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Ballpoint Pen

A ballpoint pen is a writing instrument which features a tip that is automatically refreshed with ink. It consists of a precisely formed metal ball seated in a socket beneath a reservoir of ink. Equally the pen is moved along a writing surface, ink is delivered. Even though ballpoint pens were start patented in the late nineteenth century, they just started to reach commercial significance in the early on 1950s. At present, ballpoint pens dominate the writing instrument market, selling over one hundred million pens each twelvemonth worldwide.

History

While the idea of a ballpoint pen had been around for many years, it took three different inventors and near 60 years to develop this modernistic writing musical instrument. The get-go patent for this invention was issued on October 30, 1888, to a man named John J. Loud. His ballpoint pen consisted of a tiny rotating ball bearing that was constantly coated with ink past a reservoir above it. While this invention worked, information technology was non well suited for paper because information technology leaked and caused smearing. Two other inventors, Ladislas Biro and his brother Georg, improved on Loud's invention and patented their own version, which became the first commercially significant ballpoint pen. These pens yet leaked, just not as badly. They became popular worldwide, reaching the peak of sales in 1944. The next year some other inventor, Baron Marcel Bich, finally solved the leakage problem and began manufacturing Bic pens in Paris. Over the years, many improvements have been made in the applied science and quality of the various parts of the pen, such as the ink, the brawl, the reservoir, and the body.

Groundwork

The ballpoint pen was developed as a solution to the problems related to writing with a fountain pen. Fountain pens require the user to constantly refresh the pen by dipping its tip in ink. This is not necessary with a ballpoint pen because it is designed with its own ink reservoir, which uses capillary activity to keep the ink from leaking out. At the tip of the pen is a freely rotating ball seated in a socket. Only function of this ball is exposed; the rest of it is on the inside of the pen and is constantly beingness bathed by ink from the reservoir. Pressing the tip of the pen on the writing surface causes the ball to roll. This rolling action and so transfers ink from the inside of the pen to the writing surface.

While dissimilar designs of ballpoint pens are available, many of the components are the same. Common components include a ball, a bespeak, ink, an ink reservoir or cartridge, and an outer housing. Some pens are topped with a cap to prevent information technology from leaking or having its point damaged. Other pens employ a retractable point system for the same reason. Hither a modest spring is attached to the outside of the ink reservoir, and when a button is pushed, the point is either exposed or retracted. Still other varieties of ballpoint pens have multiple ink cartridges, making it possible to write in different colors using one pen. Other pens have refillable ink cartridges. 1 type of pen has a pressurized cartridge that enables the user to write underwater, over grease, and in space.

Raw Materials

A variety of raw materials are used for making the components of a ballpoint pen, including metals, plastics, and other chemicals. When ballpoint pens were outset adult, an ordinary steel ball was used. That brawl has since been replaced by a textured tungsten carbide brawl. This material is superior because it is particularly resistant to deforming. The brawl is designed to be a perfect sphere that can literally grip most whatsoever writing surface. Its surface is actually composed of over 50,000 polished surfaces and pits. The pits are connected by a serial of channels that are continuous throughout the entire sphere. This pattern allows the ink to be nowadays on both the surface and interior of the ball.

The points of most ballpoint pens are made out of brass, which is an blend of copper and zinc. This material is used considering of its strength, resistance to corrosion, appealing appearance, and ability to be easily formed. Other parts, similar the ink cartridge, the body, or the jump can likewise be made with contumely. Aluminum is too used in some cases to make the pen body, and stainless steel can be used to make pen components. Precious metals such equally golden, silver, or platinum are plated onto more than expensive pens.

The ink can be particularly made by the pen manufacturer. To exist useful in a ballpoint pen, the ink must be slightly thick, wearisome drying in the reservoir, and free of particles. These characteristics ensure that the ink continues to period to the newspaper without bottleneck the ball. When the ink is on the newspaper, rapid drying occurs via penetration and some evaporation. In an ink formulation, diverse pigments and dyes are used to provide the color. Other materials, such as lubricants, surfactants, thickeners, and preservatives, are also incorporated. These ingredients are typically dispersed in materials such equally oleic acid, castor oil, or a sulfonamide plasticizer.

