PENNA A SFERA: come è nata e come funziona

Why does the BIC Cristal pen have a hole in the cap and a hole in the center of the barrel? How does the 1mm ball in the tip work? Let's start from the beginning: Before the ballpoint pen was invented, those who could afford it used the fountain pen. It was expensive, it stained and it needed a lot of maintenance. The alternative was the pen with the inkwell. Uncomfortable and extremely delicate. In 1888, an American tanner, John Loud built a writing instrument that could write on his leather products, something that fountain pens of the time could not do. This invention of his was revolutionary. In fact, in the tip of this first prototype of a pen, there was a sphere that rotated and transferred the ink onto the material. It was useful for marking rough surfaces like leather but it was too big to write on paper! There was no market, no one needed something like that! The patent expired! After this attempt, there were others who tried to obtain better results, but there were several problems related to the functioning of a ballpoint pen. The ink was not deposited uniformly on the paper, there were leaks that stained the sheets, the tip became clogged easily. Until a Hungarian journalist Laszlo Birò, realized that the ink used for printing newspapers dried quickly, and was thicker than that used for pens. So he put the two things together and created the first truly functional ballpoint pen. This is why we also call it a biro pen, from the name of its first inventor, Birò! This pen was still far from the one we use today. It was too expensive and not suitable for mass production. So in 1944 Marcel Bich, a nobleman and entrepreneur of Italian origins naturalized French, purchased the rights to the Birò patent. But here comes the best part, because Marcel Bic redesigned the pen to make it minimal, economical and above all reliable! He decided to use a plastic casing, much cheaper than the metal ones. Transparent plastic specifically, so that he could see the ink level. The hexagonal section prevented it from rolling too much and falling off the table. The pen's spheres were initially produced in Switzerland by a company specializing in precision mechanics that produced components for watches. The diameter of the sphere was 1 mm, so as to optimize the flow of ink. The formula of the ink itself was revised to make it just the right amount of viscous and prevent it from dripping. But the hole on the side? The hole is used to balance the internal pressure. When the ink runs out, if there were no hole, a depression would be created inside the pen (a sort of vacuum) that would block the flow of ink. And so, thanks to all these changes, the first BIC cristal pen was born in 1950. BIC comes from Marcel BIC's surname, Cristal because it was as transparent as crystal. The BIC Cristal has changed the world. We have all used it at least once. From 1950 to today, over 100 billion Bic Cristals have been sold. Each BIC CRISTAL writes for about 2km so up to today, with this pen alone, about 200 billion km of text have been written. About 900 times the distance between Earth and Mars! From 1950 to today, the BIC Cristal pen has remained practically identical in design, except for one thing, the hole, the hole in the cap! But what is this hole for? Introduced in the 90s, the hole is used to prevent suffocation! In fact, if the cap were to be accidentally swallowed even by a child, that hole allows the passage of air and prevents suffocation! Economical, simple, reliable. The BIC Critstal pen seems like a banal object, but it is a perfect mix of engineering and design. An object that has managed to spread throughout the world thanks to its reliability and extremely low cost. BIC has applied the same philosophy to disposable lighters and razors. However, there is a new challenge underway. That of sustainability. BIC has already started campaigns to optimize production processes aimed at reducing environmental impact. Plastic pollutes, and in the near future there could be new regulatory restrictions on the use of plastic, its primacy could end. Will BIC be able to adapt to this new context? We'll see. WATCH THE VIDEO to learn more! _______________________________ 👇 FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA 👇 📍INSTAGRAM:   / cristianomazia   🚀TIKTOK:   / cristianomazia   🦺LINKEDIN:   / cristiano-mazia   ✅ CONTACT ME: https://cristianomazia.com/contattami/ 💻VISIT MY WEBSITE: https://cristianomazia.com/