László József Bíró

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László József Bíró (circa 1978)

László József Bíró [ ˈlaːsloː ˈjoːʒɛf ˈbiːroː ], born László József Schweiger (born September 29, 1899 in Budapest , Hungary , † October 24, 1985 in Buenos Aires , Argentina ) was a Hungarian inventor . He is the inventor of the ballpoint pen .

Origin and activity in Hungary

László József Bíró was named László József Schweiger in the VI. Budapest district born into a Jewish family. His parents were the dentist Mózes Mátyás Schweiger and his wife Janka Ullmann. In 1905 the family had the family name to Bíró ("judge") Magyarized . After attending school, his son László began studying medicine, which he later broke off.

Go-Pen designed by Biro

After various interests and activities, including as an insurance broker and racing driver, he and a friend developed an automatic transmission for passenger cars in 1932 . General Motors acquired the patent - but only for the reason that no other company could exploit it. The car company continued to build its cars with only hydraulic gears.

In the same year, Bíró was appointed editor-in-chief of the magazine “Hongrie-Magyarország-Hungary” to make Hungarian art popular abroad. Then he came to the weekly newspaper "Előre". In the print shop there, while looking at the rotating rollers, he had the idea of ​​a pen that writes with ink but does not smear.

All it takes is a tube with a spinning ball at its end and ink that doesn't dry out in the tube, but dries instantly on paper.

Bíró said that with an ink made of solid and liquid components, the liquid parts would be sucked into the paper while the solid parts remained on the surface of the paper. With the help of his brother György, the inventor Andor Goy and the Kovalszky brothers, he succeeded in constructing such a pen. On April 25, 1938, he received the patent for the ballpoint pen. The first, still quite stuttering pens soon came onto the market under the name Go-Pen.

emigration

Bíró was now married and had a daughter. Hungary was an ally of Germany and under the rule of Miklós Horthy was increasingly exposed to anti-Jewish pressure. The living conditions for the Jewish family worsened. On December 31, 1938, the day before a new law came into force that forbade taking patents abroad with you, he left Hungary with his family and went to France with them .

In Paris, Bíró continued the research in his own laboratory, but in war-torn France the work had to be stopped. After the German troops marched in, Bíró and his family fled to Argentina . By a happy coincidence, he met the then Argentine President Agustín Pedro Justo in Yugoslavia in 1938 .

The success

Argentinian advertisement for the Stratope "Birome" from 1945

Bíró continued his research in South America, received a new US patent on June 17, 1943, and immediately afterwards began producing the pens under the name "Eterpen". The inventor became director of the largest ballpoint pen factory in Argentina, "Sylvapen", which produced seven million pens annually. The real breakthrough for the ballpoint pen came with the British businessman Henry George Martin. He recognized it as the ideal writing tool for aircraft crews, bought Bíró's patent rights and started a ballpoint pen production in Reading , England. After the Second World War , several companies began to produce ballpoint pens, some of which did not own the patent rights.

Bíró wanted more: he planned a perfume with the same ball principle, the forerunner of the deodorant roller . Serial production in the USA failed, however. The next Bíró invention was a clinical thermometer for the wrist and a blood pressure monitor of a similar format. He also devised a new method for making artificial resin and invented a new plastic called birolit.

Bíró also developed a range of perfumes and registered them with his company Biro, Meyne & Biro :

Surname company year status
Symphony Biro, Meyne & Biro 1945 production stopped
Voix du Cœur Biro, Meyne & Biro 1945 production stopped
Voix de France Biro, Meyne & Biro 1947 production stopped
Voix de la Forêt Biro, Meyne & Biro 1947 production stopped
Voix de Paris Biro, Meyne & Biro 1947 production stopped
Voix you Ciel Biro, Meyne & Biro 1947 production stopped
Anaïtis Biro, Meyne & Biro 1948 production stopped
Chou-chou Biro, Meyne & Biro 1947 production stopped
Parforce Biro, Meyne & Biro 1947 production stopped
Pathetique Biro, Meyne & Biro 1947 production stopped
Sympathy Biro, Meyne & Biro 1947 production stopped
Flower Speak Biro, Meyne & Biro 1947 production stopped
No. 71 Biro, Meyne & Biro 1948 production stopped
No 72 Biro, Meyne & Biro 1948 production stopped
No 73 Biro, Meyne & Biro 1948 production stopped
No 74 Biro, Meyne & Biro 1948 production stopped
No 75 Biro, Meyne & Biro 1948 production stopped
Chant you Ciel Biro, Meyne & Biro 1948 production stopped
Chant d'Espoir Biro, Meyne & Biro 1948 production stopped
Chant d'Étoile Biro, Meyne & Biro 1948 production stopped
Chant de Paris Biro, Meyne & Biro 1948 production stopped

Honors

László József Bíró died on October 24, 1985 in Buenos Aires at the age of 86. His birthday, September 29th, has since been celebrated as Inventors Day in his adopted home Argentina .

In his honor the ballpoint pens are named after him in some countries: Biro ( Great Britain , Italy ), Biron ( France ), Birome ( Argentina ).

On September 29, 2016 László József Bíró was honored with a Google Doodle .

Web links

Commons : László József Bíró  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mathias Schulenburg: László Bíró received the ballpoint pen patent 75 years ago. Deutschlandfunk, June 10, 2018, accessed on June 10, 2020 .
  2. ^ Dippold Pál: Egy magyar feltaláló lenyűgöző karrierje ("The fascinating career of a Hungarian inventor"). Magyar Hírlap , September 21, 2015, accessed June 10, 2020 (Hungarian).
  3. ↑ United States Patent 2,390,636. United States Trademark and Patent Office, accessed June 10, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Perfume Intelligence - The Encyclopaedia of Perfume: Biro, Meyne & Biro , accessed September 30, 2016.
  5. ↑ Inventor of ballpoint-pen dies. In: Lawrence Journal-World. October 25, 1985. Retrieved April 6, 2016 .
  6. ↑ Ball-point pen inventor dies. In: Wilmington Morning Star. October 25, 1985. Retrieved April 6, 2016 .
  7. ↑ Ladislao Biro, Inventor of Ballpoint Pen, Dies at 86. In: Los Angeles Times . October 26, 1985. Retrieved April 6, 2016 .
  8. ↑ Google Doodle Archive: 117th birthday of László József Bíró , September 29, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Bíró, László József
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian inventor (ballpoint pen)
DATE OF BIRTH September 29, 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Budapest , Hungary
DATE OF DEATH October 24, 1985
Place of death Buenos Aires , Argentina