Ball-point pens

A ballpoint pen, also known as a biro (British English), ball pen (Bangladeshi, Hong Kong, Indian, Indonesian, Pakistani, Japanese and Philippine English), or dot pen (Nepali English and South Asian English), is a pen that dispenses ink (usually in paste form) over a hard ball at its point, i.e., over a "ball point". The materials commonly used are steel, brass, or tungsten carbide. The design was conceived and developed as a cleaner and more reliable alternative to dip pens and fountain pens, and it is now the world's most-used writing instrument; millions are manufactured and sold daily. It has influenced art and graphic design and spawned an artwork genre.