11/20/2017 Ballpoint pen - Wikipedia

Ballpoint pen
A ballpoint pen, also known as a biro,[1] or ball pen, is a pen that
Ballpoint pen
dispenses ink over a metal ball at its point, i.e. over a "ball point". The
metal commonly used is steel, brass, or tungsten carbide.[2] It was
conceived and developed as a cleaner and more reliable alternative to dip
pens and fountain pens, and it is now the world's most-used writing
instrument:[3] millions are manufactured and sold daily.[4] As a result, it
has influenced art and graphic design and spawned an artwork genre.

Pen manufacturers produce designer ballpoint pens for the high-end and
collectors' markets. A retractable ballpoint pen assemblage
(Schneider K15)
The Bic Cristal is a popular disposable type of ballpoint pen whose design is
recognised by its place in the permanent collection of the Museum of Inventor John Loud (patent)
Modern Art, New York.[5] Inception 1888

Contents
1 History
1.1 Origins
1.2 Postwar proliferation
2 Types of ballpoint pens
3 As art medium
4 Manufacturing
4.1 Standards
5 Guinness World Record
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

History

Origins
The concept of using a ball point within a writing instrument as a method of applying 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.

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The first patent for a ballpoint pen[6][7] was issued on 30 October 1888, to John J.
Loud,[8] 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"[9] which then-common fountain pens could not. Loud's pen had a small
rotating steel ball, held in place by a socket. Although it could be used to mark
rough surfaces such as leather, as Loud intended, it proved to be too coarse for
letter-writing. With no commercial viability, its potential went unexploited[1] and
the patent eventually lapsed.[10]
Tip of a ballpoint pen magnified
The manufacture of economical, reliable ballpoint pens as we know them arose
from experimentation, modern chemistry, and precision
manufacturing capabilities of the early 20th century.[3] Patents
filed worldwide during early development are testaments to
failed attempts at making the pens commercially viable and
widely available.[11] Early ballpoints did not deliver the ink
evenly; overflow and clogging were among the obstacles
inventors faced toward developing reliable ballpoint pens.[4] If
the ball socket was too tight, or the ink too thick, it would not
reach the paper. If the socket was too loose, or the ink too thin,
the pen would leak or the ink would smear.[4] Ink reservoirs
pressurized by piston, spring, capillary action, and gravity would
all serve as solutions to ink-delivery and flow problems.[12][13]

Lszl Br, a Hungarian newspaper editor frustrated by the

amount of time that he wasted filling up fountain pens and
cleaning up smudged pages, noticed that inks used in newspaper At left, an authentic Birome made in Argentina by
Br & Meyne. At right, Birome advertisement in
printing dried quickly, leaving the paper dry and smudge free.
Argentine magazine Leopln, 1945.
He decided to create a pen using the same type of ink.[4] Br
enlisted the help of his brother Gyrgy, a chemist,[4] to develop
viscous ink formulae for new ballpoint designs.[3]

Br'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.[4] Br filed a British patent on 15 June 1938.[1][14]

In 1941, the Br brothers and a friend, Juan Jorge Meyne, fled Germany and moved to Argentina, where they formed Br
Pens of Argentina and filed a new patent in 1943.[1] Their pen was sold in Argentina as the Birome (portmanteau of the
names Br and Meyne), which is how ballpoint pens are still known in that country.[1] This new design was licensed by
the British, who produced ballpoint pens for RAF aircrew as the Biro. Ballpoint pens were found to be more versatile than
fountain pens, especially at high altitudes, where fountain pens were prone to ink-leakage.[4]

Br's patent, and other early patents on ballpoint pens often used the term "ball-point fountain pen".[15][16][17][18][19][20]

Postwar proliferation
Following World War II, many companies vied to commercially produce their own ballpoint pen design. In post-war
Argentina, success of the Birome ballpoint was limited, but in mid-1945, the Eversharp Co., a maker of mechanical
pencils, teamed up with Eberhard Faber Co. to license the rights from Birome for sales in the United States.[1][10]

