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Illustration of Ballpoint Pen

Ballpoint Pen

A writing instrument which dispenses a viscous

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Reads at Pre-K Listens at Pre-K–1

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The story

Hello, I'm a Ballpoint Pen!

Hello there. I am a ballpoint pen. I love to help you write your name and draw fun pictures. I can make wiggly lines, big circles, and bright, colorful rainbows for you. But long ago, before I was here, writing was a very messy thing to do. Old pens would drip and drop ink everywhere. Splat. They made big puddles on the paper and got all over your fingers. It was so hard to keep everything clean and tidy. But I was invented to fix that messy problem and make writing fun and easy for everyone.

One day, a very clever man named László Bíró saw how messy the old pens were. He also saw how newspapers were printed with a special ink that dried super duper fast. That gave him a wonderful idea. On June 10th, 1943, he thought of me. He decided to put a tiny, tiny rolling ball at my tip. It’s so small, like a little speck of sand. When you move me across the paper, my little ball rolls and rolls. As it rolls, it picks up my special thick ink from inside me and spreads it on the paper in a perfect, neat line. No more drips. No more smudges. Just clean, happy writing.

Because of that clever idea, writing became clean and easy for everyone. I love helping kids just like you learn to write their names for the very first time. It makes me so proud to see you draw pictures of your family, your house, or a big yellow sun. You can use me to write notes to your friends and share your amazing stories. I am so happy to be your helpful friend, always ready in your pencil case to help you be creative and share your ideas with the world. I'm always ready to help you draw and write.

Wow facts

About

A writing instrument which dispenses a viscous, oil-based ink from an internal reservoir through the rolling action of a small metal sphere at its point.

Created 1938 CE
Argentine Patent 1943 CE

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Ballpoint Pen
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