historyofpencils.com

4Xjj6 TIL a tanner, John J. Loud, desiring a pen that could write on leather, invented the first ballpoint pen and patented it in 1888. This pen had a small steel ball which was placed so it could not fall out nor fall in but it still could rotate freely. Loud's invention then was not commercially viable.
XE1gX TIL that the first mention of a pen with ink reservoir came in 973 in the region of northwest Africa by Ma'ād al-Mu'izz. He wanted a pen that didn’t get his hand messy. The next mention came in the 17th century by a German inventor, Daniel Schwenter.
e8Z4 TIL that before the Eraser was invented people used soft bread crumbs to erase pencil marks