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During the same period, American entrepreneur Milton Reynolds came across a Birome ballpoint pen during a business
trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina.[1][10] Recognizing commercial potential, he purchased several ballpoint samples, returned
to the United States, and founded Reynolds International Pen Company. Reynolds bypassed the Birome patent with
sufficient design alterations to obtain an American patent, beating Eversharp and other competitors to introduce the pen
to the U.S. market.[1][10] Debuting at Gimbels department store in New York City on 29 October 1945,[10] for US$12.50
each (1945 US dollar value, about $166 in 2016 dollars),[10] Reynolds Rocket became the first commercially successful
ballpoint pen.[1][4][21] Reynolds went to great extremes to market the pen, with great success; Gimbel's sold many
thousands of pens within one week. In Britain, the Miles Martin pen company was producing the first commercially
successful ballpoint pens there by the end of 1945.[1]

Neither Reynolds' nor Eversharp's ballpoint lived up to consumer expectations in America. Ballpoint pen sales peaked in
1946, and consumer interest subsequently plunged due to market-saturation.[10] By the early 1950s the ballpoint boom
had subsided and Reynolds' company folded.[1]

Paper Mate pens, among the emerging ballpoint brands of the 1950s, bought the rights to distribute their own ballpoint
pens in Canada.[22] Facing concerns about ink-reliability, Paper Mate pioneered new ink formulas and advertised them as
"banker-approved".[10] In 1954, Parker Pens released The Jotterthe company's first ballpointboasting additional
features and technological advances which also included the use of tungsten-carbide textured ball-bearings in their
pens.[1] In less than a year, Parker sold several million pens at prices between three and nine dollars.[1] In the 1960s, the
failing Eversharp Co. sold its pen division to Parker and ultimately folded.[1]

Marcel Bich also introduced a ballpoint pen to the American marketplace in the 1950s, licensed from Br and based on
the Argentine designs.[3][23] Bich shortened his name to Bic in 1953, becoming the ballpoint brand now recognised
globally.[4] Bic pens struggled until the company launched its "Writes The First Time, Every Time!" advertising campaign
in the 1960s.[4] Competition during this era forced unit prices to drop considerably.[4]

Types of ballpoint pens

Ballpoint pens are produced in both disposable and refillable models. Refills
allow for the entire internal ink reservoir, including a ballpoint and socket, to
be replaced. Such characteristics are usually associated with designer-type
pens or those constructed of finer materials. The simplest types of ballpoint
pens are disposable and have a cap to cover the tip when the pen is not in use,
or a mechanism for retracting the tip,[3] which varies between manufacturers
but is usually a spring- or screw-mechanism.

Rollerball pens employ the same ballpoint mechanics, but with the use of
water-based inks instead of oil-based inks. Compared to oil-based ballpoints, Bic Cristal ballpoint pens shown in
rollerball pens are said to provide more fluid ink-flow, but the water-based four basic ink colours.
inks will blot if held stationary against the writing surface. Water-based inks
also remain wet longer when freshly applied and are thus prone to smearing
posing problems to left-handed people (or right handed people writing right-to-left script)and running, should the
writing surface become wet.

Because of a ballpoint pen's reliance on gravity to coat the ball with ink, most cannot be used to write upside-down.
However, technology developed by Fisher pens in the United States resulted in the production of what came to be known
as the "Fisher Space Pen". Space Pens combine a more viscous ink with a pressurised ink reservoir[4] that forces the ink
toward the point. Unlike standard ballpoints, the rear end of a Space Pen's pressurized reservoir is sealed, eliminating

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evaporation and leakage,[4] thus allowing the pen to write upside-down, in

zero-gravity environments, and reportedly underwater.[24] Astronauts have
made use of these pens in outer space.[4]

Ballpoint pens with "erasable ink" were pioneered by the Paper Mate pen
company.[25] The ink formulas of erasable ballpoints have properties similar to
rubber cement, allowing the ink to be literally rubbed clean from the writing
surface before drying and eventually becoming permanent.[25] Erasable ink is
much thicker than standard ballpoint inks, requiring pressurised cartridges to
facilitate inkflowmeaning they can also write upside-down. Though these
pens are equipped with erasers, any eraser will suffice.[25]

