This Week in Literary History: The First Ballpoint Pen is Sold in New York City

In the summer of 1944, American newspapers carried news of an innovative new invention - the first ballpoint pen sold in New York City. Hungarian-Argentinian journalist László Bíró had patented a pen with a ball bearing tip, which only required refilling every six months and could be used at high altitudes. Bíró had enlisted his brother, a dentist and chemist, to develop a quick-drying, viscous ink that wouldn't clog.

Although Bíró had received his patent in 1938, his efforts to market the pens were delayed by World War II; he and his brother were Jewish and fled Europe in 1941, eventually settling in Argentina. In 1943, they began selling the ballpoint pens, called "biromes," in Argentina, where they quickly gained popularity.

By 1945, American companies Eversharp and Eberhard Faber had acquired North and Central American rights to the new pen for half a million dollars. However, Milton Reynolds had beaten them to it. After discovering the pen in Buenos Aires the previous year, Reynolds brought his own version, the Reynolds Rocket, to the United States. It was an instant sensation, with Gimbel's department store in Manhattan reporting that "thousands of people all but trampled each other ... to spend $12.50 each for a new fountain pen."

Despite legal challenges from Eversharp and Eberhard Faber, Reynolds sold 50,000 units of his pen within the first week, with 30,000 sold after the first week. However, the pens had their flaws, as 104,643 defective pens were returned within the first eight months of sales. Nevertheless, the world of pens had been irrevocably changed. Shortly after Reynolds' success, Marcel Bich would introduce disposable, and thus cheaper, ballpoint pens, marking another chapter in the evolution of writing instruments.