Comparison of Ink Writing on Documents by Means of Paper Chromatography

Characterization of Fountain Pen Inks by Porous Glass Chromatography and Electrophoresis

“…Application of additional reagents to the porous glass slides will result in similar reactions by corresponding bands of the two separated samples. Exposure to hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, or hydrogen thiocyanide vapors should produce similar alterations provided the two samples themselves are identical (15). Likewise, other high dielectric developing solvents may be used for obtaining additional data to further establish probable identification (25).…”

“…In order to accurately identify the various ink formulations that are commercially available, many techniques using a variety of analytical procedures have been developed (6-13). Of these, perhaps the most accepted method in current usage is that of paper chromatography (2) (12) (14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20). This separation method allows the various ink components, many of which are colored dye substances, to be separated into integral bands or zones that distribute themselves in a manner characteristic of the original combined formulation (21).…”

Paper Electrophoresis in the Identification of Writing Inks. Comparison with Horizontal Paper Chromatography

“…Identification of liquid writing inks by paper chromatography (1,2,3,4) marks the most important step in the field of ink identification in recent times. With relatively simple means, most inks can be differentiated and much can be ascertained rapidly regarding their composition.…”

Horizontal Paper Chromatography in the Identification of Ball Point Pen Inks

“…Its bibliography is now so extensive (2,3,4,5) that few people can hope to read even the more important papers in the field. Only within the last two or three years have publications appeared (6,7,8,9) describing its application to the field of ink identification. The early work of Souder and Somerford (6,7) utilizing an ascending strip method with water as the developing solvent for fluid ink was shown to be effective despite its somewhat crude technique.…”

“…No publication describing the application of paper chromatography to ball point pen inks has been noted, though this development is a very obvious one (8). The problem of identifying these inks is in several respects different from that of liquid writing inks, because of the completely different type of dye dispersing agents employed (10).…”