Rul′ing-pen.
（
Drawing.) A pen used for drawing lines of equable thickness.
For this purpose, the nibs or the ink-channels, as the case may be, are adjusted for a given width of line, irrespective of pressure; in this respect differing from the writingpen, which gives a line of varying thickness, according to pressure.
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Ruling-pens. |
Ruling-pens are for hand or machine.
The ordinary ruling-pen
a has a pair of steel blades attached to the end of a holder and having even, sharp, elliptical ends, which may be regulated as to relative distance, according to the width of the line required.
The pellicle of ink is contained between the blades.
A second form of ruling-pen
b was introduced from
France perhaps forty years since.
The instrument has a pair of jaws which shut perfectly together, inclosing an ink reservoir.
At the tip of the pen is a small aperture, out of which the ink flows.
Christie's rulingpen
c has a triangular arrangement of converging points, which hold a drop of ink; the small triangular hole between the needle-points forms the ink-duct.
Such pens are commonly made of glass of late years, and are hawked about the streets.
The ruling-pen for machines, by which letter and accountbook paper are ruled, is made by doubling a piece of thin sheetbrass, forming a small trough for the ink. The end of the trough is cut obliquely, so that it rests on the paper, — the width of the line depending on the width of the pen; the depth of color partly on the composition of the ink, and partly on the
[
2003]
speed of the tool over the paper or of the paper under the tool, the latter being usual in ruling-machines
The ink is furnished by a wetted strip of flannel, which is laid above the gang of pens.
(See ruling-machine.) The
musicpen is similarly constructed See music-pen.
