Who invented the viable, smooth-writing ballpoint pen?

The ballpoint pen is called Biro in everyday-life in Ireland especially by older generation but most of the people don't know it's got its name after the Hungarian inventor. Hungarian inventors gave plenty to the world and earned many Nobel prizes.

necessity is the mother of invention. This guy needed to waste less time and have less messes. Nice work sir

The first day that I worked in Australia after moving there someone said to me, "give us a lend of your biro". I had to ask what she meant because I had never heard that word before. It is interesting to learn where the term comes from.

Player #7106191, John J Loud invented the ballpoint pen but it would leak so wasn't viable. László Bíró came up with the design which would work. But he then sold his patent to Marcel Bich who went on to design the BIC pen which made the ballpoint pen affordable.

Soleil10001, interesting

Player #7106191, Viable is acceptable here. Several other people had tried to find a replacement for the fountain pen but could not get the ink right . Separately, at the end of the 1960s a 13 colour pen became a fad. I had one on me went my parents took me for a meal in the revolving restaurant at the top of the GPO Tower ( now BT Tower) in London. The sudden pressure change in the high speed lift caused all the inks to blast out of their tubes into my pocket .Biro ink is so hard to remove with ordinary soap and water.Dinner with a multi coloured hand. Know always check my pockets when I enter a high rise

The ballpoint pen called Biro I

I went to an all girls grammar school in the 60s and we weren't allowed to use biros, because they were "not suitable" for young ladies! I was ink monitor one year (but I was stripped of my title because I made too much mess!)

At my grammar school in the 60s, the use of Biros was discouraged as they were seen as detrimental to pupils' handwriting.

Thanks Australia, I switched to calling a pen a biro when I was there. I think I'll start calling them biros here too.

Soleil10001, the name Biro in Hungarian means judge. "-)

Would be very fair if they can give credits to John J. Loud for creating the original ballpoint pen. He is original inventor of the pen and would be so mean. If John J. Loud does not invent ballpoint pen then Biro would not have come up with a modified version of ballpoint pen. I used double chance for this... 🖋️🖋️🖋️☹️☹️☹️

Towton1461, I think there is no comparison between biro handwriting and fountain pen. The fountain pen is far superior but clearly the biro is more practical.

Good to know never in my history search did I ever thought of looking into this piece of history

Soleil10001, I had the pleasure of living in Clontarf, on the northside of Dublin, vack in '80-'81. I figured it was a company name that produced pens, as in Band-aids for plasters.