The well known pioneers of the ballpoint pen were the Hungarians, Ladislao and Georg Biro. They tried many experiments in the 1930's and then emigrated to Argentina in 1943. While there, they found an English financial backer called Henry Martin. With another gentleman called Frederick Miles, Martin set up a manufacturing company, which produced non-leaking, high-altitude writing pens for the Royal Air Force (RAF). Miles & Martin had formed a company which soon became a mass-production industry, with a million pound turnover. Shortly afterwards, the comapny was taken over by the French firm Bic. Bic developed a method of making a much more cost-effective and dispensable ballpoint.
The ballpoint pen works by capillary action. This occurs in very narrow channels or tubes. The ink travels easily down the tube because the pressure within the tube is lower than the external pressure, forcing the ink down the channel. The low pressure is generated by the forces between molecules found at the ink's surface. The most obvious difference between the ballpoint pen and other types is that, at the tip of the pen there is a socket which contains a small metal ball. As ink flows via the tube, it is pushed through a narrow gap to the metal ball. The ball has the ability to rotate and at the same time transfer ink to the paper. The inks are usually designed to dry immediately.
