Editing Ballpoint pen (section)

==History==
[[File:Ballpointpentip lessnoise.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Tip of a ballpoint pen magnified]]

===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.

The first [[patent]] for a ballpoint pen<ref>Collingridge, M. R. ''et al.'' (2007) "Ink Reservoir Writing Instruments 1905–20" ''Transactions of the Newcomen Society'' 77(1): pp.&nbsp;69–100, p. 69</ref><ref>[Japes P. Mannings, "Reservoir, Fountain, and Stylographic Pens"], ''Journal of the Society of Arts'', October 27, 1905, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_7pJAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1150 p. 1150] </ref> was issued on 30 October 1888, to [[John J. Loud]],<ref>Great Britain Patent No. 15630, 30 October 2008</ref> 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"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.google.com/patents/US392046 |title=Patent US392046 - op weym - Google Patents |publisher=Google.com |date= |accessdate=2014-03-08}}</ref> which then-common [[fountain pen]]s 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<ref name="About"/> and the patent eventually lapsed.<ref name="1940s"/>
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.<ref name="bpp encyc"/> Patents filed worldwide during early development are testaments to failed attempts at making the pens commercially viable and widely available.<ref name="web"/> Early ballpoints did not deliver the ink evenly; overflow and clogging were among the obstacles inventors faced toward developing reliable ballpoint pens.<ref name="How ballpoints work"/> If the ball socket were too tight, or the ink too thick, it would not reach the paper. If the socket were too loose, or the ink too thin, the pen would leak or the ink would smear.<ref name="How ballpoints work"/> Ink reservoirs pressurized by piston, spring, [[capillary action]], and gravity would all serve as solutions to ink-delivery and flow problems.<ref>Collingridge, M. R. ''et al.'' (2007) "Ink Reservoir Writing Instruments 1905–20" ''Transactions of the Newcomen Society'' 77(1): pp.&nbsp;69–100, page 80</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Webshark Ltd. – www.webshark.hu |url=http://www.herend.com/herald/012/eng/eletmod.htm |title=A porcelán-arany csoda |publisher=Herend |date= |accessdate=11 September 2010}}</ref>

[[László Bíró]], 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 printing dried quickly, leaving the paper dry and smudge free. He decided to create a pen using the same type of ink.<ref name="How ballpoints work"/> Bíró enlisted the help of his brother György, a chemist,<ref name="How ballpoints work"/> to develop viscous ink formulae for new ballpoint designs.<ref name="bpp encyc"/>

Bíró's innovation successfully coupled ink-viscosity with a ball-socket mechanism which act compatibly to prevent ink from drying inside the reservoir while allowing controlled flow.<ref name="How ballpoints work"/> Bíró filed a British patent on 15 June 1938.<ref name="About"/><ref>''The first complete specifications appear to be UK 498997, June 1938 and UK 512218, December 1938; his rather basic Hungarian patent 120037 was dated April 1938.'' Collingridge, M. R. ''et al.'' (2007) "Ink Reservoir Writing Instruments 1905–20" ''Transactions of the Newcomen Society'' 77(1): pp.&nbsp;69–100, p. 80</ref>

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.<ref name="About"/> Their pen was sold in Argentina as the ''Birome'' (portmanteau of the names Bíró and Meyne), which is how ballpoint pens are still known in that country.<ref name="About"/> 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.<ref name="How ballpoints work"/>

Bíró's patent, and other early patents on ballpoint pens often used the term "ball-point fountain pen".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vYr8AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA570&dq=%22ball%20point%20fountain%20pen%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjtnKXRptrJAhUKtIMKHcrKADwQ6AEIMjAA#v=onepage&q=%22ball%20point%20fountain%20pen%22&f=false|title=Patent Log: Innovative Patents that Advanced the United States Navy|first1=Douglas E.|last1=Campbell|first2=Stephen J.|last2=Chant|date=30 March 2017|publisher=Lulu.com|accessdate=30 March 2017|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.google.com/patents/US2474300|title=Ball point fountain pen|publisher=|accessdate=30 March 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.google.com/patents/US2966417|title=Red ball point fountain pen inks and colorants therefor|publisher=|accessdate=30 March 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.google.com.ar/patents/US2592406|title=Fountain pen of the ball point type|publisher=|accessdate=30 March 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.google.com/patents/US2486869|title=Ball-point fountain pen|publisher=|accessdate=30 March 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.google.com/patents/US2390636|title=Writing instrument|publisher=|accessdate=30 March 2017}}</ref>

===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 pencil]]s, teamed up with [[Eberhard Faber]] Co. to license the rights from Birome for sales in the United States.<ref name="About"/><ref name="1940s"/>

During the same period, American entrepreneur [[Milton Reynolds]] came across a Birome ballpoint pen during a business trip to [[Buenos Aires]], Argentina.<ref name="About"/><ref name="1940s"/> Recognizing commercial potential, he purchased several ballpoint samples, returned to the United States, and founded ''[[Milton Reynolds#The Reynolds International Pen Company|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.<ref name="About"/><ref name="1940s"/> Debuting at [[Gimbels]] department store in New York City on 29 October 1945,<ref name="1940s"/> for US$12.50 each (1945 US dollar value, about ${{Inflation|US|12.50|1945}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars),<ref name="1940s"/> ''Reynolds Rocket'' became the first commercially successful ballpoint pen.<ref name="About"/><ref name="How ballpoints work"/><ref>{{cite book|title=Inventing the 20th century: 100 inventions that shaped the world|year=2002|publisher=NYU Press|author=Stephen Van Dulken|author2=Andrew Phillips|page=106}}</ref> 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.<ref name="About"/>

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.<ref name="1940s"/> By the early 1950s the ballpoint boom had subsided and Reynolds' company folded.<ref name="About"/>

[[Paper Mate]] pens, among the emerging ballpoint brands of the 1950s, bought the rights to distribute their own ballpoint pens in Canada.<ref name="intrigue"/> Facing concerns about ink-reliability, Paper Mate pioneered new ink formulas and advertised them as "banker-approved".<ref name="1940s"/> In 1954, [[Parker Pens]] released ''[[Jotter|The Jotter]]''—the company's first ballpoint—boasting additional features and technological advances which also included the use of tungsten-carbide textured ball-bearings in their pens.<ref name="About"/> In less than a year, Parker sold several million pens at prices between three and nine dollars.<ref name="About"/> In the 1960s, the failing [[Eversharp|Eversharp Co.]] sold its pen division to Parker and ultimately folded.<ref name="About"/>

[[Marcel Bich]] also introduced a ballpoint pen to the American marketplace in the 1950s, licensed from Bíró and based on the Argentine designs.<ref name="bpp encyc"/><ref name="Phaidon"/> Bich shortened his name to Bic in 1953, becoming the ballpoint brand now recognised globally.<ref name="How ballpoints work"/> Bic pens struggled until the company launched its "Writes The First Time, Every Time!" advertising campaign in the 1960s.<ref name="How ballpoints work"/> Competition during this era forced unit prices to drop considerably.<ref name="How ballpoints work"/>