 In 1938, László Bíró, a Hungarian newspaper editor, with the help of his brother George, a chemist, began to design new types of pens, including one with a tiny ball in its tip that was free to turn in a socket.As the pen moved along the paper, the ball rotated, picking up ink from the ink cartridge and leaving it on the paper.Bíró filed a British patent on June 15, 1938.