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September 2, 2015
How the Ballpoint Pen Changed Handwriting
. Eventually, they refined both the ink and the ball-tip design to create a pen that didnât leak badly. (This was an era in which a pen could be a huge hit because it only leaked ink sometimes.) The Bírós lived in a troubled time, however. The Hungarian author Gyoergy Moldova writes in his book Ballpoint about Lászlóâs flight from Europe to Argentina to avoid Nazi persecution. While his business deals in Europe were in disarray, he patented the design in Argentina in 1943 and began production. His big break came later that year, when the British Air Force, in search of a pen that would work at high altitudes, purchased 30,000 of them. Soon, patents were filed and sold to various companies in Europe and North America, and the ballpoint pen began to spread across the world. - -The Atlantic
Posted by gerardvanderleun at September 2, 2015 9:28 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
Your Say
Thus is explained, from an unexpected source, why Brits insist on calling ballpoint pens "biros."
The world is so full of a number of things.
Posted by: Rob De Witt ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://americandigest.org/sidelines/nav-commenters.gif)
at September 2, 2015 10:55 AM
Considering how man trillions of Biro and Bic pens have been sold, it's a wonder we are not knee-deep in pens. And more pens are lost than run out of ink.
Posted by: Fontessa at September 3, 2015 6:42 PM