Who invented the ballpoint pen and when: from the first inventor to its modern form. The history of the ballpoint pen

05.08.2019

The ballpoint pen in its modern form was invented by Laszlo Biro, a Hungarian journalist who lived in Argentina for many years. The Biro ballpoint pen appeared in 1931, however, he managed to register a patent for his invention only in 1938. But to be considered the sole inventor ballpoint pen Biro would be unfair, since the principle itself - a rotating ball that transfers ink to paper - was not invented by him, but in the 19th century by John Loud from Massachusetts (USA). He managed to create sufficiently viscous ink that would not leak, but at the same time “smear” on the paper, leaving a mark. John Laud patented his invention in 1888, that is, almost half a century before Laszlo Biro. Why was it necessary to reinvent the ballpoint pen? The problem was that the Lauda pen and all subsequent varieties had problems with the ink - small fluctuations in temperature would make it either runny or thick, and then the pen would stop writing altogether. Optimal temperature, at which the ballpoint pen wrote as it should, was within 20-22 degrees.

Laszlo recruited his brother Györð, a chemist by training, to work on the ballpoint pen. Together they managed to develop high-quality ink that did not run or thicken. With the outbreak of the World War, he and his brother decided to leave for South America(Argentina), where a factory for the production of pens was opened in 1943. However, their tests did not end there - despite the newly invented ink, the pen had to be kept in a vertical position at all times, otherwise it would refuse to write. The factory had to be closed. The brothers revised the traditional design, which had gained recognition since Laud's time, choosing a capillary system for supplying ink to the ball. The Biro brothers protected their newly invented pen with an Argentine patent and sold it to Eversharp, which began producing them.

But even after all the improvements, the pen suffered from the same shortcomings as before, although to a much lesser extent. The further development of the ballpoint pen was undertaken by Marcel Beach, a manufacturer from Paris who produced writing instruments. In the 50s, he bought the patent for the Biro brothers' ballpoint pen. He sharply reduced the size of the ball in the pen, thanks to which it began to write finely, and the ink practically did not flow out and did not leave blots. By 1952, after carefully studying all available pen models, he created perfect pen- both in terms of writing quality and price. Having received an American patent for his pen, he managed to break into the US market with his invention. For the American consumer, he slightly modified his last name - to BiC. You may know it not only for its handles, but also for its disposable, inexpensive razors.

Many people in the world still use the results of the work of those who invented the ballpoint pen - simple, inexpensive, easy to use and so ordinary, unnoticeable in Everyday life that we don’t even think about what a difficult path this invention has actually traveled over the last hundred years small years old, with surprise to discover that quite recently the ballpoint pen was not in use and people wrote with a fountain pen or even in the old fashioned way, as many centuries ago - with feathers and ink.

History of the pen- this is the centuries-old evolution of writing, which occurred, sometimes independently, in different countries and on different continents.

It cannot be reliably said that there is someone who took and invented the pen. As a rule, each person added or improved something to an existing product.

Background 1

Reed handles Let us recall that the essence of writing is the reflection of signs and symbols in any form on any arbitrary surface for the purpose of their subsequent repeated reading.

Accordingly, you can squeeze out these signs, scratch them, burn them, or, of course, just draw them. For example, using any liquid substance such as paint or ink.

Since time immemorial, around 4000-3000 BC, people have used bronze, stone or iron sticks, with the help of which they scratched or squeezed out the first writings on clay tablets, tree bark (the prototype of modern paper) or, as in Rome, wooden boards covered with wax.

Ink and feathers

Pen and ink When ink and parchment came into use, the approach to writing changed significantly. However, the use of ink for a long time remained far from a trivial task. There is even such a word - calligraphy, meaning neat writing without blots or blots.

Preparing the Pen Obviously, a lot depends not only on dexterity and skill, but also on what tool we use. For example, if the object used for writing or drawing is sharpened, the lines will be thinner and more accurate.

So for a record time long period in the 12th centuries, starting from the 6th century AD, the most suitable material for making writing objects was steel feathers of large birds. On the one hand, the feathers were always at hand, on the other hand, they were easily sharpened and cost practically nothing.

In the 18th century, Russia supplied England with several million goose feathers for writing annually.

Feather problems

A fountain pen The most the main problem quills for writing was that the quills quickly dulled and had to be constantly sharpened. In this regard, even the most expensive and beautiful feather pens were very short-lived.

Another difficulty was that only 3-5 of the outermost feathers of the bird were suitable for use for writing. Moreover, whether the bird’s wing was right or left mattered, so only feathers from the bird’s right feather were suitable for right-handed people.

