The BallPoint Pen
The first ballpoint pen was patented in 1889 by John Loud, a leather tanner. He needed a way to write on leather, which at that time the fountain pen was not capable. His pen used a small steel ball held in a socket, which was able to write on the rough surface of leather. However Loud's ballpoint pen could not be used for normal letter writing. Through the early 1900s, the search by many would continue for a better writing instrument. Early ballpoint pens did not work very well, either the ball would not turn smoothly or the ink would leak and smear. Laszlo Biro, a Hungarian newspaper editor, got an idea to use the newspaper ink in a writing instrument. He designed a pen that utilized a small ball in the tip and instead of relying on gravity for his pens, Biro would pressurize the cartridges in his pens. In 1945 the ballpoint pen would come to the United States and sales around the world would climb until today the ballpoint pen can be found in every household, office, car and just about anywhere else you can imagine.