The Ballpoint Pen Ballpoin pens have not been around for very long. John Loud invented the first ball pen in 1888. Before the invention of ballpoint pens, people had to dip their pens into ink when they were writing. This made writing slow. Also, sometimes too much ink made the writing messy Ballpoint pens were the first pens that did not need to be dipped in ink. Loud's invention was wonderful. but the design was still not perfect. Sometimes the pen did not get enough ink. and sometimes it got too much ink. Other inventors continued to work on the design of the ballpoint pen to improve it. For the next 30 years, inventors created over 350 kinds of ballpoint pens. But, still the pens did not work very well. and people did not buy them. It wasn't until 1935 that Ladislaw Biro and his brother developed an improved ballpoint pen in Hungary. Today, in the UK and Australia, some people call ballpoint pens huros after their inventor.