How This Pen Changed The World
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- Опубликовано: 7 май 2024
- Get AnyDesk for free by visiting www.anydesk.com/primalspace
Have you ever wondered how a simple pen could revolutionize the world of writing? In this video, we delve into the incredible story behind the BIC Cristal, possibly the most successful product ever made. From its innovative design to the clever use of physics, discover how this iconic pen became a global phenomenon, selling over 100 billion units worldwide and significantly impacting literacy rates.
Ready for another giveaway? Be sure to stick around until the end of this video to find out how you can win. You can find the entry link below.
primalnebula.com/giveaway/
Short on time? Feel free to skip ahead in this video using the chapter links below.
00:00 The Pen That Changed the World
01:07 The History of the Pen
02:42 Capillary Action in Ballpoint Pens
05:05 Developing the BIC Cristal
06:17 BIC Cristal Pen Design
07:47 How BIC Cristal Changed the World
Thanks for watching this Primal Space video. If you enjoyed it, let me know in the comments below, and don't forget to subscribe so you can see more videos like this!
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References:
primalnebula.com/the-story-of...
Written and edited by Ewan Cunningham ( / ewan_cee )
3D Modeler: Orkun Zengin
Music used in this video:
Melting Glass - Eden Avery
To Loom Is To Love - The Mini Vandals
San Pedro - Sugoi
Updstate - Track Tribe
Sunset Trails - DJ Williams
Key To Your Heart - The Mini Vandals
#bic #biccristal #bicpen 
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Is this your go-to pen or not? - Shoutout to AnyDesk for making this vid possible, get it for free here: www.anydesk.com/primalspace
I use anydesk
Ballpoint pens are amazing
I prefer writing with a fountain pen when I have to write for some time. But for signatures or quick notes I use Gel and Ball both.
I mostly use pencils
Just saying, because you use Blender (I do too), here are some tips for you: try getting the Flip Fluids addon for blender for more impressive fluid simulations and RBD Lab addon for blender for every other simulation, for more realistic renders have depth of field turned on. Btw GREAT vids keep it up. Channel Name Here out!🖖
Best part of the pen design is that the hexagonal shape fits a compact cassette, so allowing you to wind up a tape that is loose, without damaging the player, plus you could rewind a tape without wasting precious battery power.
Nostalgia!
Your comment brought up so many memories
@@andy4an Wow. The genius is endless.
duel functionality
Haha yes! This really was the best bonus feature. So nostalgic!
You should have mentioned how the pen's design continued to improve over time, such as how the cap was given a hole to prevent choking if it was lodged in an airway
ahh yes such a thoughful safety feature
just take it away from children.. bruh
edit: ayyo bro sorry for starting ww56. i didnt know your threeyear olds use pens instead of pencils💀🤨
Maybe you should do your own phukn video? 😂
@@BOSS_20125aren't the children supposed to use the pen?
@@Alvionalx i mean, kinda, sorta maybe
I’m old enough to remember one change that was made to the BIC Pen.
When I was a kid, the LID used to be closed off. Now, there’s a hole at the top. I didn’t know why until I got older and found out the reason was because if a child accidentally swallows the lid and it lodges in the throat, there’s a hole to allow for airflow until the lid can be removed. I remember hearing stories of young children who had died because they swallowed the lid.
Ehh, they should have let Darwin's theory of natural selection take its course. :D jk
I remember chewing the pointed lid when I was in grade school.
Hectic. Imagine having swallowed one accidentally, only for the hole in the lid to actually allow air into your lungs until such time as it could be removed.
@@BillAnt You definitely don't have children.
@@THE-X-Force - I actually do, but your mind reading is way off, and lacking a sense of humor. smh
We used to remove the guts and used the pen body as a peashooter in school. The art department had this huge bucket of small, clear plastic rods, used to melt into projects, that fit the pen perfectly and FLEW across a room. What a time we had!
Intended use, I'd argue.
over 60 years and the mascot, design, and branding of bic is the same. hats off to marcel. I have like 50 just flying around my house RN.
