National Ballpoint Pen Day - June 10 - Fun Facts & History Ballpoint Pens

If writing is your thing, National Ballpoint Pen Day is a day to celebrate. June 10 is set aside each year to honor this humble writing utensil.

It has been almost 80 years since the patent was filed on this writing instrument and people use it in the millions each year.

National days of the year are a fun way to celebrate odd and unusual recipes and foods, animals, activities and items that you come into contact with. Be sure to check out this national day’s guide for more fun days to celebrate.

What is a ballpoint pen?

The ball point pen is a writing utensil that uses a small rotating ball which is made of brass, steel or tungsten carbide. This ball disperses the ink to paper as a person writes.

The metal ball rolls and moves the ink from an internal reservoir and also acts as a buffer between this reservoir and the air outside the pen. This protects the ink from drying out quickly like fountain pen ink does.

The ballpoint pen was developed as a cheaper and more reliable alternative to the common fountain pens that were used before its invention.

Ballpoint pens are normally made with plastics or metal casings. Some are laden with silver, gold and diamonds and some have wooden casings.

Fun facts about ballpoint pens

Brush up on your knowledge of ballpoint pens with these fun facts.

The patent for ballpoint pens was filed on June 10 in 1943. Prior to this, people who wanted to write a letter with ink used the fountain pen.
The patent for the ballpoint pen is US Patent 2,390,636.
There were several patents for ballpoint pens before the one which our current pens are based on. Many of them failed as patents because they did not deliver ink reliably, clogged easily or overflowed.
The patent in 1943 was filed by Hungarians László Bíró and his brother Gyoorgy Biro.
Ballpoint pens are also called biros.
The ballpoint pen is now the dominant writing utensil.
Millions of ballpoint pens are manufactured and sold every day.
A normal ballpoint pen will last approximately 7 years for the average writer.
Ballpoint pens are often used for promotional purposes, such as promoting a company or a political campaign.
Ballpoint pens are now commonplace items but they used to be a utensil only the rich could afford.
Gimbels’ Department Store sold ballpoint pens for $12.50 each in 1945. This is the equivalent of about $176 today!
The average ballpoint pen can write about 50,000 words.
The price of ballpoint pens can range from as little as 7 cents to over a million dollars!

How to observe National Ballpoint Pen Day

There are lots of ways to celebrate National Ballpoint Pen Day. Here are a few ideas to help honor this day.

Use your favorite ballpoint pen to make a doodle to honor the day.
Send a letter to your favorite pen pal.
Practice cursive handwriting with your ballpoint pen.
Give the gift of a fancy ballpoint pen to one of your friends.
Check your favorite stationery store to see if they have ballpoint pen specials today
Put pen to paper for a handwritten letter instead of sending an email.
Do the word search puzzle for June to see if you can find Ballpoint Day in it.
Use the hashtag #NationalBallpointPenDay to spread the word about the day on social media. Here is a tweet to get you started:

Today is #NationalBallpointPenDay. Time to step away from the keyboard and create a doodle or write a letter with your ballpoint pen to celebrate the day. 🖊📝 Share on X

More national days this month

Be sure to also check out these other national days in June:

There are close to 2000 national days in the year and over 150 of them are celebrated in June. To see them all, have a look at this post to discover more about the national days in June.

Is food your thing? Each day of the month has a food or drink associated with it, too. You’ll find all the June food holidays here.

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Watch our YouTube video to learn about more June national days.