Pen Trivia
The
principle of the ballpoint pen dates from the late 19th Century when patents
were taken out by John Loud in 1888 for a product to mark leather and in 1916
by Van Vechten Riesberg. However neither of these patents was exploited
commercially. The
modern version of ball point pen was invented by Josef (Lazlo) and Georg
Biro.
In the summer of 1943 the first commercial models were made. The rights to
Lazlo's patent were bought by the British Government. The ball point pen is
more rugged than the fountain pen which may be why sales rocketed during World
War II when the military needed robust writing implements to survive the
battlefield environment. The
ballpoint pens was introduced to the U.S. market. The pen was sold for $9.75
each. Some 10,000 were sold at the launch at Gimbel's department store in New
York on October 29th 1945.
Ball points
were originally conceived and developed as a cleaner and more reliable
alternative to quill fountain pens and are now the world's most-used writing
instrument. Millions are manufactured
and sold daily. As a result, it has influenced art and graphic design and
spawned an artwork genre.
Q. How
many ball point pen are manufactured each year?
Answer: Over three billion ball point pens are manufactured each year in a variety of styles, point sizes, materials and colors.
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