John Jacob Loud (November 2, 1844 – August 10, 1916) was an American inventor known for designing the first
ballpoint pen
A ballpoint pen, also known as a biro (British English), ball pen (Hong Kong, Indian, Indonesian, Pakistani, and Philippine English), or dot pen ( Nepali English and South Asian English), is a pen that dispenses ink (usually in paste form) ...
.
Trained as a
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters.
The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...
at
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...
, Loud worked at the Union National Bank in
Weymouth, Massachusetts
Weymouth is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is one of 13 municipalities in the state to have city forms of government while retaining "town of" in their official names. It is named after Weymouth, Dorset, a coastal town ...
as a cashier. He was also active in his community as a member of his church, a trustee of many local organizations, and a member of local historical societies. Loud invented and obtained a patent for what is considered to be the first ballpoint pen in 1888; however, his invention was not commercialized and the patent would eventually lapse. The modern ballpoint pen would be patented later in 1938 by
László Bíró
László József Bíró (; ; 29 September 1899 – 24 October 1985), Hispanicized as Ladislao José Biro, was a Hungarian inventor who patented the first commercially successful modern ballpoint pen. The first ballpoint pen had been invented ro ...
, 22 years after Loud's death.
Early life and education
Loud was born in
Weymouth, Massachusetts
Weymouth is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is one of 13 municipalities in the state to have city forms of government while retaining "town of" in their official names. It is named after Weymouth, Dorset, a coastal town ...
in 1844,
the only son of John White Loud and Sarah Humphrey Blanchard.
One of his sisters, Annie Frances Loud, was a locally noted composer of "sacred music".
He was a descendant of Francis Loud, originally of
Ipswich, Massachusetts
Ipswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 13,785 at the 2020 census. Home to Willowdale State Forest and Sandy Point State Reservation, Ipswich includes the southern part of Plum Island. A res ...
, and ''
Mayflower
''Mayflower'' was an English sailing ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, reac ...
'' passengers
William Brewster and
John Alden
John Alden ( – September 12, 1687) was an English politician, settler, and cooper, best known for being a crew member on the historic 1620 voyage of the ''Mayflower'' which brought the English settlers commonly known as Pilgrims to Plymouth ...
.
He attended school in Weymouth, graduating from Weymouth High School, and later attended
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...
, graduating from the latter in law in the class of 1866.
Career
Loud was admitted to the Suffolk County Bar on February 2, 1872.
He furthered his studies and training in law while working at the firm Jewell, Gaston & Field. However, he opted to join his father in the banking profession.
In 1871, he joined his father in working for the Union National Bank as an assistant cashier.
Upon his father's death in 1874, Loud assumed his position as a cashier and remained in that post until his resignation in 1895 for health reasons.
Inventions
Keenly interested in
inventing
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an i ...
, on October 30, 1888, Loud obtained the first
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...
(US #392,046) for a
ballpoint pen
A ballpoint pen, also known as a biro (British English), ball pen (Hong Kong, Indian, Indonesian, Pakistani, and Philippine English), or dot pen ( Nepali English and South Asian English), is a pen that dispenses ink (usually in paste form) ...
when attempting to make a writing instrument that would be able to write on leather products, which then-common
fountain pen
A fountain pen is a writing instrument that uses a metal nib (pen), nib to apply Fountain pen ink, water-based ink, or special pigment ink—suitable for fountain pens—to paper. It is distinguished from earlier dip pens by using an internal r ...
s could not. Loud's pen had a small rotating steel ball, held in place by a socket. In the patent, he noted:
Although his invention could be used to mark rough surfaces such as leather, as he had originally intended, it proved to be too coarse for letter-writing. With no commercial viability, its potential went unexploited
and the patent eventually lapsed.
[
]
Loud had also registered patents for a firecracker cannon (1888) and a "toy cannon" (1887).
Personal life, death
He was married to Emily Keith Vickery from November 7, 1872, until her death in November 1911.
The couple had eight children.
Residing in Weymouth, Loud was a member of the Union Congregational Church. He was an ardent
genealogist
Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their Lineage (anthropology), lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family ...
and an active member of the Maine Genealogical Society, New Hampshire Genealogical Society, New England Historic Genealogical Society, and Weymouth Historical Society (of which he was a founding member).
Loud was a trustee of the Weymouth Savings Banks, Tufts Library and the
Derby Academy,
and a conductor of the Union Religious Society
choir
A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...
at Weymouth and in
Braintree.
A noted orator, he spoke at many local events, including delivering an address upon the building of the first warship at the
Fore River Shipyard
Fore River Shipyard was a shipyard owned by General Dynamics Corporation located on Weymouth Fore River in Braintree, Massachusetts, Braintree and Quincy, Massachusetts. It began operations in 1883 in Braintree, and moved to its final location on ...
in 1900. He also wrote
poetry
Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...
and songs in his spare time.
He died at his home in Weymouth on August 10, 1916,
and was buried at Village Cemetery in Weymouth.
Notes
*Though contemporary sources state he may have been a leather
tanner at the time,
biographical accounts do not support this.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loud, John L.
1844 births
1916 deaths
People from Weymouth, Massachusetts
Harvard College alumni
19th-century American inventors