 Ballpoint pen, disassembled (top) and complete (bottom) A ballpoint pen (also eponymously known in British English as a biro and pronounced bye-row in Britain but sometimes bee-row elsewhere), is a modern writing instrument. A ballpoint pen has an internal chamber filled with a viscous ink that is dispensed at the tip during use by the rolling action of a small metal sphere (0.7 mm to 1.2 mm in diameter); the ink dries almost immediately after contact with paper. Inexpensive, reliable and maintenance-free, the ballpoint has almost completely replaced the fountain pen in everyday writing. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1000x568, 222 KB) Beschreibung ballpoint pen parts Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Ballpoint pen ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1000x568, 222 KB) Beschreibung ballpoint pen parts Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Ballpoint pen ...
An eponym is the name of a person, whether real or fictitious, which has (or is thought to have) given rise to the name of a particular place, tribe, discovery or other item. ...
Diagram showing the geographical locations of selected languages and dialects of the British Isles. ...
Scribe Writing Writing, in its most general sense, is the preservation and the preserved text on a medium, with the use of signs or symbols. ...
The pitch drop experiment at the University of Queensland. ...
An ink is a liquid containing various pigments and/or dyes used for colouring a surface to render an image or text. ...
A millimetre (American spelling: millimeter, symbol mm) is an SI unit of length that is equal to one thousandth of a metre. ...
An ink is a liquid containing various pigments and/or dyes used for colouring a surface to render an image or text. ...
A fountain pen is a writing instrument, more specifically a pen, that contains a reservoir of water-based ink that is fed to a nib through a feed via a combination of gravity and capillary action. ...
History
 An authentic "birome", made in Argentina by Biro & Meyne
 The tip of a common disposable ballpoint pen. The ball, with blue ink on it, can be seen. The white scalebar is 1mm wide. The manufacture of economical, reliable ballpoint pens resulted from a combination of experimentation, modern chemistry and the precision manufacturing capabilities of 20th century technology. Many patents worldwide are testaments to failed attempts to make these pens commercially viable and widely available. It has even been argued that a design by Galileo Galilei (during the 17th century), was that of a ballpoint pen. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (801x2667, 175 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Ballpoint pen Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to...
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Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1398x1260, 491 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Ballpoint pen Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to...
KDFSAJFKASJDKFJASDKLJFDKLASJFLKJASKLFJLAKSJFLKSJALFKJSKLJFto the Sun-centered solar system which Galileo supported. ...
The first patent on a ballpoint pen was issued on 30 October, 1888, to John J Loud.[1] The pen had a rotating small steel ball, held in place by a socket. Although the pen, which proved to be too coarse for letter writing, could be used to mark rough surfaces, especially leather, it was not commercially exploited.
In the period between 1900 and 1940, there was intense interest in improving writing instruments, particularly alternatives or improvements to the fountain pen. Slavoljub Eduard Penkala invented a solid-ink fountain pen in 1907, a German inventor called Baum took out a ballpoint patent in 1910, and yet another ballpoint pen device was patented by Van Vechten Riesburg in 1916. In these inventions, the ink was placed in a thin tube, whose end was blocked by a tiny ball, held so that it could not slip into the tube or fall out of the pen. The ink clung to the ball, which spun as the pen was drawn across the paper. These proto-ballpoints did not deliver the ink evenly. If the ball socket was too tight, the ink did not reach the paper. If it was too loose, ink flowed past the tip, leaking or making smears. Many inventors applied their minds and skills to remedying these faults, but without commercial success. (http://www.herend.com/herald/012/eng/eletmod.htm)
László Bíró, a newspaper editor, was frustrated by the amount of time that he wasted in filling up fountain pens and cleaning up smudged pages, and the sharp tip of his fountain pen often tore his pages of newsprint. Bíró had noticed that the type of ink used in newspaper printing dried quickly, leaving the paper dry and smudge free. He decided to create a pen using the same type of ink. Since, when tried, this viscous ink would not flow into a regular fountain pen nib, Bíró—with the help of his brother George, a chemist—began to work on designing new types of pens. Bíró fitted this pen with a tiny ball in its tip that was free to turn in a socket. As the pen moved along the paper, the ball rotated, picking up ink from the ink cartridge and leaving it on the paper. Bíró filed a British patent on 15 June, 1938. Ladislao László Josef BÃró (Hungarian: BÃró László József) (September 29, 1899—November 24, 1985) is considered the inventor of the modern ballpoint pen. ...
