Rotring (stylized rOtring) is a former

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

manufacturing company Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

technical drawing tool Drafting tools may be used for measurement and layout of drawings, or to improve the consistency and speed of creation of standard drawing elements. Tools such as pens and pencils mark the drawing medium. Other tools such as straight edges, assist ...

s and

writing implement A writing implement or writing instrument is an object used to produce writing. Writing consists of different figures, lines, and or forms. Most of these items can be also used for other functions such as painting, drawing and technical drawing, ...

s. Established in 1928 as a

fountain pen A fountain pen is a writing instrument which uses a metal nib to apply a water-based ink to paper. It is distinguished from earlier dip pens by using an internal reservoir to hold ink, eliminating the need to repeatedly dip the pen in an in ...

manufacturer, Rotring is currently a

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owned by Newell Brands after its acquisition in 1998. The name "Rotring" directly translates to "red ring" which is still placed around the barrel of their pens today. The company's name was changed to Rotring in the early 1970s to match the trademark. As the Rotring factory and headquarters in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

were shut down, production has been handled and distributed by Japanese manufacturer Holbein and other manufacturers.

History

The company was established in 1928 as "Tintenkuli Handels GmbH".Heritage
on Rotring website, 25 Nov 2019 The company's first product was the "Tintenkuli", a type of

pen A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity wh ...

with a narrow steel tube instead of a conventional nib. While

s were already common in America, they had not been previously marketed in Europe. In 1934, Rotring launched the "Multipen", a

mechanical pencil A mechanical pencil, also clutch pencil, is a pencil with a replaceable and mechanically extendable solid pigment core called a "lead" . The lead, often made of graphite, is not bonded to the outer casing, and can be mechanically extended as its ...

that allowed the variation of colors, with four of them contained on each pencil. Although stylographs never overtook fountain pens for use in writing, by 1953 the Rotring "Rapidograph" model became the prototypical technical pen of its age, establishing the Rapidograph Inc. in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

one year later. Its technology virtually replaced the ruling pen and greatly simplified technical drawing. A second generation of technical pens, the "Variant" and "Varioscript" models, were launched in 1958, with commercial success. In 1967, the company introduced its first drawing set, that consisted of

compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself wit ...

, technical pens, templates, inks,

scale ruler Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number w ...

and other tools. One year later, the "Micronorm" was added to the technical pens line. In 1971, Rotring acquired writing instrument manufacturer Adolf Waldmann KG of

Pforzheim Pforzheim () is a city of over 125,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany. It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the nickname "Goldstadt" ("Golden City") ...

. Rotring expanded operation establishing branches in Europe and the United States, in 1974. The "Isograph" technical pen was launched in 1976. That same year Rotring launched its first

drawing board A drawing board (also drawing table, drafting table or architect's table) is, in its antique form, a kind of multipurpose desk which can be used for any kind of drawing, writing or impromptu sketching on a large sheet of paper or for reading a l ...

, and the "Tikky" mechanical pencil was released in 1979. The "Art Pen", a fountain pen suitable for calligraphy, was launched in 1984. During the decade, Rotring set new subsidiaries in other European countries, while the "600" mechanical pencil was introduced in 1989. New releases came in 1995 with the "Xonox", a variation of the Tikky model in form of a

marker pen A marker pen, fine liner, marking pen, felt-tip pen, felt pen, flow marker, sign pen (in South Korea), vivid (in New Zealand), texta (in Australia), sketch pen (in South Asia) or koki (in South Africa), is a pen which has its own ink source ...

with a needlepoint tip. The advent in the 1990s of computer-aided design (CAD) saw the partial demise of the technical drawing pen. To combat this, Rotring diversified its range of graphic pens, pencils and markers. In 1998 Rotring was taken over by Sanford, an American company specialising in graphic products and part of

Newell Rubbermaid Newell Brands is an American manufacturer, marketer and distributor of consumer and commercial products. The company's brands and products include Rubbermaid storage and trash containers; home organization and reusable container products; Conti ...

(currently, Newell Brands) since 1992. During the first decade of the 2000s Rotring released some lines of fountain and ballpoint pens, the "Skynn" (2003) and the "Newton" (2005). In 2014, the brand introduced the "800+", a ''hybrid'' mechanical pencil that could be used on both mediums, paper and

touchscreen A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is ofte ...

s. It was advertised with the slogan "Think on paper + Think on digital". The Rotring 600 ballpoint pen was re-introduced in 2018 alongside the Rotring 800 ballpoint, which was the re-release of the 600 Gold ballpoint pen.

Products

Rapidograph and Isograph

Rotring's Rapidograph and Isograph are visually very similar. The primary difference between these models is the ink reservoir. Whereas the Isograph has a refillable reservoir, the Rapidograph can be loaded with disposable capillary ink cartridges (which are themselves capable of being refilled). The Rapidograph nibs were manufactured in several versions: * Rapidograph: They were manufactured "for drawing and lettering on tracing paper and line board". * Rapidograph F: Rapidograph F nibs contain a hard metal tip. They were manufactured "for drawing and lettering on matt drafting film". * Rapidograph J: Rapidograph J nibs contain a jewel tip. They were manufactured "for drawing and lettering on matt drawing film, tracing paper, and line-board"Rapidograph J original box. and were therefore more durable than the Rapidograph F nibs.

References

External links

* {{authority control Manufacturing companies established in 1928 Newell Brands Fountain pen and ink manufacturers German brands Manufacturing companies based in Hamburg Office supply companies of Germany Design companies established in 1928 German companies established in 1928 1998 mergers and acquisitions