One of the most not only obvious but also effective solutions was found in the division of the feather into two components - pen tip(thrown away after it became unusable) and pen holder(a beautiful, expensive and at the same time durable part).

It is noteworthy that in Russian, pens that used a feather as a writing element were called - fountain pens. While the analogue of a fountain pen in English language called - fountain (ink) pen, which can be translated as - ink pen.

Penknife- a small folding knife used for sharpening (sharpening) quills for writing.

Etymology of words

The division of the pen into two parts - the pen-tip and the pen-holder, and the transformation of the latter into simply a holder (i.e. the holder could be anything, not necessarily a pen), led to the fact that the pen-tip began to be called simply pen, and the holder began to be called pen for pen(i.e. the part by which we hold an object with our hand, just like the handle of a bag or a door handle).

But with the advent of ballpoint pens, the need for a pen completely disappears. A penholder naturally (there is no more pen) turns into just handle- a word that since then will become independent and which we currently we use (without even thinking) to designate a completely writing pen.

In English, things happened a little differently. So the word pen(in English - pen), which comes from the Latin word penna(in Latin - feather), has retained its original meaning.

In Russian the word feather transformed into a word pen, in English, it’s all one word - pen.

Brahma machine

Joseph Bramah In 1809, the famous English inventor, Joseph Bramah 2 (Joseph Bramah) invented and patented a machine for cutting pens, which allowed some degree of automation in the process of sharpening pen nibs.

At the same time, Brahm’s machine made it possible not only to cut the pen barrel into separate tendrils by dividing it into three or even four parts (thereby optimally preparing the tip for writing), but also to actually cut the pen tip in the transverse direction into 4 or 5 parts, practically preparing several tips in reserve.

The division of the pen into two components, as well as the use of the Brahm machine and similar devices, made it possible to some extent to solve the difficulties with the use of the first fountain pens.

Joseph Bramah also known for such inventions as the hydraulic press (1785) and the toilet flush (1775).

Metal feathers

Metal feathers In 1803, a patent was received for a metal pen invented 10 years earlier. At the same time, it received real success in the writing instruments market only 30 years later, when in the English city Birmingham 3 their mass production began.

In 1822 two brothers John And William Mitchells, for the first time in history, created mass production of pens with a metal nib (in Birmingham).

Joseph Guillot At the same time, production technologies were constantly improving, so in 1828, Joshua Mason further improved the pen nib, adapting it to a fountain pen, and soon Joseph Guillot(William Joseph Gillott) William Mitchell(William Mitchell), and James Perry(James Stephen Perry) introduced the world to a new machine for the production of metal feathers, which was highly efficient and significantly reduced production costs.

By the mid-1850s, half of the world's metal pens and metal nibs were produced in Birmingham's manufactories, of which there were about a hundred and employed about 8,000 workers (70% of whom were women).

According to historians in XIX century - 75% everything that was written was produced precisely in Birmingham.

Pen with ink tank

Daniel Schwenter Attempts to create a pen that would contain ink inside itself, and thereby be autonomous, continued throughout the use of quills and fountain pens.

For example, back in 1636, the German inventor Daniel Schwenter 4 (Daniel Schwenter) wrote a work entitled - Entertaining physics and mathematics 5 (Delicia Physic-Mathematicae), in which he described a pen containing a reservoir of ink.

Schwenter's work
(1636) Daniel's basic idea was that one pen was inside another and served as a reservoir for ink. In this case, the ink located inside the reservoir was localized using a simple plug and squeezed out through a small hole at the other end.

In 1809, in England, Bartholomew Folch(Bartholomew Folsch) received the first patent for a pen with an ink reservoir. Of course, in practical terms, the pen with a reservoir was of little use for constant use and was not widely used at that time.

The Myth of the First Inventor

Lewis Waterman It is widely believed that the inventor of the first fountain pen was a simple American insurance agent - Lewis Edson Waterman(Lewis Edson Waterman). Another American “success story” that famously entered the consciousness of ordinary people, flavored with a story about how Lewis wanted to sign an important contract and supposedly his pen turned out to be writing and so he, sad and upset, took it and invented the real first automatic pen.

Waterman's patent
(1884) Of course, Lewis improved one of the models of the fountain pen, which he had long used and which was invented long before his first patent in 1884 7 . However, the company Waterman, went on to become America's leading fountain pen manufacturer and remained so until the mid-1920s, thus benefiting most (at least in America) from an invention that had been around long before they released their first fountain pen.

Neither Luce Waterman nor his company not invented the first automatic fountain pen, as is commonly considered.