A 1963 plastic and metal ballpoint pen commemorating the bump-off of President John F. Kennedy, Jr.

(From the collections of Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village.)

Until the advent of the calculator, humans accept scrambled to discover writing instruments to record story and song. The earliest scribbles were made with a burnt stick in sand. By the quaternary century B.C. , the Sumerians used wedge-shaped reed pens to cutting pictorial shapes into clay tablets. Eygptians painted hieroglyphics with brushes made from marsh reeds and the ancient Chinese wrote with brushes of strong hair. Ancient Greeks and Romans sharpened stiff reeds to a signal, resulting in chirography that was taut and precise.

The quill pen, made from goose or swan feathers, was favored by writers for over one,000 years. The soft quill was honed to a signal, split at the tip to permit ink to menstruum freely, and constantly resharpened. A monumental improvement over the quill pen was Joseph Gillott's invention of the steel pen beak in the late nineteenth century, which required no sharpening and could be separated from the pen body and changed as needed. Still, the writer constantly dipped pen into ink, hoping to avoid drips.

Fountain pens shop ink inside a reservoir inside the pen, the nib thus supplied with a constant stream of ink. Alonzo Cross featured a "stylographic pen" with an ink-depositing needle point in the late 1860s, but blots and smears were still common. Even so, the ballpoint pen about eradicated messes. Ballpoint pens manufactured early in the century leaked, skipped, and dropped ink until 1950, when a new ink was developed that made the ballpoint reliable.

Nancy EV Bryk

Plastics accept become an of import raw fabric in ballpoint pen manufacture. They have the advantage of being easily formed, lightweight, corrosion resistant, and inexpensive. They are primarily used to course the body of the pen, but are as well used to make the ink cartridge, the push button, the cap, and part of the tip. Dissimilar kinds of plastics are used, based on their physical characteristics. Thermosetting plastics, like phenolic resins, which remain permanently hard after existence formed and cooled, are typically used in constructing the torso, cap, and other pieces. Thermoplastic materials remain flexible. These include materials like high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and

vinyl resins, which tin can be used to brand most of the pen components.

The Manufacturing
Process

Ballpoint pens are made to order in mass quantities. While each manufacturer makes them slightly differently, the basic steps include ink compounding, metal component germination, plastic component molding, piece assembly, packaging, labeling, and shipping. In avant-garde shops, pens can get from raw cloth to finished product in less than five minutes.

Making the ink

• i Large batches of ink are made in a designated area of the manufacturing plant. Here workers, known equally compounders, follow formula instructions to brand batches of ink. Raw materials are poured into the batch tank and thoroughly mixed. Depending on the formula, these batches can be heated and cooled as necessary to assist the raw materials combine more than chop-chop. Some of the larger quantity raw materials are pumped and metered directly into the batch tank. These materials are added simply by pressing a button on computerized controls. These controls too regulate the mixing speeds and the heating and cooling rates. Quality control checks are fabricated during different points of ink batching.

Stamping and forming

• two While the ink is being made, the metallic components of the pen are being constructed. The tungsten carbide balls are typically supplied past outside vendors. Other parts of the pen, such as the point and the body, are made using diverse molds. Starting time, bands of brass are automatically inserted into stamping machines, which cut out thousands of pocket-size discs. The contumely discs are adjacent softened and poured into a compression sleeping accommodation, which consists of a steel ram and a jump-backed ejector plunger. The steel ram presses on the metallic, causing the plunger to retract and forcing the metal into a die cast mold. This compresses the metallic and forms the various pen pieces. When the ram and plunger render to their original positions, the excess metal is and so scraped off and recycled. The dice is and so opened, and the pen piece is ejected.
• 3 The formed pieces are then cleaned and cut. They are immersed in a bath to remove oils used in the molding procedure. Afterwards they emerge from the bathroom, the parts are and so cutting to the dimensions of the specific pen. The pen pieces are adjacent polished by rotating brushes and cleaned once more to remove any residual oils. The ball can so be inserted into the point crenel.

