2016-09-29 Thu

Ladislao José Biro – known as the inventor of Ballpoint Pen was born today on 29 September 1899. Mintage world pays tribute to this extraordinary inventor on his 117th Birth Anniversary.

Born in Budapest, Mr. Biro was a journalist by profession. The story goes that being a journalist, was upset about the disorders that caused his fountain pen. Together with his brother George, he managed to make an ink that was very useful for the handwriting, but that could not be used with the pen he was using.

One fine day he saw children while playing in the street with balls, driving them through a puddle of mud; leaving drawing a line of water dry flat. That time was the solution of his problem. Instead of using a metal pen tip he tried a little inside the nip ball.

The nib in a ballpoint pen is normally made of a metal. 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 leaving its impression behind.

But in May 1940, at the beginning of World War II, Mr. Biro moved to Argentina where he launched the first ball pen named Birome into the market which saw an extraordinary success.

Argentina commemorates 29 September, the day of his birth, as Inventor Day! On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the invention of the ballpoint, a 75 cents stamp was issued. Featuring his portrait and his invention this stamp is a part of set of four stamps issued to honour Mr. Biro and three other Argentine inventors.