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a brief history

bíró had become frustrated by the time spent filling-up
fountain pens and waiting for the ink to dry. he had seaen
that the ink used to print newspapers dried much quicker
and so decided to create a pen using the same type of ink.
in 1938 the bíró brothers patented a design which featured
a tiny ball in its tip, which turned freely in a socket. as the
ball moved along the paper it rotated, picking up ink from
the cartridge and leaving it on the paper.

whilst ballpoint pens had existed in the past - none had
proved very popular due to constant problems with clogging,
leakage and ink distribution - the bíró's, was the first pen
that significantly overcame these problems.

after relocating to argentina in 1940 the bírós licensed
their design to a number of makers in the US and britain but
it was almost ten years later when the design was mastered
and introduced to the rest of the world. marcel bich a french pen
manufacturer who had bought the ballpoint pen patent from
lászló bíró - ironed out the remaining design problems
(mainly ink distribution) and began huge, low cost
mass prodctions of the 'bic crystal'.

it's not surprising to hear that in 2005 bic sold its one hundred
billionth pen, when you consider just how many of their pens
you might have owned, borrowed or even stolen.

boomphat wrote:Bic also make kayaks