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Young World
Small invention, big help
N. HARINARAYANA
An invention is an invention - big or small. A big invention makes itself felt and we are conscious of it all the time like the T.V., aeroplane, computer, automobile, or telephone. But there are also several small devices that we cannot do without but which are so simple that we take them for granted.
These too had to go through the process of creation, which is invention. Wouldn't it be interesting to know how these were born?
Paper clip
A paper clip helps fasten sheets of paper together without making a perforation as is the case with pins or staples. A giant paper clip put up near Oslo in Norway honours the Norwegian inventor of the paper clip, Johann Valer who invented it in 1900 when he was working in Germany. A paper clip is in fact a piece of wire bent in such a way that it holds together many sheets of paper through compressive force. Now billions of them are made and sold all over the world.
Ballpoint Pen
The ballpoint pen is preferred for its smoothness of writing and its elegance. It was invented in 1938 by a Hungarian, Ladislav Jose Biro who had been trying to find another use for the quick drying printing ink and devised this pen with the ink fed by capillary action to a rolling ball nib. Biro's invention came good when it was taken over by a French businessman, Marcel Bich in 1958, who thought up the idea of making a use-and-throw pen and selling it cheap. It was named BIC and became very popular. Now ballpoint pens are available for as low a price as one rupee and as high as Rs. 10,000 for an exclusive one such as the Mont Blanc "Meisterstuck" model.
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