Argentina-The Dairy Farmer and the Ball Point Pen.

ARGENTINA.

THE BALLPOINT AND THE DAIRY FARMER.

There was a dairy farmer called John Martin, in the town of Lujan, approx 50 kilometers north of Buenos Aires, who managed to buy the patent to the ball point pen in the late fifties.

People of my age sixty will recall, we had to use a fountain pen with ink or a dip pen with no reservoir just a nib on a stick and even though there was the biro it was not considered correct to use.

How well I recall my pens and inkwells on my desk at school, along with blotting paper and ink stains on my fingers. There was Parker ink or Quink ink, red ink, blue ink or black ink, different inks for different occasions.

Martin realized the potential of his patent and dispatched his son to Paris, for an audience with the Bic family , who were in the plastic business, with the idea of mass producing these pens made of plastic.

The trip was a great success and young Martin not only sold the patent, but married one of Bics daughters and the rest is history as we say.

The conventional Biro used to cost around 12/6 or 62.5 pence, in the late fifties and the Bic pen came on the market at 6d in old money or 2.5 pence.

Martindale is the name of the family farm, the old dairy and house are still standing.

The land is now an exclusive country club, with around 300 houses, polo fields and golf club and the most wonderful clubhouse.

This was all paid for by the Bic disposable pens, how many of those pens I have used and discarded over the years I wonder today.

William Hayes, Argentine Beef Packers SA.