The first ballpoint pen – the biro – was invented by a man by the name of Laszlo Biro back in 1938. He was a Hungarian who later emigrated to Argentina. Laszlo was a journalist, and he was fascinated by the ink that was used in newspaper printing. He noticed that it dried instantly and didn’t run or smudge. Laszlo had the idea of inventing a pen using the same ink, but the ink was so thick it wouldn’t flow, so he had to invent a new kind of nib, and so the ballpoint pen was invented.
The ball being a ball bearing in the tip of the pen that picks up ink as it rotates. He wasn’t the first to think of this improvement though; the idea was actually patented back in 1888. Mr. Biro patented his new ballpoint pen in Argentina in 1938 and some bright spark in the British government bought the rights. Back at the beginning of WWII Royal Air Force pilots were having a hard time writing their Last Wills and love letters while they were flying, because the altitude prevented all other pens from functioning properly – they leaked everywhere. The Biro as we often call it, worked perfectly.
So next time you run into your stationery store and pick up a few biros, now you know why they are called biros, and how they were introduced into our lives. I wonder if they have come up with specialized ink cartridges that function in space? I’ll have to ask Sir Richard Branson I suppose…
