Ballpoint pen

The pen is a writing instrument, which transmits ink paste by means of a ball on paper. He goes back to patents of the 19th century. The colloquial short form coolie originally referred to the 1928 developed by rotring Tintenkuli. Since the significance of loss and the triumph of the pen in the 1940s the world is " coolie " commonly used in German for the pen.

• 4.1 Related designs

Operation

Pens have a reservoir of viscous, quick-drying ink.

Stroking the ball point pen over the paper, so the ball rotates, does, on its side facing the reservoir ink and transfers it to the other to the paper. The ball is made ​​of an extremely hard ceramic material (tungsten carbide, brand name Widia ) to minimize wear. During the time in which it does not require the pen, the ballpoint pen refill is returned by means of a mechanism in the housing of the ballpoint pen. This can be done by a rotary system or by a spring system which is activated by means of push-button on the pen end. This makes sense, because ballpoint pen ink very easily rub off on clothes and is difficult to remove.

Depending on the desired line width, the ball has a diameter from 0.7 to 1.4 millimeters, in particularly fine pens, for example in Japan, by only 0.2 millimeters.

History

Already Galileo Galilei made ​​a sketch showing a kind of forerunner of the pen. The first patents for writing instruments, traveling with their own ink, it was in the 19th century.

1888, the American John J. Loud received a patent on a pen -like device with which you can mark leather should. Slavoljub Eduard Penkala, a Croatian inventor, patented in 1906 also a pen precursor. László József Bíró, the Hungarian-born invented, assisted by his brother Georg, in Budapest in eighteen years of development work, the basic shape of today's ballpoint pen with colored lead and rolling beads in the refill tip for applying the mass of color on the paper. Presumably, the idea came to him at the sight of rotating pressure rolls which apply the color in a similar manner to the paper. His first issued in Hungary in 1938 patent he left on December 27, 1938 in the U.S. as "Fountain Pen Ink for Pulpy " (later "Ball Pen" ) and 1943 renew in Argentina, where he had fled from the persecution of the Jews in 1940 in Hungary. He founded the company " Sylvapen ".

The real breakthrough for the pen came with the British businessman Henry George Martin. He recognized the pen as an ideal writing tool for aircrew that works well at high altitudes without blotting it. He bought the patent rights from Bíró, founded jointly with Frederick Miles in 1944 in Reading (Berkshire, England ), the first ballpoint pen factory of the world and launched a series production. In its first year, the company sold 30,000 pens to the Royal Air Force.

In June 1945, the American businessman Milton Reynolds in Buenos Aires became aware of the pen. He let the technology in the United States rebuild. Under the name of Reynolds Rocket ballpoint pens were in the same year at a sales success in the U.S., although the pens around half times as much cost as a fountain pen. Due to quality problems, however, Reynolds had to withdraw thousands of copies and went bankrupt in 1951.

After the Second World War several companies to produce pens began, partly without owning the patent rights. The German company Schneider paid from 1947 to invalidate the patents DM 19 million in royalties. The company Schmidt in the Black Forest focused on the production and development of the mechanics of the pen. The problem of Klecksens got just the Frenchman Marcel Bich in the handle. Under the name BIC he brought the end of 1950 his pen on the market and thus finally ushered in the era of the pen as a mass product.

In several countries, the ballpoint pen is named after its inventor, eg biro in England, birome in Argentina or penkala in Croatia. In France, Baron Bich large quantities of cheap disposable pens under the brand name BIC ago, which is a synonym for bic ball point pen. In Argentina, the day of the inventor annually on the birthday László Biró (29 September ) is celebrated.

The first ballpoint pens were sold in 1945 for $ 8.50. In Germany the first models cost about 1950 DM 20

Pens are now used on a large scale as a promotional medium. The surface of pens can be printed with this simple and inexpensive printing in large quantities or provided in small numbers with noble engraved signature.

Others

Plotter and the like

Some technical devices use special pen refills, such as pen plotters, such as the Commodore VC1520, or Plotterschreibmaschine Silver Reed EB50.

Use in the school

In school, the ballpoint pen is usually allowed only after the complete acquisition of related correspondence, which includes learning how to deal with fountain pens (see there: Education writing acquisition ), usually in the second grade to be heard.

NASA pens

As an urban legend is true that NASA could develop a special pens for a million dollars, which works reliably also in the space under the conditions of weightlessness, while the Soviet Union for simplicity used a pencil.

World Record

The largest ballpoint pen made ​​Olaf Fügner. By Guinness World Records ( GWR ) this was recognized in 2006, and published in the Guinness Book of World Records 2009. The production of a correspondingly large mine was not only a technical challenge. In the laboratory had to be made a special ink paste. The functional Mine comes from the StarMinen AG / Switzerland. The pen is made of cardboard (except the beginning - and end piece ) and is 333 cm long with a diameter of 11.1 cm. The total weight is about 8 kg. The mine itself is 106.5 cm long. The shank width is 1.6 cm.

Dubious perquisite offers for ballpoint pen assembly

Over many decades, the ballpoint pen assembly was in homework an irreplaceable production step in the preparation. Ballpoint pen parts are light and small, easy to work and check quantities computable, so is the work to date a popular sideline, which was therefore often used to gladly swapped in homework. However, consumer advocates warn against many unscrupulous job offers. After giving homework - abc.de today only special forms or small series in homework are employable, for the use of machinery is not worth. Another industry portal Nebenjob.de could find in Hamburg not only manufacturers that offers homework for ballpoint pen assembly at a research in collaboration with the Consumer. The business model is based mostly on dubious vendor paid hotlines, overpriced purchase of goods or any forms of payment. Legally had the dubious deals by clever formulation usually unassailable.

Related Techniques

• Retractable ballpoint pen → Main article: Space Pen
• Gel roller
• Rollerball

Related designs

• Telescopic ballpoint pen