The failure of one is often ignored when it is the inspiration of another. Such is the case with John Jacob Loud. Graduating from Harvard as a lawyer in 1871 and admitted to the Suffolk County Bar on February 2, 1872, Loud chose to work with his father as assistant cashier of the Union National Bank of Weymouth, Massachusetts. When his father died, Loud became the head cashier.
In 1888, Loud “wanted an ink pen which would be able to write on rougher materials such as wood and leather as well as paper. His masterstroke was the revolving steel ball, which was held in place by a socket. In his 1888 patent filing, he wrote:
“My invention consists of an improved reservoir or fountain pen, especially useful, among other purposes, for marking on rough surfaces-such as wood, coarse wrapping-paper, and other articles where an ordinary pen could not be used.”1 While the pen worked well on the rough surfaces, it tore up paper making its usefulness extremely limited. His pen never caught on and the patent lapsed.
Sounds like a failure, right?
Other inventors tried improving on Loud’s invention, but little came of their efforts until 1938. “The ballpoint pen as we know it was invented by László Bíró, a Hungarian journalist… While visiting a printing press, Bíró noticed how newspaper ink dried almost instantly, leaving sharp, smudge-free marks. He realized that the thick, fast-drying ink used in printing was the key to a better pen. However, this viscous ink wouldn’t flow through a traditional fountain pen nib. Bíró’s breakthrough, developed with the help of his chemist [and dentist] brother, György, was a new writing tip: a tiny, freely rotating ball bearing seated in a socket. As the pen moved across paper, the ball would rotate, picking up a controlled amount of thick ink from a reservoir and transferring it smoothly onto the writing surface. This mechanism solved the dual problems of leakage and slow drying Bíró patented his design in 1938, and the “biro” was born…”
“The man who truly brought the ballpoint to the masses was Frenchman Marcel Bich. He recognized that for the pen to be a universal success, it needed to be reliable, functional, and, above all, affordable Bich acquired the patent for the ballpoint mechanism and spent years refining it. He perfected the manufacturing process to produce a perfectly spherical
tungsten carbide ball for a smooth roll, perfected the ink viscosity, and designed a simple, clear polystyrene barrel. In 1950, he launched the Bic Cristal. The Bic Cristal was a masterpiece of industrial design and economics. It was sold as a disposable item—”Buy it, use it, throw it away”—a radical concept at the time. Priced for everyone, it became a global phenomenon. To this day, the Bic Cristal remains one of the most mass-produced consumer items in history.” 2
Loud had passed away before he could see what Bíró had done with his “prototype.” I think Loud would have loudly approved even though Bíró and Bich seemed to take all the credit without so much as a nod to Loud!
Pens have existed for a very long time, though they would have been in the form of quills or some other item dipped in ink. The first mention in the Bible of a “pen” is in Judges 5:14. “Out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek; after thee, Benjamin, among thy people; out of Machir came down governors, and out of Zebulun they that handle the pen of the writer.”
Albert Barnes writes, “There came down the chiefs, and of Zebulon they that handle the staff of the officer” the military scribe, whose duty it was, like that of the Roman tribunes, to keep the muster roll, and superintend the recruiting of the army.” He references 2 Kings 25:19 which says “And out of the city he took an officer that was set over the men of war, and five men of them that were in the king’s presence, which were found in the city, and the principal scribe of the host, which mustered the people of the land, and threescore men of the people of the land that were found in the city.”
There is an interesting passage found in Psalms 45:1. It begins, “To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, for the sons of Korah, Maschil, A Song of loves.” Then, we get these words, “My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.” Think about that! How many of us would be willing for all that our tongue speaks to be put into print, written down for all to read? Imagine someone is sitting next to us 24/7 with a pen and notebook in hand, ready to capture every utterance that escapes our lips. Would we be happy to see what was written?
As God gave His Word through inspiration to the Biblical authors, they put pen to parchment, writing the words given to them by the Lord. What a tedious task as a pen had to be constantly dipped in ink and caution exercised to keep the ink from smudging. How much easier might it have been with a ballpoint pen?!?
As the saying goes, “the pen truly is mightier than the sword” — except for when the pen wrote the Sword. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Thankfully, those pens were used under God’s direction.
Revelation 21:5 leaves us with a truth that applies to all the Word of God. “And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.”
1https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201028-history-of-the-ballpoint-pen
2https://www.ttpen.com/blogs/news/a-brief-history-of-the-ballpoint-pen-from-invention-to-modern-day
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