Who invented the ballpoint pen

A.� A Hungarian journalist called Laszlo Biro.< xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

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Q.� Who he

A.� A man of many accomplishments: writer, sculptor, painter, medical student, inventor ... and hypnotist. He invented an automatic gearbox that he sold to the Ford Motor Company, which then suppressed the invention for commercial reasons.

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Q.� And then the ballpoint

A.� John J Loud took out a patent on a similar pen in 1888, but it was never developed commercially. Laszlo and his brother George patented the Biro pen in 1938 and, as war ripped through Europe, moved to Argentina in 1940, where they applied for another patent.

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Q.� How did the pens work

A.� The idea was simple, but rather fiddly: Biro put a tiny ball-bearing in the pen's tip, and this rotates, picking up ink and applying it to the paper. He substituted fast-drying newspaper ink. The tiny ball-bearing protects the ink from the outside air, stopping it from drying out.

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Q.� So how did it catch on in those turbulent times

A.� RAF pilots complained that fountain pens leaked at high altitudes, and a pencil was not permanent enough. The ballpoint, which contained special, thick ink, worked ... so the British government bought licensing rights for the RAF.�The Biro patent was bought for $1 million and marketed as the Eversharp CA (standing for capillary action). It began to sell successfully in Buenos Aires, so Eversharp began preparations for an American campaign.

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Q.� And it did well

A.� Hold on. There was a complication. A Chicago businessman, Milton Reynolds, visited Argentina. He loved the pen, bought a few samples and took them to the USA, ahead of the competition. Reynolds could afford to ignore the Eversharp and even the 1888 patent. Biro�had forgotten to register it in the USA. With the help of Gimbals' Department store in New York City, Reynolds made millions with his expensive ballpoint. Eversharp could only protest ... and then dozens of other companies rushed into market with shoddy and leaky pens.

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Q.� So it just became a free-for-all

A.� In America, yes. So many ballpoints were unreliable that many people went back to their trusty fountain pens. Ballpoints were condemned as cheap and destructive of good handwriting. (Indeed, I know of one English teacher today who won't allow his pupils to write their essays in ballpoint.) The invention, however, was too good to disappear and surviving companies began to produce better and cheaper ballpoints. In 1957, Eversharp sold its pen division to Parker.

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Q.� And Mr Biro

A.� Laszlo Biro died in 1985, having donated his name to the English language.

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By Steve Cunningham