"There is no lighter burden, nor more agreeable, than a pen"
Petrarch, poet
John J. Laud's invention, the ballpoint pen, was far from perfect. It leaked and smudged documents and was too crude for standard letter-writing. Nevertheless, Loud—a leather tanner from Massachusetts who wanted something that could write on leather and wood—patented his new writing instrument on October 30,. 1888. With a tiny steel ball bearing in the nib and three smaller balls aligned above it to try to regulate ink flow, all refreshed with ink from a reservoir above. Loud had invented the world's first pen that did not constantly require dipping or refilling.
However, Loud was unable to control the flow of ink, which contributed to the pen never being sold commercially. If the ink were too thin the pen would leak; if it were too thick, it would clog. Depending on the temperature, the pen would sometimes do both. Loud's pen also relied solely upon gravity to deliver ink to the nib and had to be held in an almost vertical position for it to write. Eventually Loud's patent expired, making sure that the fountain pen prevailed. It was only in 1938 that Hungarian newspaper editor Laszlo Biro pressurized the ink reservoir. His pen used capillary action for ink delivery, solving the flow problems. In 1943 Biro added a gravity-fed feeder tube. His "biro" amounted to a reinvention of the ballpoint pen, sold with a promise that it could write for a year without the need for refilling.