Petrasche Poinaru Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, dozens of patents for inventions and improvements were received in different countries different models automatic fountain pens.

However, one of the very first patents for a fountain pen is a patent issued by the French government May 25, 1827 Romanian inventor Petrasche Poinaru 6 (Petrache Poenaru).

Poinaru Patent (1827) While still a student in Paris, Petrash invented a pen, which he patented for no other reason than - Never-ending portable pen with automatic ink supply 8 (Plume portable sans fin, qui s’alimente elle-meme avec de l’ancre).

Since then there have been many improvements, the key ones being the invention of the iridium tip, the discovery of ebonite, and the improvement of the ink supply system. It was only after all these discoveries that fountain pens gained widespread popularity and the era of their mass production and use began in the 1880s.

Invention first fountain pen took shape over centuries, during which hundreds of patents were obtained.

Not as simple as it might seem, and much older than what is officially documented.

Background

The idea of a ballpoint writing unit using oil-based paste ink can be traced back to... Holland in the 17th century! The sailors of the then “Mistress of the Seas” needed writing materials that were unbreakable, non-spillable, and that could be used in stormy weather. The Netherlands were perhaps the firstborn of the European industrial revolution.

However, the level of development of mechanical engineering and chemical technology at that time did not allow the creation of a device suitable for practical needs. Like a marine chronometer for precise definition longitude Hans Christian Huygens himself worked on it in vain, but the idea, which was correct in principle, was realized only in the 19th century.

At the same time, when the accuracy of metalworking reached an acceptable level, and chemists could accurately develop substances of complex composition, the principle of operation of a ballpoint pen was patented. Exact name, date, and country - October 30, 1888, John Loud, USA.

Laud correctly formulated the main highlight of “”: the forces of viscous friction and surface tension in a thick liquid will not allow, when pressed by hand, to rest against the upper neck of its hole, jam and block the flow of ink. Laud also determined the physical and chemical requirements for the ink: they must be thixotropic, that is, they must liquefy under mechanical loads - friction, pressure. Ball writing unit will never dry out only when filled with thixotropic ink.

A good thixotropic substance is pine rosin. If you run your finger along a piece of it with pressure, you will first feel roughness, as if you were running over a solid body. But then the finger begins to slide, as if on paraffin or soap, although the piece has not yet warmed up to softening.

Start

Further efforts of the inventors went more along the path of improving the composition of the ink. The first workable design suitable for mass production was created in 1938 by the Hungarian journalist László József Bíró, who lived in Argentina. In Argentina, ballpoint pens are still called "biroms". However, the Anglo-Saxons dispute his priority, citing a US patent dated June 10, 1943, to Milton Reynolds.

Reynolds appears to have been unaware of the Biro pen, and developed a similar design and ink himself. He worked for the needs of the US Air Force and England. Their bomber armadas flew at high altitudes; pressurized cabins did not yet exist; the pilots spent many hours in oxygen masks. The usual ones flowed at low atmospheric pressure, and using pencils was inconvenient.

In essence, there is no reason for a patent dispute here; the “ball” was invented by Biro. But the fact that Biro’s priority was disputed on the grounds that he was a citizen of fascist Hungary and lived in Argentina, which was formally neutral, but secretly and actively helped Hitler, looks unsightly. Of course, no one denies or belittles the crimes of Nazism, but technology is in no way to blame for them.

Further, the “ball” was simplified and made cheaper by Marcel Bich in France in 1953. He proposed making the core - an ampoule with ink - with thicker walls, and using it as a pen body. This is how the still widespread disposable cheap BIC pens appeared, only the name of the inventor is written in English transcription.

For quite a long time, ballpoint pens were prohibited from being used in primary school schools. They still wrote poorly, often becoming clogged with lint from the paper, and those who immediately began to write with “balls” lost their handwriting forever.

Modernity

The final point in improving the ballpoint pen was set by specialists from the Japanese company Ohto Co in 1963. They began to make the rolled hole in which the ball was placed not round in cross section, but in the form of three converging channels. The design of the writing unit of a modern ballpoint pen is shown in the figure. Such a pen can write on almost any ink-retaining material, and will not clog, even if you draw on a large clump of cotton wool with it.

Unfortunately, the names of the inventors are unknown: according to Japanese corporate rules, all intellectual property developed in the company belongs to the company. The true inventor is under threat severe punishment cannot claim authorship even in a private conversation.

Improvements

In 1984 another Japanese company, Sakura Color Products Corp., replaced oil ink with synthetic gel ink, while at the same time increasing the diameter of the ball to 0.7 mm. This is how the rollerball pen appeared, Native sister"ball". With a rollerball you can write literally without pressure, even on glass, polished metal and wet packaging cardboard, and the ink trail is clearer than from a “balloon”.

