Bic Cristal
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The BIC Cristal (stylised as BiC Cristal and also known as the Bic pen) is an inexpensive, disposable
ballpoint pen A ballpoint pen, also known as a biro (British English), ball pen (Hong Kong, Indian and Philippine English), or dot pen ( Nepali) is a pen that dispenses ink (usually in paste form) over a metal ball at its point, i.e. over a "ball point". ...
mass-produced and sold by
Société Bic Société Bic S.A., commonly called Bic and stylized as BiC, is a French manufacturing corporation based in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine. It sells a world-leading brand of lighters and pens since its founding by Marcel Bich (1914–1994) in 1945, an ...
of
Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine Clichy ( , ; sometimes unofficially Clichy-la-Garenne ) is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located on the Seine, from the centre of Paris. In 2017, it had a population of 61,070. Located in Clichy are the headqua ...
,
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. It was introduced in December 1950 and is the best-selling pen in the world, with the 100 billionth sold in September 2006. It has become the archetypal ballpoint pen and is considered ubiquitous, to the extent that the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
has made it a permanent part of its collection. Its hexagonal form and design mimics a standard
pencil A pencil () is a writing or drawing implement with a solid pigment core in a protective casing that reduces the risk of core breakage, and keeps it from marking the user's hand. Pencils create marks by physical abrasion, leaving a trail ...
and it is sold in six types of point and 18 colours around the world.


History

In 1944, near the end of the Second World War, entrepreneur
Marcel Bich Marcel Louis Michel Antoine Bich, baron Bich (; 29 July 1914 – 30 May 1994) was an Italian-born, French manufacturer and co-founder of Bic, the world's leading producer of ballpoint pens, lighters, and razors. Early years Bich was born in Tur ...
bought a factory in
Clichy Clichy may refer to: In Paris Region, France * Canton of Clichy, an administrative division of the Hauts-de-Seine department, in northern France * Clichy-sous-Bois, commune in the Seine-Saint-Denis ''département'' * Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine, comm ...
, a suburb north of Paris, and with business partner Edouard Buffard founded ''Société PPA'' (later ''
Société Bic Société Bic S.A., commonly called Bic and stylized as BiC, is a French manufacturing corporation based in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine. It sells a world-leading brand of lighters and pens since its founding by Marcel Bich (1914–1994) in 1945, an ...
'') in 1945. "PPA" stood for ''Porte-plume, Porte-mines et Accessoires'' – pens, mechanical pencils and accessories. During the war Bich had seen a ballpoint pen manufactured in Argentina by
László Bíró László József Bíró (; born László József Schweiger; 29 September 1899 – 24 October 1985), Hispanicized as Ladislao José Biro, was a Hungarian-Argentine inventor who patented the first commercially successful modern ballpoint pen. The ...
. Between 1949 and 1950 the Bic Cristal was designed by the ''Décolletage Plastique'' design team at ''Société PPA''. Bich invested in Swiss technology capable of shaping metal down to , which could produce a stainless steel sphere which allowed ink to flow freely. Bich developed a viscosity of ink which neither leaked nor clogged and, under a ballpoint pen patent licensed from Bíró, launched the Cristal in December 1950. Bich invested heavily in advertising, hiring poster designer
Raymond Savignac Raymond Savignac, often just abbreviated to "Savignac", was a French graphic artist famous for his commercial posters. He was born on November 6, 1907 in Paris, and died on October 30, 2002 in Trouville-sur-Mer (Calvados), aged 94. His work is dis ...
in 1952. That year Bic won the French ''Oscar de la publicité'' award for advertising. In 1953 advertising executive Pierre Guichenné advised Bich to shorten his family name to Bic as an easy-to-remember, globally adaptable tradename for the pen, which fit in with product branding trends of the post-war era. Early Bic advertisements in France referred to the Cristal as the "Atomic pen". Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the Bic Cristal's writing tip and ergonomic design helped shift the worldwide market for pens from
fountain pens A fountain pen is a writing instrument which uses a metal nib to apply a water-based ink to paper. It is distinguished from earlier dip pens by using an internal reservoir to hold ink, eliminating the need to repeatedly dip the pen in an ink ...
to ballpoints. In 1959 Bich brought the pen to the American market: the Bic pen was soon selling at 29 cents () with the slogan "writes first time, every time." In 1965 the French ministry of education approved the Bic Cristal for use in classrooms. In 1961 Bic Orange pen was introduced, featuring a fine 0.8 mm point and an orange barrel instead of translucent. Bic makes this pen at its own plants in Europe. In September 2006, the Bic Cristal was declared the best selling pen in the world after the 100 billionth was sold.


