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Pen knowledge >> The history of the ball-point pen Quill pens were the writing instruments of choice for centuries, used by the Lord of the Manor. The Lord owned serfs, and the serfs owned hens, a prolific, and self-replacing source of quills. With the Industrial Revolution, an increasingly sophisticated technology produced better writing utensils, such as the fountain pen. This elegant writing instrument reigned supreme from 1884 to 1945, made a comeback in the early 1950s, and is still used to an extent today. It successor, the ball-point pen, has an interesting history, mirroring the stormy times into which it was born. It turned many a schoolboy mouth blue, and destroyed the handwriting of generations of ordinary people. To most of the world, Biro is still the generic name for the ball-point pen. Like the Hoover, the Biro is named after its creator, a Hungarian born journalist, Laszlo Josef Biro. Biro was a man of many accomplishments, painter, writer, sculptor, medical student, hypnotist and inventor. He invented a reliable automatic gearbox that he sold to the Ford Motor Company. For commercial reasons, Ford buried the idea. Laszlo and his brother George patented the Biro pen in 1938. In 1940, as war engulfed Europe, the Biro brothers emigrated to Argentina, where a fresh patent was applied for in 1943. The Biro contained a tiny ball-bearing in its tip, and this rotated, picking up ink and applying it to the paper. A patent for a similar product was taken out in 1888 by John J. Loud, but it was never developed commercially and had faded into obscurity. The British Government bought licensing rights for the pen for the RAF. Pilots had complained that fountain pens leaked at high altitudes, and the new pen, with its special thick ink, worked. The Biro was a success. Branded the Eversharp CA for Capillary Action, the pen sold successfully in Buenos Aires. Eversharp began preparations for an American invasion. The product was selling well, helped by the fact that it required no refill for a year. The storms of World War II faded away, but the battle of the ball-points was about to begin. A Chicago businessman, Milton Reynolds entered the picture. Visiting Argentina, he was impressed with the new pen, and bought a few samples. Disregarding the Loud and Eversharp patents, he took the pen to the USA, ahead of the competition. Eversharp paid one million dollars for the Biro patent, but unfortunately the inventor had forgotten to register it in the US. Cynically riding on the back of Eversharp advance publicity, the Chicagoan introduced the ball-point for a hefty price, to the anxiously waiting public. With the help of Gimbals, Department store in New York City, Reynolds made millions. Eversharp protests went unheeded. A feeding frenzy erupted, as dozens of companies rushed to market with outrageous claims and shoddy, leaky, and generally unreliable merchandise. Reynolds slipped away, pockets stuffed with money. The bubble burst, and a disgusted, ink-stained public returned to the tried and true fountain pen. The invention was too good to disappear, however, and surviving companies began to produce better and cheaper ball-points. By 1950, Paper-mate was making good, cheap ball-point pens, and in 1954, the Parker pen company, which had stood aloof from the fray, brought out a quality ball-point. In 1957, the badly wounded Eversharp sold its pen division to Parker, and Eversharp assets were finally liquidated in the 1960s. The ball-point wars have now been won. The Biro now dominates the writing market, challenged only by improving felt-tipped pens. Parker, Schaeffer, and Waterman hold dominant places in upscale fountain pen and ball-point markets, while Bic and PaperMate have captured the throwaway slot. Laszlo Biro died in 1985, having donated his name to the English language. (Written by Mike Morris) |
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Home >> Metal pen Plastic Pen Ball Pen Pencil Other pen Refill And Ink site map links link li-ion battery Pen knowledge >> Proverbs of Pen History ball pen Parker Pen Story Ballpoint Pens Work Pen Technology History of the Ballpoint Ballpoint Design The Ink Unusual Ballpoints How Pencil made acme pens Famous brands of pen Trade knowledge (Chinese and English) Mirror Sites: www.wisdom-pen.com www1.wisdom-pen.com 2004.6.14 Note: New Wisdom Investment Limited is the new name of Shenzhen New Wisdom Company Limited after share issue. The other information is the same as before. Thanks for your support!> Sample policy: Samples fee is free for you, it is paid in advance and returned to you when you place the order. Please offer your express account for us to send you the samples. such as UPS, FEDEX, DHL, and TNT etc. That you're able to collect samples as soon as possible free charge for some small samples. Remittance Route Company Profile: We are experienced and specializing in making various pens in the China mainland. Every year we spend large amount for products development and promotion purposes. Creation and innovation policy is vivid embody in our company, therefore our designs are updated frequently. More over combining variant colors with artistic and innovative designs, we have various range for you choice. As we understand the need and the demand in the market, our continuous breakthroughs in design still need your value opinions. Simply writing is not enough for the year after 2000; we present our new series "dual-function pens" to you. We have pens with time indicator, pens that could be used as a flashlight, pens with cellular phone signals and more will be coming soon. Just tell us your require, let's do thee rest for you. Our aim is make every one feel relief doing business with us. Advanced production technology, rationalized costs, and the superb product qualities are measures we take to satisfy our customer. With all our experiences, capacity, and the hard work we believe we can be your next trustful partner of manufacturing for all your writing instruments needs. All the products we carry can be imprinted according to the client's corporate logo or other special design. We have a wide range of other products to cater our clients' needs. Browsing our website, you can't believe it! |
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Address: 4-306, Xianglixincuen, Hongli West Road, Shenzhen, China
TEL:86-755-83911841 86-13316919837 86-13332985903 POSTCODE:518034 Contact person: Tom Ding; Mary Deng FAX:86-755-83906115 EMAIL: tom@n-wisdom.com szdingbp@public.szptt.net.cn dingbp_szb@21cn.net
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