Keenly interested in inventing, on October 30, 1888, Loud obtained the first patent (US #392,046) for a ballpoint pen[REF] when attempting to make a writing instrument that would be able to write on leather products, which then-common fountain pens could not.
Loud had also registered patents for a firecracker cannon (1888)[REF] and a "toy cannon" (1887) [REF].