There is a very common and inexpensive thing that combines complex technology and craftsmanship, called a ballpoint pen.
Many people may disagree with the association of ballpoint pens with complex technology, but this is the case. Although ballpoint pens can be found everywhere, it does not mean that making ballpoint pens is simple. The reason why a ballpoint pen is called a ballpoint pen is due to the metal ball on the nib.
Don’t underestimate this small ball. To make this kind of ball usually requires extremely hard material, so the most common ballpoint pen ball material is tungsten carbide. Tungsten carbide may be unfamiliar to many people, but what we should know is that the hardness of this material is comparable to that of diamond, so you will never see the ball of a ballpoint pen broken. In addition to the polished pen ball made of tungsten carbide material, another key component on the pen tip is the ball seat, and the polishing ball must be perfectly installed on the ball seat.
The combination of pen ball and ball seat is very precise, and the precision of this combination can be traced back to one hundredth of a millimeter.
The slightest defect on the pen ball is not allowed, and the discovery of this defect usually depends on the electron microscope, and once the defect is found, all pen balls produced in the same batch will be scrapped. It is precisely because the precision requirements for the production of ballpoint pen beads and tees are very high, even today, the manufacture of these two parts is still only in the hands of a few countries such as Switzerland and Japan.
So the ballpoint pen you use on weekdays, whether it is a high-end product for a few hundred yuan, or a cheap one for two, all have imported parts on it. After the pen ball and ball seat are installed, a ballpoint pen is half done. The next key is the outflow of ink. In the process of writing with a ballpoint pen, the pen ball is pressed against the paper and dragged. The ink is pushed onto the ball under the action of gravity, and the ball rolls to bring out the ink, so the word is written.
The principle of writing with a ballpoint pen seems simple, but the craft is by no means simple.
The combination of the ball and the ball seat is a pressurized and sealed state, which can ensure that the ink in the pen core is not in contact with the air and dry, and at the same time, it can ensure that the ink carried by the pen ball is just right. When we use a ballpoint pen, we sometimes encounter a situation where excess ink flows out. This situation occurs because there is a problem with the sealing combination of the pen ball and the ball seat.
Although ballpoint pens are versatile, they can’t be used everywhere. Ballpoint pens cannot be used in space. Why can’t a ballpoint pen be used in space? This is determined by the working principle of the ballpoint pen. In the working principle of the ballpoint pen, gravity is an indispensable factor. If there is no gravity, the ink cannot be guaranteed to be pushed onto the pen ball, and the pen ball cannot rotate. The ball-point pen can’t write words even if the ink is out.
On the surface, it may not be a big problem that the ballpoint pen cannot write words in space, but in fact it is really a problem.
It is impossible to use a ballpoint pen in space, so what pen should an astronaut use when working? pencil? Pencils were actually used once. The former Soviet Union and the United States, which launched the space program earlier in the world, used pencils, but they soon disappeared. The reason is that the use of pencils in space is too dangerous. First, sharpening the pencil will produce wood dust. Even if the pencil is not sharpened, the writing process will also produce dust. In the state of weightlessness, the dust will float in the space.
Astronauts inhale these dusts can cause health problems, even if the astronauts do not inhale, these dusts can cause damage to the equipment in the space capsule. What can a little dust damage? The main component of the pencil lead is graphite, and graphite can be said to be fatal to electronic equipment. And once the pencil breaks during the writing process, the broken tip of the pencil floating in the space is also a hidden danger.
Neither pencils nor ballpoint pens can be used in space, so we must find new alternatives.
Unexpectedly, the high-profile space pen was not developed by the two former aerospace powers, but by Fisher of Fisher Company, who invested millions of dollars in research and development. The principle of the space pen is simply to use pressurized nitrogen to squeeze out the gel ink to complete writing.
This space pen can not only write normally under weightlessness, but also can cope with the extreme environment of minus 45 degrees Celsius to 204 degrees Celsius. Once the space pen came out, NASA immediately purchased 400 pens, and the Soviet Union has also bought 100 pens since then. Although the development of the space pen cost millions of dollars, it is not expensive at all. The price at the time was only 2.39 US dollars, which is definitely a conscience price. And Fisher’s research and development of the space pen is not so much income? Wealth, it is better to say that the gain is fame.