I’m sure very few people saw the items in that drawing set even fifty or sixty years ago. You mention a “perfectly-shaped serif on a letter N” , so I’m guessing you used it for calligraphy. I did some calligraphy back in high school ( over 40 years ago) , even took a couple of classes - but I never used or even heard of a ruling pen. I used dip pens that consisted of a holder and a changeable nib or sometimes special markers. I’m guessing a lot of people who used ruling pens for technical drawing 40 years ago never saw the type of pens I used.
I live in a middle class suburban school district. Yes, they lent a Chromebook to every student in the district.
They’re still used for calligraphy lettering (that is, the letter strokes, not only for ruling), though I’ve not used one myself. I’ve been practicing handwriting in detail for the last year and a half and ruling pens get a page or two in several of the guide books I’ve been studying.
Hood ornaments
from
to
THANK YOU for clarifying this for the teeming masses. I have always known the difference and have always been mildly annoyed when people confused the two, usually in the context of the smell of the copies.
Ditto had the distinctive odor of alcohol. I don’t recall whether mimeo had a specific or consistent smell; different companies’ inks may have smelled different. But I never associated mimeo with a particularly pleasant smell, unlike ditto.
Likewise. But quickly moved onto Rapidograph pens. The pens in the set pictured had to be dipped in ink.
At least they never clogged. Radiograph pens are like inkjet printers…little precious prima donnas that require your daily usage otherwise they get upset and clog. The larger ones are not such a concern, but the thin ones we like so much can clog to the point of being unrecoverable.
I would be more concerned about the ionizing radiation.
Gawd, ain’t that the truth. I used a 0000 for years. Used it for tiny, tiny text.
I used the drafting set with graphite that clamped in (same as in the drawing compass), then inked the lines with Rapidographs. They were better than India ink pens but nibs did clog, so I’d soak them in hot water. I tried nail polish remover once: goodbye nib.
Yeah. We had one of those ultra sonic cleaners. They still failed beyond recovery though
Not as a printer, but back in the 70s, my dad had an IBM computer terminal in our house, so he could do remote overtime work, and it used thermal technology to print everything on a continuous roll of paper.
I thought that it was called the Silent 700, but I don’t remember it being a TI product. In any case, it was very similar to that one.
fax machines and receipt printers. How did you know if the receipt printer was one? Leave the receipt in you car in LA and it would soon be a sheet of solid gray.
Thermal printer paper also seems to react interestingly to alcohol. I handled one recently right after using some hand sanitizer, and it left a perfectly-detailed thumbprint on it.
Friction from a hard object is usually enough to activate the thermal ink. Use a coin or key, scratch a line on the print side of the paper.
But at least you can read your notes in the dark. 
At that time several outfits made those. I had an similar HP version on one job. I don’t recall seeing an IBM-branded one, but I bet there was such thing.
You can easily draw with your fingernails on thermal paper.
Yes, I write my mileage on gas receipts with my fingernail.
Thermal paper usually contains lots of BPA. Some people claim just handling it is bad, and perhaps it is if you handle it frequently. In any case, don’t lick or eat the thermal paper.
Yes!! I used one of those in the early 1980s - it was from TI. It had the cradle built in that you’d have to set the phone receiver into.
I was doing system support and if something crashed at night, it was a hell of a lot better than driving 15 miles to the office.
Um, they sell bottles of “Rapido-eze technical pen cleaner”; you are not supposed to soak the whole thing in a bottle of acetone.
They also had nibs with (hard) jewel points that were meant to last longer.
I think inkwells and other writing accessories are still, like typewriters, recognizable, though who knows for how much longer.