Balls are usually hollow and spherical but can be other shapes, such as ovoid (only in a few special cases) or solid (as in billiards). ...
Earlier pens leaked or clogged due to improper viscosity of the ink and depended on gravity to deliver the ink to the ball. Depending on gravity caused difficulties with the flow and required that the pen be held nearly vertically. The Biro pen both pressurized the ink column and used capillary action for ink delivery, solving the flow problems. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
In 1940 the Bíró brothers and a friend, Juan Jorge Meyne, moved to Argentina fleeing nazi Germany and on June 10, filed another patent, and formed Bíró Pens of Argentina. The pen was sold in Argentina under the Birome brand (acronym of Biro and Meyne), which is how ballpoint pens are still known in that country. Laszlo was known in Argentina as Ladislao José Bíró. This new design was licensed by the British, who produced ball point pens for RAF aircrew, who found they worked much better than fountain pens at high altitude. RAF redirects here. ...
Eversharp, a maker of mechanical pencils teamed up with Eberhard-Faber in May 1945 to license the design for sales in the United States. At about the same time a U.S. businessman saw a Biro pen in a store in Buenos Aires. He purchased several samples and returned to the U.S. to found the Reynolds International Pen Company, producing the Biro design without license as the Reynolds Rocket. He managed to beat Eversharp to market in late 1945; the first ballpoint pens went on sale at Gimbel's department store in New York City on October 29, 1945 for US$12.50 each (about USD$130 of today's money). This pen was widely known as the rocket in the U.S. into the late 1950s. A ratchet-type mechanical pencil A mechanical pencil, lead pencil or clicky pencil (usually called a propelling pencil in British English; other names include clutch pencil*, or Pacer after a Papermate model, a genericized trademark) is a pencil containing an internal mechanism which pushes (propels) the thin graphite lead through...
BUE redirects here. ...
The references in this article would be clearer with a different and/or consistent style of citation, footnoting or external linking. ...
Nickname: Big Apple, Gotham, NYC Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1613 - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area - City 1,214. ...
Similar pens went on sale before the end of the year in England, and by the next year in most of Europe. Cheap disposable instruments were produced by the BIC Corporation with "Bic" as the tradename; as with 'Hoover' and 'Xerox', the tradename has subsequently passed into general use. With BIC's expanding product range, the original Bic pen design is now termed the Bic Cristal. Bic Corporation is a company based in Clichy, France, founded in 1945, best known for making inexpensive disposable products including cigarette lighters, magnets, ballpoint pens, and shaving razors. ...
Hoover Company logo, originally designed by Henry Dreyfuss The Hoover Company is an American floor care manufacturer based in North Canton, Ohio. ...
Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) is an American document management company, which manufactures and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies. ...
Image:Bic Cristal Pen 2006-07-11. ...
Since 1990, Biro's birthday (the 29th of September) is Inventor's Day in Argentina. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Description
 Ballpoint pen rolling over a paper surface, leaving behind a trail of ink. There are two basic types of ball point pens: disposable and refillable. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2002x1413, 645 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Ballpoint pen Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to...
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2002x1413, 645 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Ballpoint pen Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to...
Disposable pens are chiefly made of plastic throughout and discarded when the ink is consumed; refillable pens are metal or plastic and tend to be higher in quality and price. The refill replaces the entire internal ink reservoir and ball point unit rather than actually refilling it with ink, as it takes special high-speed centrifugation to properly fill a ball point resevoir with the viscous ink.[1]
The simplest types of ball point pens have a cap to cover the tip when the pen is not in use, while others have a mechanism for retracting the tip. This mechanism is usually controlled by a button at the top and powered by a spring within the pen apparatus, but other possibilities include a pair of buttons, a screw, or a slide. Helical or coil springs designed for tension A spring is a flexible elastic object used to store mechanical energy. ...
Look up screw in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
- Rollerball pens, which combine the ballpoint design with the use of liquid ink and flow systems from fountain pens;
- "Space Pens", developed by Fisher in the United States, which combine a more viscous than normal ballpoint pen ink with a gas pressurized piston which forces the ink toward the point. This design allows the pen to write even upside down or in zero gravity environments.