Molding the housing

• iv The plastic components of the pen are synthetic simultaneously with the

  

  other pen pieces. They can be produced past either extrusion or injection molding. In each arroyo, the plastic is supplied as granules or pulverization and is fed into a large hopper. The extrusion process involves a large spiral screw, which forces the cloth through a heated chamber, making it a thick, flowing mass. It is and so forced through a die, cooled, and cut. Pieces such as the pen body and ink reservoir are made by this method.
• 5 For pieces that have more complex shapes, similar caps, ends, and mechanical components, injection molding is used. In this process the plastic is heated, converting it into a liquid that tin can then exist forcibly injected into a mold. Afterwards information technology cools, information technology solidifies and maintains its shape later on the die is opened.

Ink filling and assembly

• 6 Later the components are formed, associates can take place. Typically, the ballpoint is first attached to the ink reservoir. These pieces are and so conveyored to injectors, which fill the reservoir with the appropriately colored ink. If a spring is going to exist nowadays, it is and so placed on the barrel of the reservoir.

Final assembly, packaging, and shipping

• 7 The point and reservoir are so placed inside the main torso of the pen. At this stage, other components such every bit the cap and ends are incorporated. Other finishing steps, such as calculation coatings or decorations or performing a final cleaning, are also washed. The finished pens are and so packaged according to how they will be sold. Unmarried pens tin can be put into blister packages with paper-thin backings. Groups of pens are packed into bags or boxes. These sales units are and so put into boxes, stacked on pallets, and shipped to distributors.

Quality Command

The quality of pen components is checked during all manufacturing stages. Since thousands of parts are made each day, inspecting each one is impossible. Consequently, line inspectors take random samples of pen pieces at certain time intervals and check to ensure that they run across fix specifications for size, shape, and consistency. The master testing method is visual inspection, although more than rigorous measurements are likewise made. Diverse types of measuring equipment are available. Length measurements are made with a vernier caliper, a micrometer, or a microscope. Each of these differ in accuracy and application. To exam the condition of surface coatings, an optical flat or surface estimate may be used.

Like the solid pieces of the pens, quality tests are also performed on the liquid batches of ink. After all the ingredients are added to the batch, a sample is taken to the Quality Control (QC) laboratory for testing. Physical characteristics are checked to make sure the batch adheres to the specifications outlined in the formula instructions. The QC group runs tests such equally pH conclusion, viscosity checks, and advent evaluations. If the batch is constitute to be "out of spec," adjustments tin be made. For example, colors can be adjusted by adding more dye.

In addition to these specific tests, line inspectors are besides posted at each stage of manufacture. They visually inspect the components as they are made and check for things such as inadequately filled ink reservoirs, deformed pens, and incorrectly assembled parts. Random samples of the terminal product are as well tested to ensure a batch of pens writes correctly.

The Future

Ballpoint pen applied science has improved profoundly since the time of Loud'due south first patented invention. Future enquiry will focus on developing new inks and better designed pens that are more comfy and longer lasting. Additionally, manufacturers volition strive to produce higher quality products at the lowest possible cost. I tendency that volition continue volition be the development of materials and processes which utilise metals and plastics that take undergone a minimum of processing from their normal land. This should minimize waste product, increase production speed, and reduce the concluding cost of the pens.

Where to Learn More than

Books

Carraher, Charles, and Raymond Seymour. Polymer Chemical science. Marcel Dekker, 1992.

Periodicals

Peeler, Tom. "The Brawl-Point'south Bad Ancestry." Invention & Engineering science, Winter 1996, p. 64.

Trebilcock, Bob. "The Leaky Legacy of John J. Loud." Yankee, March 1989, p. 141.

— Perry Romanowski

whitemuspetwon.blogspot.com

Source: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-3/Ballpoint-Pen.html

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