Today in History - 1945

Eversharp, a maker of mechanical pencils teamed up with Eberhard-Faber in May 1945 to license the design for sales in the United States. At about the same time a U.S. businessman saw a Biro pen in a store in Buenos Aires. He purchased several samples and returned to the U.S. to found the Reynolds International Pen Company, producing the Biro design without license as the Reynolds Rocket. He managed to beat Eversharp to market; the first ballpoint pens went on sale at Gimbels department store in New York City on this day for $12.50 each (about $130 of today's money). This pen was widely known as the rocket in the U.S. into the late 1950s.