A Short History Of The Pen

Before the invention of the modern ballpoint pen, people used quill pens.
They dipped a main feather from a bird’s wing or tail in ink and wrote on paper with it.
Writing like this continued for about 1200 years until the invention of the pencil,
and the fountain pen in the 19th century.

Romanian inventor Petrache Poenaru got a patent for the first fountain pen in 1827.
Fountain pens made it easier and faster for people to write, but they had problems too.
The ink dried at the tip and the pen quickly ran out of ink.
Also, people could only write on smooth paper, not other things.

After about 50 years, American inventor John J Loud made the first ballpoint pen.
He wanted to make it easier for people to write on any kind of surface. The only problem was the ink.
About 40 years later, two Hungarian brothers György and László Bíró solved this problem.
They created a new kind of ink that was thick and could stick to paper easily.
Ballpoint pens became popular when American businessman Milton Reynolds saw Bíró ballpoint pens in Argentina.
He changed some parts of the pen and started his own pen-making company