Edit: Indeed, my pens fly. Also, wheres voldemort
Hats off indeed!
YOU HAVE FLYING PENS!?!?!?
@@csweezey18 idk if this is a joke or not but i think he means there's dust from 50 year old items floating around his house
@@maozedong7821 I can assure you that's _not_ what the OP meant. They meant they have ~50 such BiC pens. Simple as that. Your interpretation on the other hand seems unreasonably far-fetched somehow, like where did you get the dust bit from… Also, the comment you replied to was, indeed, a joke.
Flying? You mean lying?
Fun fact: In Argentina, ballpoint pens are still referred as how Biro initially marketed them: Birome
Yes, it's true.
yet it's not even the same product as the biro pen was unusable on paper
@@ommsterlitz1805 Arguably, they still are.
@@TheReaverOfDarkness Bich improved the design by ten fold and his genius to use a novelty material like plastic and not being greedy like Biro but instead Bich selling it for a reasonable price.
@@ommsterlitz1805 Sounds like they got you fooled like the Mike vs. Ike campaign. That's not how it went down.
It’s so ubiquitous as to almost be invisible - yet it’s as iconic an example of 20th century industrial design as the VW Beetle or the Coke bottle.
Repeat after me: Correlation does not imply causation.
I think he knew the big shortcut he was taking between bic invention and world literacy. But it makes the video more impactful and marketable.
@@arcaelum2022it also makes it blatantly clickbait and false🤦
Agree. The whole time I was thinking, pencils existed too, way before pens.. and the trajectory of the Bic sales compared to literacy wasn’t even exponential. He compared it to such a long period of time which was steadily increasing 😂
We all know why it sold so well: The tip's texture is extremely pleasurable to chew.
I think I chewed up more bics than that I wrote with till empty.
In elementary school I would ravenously chew on the cap till it was totally unusable then chew on the pen till the pen body shattered. Idk what was wrong w me 😂😂😂
@@mechadonia I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I'm sure pupils chew pens for the same reason some people smoke cigarettes: boredom. Bics are just good for chewing. I tried chewing Parker Jotter pens, but the metal makes the experience unsatisfactory.
Chewing the cap only really worked with the narrow end. Chewing the pen itself starts at the little cap at the opposite end of the ball, until it gets loose and lost, and from that moment things go fast, as the hexagonal plastic soon shatters.
@@mechadonia Switching to metal pens helps. Unless you have teeth like a shark...🤣
To all those who chew pens, you are truly the evil in this world.
It's disappointing you didn't mention the competition with the pencil in this period of pen innovation. Until this pen, the pencil was the dominant writing tool for over a century, and helped literacy rates skyrocket.
The pencil was a lot simpler and less expensive, it also had the ability to correct mistakes with the use of an eraser, often conveniently affixed to the pencil. I will guess the pencil was much more widely used than the Bic pen, and it is still in use to this day. One advantage of the pen, was that the ink could not be easily erased and redone, for example, unlike with a pencil, if you wrote down your signature on a contract, it was very hard to change later which was one of the desirable properties of indelible ink.
Indeed the pencil has been with us for centuries.
"The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance" by Henry Petroski
This is a fun read.
@@e1000sn Yeah, I picked up on that misconception as well, obviously the Bic pen had nothing at all to do with why literacy rates were increasing. It would be a great advertisement for Bic though.
@@e1000sn Yes. Literacy rates in Scotland were historically much higher than in the rest of the world because Scotland introduced its public school system much earlier than anywhere else in the world. These days, literacy rates in Scotland are about the same as elswhere because pretty much every other country also has a public school system.
In France, when I was young, we started to learn writing with fountain pain. It was very interesting to improve your griping, patience, cleanliness and carefulness. But at the time I did not have understood that, and I couldn't wait to be allowed to use a ball pen. The massives advantages was so obvious !
Yes - I remember being taught with those (especially, weird ones for left-handers). They were indeed a pain!
This is still in practice in many Indian schools.
