CHAPTER 8

WRITING INSTRUMENT & MATERIALS

Learning Objectives

At the end of this chapter, the student will be able to:

 Narrate the history of paper;

 Enumerate the different types of paper;
 Explain the various nondestructive and destructive ways to test the paper in the questioned
documents;
 Describe different writing instruments; and
 Describe typewriters and printers used in questioned documents.

WRITING MATERIALS
I. Definition of Terms

 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.
 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.
 Watermark - Certain papers are marked with a translucent design, a watermark impressed in
them during the course of their manufacture.
 Writing Materials – Any material used primarily for writing or recording such as papers,
cardboard, board papers, Morocco paper, etc.

II. Writing Materials in Questioned Documents - ONE of the subjects of inquiry in questioned documents
is the writing material used. 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.

To fully understand the principles of tracing the age of the writing materials used in questioned
documents, it is imperative for a questioned documents examiner to be aware of the evolution and
development of papers. When such paper was first introduced or used, physical changes on papers and the
importance of watermarks, are some of the valuable things that an investigator should know to come up with
a more conclusive opinion.
III. 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 - This came into use 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.
Almost every portable surface that would retain the marks of brush or pen was also used as a
writing material during the early period.

IV. Types of Paper

1. Newsprint
2. Offset
3. Bond Paper
4. Lightweight, uncoated paper
5. Specialty paper
6. Gummed papers
7. Text paper
8. Coated paper
9. Bristol
10. Kraft paper
11. Tyvek
12. Safety paper

V. Properties of Paper
1. Weight
2. Strength
3. Corrugation
4. Durability
5. Thickness
6. Finish

VI. 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 groundwood process of pulp making about 1840 and the first of the chemical
pulp processes approximately ten years later.
11. Chlorine - This was introduced in the 19th century for bleaching and colored linen could already
be manufactured for paper.
12. Esparto – This is a grass grown in Libya, also in Spain and North Africa was first introduced in
England in 1861.
13. Straw – This was used to make paper in 1800.
14. Sulphite – This is a paper from wood was not attempted until 1869 and paper called
SULPHITE (modern type) was first used between 1880 and 1890.
15. Oldest Manuscript - Letters dated A.D. 874 have been found in Egypt and the oldest manuscript
in England on cotton paper dated AD 1890.

VII. EXAMINATION OF PAPER

1. Nondestructive Tests
2. Destructive Tests

VIII. TRACING THE AGE OF PAPER (DOCUMENT). The age of the document may be estimated from paper.
Four cases were reported by Lucas where the age of the document was established from the
compositor/composition of the paper. In one of these cases, a document dated 1213 A.H. (A.D.
1798) was found to be written on paper composed entirely of chemically prepared wood cellulose.
Considering that this type of paper was not introduced not until about 60 years later, the document
is obviously a fake one.

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. This
impression made the paper thinner, and therefore, more transparent, where it appeared.
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
ensuring 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. Sometimes a LIMIT may be placed to the age of the document by means of watermark, the
earliest known dating from 1282. Unfortunately, however, not all papers contain
watermarks.
b. It is impressed into the paper by wires on the rollers called “DANDY ROLL” that make the
paper, and these designs are changed from time to time.
c. Usually, watermarks are requested by their owners/manufacturers with the patent office.
d. 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.
e. In determining the age of the paper by watermarks, it is necessary to ascertain the owner of
the watermark in question or its manufacturer.
f. In the FBI, this is done by checking the reference file of the laboratory. Once the manufacturer
is determined, then consideration is given to changes in design and defects of individual
design.
g. In recent years, some large manufacturers have cleverly incorporated inconspicuous changes
in their watermark design in order to date their products.
h. Obviously, document is fraud if it contains a watermark which was not in existence at the
time the document purports to have been executed.

5. In case the watermark did not change, the following is applied:

a. Consider any defect in the individual design may furnish a clue as to the age of the paper.
b. The dandy roll, through constant usage, will somehow be damaged. This damage is also
known as caused by WEAR AND TEAR which becomes progressively more and more as time
goes by.
c. The damage on the dandy roll will leave some peculiar markings on the watermark of the
paper manufactured or all papers that will pass through the damaged dandy roll.
 d. The investigator, carefully determining the distinct markings caused by the dandy roll's
damaged surface, will coordinate with the paper manufacture regarding when such
damage occurred on the dandy roll used.

