Putting one’s
thought on paper ~Writing is most important though the practice of writing is
slowly dying. It is believed that
Indians pioneered writing with writing materials as many of our epics have been
recorded in various forms. In earlier
days, bird feathers, sharp instruments, bamboo sticks were used to write,
especially on palm and other leaves.
Legend has it that Sage Vyasa dicated ‘Mahabaratha’ which was written by
Lord Ganesha with his teeth (ivory tusk)
Much later pen was
discovered – pen (Latin – penna) is a device used to apply ink to a surface
generally paper. There are many types of
pens – remember we used fountain pens in our study days, there were also ball
point pens. Now a days most students use
gel pen in which ink is a water based gel.
The ink is thick and opaque and shows up more clearly. Fountain pens had the nibs and had reservoir
of ink in the bottom portion. Filling was manual though there were some using
vacuum. Camlin was one of the most
popular brands in use those days.
Parker, Pilot were in the hands of the rich. Though any good writing pen would do, there
has been craze for costly brands such as Schaeffer, Cross, Ferrari, Mont Blanc,
Bentley, Mercedes, Giorgio Armani,
Parker, Koh-i-noor, and more. There are also Celebrity pieces made for the
occasions and limited versions studded with gems and diamonds on gold and other
metal of high value
In our
school days in late 1970s and later, we craved for brand ‘Red-leaf’ – prized possession
was one from Singapore which my uncle brought on a visit. Later market was flooded with many other
brands with Reynolds perhaps ruling now ! You may not realise
this but the humble ballpoint pen, used by millions of people around the world
every day, is less than eight decades old. Invented as the Second World War was about to
begin in 1938, the biro takes its name from its creator Ladislao José Biro.
Biro, who was born
in 1899, was a sometime journalist, painter and inventor who was frustrated
with fountain pens blotting and smudging. He got the idea on a visit to a
newspaper printing press, which used quick-drying ink and a roller. His thought
process enabled simplifying the process and he set about creating the biro,
which would begin production in 1944 under the name "Eterpen" and
retail for the equivalent of £33.
Today would have
been Biro's 177th birthday and Google is honouring the occasion with a Doodle. Biro's
first idea for the ballpoint pen was to use the quick-drying newspaper ink in a
fountain pen. This however didn't work as the ink was too thick and slow-moving
to reach the tip of the nib. So he created a ballpoint nib which was coated
with a thin film of ink from the cartridge as it made contact with paper and spun
in its socket. Biro initially tested the invention with fountain pen and
printing ink, both of which had the wrong consistency. Biro enlisted the help of his brother György
Bíró who was a chemist to create ink that was just the right viscosity. The pair
gave their name to the invention when they patented it the "Biro" on
July 15 1938.
The pen is still
called a biro in countries including the UK, Ireland, Australia and Italy, but
in the US it is known as a ballpoint pen. The nib in a ballpoint pen is normally
made of a metal such as brass, steel or tungsten carbide. When it comes into
contact with a piece of paper, or other writing material, the ball rotates and
picks up a thin film of ink from the cartridge, which is a pressurised tube. Biro was not the first person to come up with
the idea of a rollerball system for delivering ink to the nib of a pen. John
Loud is widely believed to have patented the first ballpoint pen back in 1888,
but he failed to turn it into a commercial product and so his patent lapsed.
Ladislao José Biro,
the eponymous inventor, was born into a Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary, and
started life as László József Bíró. In fact he maintained that name until after
he invented the handy ballpoint pen when, in 1940, he was forced to flee the
Nazi occupationof his home country. After
escaping the hostile occupation of Hungary, Biro made his way to Argentina,
where he eventually secured backing to turn the biro into a commercial product.
The pen's first backer was the British accountant Henry George Martin,
according to the Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology. The first major buyer of the newly created pen
was the Royal Air Force. During the Second World War the organisation ordered
30,000 of the tools, which would work at high altitudes unlike traditional
fountain pens. After the war it entered commercial production.
Today, the Bic
Cristal biro is the world's most popular pen. Astonishingly, the price of the
pen in the US has remained the same at around $0.19 [around Rs.12.50], since
when it was first put on sale in 1959 despite flying decades and increasing
inflation.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
29th Sept. 2016.
