FIRST THING IN THE WORLD
BALLPOINT PEN
JOHN J. LOUD’S invention the ballpoint pen, was far from
perfect . it leaked and smudged documents and was too crude for standard
letter-writing nevertheless, loud—a leather tanner from
Massachusetts who wanted something that could write on leather
and wood- patened his new writing instrument on octomber 30, 1888. With a tiny
steel ball bearing in the nib and three smaller balls aligned above it to try
to regulate ink flow, all refreshed with ink from a reservoir above, loud had
invented the world’s first pen that did not constantly require dipping or
refilling.
However, loud was unable to control the flow of ink, which
contributed to the pen never being sold commercially. If the ink were too thin
thew pen would leak; if it were too thick, it would clog. depending on the
temperature, the pen would somethimes do both. Loud’s pen also relied soley
upon gravity to deliver ink to the nib and had to be held in an almost vertical
position for it to write. Eventully loud’s patent expires, making sure that the
fountain pen prevailed.
It was only in1938 that hunarian newspaper
editor laszlio biro pressurized the ink reservoir. His pen used capillary
action for ink delivery, solving the flow problems. In 1943 viro added a
gravity-fed feeder tube. His ”biro”
amounted to a reinvention of the ballpoint pen, sold with a promise that it
could write for a year without the need for refilling.
