The ballpoint pen was an innovative creation that stemmed from quills and ink, and the fountain pen exists now as a critical form of communication, self-expression, and modern business. The creation of the ballpoint pen coincides with the steady decrease in illiteracy.
In 1950, Bic Cristal was invented and became the first widely accessible pen and in today's world, most Americans can walk into any chain store like Staples, Office Depot, Target, or Walmart to purchase one. The ballpoint pen started at the hands of John L. Loud who patented the ball and socket mechanism. His goal was to have a versatile ink pen that could write on leather and wood as well as paper though his creation was too rough for paper. In 1931, Hungarian-Argentine inventor Laszlo Biro and his brother, Gyorgy, used Loud's delivery system and repurposed oil-based news ink. Biro found fountain pens to be too leaky and the ink smudged too easily. When Gyorgy found a way to use the news ink it solved the slow drying problem. Later in 1938, Biro renovated the original design and patented The Birome, which fixed the problems of the ink reservoir and delivery system. The Birome came in the years of World War II and these pens were used by men in aircrafts because the ink could stand the high altitude and not leak. Milton Reynolds then created his own patent which was a modified version of Biro's design in order to avoid infringement, also using liquid ink that flowed with gravity.
Before the ballpoint pen, only those who were skilled and crafted in writing or penmanship could write consistently, and most artists worked within guild shops within a trade. The creation of the ballpoint pen leads to communication and writing being more accessible to the average person. As innovations occurred it also became more affordable. The ballpoint pen helped to solve illiteracy, and created an avenue for artistry. Although it did begin the decline of the use of cursive, due to the thickness of the ink used for the pen. The thicker ink led to less mess and smudging because it was quicker to dry but the angle way the pen is used to paper makes the use of cursive forced whereas with the fountain the ink flowed that way. In modern times cursive lessons are almost completely gone from the grade school curriculum while the ballpoint pen is a modern technology of today.
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Rothman, L. (2015, October 29). Ballpoint Pen history: Why the invention was such a big deal. Time. Retrieved November 9, 2022, from https://time.com/4083274/ballpoint-pen/
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