The inexpensive, disposable Bic Cristal (also simply Bic pen or Biro) is
reportedly the most widely sold pen in the world.[23][26] It was the Bic
company's first product and is still synonymous with the company name.[27][28]
Various commonly used ballpoint
The Bic Cristal is part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern
refill types.
Art in New York City, acknowledged for its industrial design.[5][26] Its
hexagonal barrel mimics that of a wooden pencil and is transparent, showing
the ink level in the reservoir. Originally a sealed streamlined cap, the modern pen cap has a small hole at the top to meet
safety standards, helping to prevent suffocation if children suck it into the throat.[29]

Multipens are pens that feature multiple varying colored ballpoint refills. Sometimes ballpoint refills are combined with
another non-ballpoint refill.

Ballpoint pens are sometimes provided free by businesses, such as hotels, as a form of advertisingprinted with a
company's name; a ballpoint pen is a relatively low cost advertisement that is highly effective (customers will use, and
therefore see, a pen daily). Businesses and charities include ballpoint pens in direct mail campaigns to increase a
customer's interest in the mailing. Ballpoints have also been produced to commemorate events, such as a pen
commemorating the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.[3]

As art medium
Ballpoint pens have proven to be a versatile art medium for professional artists
as well as amateur doodlers.[30] Low cost, availability, and portability are cited
by practitioners as qualities which make this common writing tool a
convenient, alternative art supply.[31] Some artists use them within mixed-
media works, while others use them solely as their medium-of-choice.[32]

Effects not generally associated with ballpoint pens can be achieved.[33]

Traditional pen-and-ink techniques such as stippling and cross-hatching can
be used to create half-tones[34] or the illusion of form and volume.[35] For
artists whose interests necessitate precision line-work, ballpoints are an
obvious attraction; ballpoint pens allow for sharp lines not as effectively
Example of a ballpoint pen work-in-
executed using a brush.[36] Finely applied, the resulting imagery has been
progress rendering of actor Steve
mistaken for airbrushed artwork[37] and photography,[38] causing reactions of
McQueen by artist James Mylne.
disbelief which ballpoint artist Lennie Mace refers to as the Wow Factor.[36][37]

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Famous 20th-century artists such as Andy Warhol, among others, have utilised ballpoint pens to some extent during their
careers.[39] Ballpoint pen artwork continues to attract interest in the 21st century, with contemporary artists gaining
recognition for their specific use of ballpoint pens; for their technical proficiency, imagination, and innovation. Korean-
American artist Il Lee has been creating large-scale, ballpoint-only abstract artwork since the late 1970s.[30] Since the
1980s, Lennie Mace creates imaginative, ballpoint-only artwork of varying content and complexity, applied to
unconventional surfaces including wood and denim.[40] The artist coined terms such as PENtings and Media Graffiti to
describe his varied output.[36] More recently, British artist James Mylne has been creating photo-realistic artwork using
mostly black ballpoints, sometimes with minimal mixed-media color.[38] In the mid-2000s (decade), Juan Francisco Casas
generated Internet attention for a series of large-scale, photo-realistic ballpoint duplications of his own snapshots of
friends, utilising only blue pens.[41]

Using ballpoint pens to create artwork is not without limitations. Color

availability and sensitivity of ink to light are among concerns of ballpoint pen
artists.[42] Mistakes pose greater risks to ballpoint artists; once a line is drawn,
it generally cannot be erased.[36] Additionally, "blobbing" of ink on the drawing
surface and "skipping" of ink-flow require consideration when using ballpoint
pens for artistic purposes.[32] Although the mechanics of ballpoint pens remain
relatively unchanged, ink composition has evolved to solve certain problems
over the years, resulting in unpredictable sensitivity to light and some extent of
fading.[42] Ballpoint "PENting" by Lennie Mace,
Uchuu Neko Parade (2005) ballpoint
Manufacturing pen and hardware on paper.

