first ballpoint pen: Mr. John J. Loud

On October 30, 1888, Mr. John J. Loud of Weymouth, Massachusetts, received a patent for the first ballpoint pen.

Before the 1800s, pens and ink were always separate: pens were just writing instruments dipped into ink. Many pens made of quills or reeds could hold enough ink to write for a few minutes, but more ink would have to be kept nearby to refill the pen. However, by the late 1800s, "fountain pens" were starting to catch on -- pens with an internal reservoir capable of holding plenty of ink, so the user could travel from place to place without carrying bottled ink for his pen.

We know very little about Mr. Loud, except that he may have been a leather tanner or a shoemaker. He invented a fountain pen that had a small metal ball at the tip to regulate how the ink came out. Such a pen would be excellent for writing on leather and fabric, as he suggested in his patent application, calling it useful "for marking on rough surfaces -- such as wood, coarse wrapping paper, and other articles -- where an ordinary [fountain] pen could not be used."

Mr. Loud made very few of his pens and the patent was allowed to expire. But the idea long outlived the patent, and almost exactly 57 years later (on October 29, 1945) the first mass-produced ballpoint pens went on sale in New York City. Today, of course, ballpoint pens are so common that most people never use any other kind.