With the beginning of space flights, we encountered a problem: pens, including ballpoint pens, did not write in zero gravity, and graphite pencils produced shavings and conductive dust. Soviet cosmonauts For a long time, American astronauts used wax pencils, right up to the flights to the Moon - special mechanical ones, $100 apiece at the then exchange rate.

However, back in 1967, entrepreneur Paul Fisher offered NASA his Zero Gravity Pen, or Space Pen (zero-gravity pen or space pen). The ball in it was made of tungsten carbide (in our country it is known as pobedit). The entire writing unit was manufactured with precision precision. The ink ampoule (cartridge) is sealed and contains nitrogen under a pressure of 2.4 atm. Ink with a pronounced thixotropy; it is separated from the gas by a viscous moving plug.

The development of the AG7 Space Pen is one of the legends of NASA, the reason for its accusations and anecdotes about it. AG7 cost... $1,000,000! Although the already experienced Fisher did not cause any complaints from the astronauts. Currently widely available models cost from $6 to $100. They write on anything in the temperature range from –30 to +120 degrees Celsius in air, in a vacuum and under water. Guaranteed service life – 120 years.

So who, after all?

There is a tendency in the history of great inventions: as a rule, it is impossible to name one specific inventor. Exceptions, like the inventor of rubber, Charles Goodyear, who literally randomly “poured” sulfur into raw rubber, are extremely rare. For the most part, specialists simply avoid priority discussions.

A. S. Popov and Guglielmo Marconi, for example, did not touch upon priority issues in their correspondence; they discussed the problems of radio engineering. Only once did Marconi state in a public report: his English patent gave him the right to commercially use radio in Great Britain, and it was Popov who transmitted and received the world’s first radiogram.

Same with a ballpoint pen. It would be more correct to say: she is the fruit of many years collective creativity people who worked to meet the basic needs of humanity.

Pen - writing utensil, with which you can leave an ink mark on a surface (usually paper).
The following are distinguished: handle types:
ballpoint pens,
fountain pens,
capillary pens,
markers,
engineering pens,
gel (helium) pens.
Ball pens, fountain pens and gel pens sometimes have “erasable” ink.

Term and history

Writing pens have been known since ancient times, from about 3000 BC. e., and were cut from reed stalks. English word“pen” (pen, writing pen) comes from the Latin “penna” (bird feather), since goose feathers, which were ground at the root, became widespread. From the 6th century BC. e. feathers have been used for over a thousand years by many civilizations. The best samples made from feathers of swans, turkeys and geese as having feathers in their wings largest size. Archaeological finds in the ruins of Pompeii include bronze versions of feathers, but they became widespread only towards the end of the 18th century. A century later, fountain pens appeared, the capillary system for which was invented by L.E. Waterman, a New York seller stationery. Laszlo Biro, relying on latest methods manufacturing ball bearings for cars and weapons, added a ball mechanism to the capillaries and introduced the ballpoint pen to the world around 1944. Tokyo stationery company Pentel was the first to introduce the felt-tip pen to the world in 1960.
The Russian term comes from the word “hand”.

Ball pen

Main article: Ball pen
Invented by the Hungarian journalist Laszlo Biro. In the Argentine city where the journalist lived for many years, such pens are called “biromes” in his honor; the eponymous name “biro” is also common in Europe.
Originally intended for the Royal air force UK as usual fountain pens did not function in airplanes at high altitudes.
There are two types ballpoint pens- disposable and refillable.

Culture

Since the 1960s, Fischer developed Space pens that could operate at zero atmospheric pressure, in conditions of weightlessness and extreme temperatures. Before its development, the American aerospace agency NASA used pencils for its lunar program, but the latter often broke and posed a danger to the astronaut (chips could get into his eye). In addition, the tree posed a fire hazard in an oxygen atmosphere. It should be noted that these pens are not the only ones that can be used in space, ordinary ballpoint pens They also do a good job.

Erasable ink pens

Reverse erasable pens became a thing from the early 1980s to the early 1990s. Available in blue, black and red ink. Pens have almost fallen into disuse due to poor ink quality, non-erasability, and lack of specific use.

Pen computer

A special manipulator that looks like a pen allows you to enter handwritten data into the computer. Further, the entered images can be interpreted by an optical character recognition system. See Light Pen, Graphics Tablet, Touch Screen.