Although designs and construction vary between brands, basic

components of all ballpoint pens are universal.[3] Standard
components of a ballpoint tip include the freely rotating ball
itself (distributing the ink on the writing surface), a socket
holding the ball in place, small ink channels that provide ink to
the ball through the socket, and a self-contained ink reservoir
The ink holder of a disposable ballpoint pen.
supplying ink to the ball.[4] In modern disposable pens, narrow
plastic tubes contain the ink, which is compelled downward to
the ball by gravity.[4] Brass, steel, or tungsten carbide are used to manufacture the ball bearing-like points,[4] then housed
in a brass socket.[43]

The function of these components can be compared with the ball-applicator of roll-on antiperspirant; the same technology
at a larger scale. The ball point tip delivers the ink to the writing surface while acting as a buffer between the ink in the
reservoir and the air outside, preventing the quick-drying ink from drying inside the reservoir. Modern ballpoints are said
to have a two-year shelf life, on average.[4]

A ballpoint tip that can write comfortably for a long period of time is not easy to produce as it requires high-precision
machinery and thin high grade steel alloy plates. China that currently (2017) produces about 80 percent of the world's
ballpoint pens relied up to 2017 on imported ballpoint tips and metal alloys.[44]

The common ballpoint pen is a product of mass production, with components produced separately on assembly lines.[43]
Basic steps in the manufacturing process include production of ink formulas, moulding of metal and plastic components,
and assembly.[3] Marcel Bich was involved in developing the production of inexpensive ballpoint pens.[4]

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Standards
The International Organization for Standardization has published standards for ball point and roller ball pens:

ISO 12756
1998: Drawing and writing instruments Ball point pens Vocabulary[45]
ISO 12757-1
1998: Ball point pens and refills Part 1: General use[46]
ISO 12757-2
1998: Ball point pens and refills Part 2: Documentary use (DOC)[47]
ISO 14145-1
1998: Roller ball pens and refills Part 1: General use[48]
ISO 14145-2
1998: Roller ball pens and refills Part 2: Documentary use (DOC)[49]

Guinness World Record

The world's largest functioning ballpoint pen was made by Acharya Makunuri Srinivasa in India. The pen measures 5.5 m
(18 ft 0.53 in) long and weighs 37.23 kg (82.08 lb 1.24 oz).[50]

See also
Gel pen
List of pen types, brands and companies
Retractable pen
Rollerball pen
Ballpoint pen knife

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47. "ISO 12757-2:1998 Ball point pens and refills Part 2: Documentary use (DOC)" (http://www.iso.org/iso/en/Catalog
ueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?CSNUMBER=23718&ICS1=1&ICS2=100&ICS3=40). Iso.org. 12 June 2009.
Retrieved 11 September 2010.
48. "ISO 14145-1:1998 Roller ball pens and refills Part 1: General use" (http://www.iso.org/iso/en/CatalogueDetailPag
e.CatalogueDetail?CSNUMBER=23719&ICS1=97&ICS2=180&ICS3=). Iso.org. 12 June 2009. Retrieved
11 September 2010.
49. "ISO 14145-2:1998 Roller ball pens and refills Part 2: Documentary use (DOC)" (http://www.iso.org/iso/en/Catalog
ueDetailPage.CatalogueDetail?CSNUMBER=23720&ICS1=1&ICS2=100&ICS3=40). Iso.org. 12 June 2009.
Retrieved 11 September 2010.
50. "Largest ball point pen" (http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/31621-largest-ball-point-pen). Guinness
World Records. Retrieved 2016-12-14.

External links
A history of the ballpoint pen (http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/story055.htm).
Did Biros really revolutionise writing? (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6173154.stm) BBC News 24
October 2006
Laszlo Biro on Jewish.hu's list of famous Hungarians (https://web.archive.org/web/20130522234407/http://jewish.hu/v
iew.php?clabel=biro_laszlo)
The Ballpointer online journal covering ballpoint pen artwork (http://www.theballpointer.com)

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