![]() ![]() Postwar proliferation Ģ018 Parker Jotters are similar to the version that first came out in 1954įollowing World War II, many companies vied to commercially produce their own ballpoint pen design. īíró's patent, and other early patents on ballpoint pens, often used the term "ball-point fountain pen". Ballpoint pens were found to be more versatile than fountain pens, especially at high altitudes, where fountain pens were prone to leak. This new design was licensed by the British engineer Frederick George Miles and manufactured by his company Miles Aircraft, to be used by Royal Air Force aircrew as the "Biro". Their pen was sold in Argentina as the "Birome", from the names Bíró and Meyne, which is how ballpoint pens are still known in that country. In 1941, the Bíró brothers and a friend, Juan Jorge Meyne, fled Germany and moved to Argentina, where they formed "Bíró Pens of Argentina" and filed a new patent in 1943. ![]() Bíró filed for a British patent on 15 June 1938. īíró's innovation successfully coupled ink-viscosity with a ball-socket mechanism which acted compatibly to prevent ink from drying inside the reservoir while allowing controlled flow. Bíró enlisted the help of his brother György, a dentist with useful knowledge of chemistry, to develop viscous ink formulae for new ballpoint designs. He decided to create a pen using the same type of ink. László Bíró, a Hungarian newspaper editor (later a naturalized Argentine) frustrated by the amount of time that he wasted filling up fountain pens and cleaning up smudged pages, noticed that inks used in newspaper printing dried quickly, leaving the paper dry and smudge-free. Ink reservoirs pressurized by a piston, spring, capillary action, and gravity would all serve as solutions to ink-delivery and flow problems. If the socket were too loose or the ink too thin, the pen would leak, or the ink would smear. ![]() ![]() If the ball socket were too tight or the ink too thick, it would not reach the paper. Early ballpoints did not deliver the ink evenly overflow and clogging were among the obstacles faced by early inventors. Patents filed worldwide during early development are testaments to failed attempts at making the pens commercially viable and widely available. 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. With no commercial viability, its potential went unexploited, and the patent eventually lapsed. Although it could be used to mark rough surfaces such as leather, as Loud intended, it proved too coarse for letter-writing. Loud's pen had a small rotating steel ball held in place by a socket. Loud, who was attempting to make a writing instrument that would be able to write "on rough surfaces-such as wood, coarse wrapping-paper, and other articles" which fountain pens could not. The first patent for a ballpoint pen was issued on 30 October 1888 to John J. 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 concept of using a "ball point" within a writing instrument to apply ink to paper has existed since the late 19th century. At right, Birome advertisement in Argentine magazine Leoplán, 1945. At left, an authentic Birome made in Argentina by Bíró & Meyne. ![]()
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