1 - 3rd grade - Pencil
4 - 8th grade - fountain pens
After 8th grade - fountain or ball pen
This got me wondering: maybe this is the reason why cursive used to be so important but not any more. If you have a fountain pen that is constantly spilling ink, then it's easier not to lift the pen at all. But BIC pens mean you can write your letters separately without the same worry.
Very observant! 🤔
The reason cursive died is because of ballpoint pens. You can't write properly with one.
Actually that was my father's FIRST pen! I have so many in my house and the design is still the same! An engineering marvel....
Indeed! Seems so simple now, but there's so much more to it. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment - good luck in the giveaway!
@@primalspace indeed! And thanks!
as an african this pen is still part of my day to day as a student. THANK YOU BIRO AND BICH!
As a brit, I too used these pens more than any other at school/college/uni too.
No pencil case is complete without one
I still use them often as well. They really are a staple of day-to-day life for so many!
And you have to be African to use this pen during study??? Jeez...I'm human and I'm using it daily on the job... African, European, American, who tf cares about that...
@@BoyKhongklai The mere mention of somebody being from africa makes you angry, how pathetic
@@BoyKhongklai Geez, nothin wrong with saying where you're from.
Because the original cap wasn't flattened at the top, you could pull the cap off the pen tip by about 1 inch (25mm), then squeeze the tip between three fingers, which propelled the cap back onto the pen tip, which made it look like the cap was magnetic. I amazed many fellow kids with this trick in the 1960's.
You also missed the hole in the lid of the pen which is there in case it gets lodged in someone's throat. They would still be able to breathe (ablbeit with difficulty) until the pen lid was extracted.
That's an improvement made in 1991, before that, the lid was closed (I was born in 1985 and learn to write at around 4yrs old, so I remember well)
Of course, it takes so long to end a bic pen which is used just to take short notes, that the 80's variant was still around even during the 2000's.
@@Jean-Denis_R_R_Loret Yeah, I remember the closed off ones from my father's office in like 2008.
I was actually looking for this comment myself, because if you hadn't mentioned it, I would have. I found out this little fact a couple of years ago on RUclips. I think the video was titled, "things you didn't know had another use."
The Ultimate Pen that doubled as a perfect cassette rewinder, a blowgun, and mini table-hockey stick that could also write words. Marvelous.
They also make for good on-the-fly drum sticks.
@@raedwulf61 that too!
They didn't write very well, they were too big to fit cassettes, so really they were just useful as blowguns, table-hockey sticks, and drumsticks. Still versatile, I suppose.
Not to mention chew toy.
In my grade school we had folder binders that used elastic bands to secure themselves shut. Kids would hook the cap on the elastic and pull back on the pen until the cap shot off towards the intended target. Got sent to the principals office a few times for pelting my classmates w those bic pen caps lol.
Bro was really holding himself back with that pronunciation of Marcel Bich 🗿
Haha I caught that too. Very very good scriptwriting to slip that in there.
Bruh i never know there was THIS MUCH engineering behind a mere thing called 'Pen'
it's utterly amazing fr.
Man, talk about things we take for granted! I never ever looked at this pen as an amazing invention. Boy, did this video changed my outlook on these!
"Simplicity is the final achievement"
Hats off for the engineer that made this pen!
Simplicity was also part of making it each cheaply as possible, which is the case on most successful mass produced products.
I'm gonna be honest there, this pen probably caused me to view every day objects in a different light when I discovered it at age 4.
My classmates all had fancy fountain pens while I wrote with a Bic pen (because I kept breaking the nibs of the fountain pens)
It was so simple and cheap but still did its job really well, teaching me that being fancy and expensive doesn't always mean it's better at achieving something.
I know right. I am french and we were forced to use fountain pens in my first years of school (it was in early 2000 so not that far away) when it was so bad in comparison to a bic. I am glad they dropped this requirement after primary school
@@uwu_senpai Aye, I'm from The Netherlands and we also were forced to use fountain pens in the 4th and 5th grade.
After the 6th grade that requirement luckily wasn't strict anymore and by the 8th (final year of primary) it was completely "whatever".
Then again, we were also forced to write cursive... But now 10 years or so later, and I rarely write cursive so it feels like I wasted a lot of effort on learning something I wouldn't actually use.
@@FinlayDaG33k cursive is such a pain. "Oh you need it for your signature!" no. no you don't. 95% of the adults who sign crap around me just use squiggles. And you can literally sign with basically *any* symbol you want in the USA. A smiley face? Sure. A penis? might be a tad much and would be heavily frowned upon by a judge or whatever, but technically you could make that your signature.
@@uwu_senpai I too hated to use fountain pens at first when I was forced to in the first half of elementary school but funnily enough now that I’m in university and write pages upon pages of notes a day I rediscovered them, there are some great cheap options out there they’re are sooooo smooth and comfortable to write with compared to how much pressure is needed for a BIC for example.
Additionally they are more environmentally friendly because of the water based inks and ink cartridges/possibility to use bottled ink
@@FinlayDaG33kIm also from NL and hated writing with them, nowadays 12 years later I can’t imagine my life without them and my hand hurts when writing with ballpoints.
Cursive on the other hand is horrible and even when written perfectly is barely readable…at least for me (Im slightly dyslexic). I have created my own fusion between block letters and cursive for more readability but also some hints of cursive for speed advantages (less lifting of the pen).
dang that was such a cool video! so awesome that things don't need to change, if that are so perfect already. your videos are super informative. keep up the good work!
Great video. These pens are totally taken for granted - I'd never thought about how life must've been before them before watching this. Awesome stuff
I remember making spitwad guns out of these in elementary school. If we got caught, we had to write with a crayon for the rest of the day.
😂😂😂 you just unlocked some great memories!
We used to do the same in our school days
I never bothered making spitwad guns. If only I had your teacher to incentivize me!
Ahh a young risk taker 🫡
That's a brilliant response from the teacher.
I'm such a sucker for designs like these. No moving parts, nothing unnecessary, frankly genius. 10/10 video, please let me win the giveaway :)
Right? So many seemingly simple things in life with great stories like these. Good luck in the giveaway!
No moving parts? The tungsten carbide ball rolls so that you can write.
Bic also created a upper market version of this called the Cristal Renew. It has a metal body and comes with some refills.
If you are writing quickly the ball is moving at hundreds of rpm.
@@tezcanaslan2877 Yeah, I was going to say, one moving part. Just the one, though! And the ink if you're a pedant, but no one likes a pedant. Including pedants.
I have just discovered your channel for the first time and instandly subscribed due to the insane quality and the perfect picked topics
Thank you
Thank you so much! I really appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment - it means a lot! Welcome to the channel!
The design is so practical yet simple. It really made me think how easy our lives have become in such a short time frame.
So….how much did pencils cost? Why wouldn’t literacy rates increase b/c of pencils instead of pens?
The proliferation of cheap pens and skyrocketing literacy rates in the 20th century is almost certainly a case of correlation without causation.
The same social and economic pressures that drove both phenomena.
It's actually a pretty bad analysis of mere correlation, given the raw data alone, because the rise in literacy closely follows _before_ the rise of pens. It would make more sense, statistically speaking, to say that the rise in literacy caused people to use ballpoint pens.
Lack of pencil sharpeners spurred development
Modern pencils were invented in 1795. Bic pens likely didn't have a huge effect on literacy, but they definitely facilitated the weird rules around not being allowed to use pencils in specific cases because they "can't be erased".
Because it’s clickbait they changed the pen market but I doubt they affected literacy rates
Wow... I did not expect that such simple tool today as a pen went through this way and how expensive it could be back in the time!
Thanks for the video!
Never seen this channel before, but loved that video. Totally had no idea! But also, glad we've gotten better pens since the BiC.
Somehow managed to still be taught writing using a fountain pen, this didn't help improve literacy rates but you damn well made sure to not lose your pen!
But you may have thrown away in anger a good few that leaked ink all over your shirt pocket.
@@richardofoz2167 what r u talking about fountain pens are BETTER than ballpoints
fountain pens are expensive and touchy. that's part of the argument for bic being revolutionary
@@dercooney were...modern ones don't do that. They also write smoother
@@silverscalederg8632 doesn't really matter, unless you're saying that they were around in the 50s
I used to make "lava lamps" out of these. The oil based soap in the school bathroom made a great solvent for the ink. It would melt into the soap, and the clear casing made a great display. Knew what a "BiC Cristal Ballpoint Pen" was since 3rd grade.
I regret not knowing this back then
Honestly, never thought a video about pens could be so interesting! Might have to go get a few. Absolutely crazy the amount of design work that went into this thing!
My favorite part was when Primal spoke about the polystyrene design that Marcel took on, Marcel showed great innovation by taking a not yet popularly use material, testing it, and trusting it which ultimately led to others use the material also and being involved in the growth of the material and it’s popularity as a prime variant of plasticity. ✍️
I've been using this pen my whole life without realizing just how genius it is. Its materials made me think it was extremely cheap and normal. But if you take a moment to appreciate its beauty, you realize how perfect this pen really is. The shape, ink, weight, everything is just perfect. I carry one on me everyday.
The hexagonal shape was also great for rewinding cassette tapes!
Yes !! I figured I was not the only person who discovered that use for them.
those renders look incredible ! with fluid simulations and stuff, I really need to get back to blender ! Awesome vid, as always
love how you always find new ways to present information!
One of the first to see the videos....
Ballpoint pens; the unsung heroes of writing tools! They're not just reliable and durable but also versatile, making them perfect for any writing task. With their professional look and efficient ink usage, they're a must-have in any workspace. Who else can't live without their trusty ballpoint pen?
Me 🙋
🙋🙋🙋
🙋♂️
are you chatGPT?
idk, for fine point give me felt tips. For broader stuff, I've always gone with cartridge pens with a metal quill.
Cheap ballpoint pens are pretty handy though, they definitely have a place. But I for one can certainly live without them.
(Ye olde dip pens aren't that hard to use, just annoying. I always wanted to try a glass one but have only used ones with a metal nib.)
Exactly as you said, the fact that over all the decades the design of the pen barely changed just shows the genius of its creator. Simply an engineering perfection. From now on i will think about it everytime i see one of these (so pretty frequently).
Genius indeed. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment. Good luck in the giveaway.
The actual reason that the design hasn't changed is because the greedy business magnates who invent this crap have absolutely no idea what will sell. Whatever stuff sells best they worship like its some sort of dark magic, meanwhile they tweak everything else endlessly like it's cursed if it can't reach top sales. BiC Crystal was inferior to every other ballpoint pen design I ever used, and I have used many. So why was it never improved?
the plagesof modern society is that they always want to change things and make them new but sometimes you shouldnt have to make them different
Great video! Didn't know the fascinating story behind such a common object (also nice renders!)
Thanks so much. So glad you enjoyed it!
This was great work. Really good visuals also. Thank you
Another thing Primal Space never mentioned is how fountain pens also used capillary action to control their own ink's flow, the ballpoint is just a compressed mechanism for doing the same thing as the nib of a fountain pen in a smaller space, with less material. This is why oil based ink needed to be developed for ballpoint pens at all.
I think Marcel Bich should be given Nobel prize for that
Unfortunately, he is 30 years deceased. Post-mortem Nobel prizes are very stigmatized by the Nobel Foundation.
@@tasteslikewall oh no :(
László Bíró should be
PRESIDENT TRUMP DESERVES ONE FIRST BUT CROOKED CORRUPT LIBS AT NOBLE PRIZE AGENCY REFUSE TO HONOR HIM FOR INVENTING COVID VACINE AND SAVING WORLD INSTEAD THEY GIVE PRIZE TO AL GORE!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!! AL GORE IS LOSER WHO LOST ELECTION!!!
@@tasteslikewall *posthumous 🤓
Ngl not only did this video tell me about the history and evolution of pens but also solved some of my queries about all these pens Thanks.
I saw someone this morning wearing a t-shirt with the exact same name on it!! Was wondering where I can get on of these ,cause I liked it so much! And the story was inspiring thank you guys!!
This video fails to mention the millions of businessmen's dress shirts that were ruined because the pens were prone to leaking in one's pocket.
...And school children's pockets! I grew to hate BIC.
A single pen saved the world. Incredible.
Not really, pencils were a thing long before that
There's absolutely no proof that BiC pens were the main driver for improved literacy rates. In fact, the correlation is as tenuous as claiming rock music drove literacy.
Nice one 😄
Don't be a sucker, this video is just a BIC advertisement hidden behind a 'documentary'.
@@TheNinetySecond Actually, there is data to show that rock music improved literacy rates. We also have null data to show that BiC pens didn't.
that was incredibly entertaining, laughed all the way through!
This was the pen I learnt to write with and 32 years later, it's still my preference. It works exactly like it's supposed to and I love how soothing the blue colour is.
The Bic pen? Now that's a game-changer. Here in Laayoune (southern Morocco), it's not just a pen, it's a bridge. A bridge between ideas, cultures, across the world. Thanks, Primal Space for the video.
As a retired industrial designer, I find stories like this fabulous and inspiring. I graduated from high school in 1975. The BIC crystal pen was ubiquitous throughout my school years. There are many more choices now, but I'll always remember chewing on the soft cap of a BIC will taking exams...
Really cool.
I had no idea how special the pen was.
Amazing.
What an engaging, straight-forward, and visually captivating video. This may be one of the best informative videos I have ever seen!
Thank you so much. So glad you enjoyed it.
The BIC pen is just stunning. In fact, the question is: how many inventions have remained identical to their first prototype?
Simple yet reliable and efficient... But I think we should also thank the man who came up with the sphere pen design!
We have remembered him. In ireland, and I'm sure in other countries. It is called a "Biro" rather than a ball point pen.
He probably stole the idea from someone else and didn't give them credit. Rich business magnates are all scum.
This is so intriguing. I always took this simple pen for granted, but never knew that its design was this carefully constructed to millimeter precision 😮 The hexagonal shape was something I never really understood until now. Thanks so much for this! 🙌🏾
And thanks for watching! So glad that you enjoyed learning more about this seemingly simple item. Good luck in the giveaway!
A simple yet phenomenal tool! I remember having a BIC once, it was a point of pride to have it clipped to my shirt!
(and it made for a fun fidgeting device if I was ever bored in class! 😆)
Excellent video on a topic I was curious about. Thank you!
and thank you for watching! So glad you enjoyed it!
I still remember being in primary school in Australia in the late 1960s we were still writing with quills with ink wells in each of the desks and then seeing the first of the biros being advertised on television
Wow, you had quill pens *and* television at school at the same time? In the USA we had it the opposite: all fountain pens were a vestige of the past by the time schools even owned a TV. At first, the schools would have like three total TVs which they would wheel around on a cart so each classroom could "rent" a TV to show educational films. The school building wasn't even equipped with television cables.
@@TheReaverOfDarknessHe means they had TVs either at home or in shops at that time, not in schools.
@@Ggdivhjkjl oh! D= I dumbed out there for a moment because my household didn't have a TV when I was a kid.
@@TheReaverOfDarkness TV mum and dad only rented in the school holidays as a treat :)
Sometimes thinking outside the box is needed to solve problems. Just like trying to change the pen design didn't solve the problem, but changing the ink's recipie was the key breaktrhough. Its insane that this time chemistry helped to change the world
like all the other times
Love your content. thank you for existing
and thank you so much for watching! It really means a lot that you enjoy the content. Cheers and good luck in the giveaway!
I knew these were my favourite pens for a reason. So interesting to hear the backstory to them!
My absolute favourite pen. Stack a few papers underneath to soften the paper up. *chefs kiss*
Thank you for another amazing video before I even watch! 🇨🇦
It really is the best! Thanks so much for watching!
My fondest memories of writing are rolling a BIC pen between my fingers. It felt like a pencil, but writing with it had a permanence that was above writing with graphite. Having to get in line for the one pencil sharpener in the class wasn't a thing anymore, leaving more class time for actual learning. This was and still is a thing of beauty. :)
I love this! It really was a game-changer. Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment. Good luck in the giveaway!
So many memories in one comment!
Love this pen. I've tried untold numbers of pens over the years, but I always like this one the most for its hand feel and how well it flows when I write.
Your videos are very informative😍... keep uploading ❤ and keep growing...
Anyone old enough to remember when these things leaked into our shirt pockets, despite the "revolutionary" capillary design? Yeah, that' happened a lot back in the 70's and 80s.
That's why they now have a gel backstop. Also they aren't meant to be shaken backwards.
@@N0Xa880iUL These pens have a cap with a built-in clip for your pocket. The pen has NO choice but to face upward when capped correctly. Nobody's "shaking" them...
@@NorthernChev No I meant, in winters where people shake them to get working again.
@@N0Xa880iUL OOoooooohhh! Yep. You're right.
Under circumstances they could leak under some circumstances. Much less likely though than than most fountain pens ('vacuum fill' fountain pens are much improved)
The "Point" of this pen is so that everyone can have a "Ball" while writing.
😂😂😂 Bravo!
Lol
what a delicious groaner 😂
Lol, crazy how a video about a pen could get many people inking what’s the point of digital technology, lol
I never imagined how hard it is to make a pen. And the fact it took so much work to create such a simple product is mind bogglin
thank you for including real captions with the video!
Of course! And thank you for following along!
Correlation is not causation. Standards of living, industrialization, and even better healthcare probably did more to improve education and increase literacy rates. And pencils and chalk were standard implements in schools long before pens of any type. But great video on the development and history of an amazing product.
Indeed. Why did literacy rates skyrocket in the 1950s? Because the countries with the largest populations in the world finally concluded their wars and could undergo education reform: China, India, and the USSR.
It had nothing to do with the BiC pen.
Def - technological determinism *and* social shaping
Another genius part of the design is how the core can be used as a projectile in a blowgun you create from the case
One TV ad for Bic pens showed firing a Bic Pen out of a rifle through a plank to show how tough they are. "Shooting a BIC pen out of a rifle(60's era comercial)" Before the brass tip was replaced with plastic. Also I discovered a dry pen with brass tip might be restarted after a few moments in a flame. Famed ice skater, Aja Zanova, showed me it was perfectly rational to Stic a pen in fire.
There was a time when I seriously wondered which pen to use in everyday life that was useful, comfortable and represented a part of my personality. In the end, I've always chosen the Bic Cristal, because the contrast between its simplicity and its level of engineering is so great that, in my opinion, it surpasses any luxury pen and represents truly the best that humanity has to offer.
I remember when I was in middle school, and feeling bored during math class, I discovered how my pen actually works. I was always wondering about the purpose of the little ball. Thanks for this video!
Glad you mentioned the Hungarian Laszlo Biro in the video :)
Do you mean Argentinian national Ladislao Biro?
@@ArgLarper He was born and raised in Hungary, where he created his ballpoint pen. Later he fled to Argentina. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A1szl%C3%B3_B%C3%ADr%C3%B3
@@ArgLarper Sounds like made-up Argentine fascist propaganda!
It didn't work with the "Malvinas" either...
Wow, I didn’t know that. Now I know the backstory that I never thought to look for.
Definitely makes you look at the "simplest" things in life a little differently. Thanks so much for watching.
Really good video! The story? The graphics, the animations. Well done!
Thank you so much. So glad you enjoyed it!
I never knew any of that about the expensive cost of pens and how Bich changed history. Cool video!
Ball point pen is my favourite pen ever.
I'm gay too buggy lol
I agree bro
🙌🙌🙌
I think there's still a niche for fountain pens. I love the way there are so many ink shades you can buy, and the ability to vary line thickness gives a lot of opportunity for self-expression.
@@XxZeldaxXXxLinkxX Yeah also fountain pens are extremely collectible and have high emotional value.
Who would have thought that something so simple would do so much!
we've taken a pen for granted, thank you reminding me how important this invention is
I have used these pens for decades going back to grade school in the 1970's. Now, I use Pliot Precise 0.5mm gel rollers. The ink is more fluid and does not dry up on the tip. This happens sometime with the Bic, though I still have dozens of them!
Another design feature is the hole in the lid which meant a child was less likely to suffocate if the lid got lodged in their throat.
Need to mention the precision of the ball and tip. The balls are made from tungsten carbide, a very hard material, much harder than steel. The material arrives at Bic facilities in the form of a thin rod, and is then cur into little cylinders. The little cylinders are then put onto grinding/polishing tumbler machines, about 70,000 at a time, along with grinding materials. The material is then tumbled, and every few hours, the cylinders are removed, rinsed off, and returned to the tumblers, but with a finer grade of grinding/polishing material. Multiple steps are required, and after a certain number of hours, a sample is removed and checked for size, smoothness, etc. The entire process takes from 60-72 hours.
The tricky part is the precision required: The balls must be very, very round, and very smooth, but not too smooth. If they are too smooth, then cannot pickup the correct amount of ink, and will produce gaps in writing, or if too rough, they produce uneven line widths and smears, because they pickup too much ink. Microscopes are used to determine the smoothness and size of the balls.
That's so interesting! Thank you for sharing.
It's funny, my doctor said the same thing: he needed a microscope to determine the smoothness and texture of my balls...
I love learning about products with stories like this!!
Thanks Bich and Biro for such a great classroom friend, infinitly easier to use than most of the competition without a doubt...
I still prefer fountain pens over these, way smoother and cheaper on the long run (refillable with cheap ink)
Nothing like a good Montblanc, huh?
@@fabiana.4640ohhh man, nothing like a montegrappa, yes ver cheap indeed 😂😂😂
@@fabiana.4640dang I just searchhed it up and theyre... no words
I chewed on soooo many of these pens!!!
This channel is amazing.
Any truth to the hole in the lid being so you can't choke and cut off air?
I mean ive heard of people chewing pencils,
But a pen???
Yes, there is truth to that! The hole in the lid of the BIC Cristal serves multiple purposes. One important function is to prevent choking hazards. If someone accidentally swallows the pen cap, the hole allows air to pass through, reducing the risk of suffocation. Additionally, the hole helps regulate air pressure, preventing the pen from leaking ink at high altitudes. So, it's not just a design feature; it's a safety measure too.
@@primalspace nice
I used to love chewing the Bic Crystal's small, soft, end cap, especially while pondering test answers. But I guess people choked on it or something, because it's now hard plastic and glued in. Sigh.
Never thought I'd be able to appreciate something so simple as a pen, but damn is the Bic a perfect product. Great video!
Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it!
The fact that the pen's cap was given a hole to prevent choking would actually go on to influence the design of other pens in the future is just amazing.
You must admit that this invention is up there with the wheel and string, literacy rates going from 30 to 90 percent in less than a century is just too great a feat to credit.
💯💯💯
I love these kinds of stories, thank you!
and thank you for watching! So glad you enjoyed it!
Such a basic and amazing design! Awesome video!
It is amazing how one product can have such a bic inpact on the world!
And on top of that, this pen only worth a bic!
but girls think this product is boring n nerdy tho
Love this channel and the information it teachers us
Yummy
Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoy it!
new viewer and the second i saw the fluid animation i instantly new it was blender! Great video btw :)
Haha love that. So glad you enjoyed it - thanks for watching!
I never thought about how much of an impact a single pen could make. Crazy how the design has stayed essentially the same, it’s one of the very few things that someone from the ‘50s could instantly recognize today.
your life isnt complete if you havent used a bic pen like this at least ONCE
I've smoked H with one of these bad boys
🤢🤮 😾