Ball Point Pen

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The ball point pen is one of the most integral and humble objects that you’ll find in any home or office. For a long time, the ball point pen has been the standard writing utensil, replacing the fountain pen due to its reliability and inexpensive cost. It’s hard to imagine that the first ball point pen didn’t appear in America until 1945, since then it has become an important writing tool that you can find anywhere.

Disposable Pens

There are essentially two different makes of ball point pens. Disposable pens are most common, often found in bulk packs anywhere you buy stationery. These pens are used until their ink dries up (or perhaps more commonly, until the pen disappears), at which point the pen is discarded. Generally, a simple plastic cap protects the tip of the pen, though in some cases the tip is retractable by clicking a button on the top of the pen. A simple spring mechanism controls the retraction of the tip of the click pen.

Refillable Pens

Refillable pens, on the other hand, are usually made of metal or hard plastic and tend to be higher quality than their disposable counterparts. This is because refillable pens are meant to last a long time. Refillable ball point pen owners can purchase refills that replace the entire internal structure of the pen. One popular type of high quality refillable pen is the Parker ball point pen.

Aside from writing, one common use for ball point pens is for advertising. Many companies provide their customers free ball point pens with their name and logo. These advertising ball point pens are effective in creating repeat customers. Since people use pens often, it’s an easy way to reinforce a business name.

Ball Point Pen Art

Another development in the world of ball point pens is ball point pen art. It has become a popular technique to create works of art entirely using only ball point pens, sometimes even with just a single color of ball point pen. Due to the small amount of preparation required, many modern artists use ball point pens for quick pieces of artwork.

While there are other pens on the market, such as the rollerball, which have some of the same advantages, it’s unlikely that ball point pens will be unseated as the kings of the stationery world. Thanks to their inexpensive and easy to use nature, ball point pens will probably remain the standard.