Editing Ballpoint pen (section)

==History==
[[File:Bic (28332699).jpeg|right|thumb|Magnified tip of a ballpoint pen]]
[[File:Close-up-of-the-tip-of-a-ballpoint-pen.gif|thumb|Movement of the ball in a ballpoint pen]]

===Origins===
{{multiple image
| align = right
| image1 = Bolígrafo birome II edit.jpg
| width1 = 60
| alt1 =
| caption1 =
| image2 = Bolígrafo marca birome I.jpg
| width2 = 200
| alt2 =
| caption2 =
| footer = At left, an authentic Birome made in Argentina by Bíró & Meyne. At right, Birome advertisement in Argentine magazine ''Leoplán'', 1945.
}}

The concept of using a "ball point" within a writing instrument to apply 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'', 27 October 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=https://patents.google.com/patent/US392046 |title=Patent US392046 – op weym – Google Patents |access-date=8 March 2014 |archive-date=18 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140518191334/http://www.google.com/patents/US392046 |url-status=live }}</ref> which [[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 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 are known today arose from experimentation, modern chemistry, and the 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 faced by early inventors{{Who|date=February 2023}}<!-- Who? -->.<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 a 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 1905–2005". ''Transactions of the Newcomen Society'' 77(1): pp.&nbsp;69–100, p. 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 |access-date=11 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012134119/http://herend.com/herald/012/eng/eletmod.htm |archive-date=12 October 2007 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

[[László Bíró]], a [[Hungarian language|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. 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 dentist with useful knowledge of chemistry,<ref>Collingridge, M. R. et al. (2007) "Ink Reservoir Writing Instruments 1905–2005". ''Transactions of the Newcomen Society'' 77(1): pp.&nbsp;69–100, p. 81</ref> to develop viscous ink formulae for new ballpoint designs.<ref name="bpp encyc"/>

Bíró's innovation successfully coupled viscous ink with a ball-and-socket mechanism that allowed controlled flow while preventing ink from drying inside the reservoir.<ref name="How ballpoints work"/> Bíró filed for 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 1905–2005". ''Transactions of the Newcomen Society'' 77(1): pp.&nbsp;69–100, p. 80</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://bhl.org.uy/index.php/La_Birome |title=La Birome |access-date=10 February 2023 |archive-date=10 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210121720/https://bhl.org.uy/index.php/La_Birome |url-status=live }}</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", from 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 engineer [[Frederick George Miles]] and manufactured by his company [[Miles Aircraft]], to be used by [[Royal Air Force]] aircrew as the "Biro".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Maksel |first=Rebecca |title=If You Like Ballpoint Pens, Thank the R.A.F. |url=https://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/ballpoint-pens-RAF-180955537/ |access-date=2020-12-30 |website=Air & Space Magazine |language=en |archive-date=28 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201228135430/https://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/ballpoint-pens-RAF-180955537/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Ballpoint pens were found to be more versatile than fountain pens, especially in airplanes, where fountain pens were prone to leak.<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 book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vYr8AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA570 |title=Patent Log: Innovative Patents that Advanced the United States Navy |first1=Douglas E. |last1=Campbell |first2=Stephen J. |last2=Chant |year=2017 |publisher=Lulu.com |isbn=978-1-105-62562-6 |access-date=30 March 2017 |via=[[Google Books]] }}{{self-published source|date=February 2020}}</ref>{{self-published inline|date=February 2020}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US2474300 |title=Ball point fountain pen |publisher=[[United States Patent Office]] |access-date=30 March 2017 |via=[[Google Patents]] |archive-date=31 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170331121151/http://www.google.com/patents/US2474300 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US2966417 |title=Red ball point fountain pen inks and colorants therefor |publisher=[[United States Patent Office]] |access-date=30 March 2017 |via=[[Google Patents]] |archive-date=6 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506122136/http://www.google.com/patents/US2966417 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.google.com.ar/patents/US2592406 |title=Fountain pen of the ball point type |publisher=[[United States Patent Office]] |access-date=30 March 2017 |via=[[Google Patents]] |archive-date=31 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170331122307/http://www.google.com.ar/patents/US2592406 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US2486869 |title=Ball-point fountain pen |publisher=[[United States Patent Office]] |access-date=30 March 2017 |via=[[Google Patents]] |archive-date=12 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512005833/http://www.google.com/patents/US2486869 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US2390636 |title=Writing instrument |publisher=[[United States Patent Office]] |access-date=30 March 2017 |via=[[Google Patents]] |archive-date=30 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160430035748/http://www.google.com/patents/US2390636 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Postwar proliferation===
[[File:The New Redesigned Jotter.jpg|thumb|2018 Parker Jotters are similar to the version that first came out in 1954]]

Following World War II, many companies vied to commercially produce their own ballpoint pen design. In pre-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"/>

