Ball pen: 50 years between inception & conception

Despite scepticism László Bíró synthesised a concept, nurtured it into a prototype and perfected it

R Gopalakrishnan 

R Gopalakrishnan Pen maker John Loud got a ballpoint pen patent in 1888, Anton Shaeffer in 1901, Michael Brown in 1911, while Lorenz presented a prototype ball pen in 1924, but none of them was successful in bringing the product to the market till László Bíró came along in 1938. Apparently simple innovations seem to take a lot of time from conception to adolescence. Over my last few columns, I have been likening innovation to human life: A concept in the brain is like the fertilisation of a foetus in the womb, after which the concept develops as a “life”. This ...

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Ball pen: 50 years between inception & conception

Despite scepticism László Bíró synthesised a concept, nurtured it into a prototype and perfected it

Despite scepticism László Bíró synthesised a concept, nurtured it into a prototype and perfected it Pen maker John Loud got a ballpoint pen patent in 1888, Anton Shaeffer in 1901, Michael Brown in 1911, while Lorenz presented a prototype ball pen in 1924, but none of them was successful in bringing the product to the market till László Bíró came along in 1938. Apparently simple innovations seem to take a lot of time from conception to adolescence. Over my last few columns, I have been likening innovation to human life: A concept in the brain is like the fertilisation of a foetus in the womb, after which the concept develops as a “life”. This ... image
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