What is the difference from a regular ballpoint pen for astronauts? Detailed answer

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What is the difference from a regular ballpoint pen for astronauts? Detailed answer

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What is the difference from a regular ballpoint pen for astronauts?

The first ballpoint pen was produced in the late thirties of the last century. It very quickly became the most common, cheapest and most convenient pen for everyone, and especially for schoolchildren and students. The most difficult thing was to come up with a composition suitable for writing with a ballpoint pen, because ordinary ink was not suitable for this - a special paste was needed, the composition of which was found by the Hungarian chemist Josef Biro.

Our country failed to acquire a patent for the production of ballpoint pens, so scientists had to look for the composition of the paste again. The production of tiny balls has long been established, but everyone could not make pasta. Flies helped, or rather, a means of dealing with them. In those days, a mixture of castor oil and rosin was used to fight flies in everyday life. And then one engineer of the Moscow factory of art paints suggested making a paste out of it. And what do you think? The pens stopped leaking and began to write!

The first Soviet ballpoint pen was made at the Soyuz plant in Leningrad in 1949, and mass production began in the 1960s. In 1969, special ballpoint pens were developed for astronauts. Having tested them in weightlessness, the cosmonauts of the Soyuz-4 and Soyuz-5 crews were very pleased with them. After all, ordinary ballpoint pens refuse to write, even if you attach a sheet to the wall, not to mention the ceiling. Under normal terrestrial conditions, the paste is fed to the writing ball under the action of gravity. In space, weightlessness. What did our designers come up with? A very simple and very reliable device is a cylindrical spring, with the help of which the paste is fed to the ball. She performed the role of earth's gravity in space. And so that the handle did not fly around the cabin, a special nylon thread was attached to it, twisted into a spring. At the end of the spring is a hook. They can attach the handle to the pile upholstery of the ship wherever you want.

Author: Cellarius E.Yu.

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

What practical application did figurines originally have on car radiators?

In early cars, the radiator cap was opened separately from the hood, and by its heating it was possible to judge the temperature of the coolant. The Boyce MotoMeter took out a patent and began installing thermometers on radiator caps that were visible to drivers. Car manufacturers saw them as an additional branding element - over time, the need for sensors disappeared, and stylized figures took root on the hoods of many models. Later, statistics were collected that the figurines increase the amount of damage to pedestrians in collisions. Some manufacturers, such as Rolls-Royce and Mercedes-Benz, have not abandoned their placement, but have provided mechanisms that fold or pull the figures inward on a sharp blow.

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