Who invented ballpoint pen

Whether you call it a birome, biro, ball pen, or ballpoint, we all know that familiar sensation of rolling ink on paper. It's nearly impossible to imagine a world without the ballpoint pen. Yet, this was a reality for most people less than 100 years ago. It was not until the mid-1900s that ballpoint pens were commercially available. The concept of this ingenious invention skirted different minds throughout history. It was created, forgotten, then created again. It became popular several decades after it was first invented, and then rapidly took the world by storm. From the first one, to the 2 billion produced each year in the U.S. alone, let’s take a trip through ballpoint pen history to see how this writing technology came to be. John J. Loud Though his contributions are often lost to history, John Loud is, according to record, the first inventor of the ballpoint pen. Loud was an American leather tanner and a Harvard graduate. After becoming frustrated with fountain pens’ inability to mark up leather, he decided to take the matter into his own hands. In October of 1888, Loud filed a patent with the U.S. Patent Office for a “pen” (pictured here). His invention consisted of three small metal spheres at the tip of a hollow metal barrel. The “antifriction balls” would evenly disperse the ink, which allowed the pen to mark up the leather. Loud’s invention was, by all accounts, the earliest version of the ballpoint pen. However, because it was created to write on ...

Photo: The pen may be mightier than the sword, but when Jewish-Hungarian journalist László Bíró invented the ballpoint pen in the 1930s clichéd sayings were probably the last thing on his mind. In 1938, Wall Street Journal, “a simple but remarkable invention came into a world about to be convulsed by death and destruction.” In their review of György Moldova’s book We see Bíró refining the pen and experimenting with recipes for the ink paste essential to his concept while fleeing dangers that seemed to chase him across Europe as war brewed and then broke out. In the early 1930s, while working as a journalist and artist, Bíró noticed that newspaper ink dried much more quickly than that from a fountain pen. The stylistic writing of a fountain pen uses liquid ink, which needs to flow from the tip to the page. The quick-drying ink used by printing presses was too thick to drip. Contemplating the problem of how to deliver thick, quick-drying ink to a paper surface without requiring the ink to flow, Bíró saw a possible answer: closing the end of the pen instead of using a nib, leaving an opening with just enough room for a tiny metal ball that would spin against the ink in the reservoir, distributing it to the paper. The basic design of the ballpoint pen persists to this day, but Bíró’s financial stake did not last nearly so long. In the years that followed, the inventor slowly lost shares in his company. t one point he had to choose between keeping his remaining shares or sellin...

The ballpoint pen is one of the most ubiquitous writing instruments in the world, used by millions of people every day. From students taking notes in classrooms to business professionals signing contracts, the ballpoint pen has become an essential tool for communication and record-keeping. But who invented this revolutionary device? And how did it become so popular? In this article, we will explore the history of the ballpoint pen, from its early beginnings to its modern-day innovations. Introduction Before the ballpoint pen, writing was a messy and unreliable process. The earliest writing instruments were sticks or reeds dipped in ink, which often smudged or ran out quickly. Later, quills became popular, but they required frequent sharpening and could be difficult to handle. In the late 1800s, fountain pens were introduced, providing a more reliable writing experience. However, they had their limitations, particularly when it came to writing on rough surfaces. This led inventors to seek new solutions to the problem of creating a dependable pen that could write on any surface. Early Attempts at a Reliable Pen The need for a pen that could write on rough surfaces was particularly acute in fields such as aviation and engineering, where technical drawings needed to be made on materials that did not absorb ink well. In 1888, John J. Loud received the first patent for a ballpoint pen design. However, his design was too expensive and unreliable for widespread use. The fountain p...