A gel-based rollerball pen. ...
The Space Pen, which term generally refers to those marketed by Fisher Space Pen Co. ...
Standards The International Organization for Standardization has published standards for ball point and roller ball pens: The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from national standards bodies. ...
- ISO 12756:1998 Drawing and writing instruments -- Ball point pens and roller ball pens -- Vocabulary [2]
- ISO 12757-1:1998 Ball point pens and refills -- Part 1: General use [3]
- ISO 12757-2:1998 Ball point pens and refills -- Part 2: Documentary use (DOC) [4]
- ISO 14145-1:1998 Roller ball pens and refills -- Part 1: General use [5]
- ISO 14145-2:1998 Roller ball pens and refills -- Part 2: Documentary use (DOC) [6]
(http://www.iso.org/)
Ballpoint pens in everyday life Ballpoint pens are ubiquitous in modern culture. While other forms of pen are available, ballpoint pens are certainly the most common and almost every household is likely to have several. The fact that they are so cheaply available (costing from just a few cents/pence to produce) and so convenient to use means they are often to be found on desks and also in pockets, handbags, purses, bags and in cars — almost anywhere where one could conceivably need to use a pen. Ballpoint pens are often provided free by businesses as a form of advertising — printed with a company's name, a ballpoint pen is a relatively low cost advertisement that is highly effective (customers will use, and therefore see, a pen on a daily basis). Businesses and charities may also include ballpoint pens in direct mail mailings in order to increase a customer's interest in the mailing. Image File history File links Ballpen_Drawing(2). ...
Image File history File links Ballpen_Drawing(2). ...
Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning to cultivate), generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. ...
The household is the basic unit of analysis in many microeconomic and government models. ...
A two-cent euro coin A United States penny, or 1¢ In currency, the cent is a monetary unit that equals 1/100 of the basic unit of value. ...
Above: A variety of coins considered to be lower-value, including an Irish 2p piece and many US pennies. ...
For the magazine called automobile, see Automobile Magazine. ...
Wikibooks has more about this subject: Marketing Billboards and street advertising in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, (2005) Advertising is paid communication through a non-personal medium in which the sponsor is identified and the message is controlled. ...
Direct marketing is a form of marketing that attempts to send its messages directly to consumers, often without the use of intervening media. ...
In recent years, the ballpoint pen has become a popular art medium, as demonstrated by such websites as biro-art.com. Many people also create art on themselves with the pens; this is sometimes known as a ballpoint tattoo. Due to this, and to its wide-spread use by schoolchildren, all ballpoint ink formulas are non-toxic, and the manufacturing and content of the ink is regulated in most countries. A Ballpoint tattoo is a slang term for art or tattoo-like designs applied to a human body with a pen (not necessarily ballpoint). ...
Toxic redirects here, but this is also the name of a song by Britney Spears; see Toxic (song) Look up toxic and toxicity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Grip and feel
 A papermate PhD Multi ballpoint pen Ballpoint pens have three characteristics that distinguish them from rollerball systems. First, the ink flow increases with pressure. A rollerball will typically lay down its line without pressure. Common photo of a pen. ...
Second, they write with the greatest ink flow when perpendicular to the paper, but as the angle is increased the line width gradually decreases; at some angle, when the edge of the ball socket brushes against the surface of the paper, the line width is reduced to zero and the pen ceases to write. By contrast, a rollerball pen has a thin line when perpendicular to the paper, but the line width increases suddenly as the angle is increased and a blob forms between the tip of the ball and the edge of the socket.
Third, a ballpoint pen's ink is typically not as bright on paper as its liquid or gel ink counterparts.
These characteristics have consequences for the grip with which the pen is held. First, one tends to bear down on a ballpoint to get a stronger line, and this increases tension in the hand. One way of getting a stronger line, comparable in intensity to a rollerball line, is to use a broad line ballpoint, with a 1.2mm diameter, or greater, ball size. Most ballpoints have a thin or medium ball.
Second, one has to hold the pen sufficiently vertically for it to roll across the paper and not to scratch. Most people nowadays are so accustomed to writing nearly perpendicularly that they do not realize that there are other ways to hold a pen.
