Flo-Master was a brand of

ink Ink is a gel, sol, or solution that contains at least one colorant, such as a dye or pigment, and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing or writing with a pen, brush, reed pen, or quill. ...

s and markers in the latter half of the 20th century. These markers were designed for glass, and became popular among

graffiti artists Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in the 1970s and early 1980s.

History

Cushman & Denison first introduced Flo-Master "refillable markers" in 1951, which targeted store owners and advertisers with limited success. In 1953,

Esterbrook The Esterbrook Pen Company is a former United States, American manufacturing company founded by English immigrant Richard Esterbrook and based in Camden, New Jersey. It was the largest pen manufacturer in the United States, having reached a recor ...

America took over the company in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and Esterbrook Pens and Cushman & Denison

merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

in 1960 in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. To counter a precipitous fall-off in its business following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Esterbrook worked to develop new and innovative products, and the years 1960 to 1967 saw steady progress. Under the "Gem" brand name, the company launched its highly successful Mark I line of products, featuring the "Valve Marker" and the "Permanent Pen." Flo-Master brand inks were used in many of these products, and was also sold separately for refills, marketed in handy

tin can A steel can, tin can, tin (especially in British English, Australian English, Canadian English and South African English), or can is a container made of thin metal, for distribution or storage of goods. Some cans are opened by removing the to ...

s equipped with "needle-nose"

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic polymers, synthetic or Semisynthesis, semisynthetic materials composed primarily of Polymer, polymers. Their defining characteristic, Plasticity (physics), plasticity, allows them to be Injection moulding ...

nozzle A nozzle is a device designed to control the direction or characteristics of a fluid flow (specially to increase velocity) as it exits (or enters) an enclosed chamber or pipe (material), pipe. A nozzle is often a pipe or tube of varying cross ...

s. In 1967, the Venus Pencil Company bought out the Esterbrook Pen Company, resulting in the formation of Venus Esterbrook.

Impact

In the

Russian language Russian is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic languages, Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is ...

, '' фломастер'' (''flomaster'') has become a common name for any

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), flomaster (in East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic countries), texta (in Australia), sketch pen (in South ...

(regardless of actual brand). The same is true for many other

Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavs, Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic language, Proto- ...

, e. g. Ukrainian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian,

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...

or Slovene, the Baltic languages (

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Lithuania, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe ** Lithuanian language ** Lithuanians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to Lithuania and the immediate geographical region ** L ...

and Latvian), as well as in other languages of the former USSR.

Polish language Polish (, , or simply , ) is a West Slavic languages, West Slavic language of the Lechitic languages, Lechitic subgroup, within the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, and is written in the Latin script. It is primarily spo ...

uses similar term, slightly modified phonetically
flamaster
In the mid-1960s, the psychedelic

liquid light show Liquid light shows (or psychedelic light shows) are a form of light art that surfaced in the early 1960s as accompaniment to electronic music and avant-garde theatre performances. They were later adapted for performances of rock or psychedelic ...

as visual accompaniment to live electric music became a feature of gigs and Flo-master inks were often used, due to the intensity of their colour and the convenience of the nozzle feature on the refill cans. When street-writing took to the subways in New York City at the start of the 1970s, Flo-Master opaque inks were chosen by graffiti artists, as they adhered to virtually any surface permanently. In addition, the ink was not only opaque on glass, but also covered up pre-existing writing. Flo-Master inks were not only colorful and

durable Durability is the ability of a physical product to remain functional, without requiring excessive maintenance or repair, when faced with the challenges of normal operation over its design lifetime. There are several measures of durability in us ...

; in addition, the design of their cans allowed for portability, quick refilling and artful "pointing" and "edging" of "Uni-Wide" and "Mini-Wide" markers—designed for "ribbon"-style writing on glass—which were extremely popular with early graffiti writers as well.

Decline

Due to its high

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

content—the ingredient which gave Flo-Master inks their distinctive attributes—production was suspended by regulation.

References

{{Reflist Ink brands Pens