The first whispers came in the summer of 1944: a Hungarian inventor living in Argentina had created Easier, more reliable pens were a huge draw for consumers. For pen manufacturers and distributors, however, the real news was that Biro had filed a patent, which meant that the company that bought the rights ought to be able to corner the ballpoint market. That was thought to be Eversharp, which TIME Except for one thing. Reynolds International Pen Co. decided to manufacture their own version, and get it out to stores first. Eversharp’s legal attempts to stop them failed, and 70 years ago, on Oct. 29, 1945, the Reynolds pen became the first-ever modern ballpoint pen sold in the U.S.. At the New York City store that stocked it, demand was high, as TIME In Manhattan’s Gimbel Bros., Inc., thousands of people all but trampled one another last week to spend $12.50 each for a new fountain pen. The pen was made by Chicago’s Reynolds International Pen Co. In full-page ads, Gimbel’s modestly hailed it as the “fantastic, atomic era, miraculous pen.” It had a tiny ball bearing instead of a point, was guaranteed to need refilling only once every two years, would write under water (handy for mermaids), on paper, cloth, plastic or blotters. Gimbel’s had ordered 50,000 pens to stock and sold 30,000 of them in that first week. Other competitors soon followed, despite back-and-forth lawsuits between Reynolds, Eversharp and other manufacturers and distributors. As one of the defendants in a p...

• العربية • অসমীয়া • Azərbaycanca • বাংলা • Български • Català • Čeština • Dansk • Deutsch • Eesti • Ελληνικά • Español • Esperanto • Euskara • فارسی • Français • Galego • ગુજરાતી • Gungbe • 客家語/Hak-kâ-ngî • 한국어 • Hausa • Հայերեն • हिन्दी • Hrvatski • Ido • Bahasa Indonesia • Italiano • עברית • Jawa • ქართული • Қазақша • Latina • Latviešu • Lëtzebuergesch • Lietuvių • Magyar • മലയാളം • Bahasa Melayu • 閩東語 / Mìng-dĕ̤ng-ngṳ̄ • မြန်မာဘာသာ • Nāhuatl • Nederlands • नेपाली • 日本語 • Norsk bokmål • Occitan • ਪੰਜਾਬੀ • Polski • Português • Română • Runa Simi • Русский • Shqip • Simple English • Slovenščina • Српски / srpski • Sunda • Suomi • Svenska • Tagalog • தமிழ் • తెలుగు • ไทย • Тоҷикӣ • Türkçe • Українська • اردو • Tiếng Việt • Võro • West-Vlams • Winaray • 吴语 • ייִדיש • 粵語 • 中文 At left, an authentic Birome made in Argentina by Bíró & Meyne. At right, Birome advertisement in Argentine magazine Leoplán, 1945. The concept of using a "ball point" within a writing instrument to apply ink to paper has existed since the late 19th century. In these inventions, the ink was placed in a thin tube whose end was blocked by a tiny ball, held so that it could not slip into the tube or fall out of the pen. The first The manufacture of economical, reliable ballpoint pens as are known today arose from experimentation, modern chemistry, and the precision manufacturing capabilities of the early 20th century. [ who?]. Bíró's innovation successfully coupled ink-viscosity with a ball-socket mechani...

pen, The earliest ancestor of the pen probably was the brush the Chinese used for writing by the 1st millennium bce. The early Egyptians employed thick reeds for penlike bce. A specific John Mitchell of James Perry sought to produce more-flexible steel points by cutting a centre hole at the top of a central slit and then making additional slits on either side. drawing: Pens The inconvenience of having to continually dip a pen to fountain pen, a type of pen in which ink is held in a reservoir and passes to the writing point through capillary channels. The first practical version of the fountain pen was produced in 1884 by the American inventor L.E. Waterman.

The ballpoint pen is one of the most ubiquitous writing instruments in the world, used by millions of people every day. From students taking notes in classrooms to business professionals signing contracts, the ballpoint pen has become an essential tool for communication and record-keeping. But who invented this revolutionary device? And how did it become so popular? In this article, we will explore the history of the ballpoint pen, from its early beginnings to its modern-day innovations. Introduction Before the ballpoint pen, writing was a messy and unreliable process. The earliest writing instruments were sticks or reeds dipped in ink, which often smudged or ran out quickly. Later, quills became popular, but they required frequent sharpening and could be difficult to handle. In the late 1800s, fountain pens were introduced, providing a more reliable writing experience. However, they had their limitations, particularly when it came to writing on rough surfaces. This led inventors to seek new solutions to the problem of creating a dependable pen that could write on any surface. Early Attempts at a Reliable Pen The need for a pen that could write on rough surfaces was particularly acute in fields such as aviation and engineering, where technical drawings needed to be made on materials that did not absorb ink well. In 1888, John J. Loud received the first patent for a ballpoint pen design. However, his design was too expensive and unreliable for widespread use. The fountain p...

