Today Is National Ballpoint Pen Day
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Today Is National Ballpoint Pen Day Grab your ballpoint pen and write this on your calendar. June 10th of each year is National Ballpoint Pen Day. This particular day commemorates the ballpoint pen and marks the anniversary of the patent filing on June 10, 1943. Before 1943, anyone who wanted to write a letter or scribble some notes on a piece of paper would have to use a fountain pen or pencil. Now the dominant writing instrument, the ballpoint pen was originally conceived and developed as a cleaner and more reliable alternative to the quill and fountain pens. Every day, millions are manufactured and sold worldwide. Lost cost and its omnipresence assure that there is always a ballpoint pen within your reach. In earlier years, many attempts by inventors lead to failed patents as their inventions did not deliver the ink evenly and also had overflow and clogging issues. Brothers Laszlo and Gyorgy Biro are credited with the invention of the ballpoint pen and obtained a patent in June of 1943. Before ballpoint pens, thinkers relied on messy quill pens and fountain pens to jot down their thoughts. These pens leaked and smeared and were not well equipped for the on-the-go lives of pen users. The rise of the ballpoint pen made writing convenient for secretaries and fighter pilots alike. By World War II, the British Parliament had purchased the patent rights for the ballpoint pen from the Bíró brothers, and the rest was written into ballpoint pen history—with a ballpoint pen of course. To realize the importance of the ballpoint pen, consider the fact that the ballpoint pen wasn’t popularized until after commercial aviation was in widespread use. Imagine soaring through the sky in a massive hunk of metal thinking to yourself, “I wish they’d invent a good way to take notes.” Now that’s a ballpoint pen fact worth writing down! [From Quill.com].