Ink colours in the past.

Hi

Does anyone know why different coloured inks were used in the past, and for
what purpose? Why blue, red and black? Or violet and brown? Many thanks.

Gary

On Wed, 25 Aug 2004 09:09:57 GMT, "Gary"
wrote:

Hi

Does anyone know why different coloured inks were used in the past, and for
what purpose? Why blue, red and black? Or violet and brown? Many thanks.

Gary

I'm not quite sure of the question, but on the accounting side they
were used for permanent ledgers and journals. Red and black were
traditional credit/debit, and green and blue would often be used
within an organization for specific journal types.

Still have a three ink and nib brush set up that they let me take from
the Savings & Loan when I left. It had been used for about 75 years in
the accounting department.

Otherwise, I guess people have been able to see in a full spectrum for
some time, so maybe they just like the colors/colours?

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

Violet / purple / lilac was used by accountants as it was
impossible to remove the text once written. Originally a
purple pencil was used, ink came later. The closest I have
come across to the purple pencil, in the UK, is a Chinagraph
pencil.

Adrian.

--



Please remove 12345 from
my address when replying
"Curtis L. Russell" wrote in
message news
On Wed, 25 Aug 2004 09:09:57 GMT, "Gary"
wrote:

Hi

Does anyone know why different coloured inks were used in
the past, and for
what purpose? Why blue, red and black? Or violet and
brown? Many thanks.

Gary

I'm not quite sure of the question, but on the accounting
side they
were used for permanent ledgers and journals. Red and
black were
traditional credit/debit, and green and blue would often
be used
within an organization for specific journal types.

Still have a three ink and nib brush set up that they let
me take from
the Savings & Loan when I left. It had been used for about
75 years in
the accounting department.

Otherwise, I guess people have been able to see in a full
spectrum for
some time, so maybe they just like the colors/colours?

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

In some accounting departments green ink was used only by the head
accountant. I am not sure how far back this goes, or how widespread
it was but when I see a Tintenkuli with a green stained ink window I
do wonder whose it was.



Does anyone know why different coloured inks were used in the past, and for
what purpose? Why blue, red and black? Or violet and brown? Many thanks.

Gary

On Wed, 25 Aug 2004 16:07:13 +0000 (UTC), "Adrian Lawrie"
wrote:

Violet / purple / lilac was used by accountants as it was
impossible to remove the text once written. Originally a
purple pencil was used, ink came later. The closest I have
come across to the purple pencil, in the UK, is a Chinagraph
pencil.

Adrian.

Maybe. Haven't run into that color anywhere I've been - and I'm old
enough to have spent about ten years with real double entry ledgers.
Since you're not supposed to erase prior entries, just cross through
them if appropriate, any attempt to remove something from a ledger
tends to be noticeable, regardless of color.

Now they have Peachtree. I can blow away entries and you'd never know
they existed. Just need five minutes and a shredder to have a second
set of numbers.

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

If thirty years ago is the past. When I attended University in Germany green
ink was reserved for the professors.


Regards

Kurt

I haven't seen a purple colour pencil before but I have seen double coloured
leads. Red on one end and blue on the other. How they were used I do not
know.

--
Best regards,
Free Citizen
Rambling Snailer


"Adrian Lawrie" wrote in message
...
Violet / purple / lilac was used by accountants as it was
impossible to remove the text once written. Originally a
purple pencil was used, ink came later. The closest I have
come across to the purple pencil, in the UK, is a Chinagraph
pencil.

Adrian.

On Thu, 26 Aug 2004 11:06:14 +0800, "Free Citizen"
said:

Free I haven't seen a purple colour pencil before but I have seen
Free double coloured leads. Red on one end and blue on the
Free other. How they were used I do not know.

probably for editing and accounting.


--


Yow! Are you the self-frying president?

Those of my teachers that used them used blue for general comments and red
for when I really screwed up.

--
~~Bluesea~~
Spam is great in musubi but not in email.
Please take out the trash before sending a direct reply.


"Free Citizen" wrote in message
...
I haven't seen a purple colour pencil before but I have seen double
coloured
leads. Red on one end and blue on the other. How they were used I do not
know.

--
Best regards,
Free Citizen
Rambling Snailer


"Adrian Lawrie" wrote in message
...
Violet / purple / lilac was used by accountants as it was
impossible to remove the text once written. Originally a
purple pencil was used, ink came later. The closest I have
come across to the purple pencil, in the UK, is a Chinagraph
pencil.

Adrian.

In article ,
Garglemonster wrote:

Free I haven't seen a purple colour pencil before but I have seen
Free double coloured leads. Red on one end and blue on the
Free other. How they were used I do not know.

probably for editing and accounting.

Or for use with one of those special double-sided tables, the so-called
"Sandwich Table" of the 1880's and '90's. The writing surface of the
upper table faced downward, parallel to the ordinary-looking lower
table. With such a table, you could write with both ends of a pencil at
once - the inter-table height was adjustable with a screw mechanism to
accomodate longer and shorter pencils.

For a while in the mid to late 1890's, there was a fad for writing on
the two tables with two different colours - hence the red/blue pencil.

These "Sandwich tables" were especially popular in Sweden, where they
were of course known as the "Smorgasbord". (That name, as we know, came
into use in a more general way later on, long after the special writing
tables were forgotten. This also explains the origin of the quaint
Swedish tradition of children not being allowed to sit at the dinner
table unless they are carrying a pencil sharpened at both ends.)

David