In 1946, a Spanish firm, Vila Sivill Hermanos, began to make a ballpoint, Regia Continua, and from 1953 to 1957 their factory also made Bic ballpoints, on contract with the French firm   [[Société Bic]].<ref>{{cite news|work=El Punt Avui|date=10 July 2016|url=http://admin.elpunt.cat/economia/article/18-economia/985015-el-meu-avi-va-fer-la-primera-estilografica-d-espanya-i-el-primer-boligraf-d-europa.html|last=Francesc|first=Muñoz|title=El meu avi va fer la primera estilogràfica d'Espanya i el primer bolígraf d'Europa|access-date=28 November 2019|archive-date=28 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200328234031/http://admin.elpunt.cat/economia/article/18-economia/985015-el-meu-avi-va-fer-la-primera-estilografica-d-espanya-i-el-primer-boligraf-d-europa.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

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 the [[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 US 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 [[Frederick George Miles|Miles]]-[[Miles Aircraft#Bankruptcy and receivership|(Harry) Martin pen company]] was producing the first commercially successful ballpoint pens there by the end of 1945.<ref name="About"/><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1976/1976%20-%201669.html "Miles."]  ''Flight International,'' 28 August 1976, p. 513.</ref><ref>[http://home.comcast.net/~aero51/html/other/biro.htm "The Biro Story."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905090817/http://home.comcast.net/~aero51/html/other/biro.htm |date=5 September 2008 }} ''comcast.net.''  Retrieved: 25 April 2012.</ref>

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]], going from [[luxury good]] to [[fungible]] [[consumable]].<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 "[[Parker 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, forming the ballpoint brand [[Société Bic|Bic]] now recognized globally.<ref name="How ballpoints work"/> Bic pens struggled until the company launched its "Writes First Time, Every Time!"<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bicfightforyourwrite.com/products/pens/ | title=BIC Fight for Your Write }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095504388 | title=BIC }}</ref> 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"/>

In 2002, the Pakistani company Shaheen Group entered the pen market with the subsidiary Shaheen Ballpoints, as in Pakistan the ballpoint pen had a big demand but its quality was low. Shaheen had to compete with foreign companies that were in Pakistan for decades, such as Sayyed Engineers, Dollar Industries, Shahsons and Indus Pencils. The wholesale market bought their stocks in advance, but after six months the company had to pull their stocks due technical and marketing issues.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Azhar |first1=Manqoosh ur Rehman Sarwar M. |year=2014 |title=Shaheen Ballpoints: a project of the Shaheen Group |url=https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/eemcs-10-2013-0199/full/html |access-date=25 February 2025 |journal=Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies |volume=4 |issue=4 |language=en |publisher=[[Emerald Group Publishing]]|pages=1–18|doi=10.1108/EEMCS-10-2013-0199|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

=== Production in China ===

Many industrial sites specialized in pen production were created in China. One important production site is the [[Fenshui Township, Tonglu|Fenshui Township]]. Their ballpoint pen production started in 1974, when the Hangzhou Ballpoint Pen Factory initiated its production using [[bamboo]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Chow |first1=Hal |date=10 August 2023 |title=Wonderful pens blooming flowers all over the city——The development practice of "block economy" in Tonglu water diversion |url=https://www.prostargifts.com/wonderful-pens-blooming-flowers-all-over-the-city-the-development-practice-of-block-economy-in-tonglu-water-diversion/ |access-date=25 February 2025 |website=Prostar |language=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250225043607/https://www.prostargifts.com/wonderful-pens-blooming-flowers-all-over-the-city-the-development-practice-of-block-economy-in-tonglu-water-diversion/ |archive-date=25 February 2025}}</ref> The [[Wengang|Wengang Township]] has a long tradition of brush pen production,<ref>{{cite news |last=Tong |first=Zhao |date=5 September 2021 |title=Across China: Locals paint prosperous lives in hometown of Chinese brush pens |url=http://en.people.cn/n3/2021/0905/c90000-9892213.html |publisher=[[People's Daily]] |url-status=live |access-date=25 February 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250225044935/http://en.people.cn/n3/2021/0905/c90000-9892213.html |archive-date=25 February 2025}}</ref> but all kinds of pens are produced, including ballpoint pens.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lee |first=Don |date=17 December 2007 |title=Fake pens write their own ticket |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-dec-17-fi-fakepens17-story.html |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url-status=live |access-date=25 February 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250225045434/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-dec-17-fi-fakepens17-story.html |archive-date=25 February 2025}}</ref> In 2002, China's Pen Capital was constructed in [[Wenzhou]], with an investment of ¥ 600 million. [[AIHAO]] was one of the first companies to move to the industrial site. Their most famous product is the ball-point pen.<ref name="world bank">{{cite book |last1=Dinh |first1=Hinh T. |last2=Rawski |first2=Thomas G. |last3=Zafar |first3=Ali |last4=Wang |first4=Lihong |last5=Mavroeidi |first5=Eleonora |year=2013 |title=Tales from the development frontier: how China and other countries harness light manufacturing to create jobs and prosperity |language=en |publisher=[[World Bank]] |isbn=978-0-8213-9989-7 |doi=10.1596/978-0-8213-9988-0|doi-broken-date=20 May 2025 }}</ref>{{Rp|[{{google books|RU1ZAQAAQBAJ|page=210|plainurl=yes}} 210–211]}}

