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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello everyone, I'm Eves and welcome to This

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Speaker 1: Day in History Class, a podcast that brings you a

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Speaker 1: new tidbit of history every day. Today is June. The

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Speaker 1: day was June. Hungarian newspaper editor Lass Slow Bureau filed

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Speaker 1: a British patent for the ballpoint pen. A ballpoint pan

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Speaker 1: is one that dispenses pink over a small, rotating metal

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Speaker 1: ball at its point. The ballpoint pan served as a

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Speaker 1: cleaner and more reliable alternative to dip pens and fountain pens.

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Speaker 1: The concept of using a ballpoint in a pen emerged

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Speaker 1: years before Bureau filed for any patent. An American leather

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Speaker 1: tanner named John Loud originally patented the ballpoint pen. Loud

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Speaker 1: wrote that the pen would be especially useful for quote

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Speaker 1: marking on rough surfaces such as would course, wrapping paper,

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Speaker 1: and other articles where an ordinary pin could not be used,

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Speaker 1: but that idea didn't go too far. It was good

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Speaker 1: for writing one leather, but it was too rough for paper.

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Speaker 1: In the following years, other people filed patents for early

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Speaker 1: ballpoint pens, but these pins weren't commercially viable. Many failed

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Speaker 1: because the ink inside overflowed, did not flow evenly, or

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Speaker 1: would not flow at all. It took until the early

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Speaker 1: twentieth century for an inventor to get the ballpoint pin right.

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Speaker 1: Hungarian newspaper editor Laslow Bureau was frustrated with the unreliability

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Speaker 1: of fountain pens and realized that ink used on newsprint

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Speaker 1: dried faster and didn't smudge. His brother, George was a chemist,

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Speaker 1: and Bureau solicited his help to create a better pin.

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Speaker 1: They experimented with different inks, and they decided on a

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Speaker 1: ball tip design that allowed the pin to write without

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Speaker 1: leaking a lot. Barreau introduced a pin at the Budapest

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Speaker 1: in Turn National Fair in nineteen thirty one. On June

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Speaker 1: ninety eight, Bureau filed a British patent for the pin,

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Speaker 1: but the threat of Nazi persecution during World War Two

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Speaker 1: led the Barrel brothers to flee Europe and head to Argentina.

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Speaker 1: In June of nine three, they filed a patent for

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Speaker 1: their ballpoint pen in Argentina and began production in Argentina.

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Speaker 1: Their pan was called the Baron, a portmanteau of the

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Speaker 1: name Bureau and the name of a friend of theirs,

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Speaker 1: the Royal Air Force in Britain reportedly purchased thirty thousand

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Speaker 1: of their ballpoint pins. The Barrel Brothers pins did not

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Speaker 1: leak at high altitudes like others did. Soon, patents for

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Speaker 1: the ballpoint pen were being filed and sold to different companies,

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Speaker 1: and the ballpoint pin began to show up around the world.

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Speaker 1: After World War Two, many companies purchased the rights to

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Speaker 1: manufacture the ballpoint pin. They began to produce their own designs.

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Speaker 1: One notable name in this phase of the ballpoint pins

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Speaker 1: evolution is Marcel Bick. He bought patent rights in France

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Speaker 1: and brought the price for the pin down. Today, ballpoint

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Speaker 1: pens are popular across the globe. I'm Eve stef Coote

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Speaker 1: and hopefully you know a little more about history today

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Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. And if you have any comment

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Speaker 1: source suggestions, you can send them to us via email

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Speaker 1: at this day at i heeart Media dot com. You

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Speaker 1: can also hit us up on social media. We're at

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Speaker 1: t D I h C podcast. Thanks so much for

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Speaker 1: listening to the show and we'll see you tomorrow. For

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