How Does a Ball Point Pen Work?
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An Improvement on the Fountain Pen
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The development of the ballpoint pen took place over centuries by inventors frustrated with quills, and later, fountain pens. These early pens were leaky, smudged easily, and were not easily portable (one had to carry the pen and ink together). In 1888, John J. Loud patented a pen that used a rotating steel ball inside a socket for a pen tip, but it proved to be too rough for normal writing purposes. Over the next 40 years, numerous inventors toyed with the ball/socket tip, but it wasn't until 1938 that a Hungarian newspaper editor, László Bíró, conceived of using the same fast-drying ink he used for his newspaper printing. Using such a thick, viscous ink combined with a smaller ball-in-socket tip led to the invention of the ballpoint pen---much as we know it today.
The Overall Concept
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A ballpoint pen is constructed of a hollow tube (the pen's "body") in which an internal chamber of thick ink is fitted. The ink is dispensed onto the paper via the rolling action of the small metal ball (usually constructed of brass or steel) that fits into a socket at the tip. As the ink flows onto the paper, it dries almost immediately.
The size of the ball inside the pen's socket determines the fineness or boldness of the line strokes made with the pen. -
The Ball and Socket
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The socket at the tip of the pen holds the ball tight enough to keep it in place, but loosely enough so that the ball can roll freely. The rolling mechanism allows ink to flow out using gravity, which forces the ink down the internal ink chamber and onto the ball. Simultaneously, the rolling prevents air from reaching the ink chamber and drying it out.
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