From inkwell to Bic: eighty years ago the biros changed the history of writing
On 29 October 1945, it was presented to the public for the first time in the United States. Today, the pen market is worth 21 billion dollars
There was a time, not too long ago, when school desks had an inkwell hole and students had to dip their pens into the ink all the time, taking care not to stain the paper or get their sleeves dirty.
On 29 October 1945, eighty years ago, the end of that era began. In a New York department store, the biros, a product destined to revolutionise writing, went on sale for the first time in the United States.
The History of the Ballpoint Pen
The earliest examples of ballpoint pens date back to the 19th century, but these prototypes failed to gain widespread commercial acceptance. It was not until the 1940s that practical and reliable products similar to the pens we know today emerged.
The fact that we can take notes easily at any time today is largely due to László József Bíró, a Hungarian journalist and inventor who developed the first prototype of the modern biros in 1938.
Bíró - who still gives his name to the biros in many countries today - was frustrated by the inconvenience of fountain pens, which required frequent refills and often left smudges on the paper. So, together with his brother György, he devised a pen that combined a high-viscosity ink (such as that used in newspaper printing) with a small ball mounted on the tip that could make the colour flow evenly and controlled.
