Ever wondered where ballpoint pens originated from? Would it surprise you that the first really working ballpoint pen came out as late as the 1940s? There were several registered patents for this product dating as far back as 1888. It was leather tanner John Loud who created the very first ballpoint pen, which he created so he could write on his leather products. His pen had a small rotating ball made of stell and held in place with a socket. While it worked on leather, it was too coarse for paper writing so it was not very viable commercially.
In came Hungarian newspaper editor, Laszlo Biro who did not like the way he needed to keep filling and re-filling his fountain pens and to constantly clean up the smudges on his pages. He sought the help of his chemist brother Gyorgy and together they invented a pen with a ball tip that rotated on its socket picking up ink from the cartridge and leaving a smooth and lasting impression on paper.
The first versions of the pen suffered from ink clogging and leaking. Biro corrected this by placing a spring that will keep pressure on the piston. Moving to Argentina in 1941, Biro filed another patent for his invention which was licensed by a British company to be sold to Royal Air Force crew. By 1945 the pen reached the United States and was launched at a New York department store in October 1945. The ballpoint pen has since become a relevant writing instrument through the years and is still very much in use today.
Author: Todd Johnson
Email: Todd@australianwebsitedevelopment.com.au
Mobile: 0449 041 815
No comments:
Post a Comment