There is a Hole in the cap of every Ballpoint Pen! - Invention, Reasons and Explanation
Anytime we need to note things down either in school, college or at work, ballpoint pens are always there in our hands. However, many of you people might not have noticed that there is a hole in the cap of every ballpoint pen.
|
Ballpoint Pens. Picture Courtesy: Zohaib Khan |
Some ballpoint pens as seen in the picture above might not have cap on them, and their nib are open to air.
Here in this picture, you can see an Inverted D-Shaped hole on top on pen. Picture Courtesy: Zohaib Khan |
Even if you have noticed, you might have ignored it as a part of a pen's design for its beautification and likewise. But is there a science behind it as well? Wasn't science all about stars and black-holes type stuff? You are about to get your mind blown as you are about to read one of the most amazing wonders of science and engineering.
A little background of the invention of Ballpoints
![]() |
John J. Loud |
John J. Loud created the first pen that worked on a ball-socket mechanism in 1988.
The ball-socket mechanism is simple to understand: It has a socket which has a attached rotating ball.
![]() |
Highly magnified Ballpoint Tip |
Although, Loud's purpose was to create a type of pen which would give an upper hand to the writers to write on rough planes, for example wood, but he was not able to concede this task and it failed.
![]() |
László Bíró |
He decided to use this as an advantage to create a pen which would not cause the paper to get wet or smudged. He was also aware of the ball-socket mechanism by J. Loud that he decided to use that mechanism for his upcoming invention. Bíró with one of his friend initiated the fabrication of their ball-socket pens with smudge free viscous ink and started selling them as Birome. And this is how ballpoint pen came into the utilitarian hands of every person on earth.
Why are there holes? - Ingeniously Engineered
The shape of these pens got distorted, modified, and engineered to get the most of these pens at pretty low cost. Initially these pens had a problem that every time the cap was placed on the pen, the nib got dried and lost its ability to write. This caused the ink inside to get spilled off when the cap was removed due to a reason unknown at that time. This was causing people to lose their minds on spending their money on these 'mostly useless' pens.With solutions being tossed over and with many scientists being consulted, an engineering fault in the design was noticed. The ink that was drying off the nib and eventually getting leaked was due to the vacuum that was forming inside of that pen cap which was placed to seal the nib. This vacuum caused the air pressure inside the cap to get reduced as compared to the air pressure outside the cap. This hefty difference caused the ink on the nib to dry off and afterwards getting spilled when the cap was removed in a comparatively high air pressure region.
Tip: If your pen is not working due to the dried nib, heat the nib in fire for 5 seconds, the pen will work again like a charm.
There was an another issue with this design: Most people love to chew the caps of the pen off when they are thinking or working on something they are dedicated with, however, with this comes the possibility that these caps may fly into the throat of anyone, and if it gets stuck into the wind pipe inadvertently will make that person to eventually choke to death. BIC, a well known ballpoint pen company illustrates the importance of holes in pen caps on their website:
In addition to help prevent the pen from leaking, all our BIC caps comply with international safety standards that attempt to minimize the risk of children accidentally inhaling pen caps.
According to an article published in Independent.co.uk, hundreds of people have choked to death due to the accidental inhalation of these caps.
A proper engineering in the designing of the cap of ballpoint pen was needed to be revised and innovated. This is when a brilliant engineering solution came across the creative mind of scientists, and a newly innovated cap was introduced into the market which enables the nib to breathe in air, helps in regulation of air pressure to match the air pressure inside as outside, and to avoid death in people who accidentally swallow the cap. Yes, the innovation in design was just a hole being placed on top of the caps.
Hole in pen caps are now a world standard. This is a picture of a cap with a D-Shaped hole on top. Picture Courtesy: Zohaib Khan |
Connotation of a hole in regulation of air pressure is pretty obvious but this hole will also enable people to breathe even if they have accidentally inhaled it. With this current design, the figures of annual casualties reduced as published in Independent.co.uk.
Science and engineering becomes more awesome when they name things up as per their function. In the case of these holes, they are termed as Breather Holes. Moreover, every pen manufacturing company places a hole on top of every pen even if it is not a ballpoint. If you look at markers, fountain pens and others, they all have some sort of holes on top. Placing a Breather Hole have now become a world standard for every manufacturer.
Magnified picture of a Breather Hole. Picture Courtesy: Zohaib Khan |
If this doesn't make you believe in engineering and science, question yourself: "What will?" A simple solution to a big problem with huge concepts is known as engineering, isn't it?
It was necessary
ReplyDeleteSure it was :)
DeleteYour post is very nice and informative. Thank you so much for sharing this awesome post with us. I like your idea of sharing this information with us.
ReplyDeleteMinimalist Design
Thanks for the Amazing blog, all this information is new to me. Lapis Bard is the best Luxury Pen Brand. Lapis Bard Windsor Emperador Rose Gold Trims Ballpoint Pen is my favorite ballpoint pen because of the design and build-quality, it made of Marble-like precious resin, Classic shape provides the perfect balance.
ReplyDeleteWow, awesome weblog format! Howw lengthy hhave үou evеr besn running a blog f᧐r?
ReplyDeletey᧐u mɑde running a blog ⅼօok easy. The whole glance ߋf yoᥙr website iss excellent,
ⅼet alone tһe content material!
Thhis post iѕ invaluable. Ꮃhen can I fіnd out moгe?
ReplyDelete