Blog #6

Reflection on the Ballpoint Pen

When I think of the big inventions of the world that changed the way we communicate, my mind wanders off into thinking about the telephone, television, motion pictures, computers, iPhone, etc..  However, I think that it is super interesting to take a look at an invention that isn't talked about as much.  It's an item that we use daily, but I feel that we take it for granted due to it's simplicity.  The ballpoint pen changed the way we write and ultimately improved the efficiency and reliability of our communication.

The idea of using a pen was nothing new, however there were issues with the fountain pen, which was the main pen that was used.  Laszlo Biro, who worked as an editor for the Hungarian newspaper Hongrie- Magyarorszag-Hungary, experienced these issues first hand.  As he wrote for this newspaper he experienced many issues with smudging, due to the fact that the ink of fountain pens would take quite some time to dry.  At an attempt to solve this issue he filled the ink used to print newspapers into the fountain pen.  I thought that it was quite interesting how he tried to combine these two items in order to fix this issue, because he understood that the ink of the pen was a problem.  However, he quickly found out that the structure of the pen, even with the new ink was a problem as well, because the ink clogged the pen due to its thickness.  Biro and his brother were inspired by the pen that Loud created, which had a large metal ball at its tip.  Their pen had a smaller ball at the tip of it in order to give the ink enough mobility and to prevent the ink from drying inside.

After inventing the pen successfully, they introduced it in 1931 at the Budapest International Fair.  They patented it in 1938, but in 1941 they fled to Argentina with a friend named Juan Jorge Meyne.  In Argentina they created their company Biro Pens and filed a new patent.  They named their pen the Birome, which is a play on of Biro and Meyne and it first sold for $12.50.  That definitely seems like an outrageous price, especially today, but we all know that when a company is starting out their prices are typically higher when they are first generating products.  This is caused by being inexperienced and not having the efficient manufacturing process from the start.  When listening to the presentation given on ballpoint pens and doing my own research, I learned to appreciate the process of trial and error, and learned how it is really rewarding when you finally figure something out and solve an issue.  Efficient and mass manufacturing has played a part in making the ballpoint pen significantly cheaper, and now they cost less than one cent to make and millions are sold each day.

I never have really thought about how the ballpoint pen has changed communication, but after listening to this presentation, I have a new appreciation for this invention.  For instance, how many times are you asked a week to use a pen in your class or how many times are you asked if you have one in general for someone to borrow?  I'm sure it is a lot, because most people have pens on them in order to jot important things down or to sign important papers.  Everyone is always in need of one, and most people have them on them, because they are cheap and tiny enough to fit in pockets and bags.  Aside from the convenience of them, ballpoint pens are also extremely valuable, because they make communication so much clearer.  Ballpoint pens are reliable and the ink doesn't smudge, which was seen in the past with fountain pens.  Instead, ballpoint pens give a cleaner look, which results in easy communication amongst people, because the handwriting is most likely legible and can be read easily.  There is no confusion, which makes communication by pen and paper all around more efficient.

We would be missing a huge aspect of communication if it weren't for the creation of the easily produced and replaceable, cheap, and neat ballpoint pen.  This may seem like a lame invention in the world in comparison to flashier products, but I would say that if you thought about what it would mean to not have them at our disposal, you'll learn to appreciate their significance a whole lot more.  The invention of the ballpoint pen is a fantastic example of problem solving through trial and error, and it's very eye opening to see how one solution to an issue many years ago, could still have such an impact on our world today.