Design

The
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
recognised the Bic Cristal's industrial design by introducing it into the museum's permanent collection. Its hexagonal shape resembles the typical wooden pencil and grants strength and three grip points giving high writing stability. The pen's transparent polystyrene barrel and polypropylene tube show the ink-level. The only exception is the BIC Cristal UP, a pen marketed by Bic that supposedly creates more vivid lines when used. These pens have a white barrel and, depending on what color the ink reservoir contains, a small area of the pen barrel and cap with the corresponding ink color. A tiny hole in the barrel's body maintains the same air pressure inside and outside the pen. The pens' ink color has many different varieties, ranging from the 'classic' colors (blue, black, red, and green), to pink and purple. The thick ink flows down due to
capillary action Capillary action (sometimes called capillarity, capillary motion, capillary rise, capillary effect, or wicking) is the process of a liquid flowing in a narrow space without the assistance of, or even in opposition to, any external forces li ...
from the tube inside the barrel, to feed the ball bearing, which spins freely within a brass tip. In 1961, the stainless steel ball was replaced with much harder
tungsten carbide Tungsten carbide (chemical formula: WC) is a chemical compound (specifically, a carbide) containing equal parts of tungsten and carbon atoms. In its most basic form, tungsten carbide is a fine gray powder, but it can be pressed and formed into ...
. This ballpoint is first
vitrified Vitrification (from Latin ''vitreum'', "glass" via French ''vitrifier'') is the full or partial transformation of a substance into a glass, that is to say, a non-crystalline amorphous solid. Glasses differ from liquids structurally and glasses po ...
by heat, then ground down and milled to an accuracy of between spinning plates coated with industrial diamond abrasives. Since 1991 the pen's streamlined polypropylene cap has had a small hole to reduce the risk of suffocation if the cap is inhaled. Polypropylene is used instead of polystyrene because it absorbs impact better, reducing the chance of the pen cracking or splitting if it is dropped onto the cap. The pen's dimensions are with the cap, or 14.5 by 0.7 cm without the cap. The Cristal's design has become a target for counterfeiters, especially from the Far East and in particular from China. Their pens are manufactured at a cheaper price and made to appear similar to the original. One Kenyan pen manufacturer reportedly lost KSh.100,000,000/= (approx. $1.3 million USD at 2009 exchange rate) to fake copies, forcing them to negotiate cheaper licensing from Bic.


Spin-offs


Bic Cristal for Her

In 2012, Bic marketed a spin-off product named the "Bic Cristal for Her". The pen, similar to the original, was supposedly designed specifically for women, and was sold in pink and purple colors. The product provoked outrage and ridicule, with television show host
Ellen DeGeneres Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( ; born January 26, 1958) is an American comedian, television host, actress, writer, and producer. She starred in the sitcom ''Ellen'' from 1994 to 1998, which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award for " The Puppy Episode". Sh ...
saying "Can you believe this? We've been using man pens all these years," and comedian
Bridget Christie Bridget Louise Christie (born 17 August 1971) is an English stand-up comedian, actress and writer. She has written and performed 12 Edinburgh Festival Fringe shows and several comedy tours, in addition to radio and television work. She has rece ...
titling her 2013
Edinburgh festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...
show ''A Bic For Her''. The product also received many sarcastic Amazon reviews. In 2017 it was inducted into the collection of the
Museum of Failure The Museum of Failure is a museum that features a collection of failed products and services. The touring exhibition provides visitors with a learning experience about the critical role of failure in innovation and encourages organizations to bec ...
.


Cristal Stylus

In 2014 Bic released a new writing instrument based on the Cristal, a modified pen with a rubber tip opposite the ballpoint. This model, called the "Cristal Stylus", is for use on touchpads. Bic funded a website to promote the stylus that crowdsourced a new typeface, named the
Universal Typeface Experiment The Universal Typeface Experiment was a promotional website funded by Société Bic, the maker of the Bic pen. The website crowdsourced a typeface with mobile users who entered their handwriting on the website using a touchpad and the then newly u ...
.


See also

*
List of pen types, brands and companies A pen is a handheld device used to apply ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Additional types of specialized pens are used in specific types of applications and environments such as in artwork, electronics, digital scanning ...


References


External links

* of the Bic Cristal at Société BIC
Bic Cristal
at MoMA
Everyday Icon #3 The BIC Biro
at
Phaidon Press Phaidon Press is a global publisher of books on art, architecture, design, fashion, photography, and popular culture, as well as cookbooks, children's books, and travel books. The company is based in London and New York City, with additional off ...
online * {{EAN, 3086123001060 French inventions Pens Products introduced in 1950 Writing implements