World first ball pen

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.