Technical description: Ballpoint pen

The City College of New York

Mariana Hoyos

11/21/2018

 

        ——————————————————————————————-

Contents

I – Introduction

• History
• Inventor
• Need for Innovation

II – Body

Exterior components:

• The Tip
• The Barrel
• The clip

Interior components:

• Thrust device
• Thrust tube
• The Ink chamber
• The spring
• The ball point tip.

III – The use of ballpoint pen

IV – Conclusion

V – References

————————————————————————————————

 

I – Introduction

 

The ballpoint pen is an essential item, used in classrooms, offices, and in everyday activities. Used all over the world, ballpoint pen was created in 1888 by John J. Loud a leather tanner, as shown in the “Ballpoint Pen History – Who Invented Ballpoint Pen” article. His goal was to create a pen that could write on leather since he disliked the mess it created when filling up fountain pens. This pen was created with a small steel ball at the tip of the pen, where the ball could rotate freely without falling out of the pen, or without going inwards.

This was the first time ballpoint pen was seen in history, yet it was not used to write on paper as it is used today. From the article “Ballpoint Pen History: Why the Invention Was Such a Big Deal” we can see that to create the invention of the pen we know today, people tried to change it and improve it, but in the early 20th century a Hungarian newspaper editor, László Bíró, wanted to create a pen that would write on paper, dry quickly and avoid smudges. He, with the help of his brother, tried to combine the concept of the first ballpoint pen to new ideas. They used a viscous oil-based ink and a ball-socket mechanism. These ideas combined together created a pen with an ink that would not get dry inside of the pen and but will still leave a mark on the paper when used. And this is how the ballpoint pen was created. The brothers then traveled to Argentina and opened their factory. The pens were then called Birome. This was the invention of the ballpoint pen that we all use in our everyday tasks. Such a simple item, with such an essential need.

 

Figure 1: up-close photograph of the ballpoint pen. Image from Wikipedia.

 

II – Body: Components of the ballpoint pen were learned from “The Anatomy of Pens and Pencils” article.

Exterior components:

• The Tip: The tip is the lower section of the pen. It is small in size. There is where the ballpoint tip is located.

• The Barrel: The barrel is the spine of the pen. It is used to enclose the different interior components of the pen. Also, it works as the connection between the tip and the clip. The section of the barrel is where we place our fingers to hold the pen.
• The clip: The clip is the upper section of the pen. The shape of the clip works as a hook, to place it in different places for convenience. For example, hook the pen to a notebook or a pocket.

Interior components:

• Thrust tube: The thrust tube is the upper part of the interior of the pen. Here is where the signal is received when we click on the pen, so the tip can go outwards.
• Thrust device: the thrust device is the continuation of the thrust tube. It receives the movement from the thrust tube and makes the whole pen move and therefore make the ballpoint tip come out or in.
• The Ink chamber: the ink chamber contains the ink that will be used in the pen. The ink chamber is long and thin. It can be refillable. Depending on the pen. In this case, the ink changer is not refillable. The ink that the pen comes with is the only ink used in the pen.
• The spring: the spring is only used in retractable ballpoint pens. The spring is a thin metal wire, curled in a way that allows it to bounce. Its job is to help the tip of the pen to move inwards and outwards when we click on the upper section of the pen.
• The ballpoint tip: the ballpoint tip is a small steel ball that rotates freely, without coming our nor falling in. The ballpoint tip is what makes this pen unique.

Figure 2: Photograph showing all the components of the ballpoint pen. Image from Wikipedia.

III – The use of ballpoint pen 

The ballpoint pens have a wide variety of uses, mainly used in writing on papers. The ballpoint pens are used by people of all ages, specifically for academic, and offices purposes. The feeling of writing with a ballpoint pen provides the writer with a comfortable and controlled grip in such a way that it allows the writer to write down precisely what they intend to write. For example: many artists would use ballpoint pens, along with pencils to accurately draw a specific image in their minds. Also, for many people, they need to use a ballpoint pen in order to memorize or study a specific text. And even though, most ballpoint pens are disposable items (after the ink is over), they remain cheap and available for everyone. The way that a ballpoint pen writes down on a paper is satisfying for a lot of people. Therefore, there are different font thickness measures for that, as it goes from thin to thick in the order of; 0.34, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9, 1.0, and even 1.5. With 0.34 being the thinnest drawing line, and 1.5 being the thickest drawing line (in terms of width). The fact that the ink located in the ink chamber dries very quickly when writing on paper, makes it very functionable and of great use for writing.

 IV – Conclusion 

In conclusion, ballpoint pens are such simple items with such an essential need for us. Since ever ballpoint pens have been created in the 20^th century, it has been one item that always has to be found in every single home, office, and facility. Ballpoint pens have been going through many innovations to better improve our writing experience. Right now, both the body components and the interior components are now offered in a variety of choices for example: there are so many different designs, colors, sizes, ink types, and various functionality of ballpoint pens to fit the needs of all people, thanks to our technological advances. However, the use of ballpoint pens remains important, unique, and unchanged.  No matter what level of technological advances humans reach, ballpoint pens will always remain an extensively used item by all people of all ages, all around the world.

—————————————————————————————

V – References

 

                                              Ballpoint pen. (2018, November 19). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballpoint_pen

                                               Ballpoint Pen History – Who Invented Ballpoint Pen? (n.d.). Retrieved from

                                                                     http://www.historyofpencils.com/writing-instruments-history/history-of-ballpoint-pens/

                                                Mertes, A. (2018, September 12). The Anatomy of Pens and Pencils. Retrieved from

                                                                     https://www.qualitylogoproducts.com/promo-university/anatomy-of-pens-pencils.htm

                                                Rothman, L. (2015, October 29). Ballpoint Pen History: Why the Invention Was Such a Big Deal.

                                                                      Retrieved from http://time.com/4083274/ballpoint-pen/

---

Reflection Essay – Technical Description

    For the reflection paper on the technical description of ballpoint pens, I will describe my own essay’s in terms of genre, exigence, purpose, audience, and context. In addition to how this assignment has helped me achieve the course learning outcomes.

The technical description of the ballpoint pens is an example of the technical writing genre, this genre of writing has its own characteristic features such as; it is very detailed and informative, its very structured, its clear and straightforward, and its language is very direct and straight to the point. I was motivated to write this technical paper because there are so many people living in our current world who know what a pen is and how to use one, but they don’t know what this pen is made of or what are the simple components of it. While I was writing this paper, I was hoping to accomplish few goals, including but not limited to: provide the readers with complex information about ballpoint pen, assist the readers with more understanding about ballpoint pen, and of course, explaining how a ballpoint pen works and how it can be used. My targeted audience of my technical description of ballpoint pens paper are a wide range of audience ranging between almost all ages and demographics, mainly students and literal adults, or in other words, anybody who knows what a pen is and can use one. In this technical description, I was the rhetor or the writer, trying to provide complex information about a specific item, a ballpoint pen, through a specific medium of a technical description to a general audience interested in the components and history of the ballpoint pen. This assignment has helped me to achieve some course learning outcomes, such as: enhancing my strategies for drafting and self-assessment, negotiate my own writing goals with the audience expectations, engage in genre analysis, and strengthen my source use practices.