History of writing instruments (writing instruments)

Dating back just over 6,000 years, it is marked by milestones leading to changes in technology and methods and in summary looks like that:
Around 3000-4000 BC. e.
A person scratches a wet clay tablet with a bronze or bone stick.
Around 3000 BC e.
The Egyptians begin to use images in their writings. Inscriptions on a papyrus scroll are applied with thin reed brushes or feathers
1300 BC e.
The Romans used thin sheets of wax applied to wooden tiles and metal pens for writing. What is written with the second end of the pen is erased.
Middle Ages
In addition to parchment, the Anglo-Saxons used tiles filled with wax. They write with metal or bone quills, one end of which is sharpened and the other is used for erasing.
600-1800 AD
Europeans discovered that using a sharpened quill changed the style of writing (handwriting). At first they use only capital letters, but later they use capital letters to increase their writing speed. A fountain pen(quill pen) (first introduced in Seville, Spain) was used as a writing instrument from 600 to 1800 AD.
1790s
Lead pencil invented independently in France and Australia.
1800-1850
Metal a fountain pen was patented in 1803, but the patent was not used in commercial purposes. Steel feathers came into public use in the 1830s. In the 19th century, metal pens completely replaced quill pens. In the 1850s, the use of quill pens decreased markedly when the quality of steel pens was improved by making tips from heavy alloys with the addition of iridium, rhodium, and osmium.
1844
Lewis Edson Waterman, an insurance agent, invented the first real fountain pen.
1888-1916
Invention of the operating principle ballpoint pen officially dates from the late 19th century. In 1888, John Loud received a patent, in 1916 - Van Vechten Reisberg. Unlike other patents, these were used for commercial purposes.
1940s
The invention of the modern ballpoint pen is attributed to Josef (László) and George Biro (see above). In the summer of 1943, the first industrial copies were made. The rights to the patent were purchased by the British Parliament. Ball pen was used by the military during the Second World War, as it was more convenient and durable than feather.
1945
The ballpoint pen appeared on the US market. The pen was marketed as "the first pen to write underwater." The success turned out to be dizzying. One from the departments of a large department store in New York sold more than 10,000 pens during lunch on October 29, 1945.
1953
The first inexpensive ones ballpoint pens appeared when the French Baron Bich, BIC Co, engaged in the production ballpoint pens, managed to significantly reduce production costs by improving the technological process.
1960s
A felt-tip pen was invented in Japan (see above). In the 1960s, felt-tip pens appeared on the American market and captured it. Following the success of felt-tip pens, pen production is acquiring departments for the production of any of their modifications, including markers.
1980-1990s
Rollerballs. Rollerball pens appeared in the early 1980s. Unlike the thick ink used in a regular ballpoint pen, rollerball pens feature a movable ball and liquid ink, resulting in a smoother line on paper. Technological advances in the late 1980s and early 1990s greatly improved roller skates in every way.
1990s-…
Handles with rubberized surfaces, which reduce pressure on the handle, are gaining public acceptance.
1997…
RingPen pens have been launched into mass production (see above). These pens are designed to allow you to write without pressing down on the pen with three fingers.

Ballpoint pens for writing, so familiar to us from childhood, are far from the first pens used by humanity. Let's find out the history of these writing instruments, let's see who invented the pen, when and how.

Invention of the fountain pen

The evolution of writing instruments goes back to ancient times. Then there were bone sticks, and reed tassels, and metal feathers, and finally a goose feather. The latter was first used in Spain from 600 to 1800 AD. And the first patented metal fountain pen appeared in 1803.

Who invented the fountain pen

Who invented the ballpoint pen

The principle of operation of ballpoint pens was invented at the end of the 19th century. John Loud received a patent for this in 1888. The 1940s were significant for Laszlo Biro when the modern ballpoint pen, which we are accustomed to seeing since childhood, was invented.

Laszlo Biro was a Hungarian journalist who was interested in painting. This man came up with a method of using a ball in pens, which, when the pen moves, will rotate and thereby transfer ink to the sheet. It was Biro who added a ball mechanism to the capillary channel of the handles. The inventor relied on methods for producing ball bearings for weapons and machines.

The patent for the ballpoint pen was acquired by the British Parliament. The soldiers of World War II used such pens back then. It was only in 1945 that the ballpoint pen appeared on the US market.

Who invented the gel pen and when?

The rollerball pen was invented in 1963 by a Japanese company called Ohto Co. This type of pen also uses a ballpoint mechanism, but the refill is filled not with ink, but with a coloring liquid on water based or gel. But the use of gel in a pen began in 1984, it was invented by another Japanese company - Sakura Color Products Corp.

Gel pens require more frequent refill replacement, but have a number of advantages: