The History of the Ball-Point Pen

Ballpoint pens are one of the most common writing instruments in the world.

In the 21st century, ballpoints seem uncomplicated and even a bit old-fashioned. Since their entrance into the market, however, ballpoints have proved incredibly popular and enduring. According to the BBC, 57 Bic ballpoint pens are sold every second. However, the ballpoint did not spring into life easily. It was developed slowly over several decades by more than inventor.

Predecessor

The ballpoint pen is a direct descendant of the fountain pen, which had a sharp nib at the tip and an cartridge of ink inside. Fountain pens were different from older dip pens in that they do not have to constantly dipped in ink in order to write, instead drawing out the ink from the inside. However, fountain and dip pens had the same major drawback -- the ink, which was difficult to keep from drying and which ran and smeared easily.

John J. Loud

The person who usually gets the credit for inventing the first recognizably ballpoint-style pen is John J. Loud, who was issued a patent in 1888 for a pen with a rolling tip and an internal reservoir of ink. Loud touted the pen for its ability to write on wood or other surfaces. However, Loud never manufactured or sold his pens as the ink proved difficult to control, resulting in random ink blobs, clogged pens and leaking.

Biro

The inventor of the first ballpoint pen to be successfully put on the market was Laszlo Biro, who made a pen with a pressurized ink cartridge. Biro was a journalist, and he noticed that the ink used for printing newspapers did not smear or run immediately. He used this ink in his pen with a ball bearing in the tip to help the thicker ink flow. Biro sold his pens in Argentina and to the British government before selling exclusive rights to Eberhard-Faber and Eversharp Co., who called it the Eversharp CA.

America

An American businessman named Milton Reynolds brought back some Biro pens from Argentina and created the Reynolds Ball Point, ignoring the fact that the pen had already been patented by Eversharp. Another American businessman, Patrick Frawley, produced ballpoints in the late 1940s, which he eventually named the Papermate.

Bic

Meanwhile, over in France, Marcel Bich, a professional maker of pen cases and holders, decided he could do better. He arranged to pay royalties on the Biro patent and made his own pen. Bich's pens, named the Ballpoint Bic, were the most technically advanced yet. They did not leak, wrote well and were inexpensive. It is Bich's pens which get the credit for finally making the ballpoint a household item and driving away the fountain pen. In England, Bic models often have "Biro" printed on their sides, and ballpoints pens in general are called biros.

Fisher Space Pen

As the space race heated up in the United States during the 1960s, an urban legend began concerning a space pen. It was reputed to have been developed by NASA, who wanted a writing instrument which would work in zero gravity. The NASA pen cost millions of dollars. The Russians, on the other hand, simply used a pencil. The legend was not true, but Paul C. Fisher did develop a space pen independently. Once perfected, he sent samples to NASA, which ended up buying 400 of the pens for only $2.95 each.

References

• Megan Lane: Did Biros Really Revolutionize Writing?
• Idea Finder: Ballpoint Pen
• Cosmopolis: History of the Ballpoint Pen
• Snopes: The Write Stuff

Resources

• BIC Corporation: History