The marker pen is a pen that has a tip made of porous, pressed fibers (felt) and a reservoir of colored ink. This reservoir has a core of an absorbent material which carries the ink. One more necessary part of a marker is a cap that prevents drying of ink in a nib. The ink of a marker has a solvent in it that keeps it in liquid form. Until the 1990s, that solvent was toluene or xylene. These solvents are harmful and because of that, we today use alcohols instead.
The first felt-tip marking pen was patented in 1910 by Lee Newman. It was basically a cylinder filled with ink that led to a felt tip. Benjamin Paskach patented his “fountain paintbrush" in 1926. It had a sponge-tipped handle and was filled with different paint colors. These marker pens were not commercially viable and didn’t sell. In 1944, Walter J. De Groft patented a "marking pen" that held ink in liquid form in its handle and used a felt tip. This is the patent that will become a “Sharpie” pen in 1964. First modern (and usable) marker pen was Sidney Rosenthal's “Magic Marker” which he invented and started selling in 1953. This marker had glass tube of ink for a body and a felt wick and its name comes from a fact that it was able to write on any surface. Yukio Horie of the Tokyo Stationery Company invented a modern fiber-tipped pen in 1962.
Highlighters and fine-line markers appeared in 1970's. Binney & Smith, who made Crayola, bought name “Magic Marker” in 1989 and started selling improved permanent markers and highlighters. In 1996 they started selling Magic marker II and dry-erase markers for writing on whiteboards and glass.
www.historyofpencils.com/writing-instruments-history/history-of-marker-pens
