After working at WebNotes for the last 6 months, I've become interested in how Highlighters and Sticky Notes came to be. I've done a bit of rooting around the web, and decided it might make a nice posting for those who are interested. Today's section will be on highlighters but I'll get into sticky notes later.
In the Beginning:
Highlighters, by definition are just felt-tip pens filled with transparent fluorescent ink. The first felt tip pen was invented by Sidney Rosenthal in 1952 and his device consisted of a squat glass bottle filled with ink and a wool felt wick and tip. Thus, the "magic marker" was born, so named for it's ability to mark up any surface. Despite his new invention, Sidney's Magic Marker corporation was never particularly successful given the large amount of competition and innovation by others, and consequently, he was forced to sell the "Magic Marker" brand name to Binney & Smith in 1989.
In 1962, the modern fiber-tipped pen was invented by Yukio Horie of the Tokyo Stationary Company in Japan. These pens used bamboo for the fiber (though synthetic fibers later replaced the bamboo) and were the first to use dyes rather than inks to get their pigment.
In 1963, the Avery Corporation created the first "Hi-Liter" by introducing translucent-ink into the cartridge. The pen came in various pastel shades but in 1978, they introduced the first fluorescent colors. The first fluorescent color, coincidentally, was yellow which is why we stereotypically think of highlighters being yellow.
To view the PDF of my research, click here: WebNotes Report(3).pdf (33.57 kb)
[Thanks to Megapixel Eyes for the photo]
