This popular, accessible, practical and even essential product has hardly changed since it appeared on the market in 1950. A fine example of sustainability that should inspire manufacturers of electronic devices…
We all know it. We have all used it, and we still use it. And always with pleasure. Because unlike some of its competitors, it still works perfectly. It is so popular and so effective that it sells more than 100 million copies each year worldwide. However, it has hardly changed since it appeared on the market in… 1950!
This product, as useful as it is iconic, is simply the Bic pen. More precisely, the Bic Cristal. Immediately recognizable with its transparent hexagonal tube and conical cap, this model popularized the principle of the ballpoint pen, very quickly replacing fountain pen systems, which were much more complex to use, in school kits and offices. Copied many times, without ever being equaled, it still remains a reference in the field of handwriting, still dominating the competition, 74 years after its invention. Sold in 170 countries, it has sold more than 100 billion copies since its introduction on the market.
However, contrary to what many people think, Bic did not invent the ballpoint pen. Two pioneers had imagined the principle, but failed to exploit it: the American John J. Loud, in 1888, and a certain Pasquis who won the famous Lépine competition in 1919. And it was in 1931, at the Budapest International Fair that two Hungarian brothers, László and György Bíró, presented their functional version of this revolutionary pen: a metal ball rotating in a small cell to control the flow of viscous ink. Legend has it that while observing children playing with marbles in a puddle, László noticed that the marbles left wet marks on the ground.
A few years later, the French baron-entrepreneur Marcel Bich bought the Bíró brothers’ patent. After improving the technology on two essential points, the ink formula and the adjustment between the ball and the reservoir tube, he launched his first ballpoint pen in 1950 under its simplified name Bic. Designed from the outset to be very affordable, the Bic Cristal quickly enjoyed worldwide success, as far as Africa, Australia and the United States. In 1965, it was even authorized for schoolchildren in France by the Ministry of National Education, immediately replacing fountain pens. The rest is history.
The most remarkable thing about the story, especially when you think about the rapid obsolescence of electronic products, is that the Bic Cristal has hardly changed since its invention, even though it was released with the famous retractable tip model in 1956 and, above all, the revolutionary 4 Couleurs in 1970. Its hexagonal body, 8.3 mm in diameter and 14.7 cm long, is made of transparent polystyrene, so that you can see the ink level. Its tube contains 0.4 g of an oil-based ink that dries in 2 seconds and allows up to 3 km of writing. Only its removable cap was modified in 1991 with an orifice to minimize the risk of asphyxiation in the event of ingestion. And it is still just as economical, at less than 20 cents per unit on average. As you can see, a good recipe is eternal…