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. 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 two 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. Peculiar to inscription is the removal of part of a surface to
record such marks. The writing tool is usually controlled by movement of the fingers, hand, wrist,
and arm of the writer.
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. As the size of writing became smaller, both writing tools and surfaces changed. Vellum or
parchment books replaced the papyrus roll, and the QUILL replaced the REED PEN.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Use of the quill rapidly declined during that century, especially after the introduction of the free
public education for children; more emphasis was then placed on the teaching of writing than
on teaching the skill of quill cutting.

C. Steel Point Pens (Brazen Pens)

1. Also, by the 18th century, paper had replaced vellum as the chief writing surface, and more
writing was being done for commerce than for church or crown. During this period, attempts
were made to invent a lasting writing tool that did not require re-cutting. Horn, tortoise shell,
and gemstones were tried, but steel was eventually used for permanent pen points.
2. 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.
3. The first patented steel pen point was made by the English engineer BRYAN DONKIN in 1803.
4. 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.

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.

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. In modern carbon ink, the glue or gum is
replaced by a solution of shellac in borax or ammonia. These inks are not affected by oxidants. It
is practically impossible to remove the last traces of the carbon from the paper without causing
damage to it.
b. 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.
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. The ink was composed of
suspension of the black, almost insoluble ferric tannate. The particles were kept in suspension by
adding glue or gum Arabic. This manufacturing method was not economical and so it had to be
changed. It was observed that if the ink was slightly acidified with hydrochloric acid or sulphuric acid,
the oxidation of the ferrous iron was checked and the undesirable precipitation of the ferric tannate
was prevented. The ink thus obtained was practically colorless and did not acquire the black color
desired before it matured on paper. Coloring matter (Aniline dyes) was added to the ink as well as a
sterilizing agent to prevent growth of mold and bacteria in the ink.
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".
The iron content ranges from .7 Fe/I (e.g., Parker Quick permanent blue) to 2.7 Fe/I (e.g., Pelikan
Fullhaltertinte).
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. The dark blue and black inks are often composed
of four or more dyes because no black dyestuff of sufficient tinctorial capacity is known.
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. 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. These inks are not much in demand because they are rather expensive and because the
material of many fountain pens is affected by them. The best known of these inks are the Parker
 super chrome inks which in the colors black, blue-black, blue, red and green. Phthalocyanine dye is
found in the blue super chrome inks. The super chrome inks were already obtainable since 1950,
which fact maybe of importance for the determination of the age of a document.
h. 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.
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
i. 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.
j. 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.
k. 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.
l. 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.
m. 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 infra-red
photography which will reveal the traces of carbon, which almost invariably remain on the stamp.
 n. 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. Thus, if a
writing with "Skrip" is obliterated with ink eradicator, the original will produce a
characteristic fluorescence and can be deciphered by reviewing under filtered ultra-violet.
Similarly, if writing made with was able skrip is soaked in water so the invisible dye is washed out,
the original record can be read clearly by filtered ultra-violet light.

IV. THE EXAMINATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF INK

a. The examination of inks often plays an important part in document examination. In these 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.
b. 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.
c. 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.
d. 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.
e. 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.

V. THE CHEMICAL EXAMINATION OF INK

A. THE CHROMATOGRAPHIC EXAMINATION AND SEPARATION OF THE DYESTUFFS IN THE INK

(CHROMATOGRAPHIC ANALYTICAL METHODS).
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. Inks usually contain several dyestuffs and
chromatographic analysis will be able to distinguish and sometimes to identify these dyes.
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 the examination of questioned documents, the query of the age of writing sometimes arises.
This maybe the case when the questioned document is undated, or if it is suspected that the
date of the document is not purportedly what it is written on the document.
2. There is also the problem of comparative examination of the possible difference in age of parts
of a handwritten text on one and the same document, on one and the same cash book, or one
and the same police blotter. This examination of the relative ages of two or more ink writings
may serve to answer the question which was written first.
3. 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.
4. 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.
(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 aa1-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.