My Good Friends -
for your elucidation and entertainment I offer the following:
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The creation of the ballpoint pen is usually credited to a Hungarian-Argentinian inventor László Bíró, whose name inspired
a catch-all term for modern ballpoints. But it is, in fact, a lot older.
Fountain pens were messy and needed regular refilling .
An American, John J Loud, received the first patent for a ballpoint pen
back in 1888. Loud, a lawyer and occasional inventor,
wanted an ink pen which would be able to write on rougher materials such as wood and leather as well as paper.
His masterstroke was the revolving steel ball, which was held in place by a socket. In his 1888 patent filing, he wrote:
“My invention consists of an improved reservoir or fountain pen, especially useful, among other purposes, for marking on
rough surfaces-such as wood, coarse wrapping-paper, and other articles where an ordinary pen could not be used.”
Loud’s pen was indeed able to write on leather and wood, but it was too rough for paper. The device was deemed to
have no commercial value and the patent eventually lapsed.
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What László and his brother the dentist did was develop a new fast drying nonsmearing
ink to go with the ball-point , along with a smoother ball, around 1930, then László received a
patent for his new pen in Britain in 1938.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201028-history-of-the-ballpoint-pen?utm_source=pocket-newtab
