Pens 101: The Revolutionary Ballpoint Pen
Intro
Ah, the ballpoint pen. Such a simple analog tool now, but when it first came out in the mid 20th century, it revolutionized the world in so many ways.
As we mentioned in our previous Intro to Pens blog, a ballpoint pen uses a ball-and-socket mechanism to allow a high-viscosity, oil-based ink onto a writing surface. Essentially, there’s a tiny metal ball bearing at the tip and gravity and viscosity cause the oil-based ink to be coated onto the metal ball, which is constantly rotating and being re-coated in ink as a person writes. The result is ink on a page that is water-resistant (due to the oil), fast-drying, and smudge-free (due to the high viscosity).
Before the ballpoint pen, folks had to use the more inconvenient and expensive fountain pen to write, which required pen maintenance and used water-based inks that took longer to dry and that weren't water resistant. Fountain pens have been making a comeback in recent years, as more people turn to analog tools to help detach from the onslaught of digital media, but we’ll come back to them in a future blog. For now, let’s get back to the modest ballpoint pen.
A Brief History & Impact
There were a few attempts at a ballpoint “ball-and-socket” device in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but none of the inventions were good for writing. In 1938, Hungarian journalist Lazlo Biro, frustrated by the constant smudging of his fountain pens, developed the first functioning ballpoint pen using ink that was inspired by the fast-drying ink involved with newspaper printing presses. The ink was oil-based and had a high-viscosity and together with the free-rotating ball-bearing, the ballpoint pen was born. But it didn’t become popular for a while.
In the 1940s, WWII pilots in the British Royal Air Force started to use the invention because the ballpoint did not leak at high altitudes, unlike their fountain pens. Shortly after, other companies started to create their own version of the ballpoint pen and they became incredibly popular in the US and around the world. At first they were almost as expensive as fountain pens, but due to the extreme competition and demand, prices quickly became more affordable for most people as ballpoint pens started to be mass produced. Ballpoint pens replaced fountain pens AND allowed for more people to have the opportunity to write with a cheaper and more convenient option.
Thanks to the ballpoint pen’s cheaper price and convenience, more people had access to engage in writing and communication than ever before, leading to significantly higher global literacy and writing rates. This is also why you see ballpoint pens everywhere today.
Defining the Ballpoint Pen
Over the years there have been a number of variants to the ballpoint pen that have grown in popularity and I want to briefly discuss these in the context of how we define a ballpoint pen for the purpose of our blog. Rollerball pens are ballpoint pens that use a water-based ink formula. Gel pens are ballpoint pens that use a water-based gel ink that contain suspended pigments and can do fun things like glow in the dark, sparkle, etc. Hybrid ballpoint pens are ballpoint pens that use a special low-viscosity, oil-based emulsion ink that combines the best of traditional ballpoint pens and gel pens. These are ALL technically ballpoint pens but in stationery nomenclature, when we refer to ballpoint pens we are talking about the classic versions…think Parker Jotters, BiC Cristal, etc. We’ll go into more specifics for the other types of pens in future blogs.
Our Favorite Non-Hybrid Ballpoint Pens
Each of us at the Outpost Stationery have our own personal preferences when it comes to writing with pens, but when it comes to non-hybrid ballpoint pens, it’s always great to have some around since they’re so utilitarian. Here are our favorites:
Joveth
- BIC Crystal: It’s a classic for a reason and available pretty much everywhere. It gets the job done.
- Pentel WoW! 1.4mm: The line that this retractable pen produces is pretty thick, as I think the average ballpoint pen lays down a 0.7mm line. I like chonky lines, what can I say? It also has a nice rubbery grub.
- BIC Glide Ultra Comfort 1.0mm: This retractable pen features an incredibly soft and comfortable gel grip that you won’t want to let go of. The 1.0mm line is thick and smooth.
Santiago
I use ballpoint pens every day. My favorite is always the one closest to me. They do such a great job of being available. But, as a stationer, I must warn: the mechanics of these pens - and this applies to any pen with a small ball at the end to distribute the ink - mean that a single failure point may make the pen unusable. So I tend to avoid complete ballpoint pens and focus on refills. That way I can keep a nice pen at hand all the time. For example, I keep Wingback and Mark’s pens around the house. They are nice to look at, and I change the refill if they ever fail.
Conclusion
We hope this has helped out in clarifying both the mechanics and definition of a traditional, non-hybrid ballpoint pen. Reliable, cheap, and consistent: it's the world's most popular type of pen for a reason. And we haven't even started talking about refills yet, but that will be coming up in a future blog. Thanks for reading!
