Ballpoint Pen

Hello there. My name is the Ballpoint Pen, and I bet you have one of me in your backpack or on your desk right now. Before I came along, writing could be a very messy business. People used fountain pens, which were filled with watery ink. If you weren't careful, the ink would make big, splishy-splashy puddles on the paper. It smudged all over your important words and left dark stains on your fingers. It was a real problem. My inventor, a man named László Bíró, knew this all too well. He was a journalist, which means he wrote stories for newspapers all day long. He grew so tired of his fountain pen making a mess of his notes that he thought, “There has to be a better way to write.”

László had a brilliant idea one day when he was visiting a newspaper printing press. He watched the giant machines roll ink onto the paper, and he noticed something amazing. The ink they used dried almost instantly. There were no smudges at all. He wondered if he could use that quick-drying ink in a pen. But there was a big problem. The newspaper ink was very thick and gooey, like honey. It was too thick to flow out of a regular fountain pen. So, László had to invent a whole new kind of pen tip. He imagined a tiny little ball, like a super small marble, right at the very point. As you write, the little ball would roll and spread the thick ink smoothly and evenly onto the paper. It was a clever solution. But he still needed help with the ink. That's when his brother, György, who was a chemist, stepped in. Together, they worked and worked to create a special ink that was not too thick and not too thin, but just right for my rolling ball tip. They moved all the way to a country called Argentina to finish their work. Finally, on a very special day, June 10th, 1943, I was officially ready for the world.

At first, not everyone knew how helpful I could be. But then, some very important people started using me. Pilots flying airplanes high up in the sky loved me. You see, their old fountain pens would leak everywhere because of the changing air pressure way up high, but I never leaked a single drop. Soon, everyone wanted a pen like me. I made writing so much easier for everybody. Students could do their homework without worrying about big ink blots on their pages. Writers could jot down their ideas in notebooks anywhere they went. Artists could even use me to draw wonderful pictures with clean, clear lines. I felt so proud to help people share their thoughts, stories, and dreams without any mess. Every time you write a note, draw a picture, or sign your name, I am there, helping your ideas flow from your mind onto the paper, one smooth roll at a time.