINT PEN:

1. JOHN LOUD, 1888 - patented the first ball point writing tool which 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. In 1938, the 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.

E. 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.

F. 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.

III. COMPOSITION AND CHARACTERISTICS OF INKS

A. 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.

B. Log wood Inks - These inks which were used extensively about a century ago,
have now because obsolete and are no longer manufactured. These inks will be found
only on old documents. Under the name of chrome ink a black ink was discovered by
Runge, which held out the promise of cheapness combined with many excellent
qualities.

C. 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.

D. 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. This type of ink is placed on the
market under the name of "blue-black permanent".

E. Dyestuff Inks - These inks are composed of aqueous solutions of synthetic

dyestuffs, to which a preservative and a flux are added. The writing qualities of the
ink are improved by addition of substances such as glycerol, glucose or dextrin.

F. 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. Sometimes
the pigment suspension is combined with acid or basic dyestuff.

G. 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.

H. 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.
I. 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.

J. Typewriter Ribbon Inks - These inks are usually composed of a blend of aniline
dyes, carbon black and oil such as castor oil.

K. Printing Inks - Printing inks often consist of a mixture of colored pig¬ments,

carbon black and a "base" which may consist of oil, re-sins, synthetic resins or a
mixture of these.

L. 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.

M. Skrip Ink - These are manufactured by W.A. Chaffer Pen Company since 1955.
The inks contain a substance which 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.

IV. 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