In the 2000s, China ballpoint pen production skyrocketed. In 2017, China produced 38 billion ballpoint pens per year, 80% of the global market. But the country had a problem in doing precision engineering, including the ballpoint pen tip, that had to be imported from Germany, Switzerland and Japan for the cost of [[Yuan (currency)|¥]] 120 million a year.<ref name="china daily">{{cite news |last1=Ruisheng |first1=Sun |last2=Nan |first2=Zhong |date=18 January 2017 |title=China set to make own ballpoint pen tips |url=https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-01/18/content_27985815.htm |publisher=[[China Daily]] |url-status=live |access-date=25 February 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250225053605/https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-01/18/content_27985815.htm |archive-date=25 February 2025}}</ref><ref name="TWSJ">{{cite news |last1=Yap|first1=Chuin-Wei |date=30 January 2017 |title=With Pen Plan, China Etches Nationalist Economic Policy |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/with-pen-plan-china-etches-nationalist-economic-policy-1485785256 |newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |access-date=25 February 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Worstall |first=Tim |date=26 January 2016 |title=China Can't Make A Ballpoint Pen, And Why We Shouldn't Worry About TRIPS|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2016/01/26/china-cant-make-a-ballpoint-pen-and-why-we-shouldnt-worry-about-trips/ |work=[[Forbes]] |url-status=live |access-date=25 February 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250225051145/https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2016/01/26/china-cant-make-a-ballpoint-pen-and-why-we-shouldnt-worry-about-trips/ |archive-date=25 February 2025}}</ref> The subject was criticized by [[western media]]. ''[[Forbes]]'' argued that the lack of [[Intellectual property|IP]] protections were the cause of it, as the country wouldn't attract investments in innovation.<ref>{{cite news |last=Worsall |first=Tim |date=26 January 2016 |title=China Can't Make A Ballpoint Pen, And Why We Shouldn't Worry About TRIPS |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2016/01/26/china-cant-make-a-ballpoint-pen-and-why-we-shouldnt-worry-about-trips/ |work=[[Forbes]] |url-status=live |access-date=25 February 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250225051145/https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2016/01/26/china-cant-make-a-ballpoint-pen-and-why-we-shouldnt-worry-about-trips/ |archive-date=25 February 2025}}</ref> ''[[Financial Times]]'' argued that because of Chinese self-sufficiency policy, companies handled the entire [[supply chain]] by themselves, thus creating inefficiency.<ref name="FT">{{cite news |last=Murayama |first=Hiroshi |date=10 April 2017 |title=Ballpoint pens and the danger of China's 'one-dragon' policy |url=https://www.ft.com/content/a9050c2a-1b7b-11e7-a266-12672483791a |url-access=subscription |newspaper=[[Financial Times]] |url-status=live |access-date=25 February 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250225051705/https://www.ft.com/content/a9050c2a-1b7b-11e7-a266-12672483791a |archive-date=25 February 2025}}</ref> ''[[Hong Kong Economic Journal]]'' declared that "the day China can produce a 100% homemade ball pen will be the day it truly qualifies as a first-class industrial power".<ref name="sky news">{{cite news |last1=Minelle |first1=Bethany |date=13 January 2017 |title=Finally! After years of trying, China celebrates ballpoint pen breakthrough |url=https://news.sky.com/story/finally-after-years-of-trying-china-celebrates-ballpoint-pen-breakthrough-10726914 |publisher=[[Sky News]]}}</ref>

Since 2011, the [[Ministry of Science and Technology (China)|Ministry of Science and Technology]] invested $8.7 million in the production of the tips. Beifa Group worked with [[Taiyuan Iron and Steel Group|Taiyuan Iron & Steel Group]] (TISCO) with no success.<ref name="TWSJ"/> In 2016, the [[Premier of China|Chinese Premier]] [[Li Keqiang]] complained on national television about the quality of Chinese pens.<ref name="sky news"/> In June 2016, TISCO produced the first national ballpoint pen. In November, TISCO's industry standard was approved by the China Metallurgical Standardization Research Institute and on 10 January 2017 the pens were officially announced.<ref>{{cite news |date=10 January 2017 |title=China develops its own ballpoint pen tips |url=http://www.xinhuanet.com//english/2017-01/10/c_135970334.htm |publisher=[[Xinhua News Agency]] |url-status=live |access-date=25 February 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250225061720/http://www.xinhuanet.com//english/2017-01/10/c_135970334.htm |archive-date=25 February 2025}}</ref> The achievement reached the front-page news, was discussed in talk shows and celebrated on social media.<ref>{{cite news |first=Minter |last=Adam |date=18 January 2017 |title=China finally invents a ballpoint pen of its own |url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/security-tech/technology/china-finally-invents-a-ballpoint-pen-of-its-own/articleshow/56592397.cms |publisher=[[The Economic Times]] |url-status=live |access-date=25 February 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250225062706/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/security-tech/technology/china-finally-invents-a-ballpoint-pen-of-its-own/articleshow/56592397.cms |archive-date=25 February 2025}}</ref>