If you look at the tip of a ball point pen you will see that it has a little ball on the very end. This little ball allows the ink to move smoothly around on the paper in a long even line. The ball point pen was not always popular, it went through may trials and tribulations before it was perfected into the pen that it is today. The first ball point pens had a lot of problems that have been ironed out through the years by many different people.
The original ball point pen was invented in the late l800’s and it used a tiny ball that rotated and was constantly bathed on one side with ink. The problem with these early pens was getting the ink to run smoothly in a even line Sometimes the pens created little blotches on the paper or the would log up and wouldn’t let the ink out at all. T he pens would leak in peoples pockets and ruin clothes. Sometimes it was impossible to mix up a batch of ink that would work properly. For years the ball point pen would work well at 70 degrees but it would clog up at temperatures below 65 degrees and it would leak and smear if the weather was too hot.
It wasn’t until World War II that the ball point pen was really made to work great. The U.S. Air force needed a pen that would write upside down so the looked around to find such a pen that would write smoothly even upside down. They found a pen that worked and in l944 production of the first pen that could write upside down was put into production. The pen worked because the ink was siphoned to the front of the pen. That meant the pen no longer depended on gravity to make the ink flow to the point. The ink ran smoother but it still was gloppy and problematic at times. Ball point pens ruined many shirts back then and many people vowed never to buy another ball point pen again. The sales of ball point pens dropped.
Many people tried to perfect the ball point pen. The ball point pen was a great idea it just had some glitches to it. In l949 a man named Marcel Bich introduced a six sided pen that didn’t leak or jam. It worked very well and was a hit but Marcel thought that his name might be a problem in America. Some people had given his new ball point pen the nickname of the Bitch pen. Marcel thought his name might be bad for his fantastic product.
In l958 Marcel set up shop in American but instead of using his full name on his pen he shortened the name to Bic. And that is how the Bic pen got it’s name. Bic pens were amazing they would work under the most awful situations. They even worked after being shot out of a rifle, drilled through a wallboard or after being strapped to the feet of a skater. The Bic pen was a hit it was a tough pen, it was inexpensive so it was even being sold in grocery stores so they could be purchased easily. In l967 Bic was selling 500 million pens and 60 percent of the sales were in the American market.
Bic ball point pens have lasted for years and they are basically the same pen that they were in the l950’s. Now people can enjoy having a ball point pen in there pocket and they don’t have to worry about the pen leaking on their clothing so much and when they write with a ball point pen they don’t have to worry about the pen making a big glob on your paper. The ball point pen is now an economical pen to buy where once it was not too affordable for the regular person. The Bic ball point pen has come a long way and it is now a dependable pen that people use everyday.