• العربية • অসমীয়া • Azərbaycanca • বাংলা • Български • Català • Čeština • Dansk • Deutsch • Eesti • Ελληνικά • Español • Esperanto • Euskara • فارسی • Français • Galego • ગુજરાતી • Gungbe • 客家語/Hak-kâ-ngî • 한국어 • Hausa • Հայերեն • हिन्दी • Hrvatski • Ido • Bahasa Indonesia • Italiano • עברית • Jawa • ქართული • Қазақша • Latina • Latviešu • Lëtzebuergesch • Lietuvių • Magyar • മലയാളം • Bahasa Melayu • 閩東語 / Mìng-dĕ̤ng-ngṳ̄ • မြန်မာဘာသာ • Nāhuatl • Nederlands • नेपाली • 日本語 • Norsk bokmål • Occitan • ਪੰਜਾਬੀ • Polski • Português • Română • Runa Simi • Русский • Shqip • Simple English • Slovenščina • Српски / srpski • Sunda • Suomi • Svenska • Tagalog • தமிழ் • తెలుగు • ไทย • Тоҷикӣ • Türkçe • Українська • اردو • Tiếng Việt • Võro • West-Vlams • Winaray • 吴语 • ייִדיש • 粵語 • 中文 At left, an authentic Birome made in Argentina by Bíró & Meyne. At right, Birome advertisement in Argentine magazine Leoplán, 1945. The concept of using a "ball point" within a writing instrument to apply ink to paper has existed since the late 19th century. In these inventions, the ink was placed in a thin tube whose end was blocked by a tiny ball, held so that it could not slip into the tube or fall out of the pen. The first The manufacture of economical, reliable ballpoint pens as are known today arose from experimentation, modern chemistry, and the precision manufacturing capabilities of the early 20th century. [ who?]. Bíró's innovation successfully coupled ink-viscosity with a ball-socket mechani...

Photo: The pen may be mightier than the sword, but when Jewish-Hungarian journalist László Bíró invented the ballpoint pen in the 1930s clichéd sayings were probably the last thing on his mind. In 1938, Wall Street Journal, “a simple but remarkable invention came into a world about to be convulsed by death and destruction.” In their review of György Moldova’s book We see Bíró refining the pen and experimenting with recipes for the ink paste essential to his concept while fleeing dangers that seemed to chase him across Europe as war brewed and then broke out. In the early 1930s, while working as a journalist and artist, Bíró noticed that newspaper ink dried much more quickly than that from a fountain pen. The stylistic writing of a fountain pen uses liquid ink, which needs to flow from the tip to the page. The quick-drying ink used by printing presses was too thick to drip. Contemplating the problem of how to deliver thick, quick-drying ink to a paper surface without requiring the ink to flow, Bíró saw a possible answer: closing the end of the pen instead of using a nib, leaving an opening with just enough room for a tiny metal ball that would spin against the ink in the reservoir, distributing it to the paper. The basic design of the ballpoint pen persists to this day, but Bíró’s financial stake did not last nearly so long. In the years that followed, the inventor slowly lost shares in his company. t one point he had to choose between keeping his remaining shares or sellin...

pen, The earliest ancestor of the pen probably was the brush the Chinese used for writing by the 1st millennium bce. The early Egyptians employed thick reeds for penlike bce. A specific John Mitchell of James Perry sought to produce more-flexible steel points by cutting a centre hole at the top of a central slit and then making additional slits on either side. drawing: Pens The inconvenience of having to continually dip a pen to fountain pen, a type of pen in which ink is held in a reservoir and passes to the writing point through capillary channels. The first practical version of the fountain pen was produced in 1884 by the American inventor L.E. Waterman.