There are two kinds of pens that can write at greater angles than ballpoint pens: fountain pens and felt-tipped pens. Both of these types of pen also write with less pressure and therefore with less tension in the hand. A fountain pen is a writing instrument, more specifically a pen, that contains a reservoir of water-based ink that is fed to a nib through a feed via a combination of gravity and capillary action. ...
A felt-tipped pen or felt tip is categorized by the kind of ink it contains. ...
Manufacturers
 Pentel R.S.V.P. ballpoint pens. Manufacturers of ballpoint pens include: Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2560x1920, 2185 KB) Six Pentel R.S.V.P. ballpoint pens. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2560x1920, 2185 KB) Six Pentel R.S.V.P. ballpoint pens. ...
The headquarters of Pentel, in Tokyo. ...
Manufacturers of ballpoint inks include: Bic Corporation is a company based in Clichy, France, founded in 1945, best known for making inexpensive disposable products including cigarette lighters, magnets, ballpoint pens, and shaving razors. ...
The Space Pen, which term generally refers to those marketed by Fisher Space Pen Co. ...
Lamy (IPA: lɑmɪ ) is the leading producer of fountain pens in Europe. ...
Montblanc International GmbH is a German manufacturer of fine writing instruments, watches and accessories, often identified by their famous White Star logo. ...
Sanford L.P. is a Newell Rubbermaid company. ...
Papermate, a division of Newell Rubbermaid is a company that makes stationery. ...
The Parker Pen Company, founded in 1891 by George Stafford Parker in Janesville, Wisconsin, is best known for making pens that are among the most prestigious and collectible in the world. ...
Rotring is a German company based in Hamburg. ...
Sensa is a trademark for a brand of pen, now owned by Sanford Corporation and founded by entrepreneur Boyd Willat in 1995. ...
The Waterman pen company is a major manufacturer of fountain pens. ...
Pelikan Logo Pelikan is a German manufacturer of fine fountain pens and other writing, office and art equipment, accredited with the invention of the differential-piston filling method even though such piston fillers had existed well before Pelikans coming. ...
The headquarters of Pentel, in Tokyo. ...
Class notes taken with a 0. ...
Staedtler is one of the worlds leading manufacturers and suppliers of writing and engineering drawing instruments and is the maker of the Mars Pencil and Mars Eraser. ...
This article should belong in one or more categories. ...
Trivia - The Al Faisalia skyscraper in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, takes the shape of a ballpoint pen.
- The ballpoint pen drawing 'Inhuman Pyramid' is two meters tall, one and a half meters wide, used up six ballpoint pens and took seven months to complete.
- On average, 100 people choke to death on ballpoint pens every year.
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2136x2848, 1310 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Ballpoint pen Riyadh Al Faisaliyah Center Buro Happold Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the...
The Faysaliah Center The Al Faisaliyah Center (Arabic: ‎) was the first skyscraper constructed in Saudi Arabia, and the second tallest building in the country after the Kingdom Center. ...
Riyadh (Arabic: ‎ ar-RiyÄá¸) is the capital of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, located in Ar Riyad Province in the Najd region. ...
Limits of ballpoint pens - Ballpoint pens cannot write upside down. see How Ballpoint Pens Work
- Cannot write on plastics and shiny surfaces.
- Cannot write on wet or oily surfaces.
Repairing a ballpoint pen If you have a ballpoint pen which has stopped working (although there is still a quantity of ink remaining), there are a number of techniques available to restore their functionality: - Scribble circles on cardboard found covering notepads. Normal 80g/sq.m paper doesn't seem to restore ink flow as quickly.
- Simply draw a few circles on a glass surface (the closest window works well) [7]
- Heat the ball point for a few seconds over a small flame (eg. cig. lighter) [8][9]
- Insert inside the opening of your ink cartridge a piece of mechanical pencil graphite (best to be 0.7mm) [10]
A ratchet-type mechanical pencil A mechanical pencil, lead pencil or clicky pencil (usually called a propelling pencil in British English; other names include clutch pencil*, or Pacer after a Papermate model, a genericized trademark) is a pencil containing an internal mechanism which pushes (propels) the thin graphite lead through...
References - ^ GB Patent No. 15630, Oct 30 1888
External links The current BBC News logo BBC News and Current Affairs is a major arm of the BBC responsible for the corporations newsgathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online. ...
October 24 is the 297th day of the year (298th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 68 days remaining. ...
For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...
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