Ballpoint pens were invented in the 1940s, although earlier efforts to design them dated back to the 1800s. By the 1950s they'd become standard technology, displacing the traditional fountain pen. Ballpoint pens dispense their ink via the rolling action of a small metal sphere or ball at the tip, rather than a nib.
At the end of World War Two, Eversharp produced one of the first commercial ballpoint pens, called the Eversharp CA for capillary action. Reynolds followed suit with a ballpoint pen called the Reynolds Rocket. These two pens were sold for the same price as high-end fountain pens, and both failed because they had problems with leaking.
Just when it seemed the prospects for ballpoint pens were dim, around 1950, Marcel Bich pioneered a very inexpensive ballpoint, the Bic Crystal. It was a self-contained disposabl...
Suddenly, every major pen company (Sheaffer, Parker, etc.) that wanted to survive had to come out with a ballpoint pen. Thereafter, ballpoints came in two varieties: inexpensive writing instruments and higher-end fashion statements and gift items (e.g. Cross and Parker ballpoints).
Interviews & Articles
Girlie Pens, Again? Why Ordinary Things Go Pink

Score one for the Internet. Not long after Bic launched its new line of "Bic for Her" ballpoint pens—boasting an "elegant design" … [more]
The Pinnacle of Pens: Author Barry Gabay on Writing in Style and the Montblanc 149

In 1908, three guys in Hamburg, Germany, founded what would become Montblanc. In the beginning it was known as the Simplo Filler P… [more]
Vintage Sheaffer, Parker, Wahl, and Waterman Fountain Pens

When I got my first job out of college, I did what a lot of people do: I ran out and bought myself a Montblanc pen and fountain pe… [more]
Best of the Web (“Hall of Fame”)
Parker51.com

Ernesto Soler's extensive homage to one of the most popular pens ever produced, the Parker "51," introduced in 1941… [read review or visit site]
Penhero.com

Jim Mamoulides' vintage and modern pen-cyclopedia. Start at the main gallery, featuring detailed articles (with pho… [read review or visit site]
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