NCJ Number
186070
Journal
International Journal of Forensic Document Examiners Volume: 5 Dated: December/January 1999 Pages: 83-90
Date Published
1999
Length
8 pages
Annotation
The authors found that characteristics of felt-tipped pen writings on nonabsorbent surfaces such as the white board are significantly different from those on paper that absorbs the ink, notable examples being the clear display of stroke sequence and burr striations on white boards.
Abstract
A fiber-tipped pen is composed of a compressed bundle of extremely fine thread-like fibers or filaments that run lengthwise and are held together by some binder or adhesive. On the other hand, the broader felt-tipped marker pen consists of a circular or a rectangular piece of felt-like material at its tip. Under magnification, the surface of the felt appears to have a large number of tiny hair-like protrusions. Hence, felt-tipped pens can be considered to be composed of a collection of "ink-depositing points," which under certain conditions also produce burr striations. A study of the burr striations and other morphological features of felt-tipped pen strokes is reported in this paper. In studying felt-tipped pen writings on white boards, the authors found that contrary to the orientation of burr striations in ball-point pen strokes, those in curved felt-tipped pen strokes run toward the inside edge of the curve in the same general direction as that in which the pen has moved. The fact that the ink of a stroke written on a nonabsorbent surface is erased and displaced by that of the subsequent stroke is also important for deriving the relationship between the orientation of burr striations of a stroke written by a felt-tipped pen and the writing motion that has produced the stroke. 6 figures and 5 references