WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:
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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29: BALL POINT PEN
Profile America — Friday, October 29th. The scene on this date in 1945 at Gimbel's Department Store in New York City was a madhouse. Big ads the day before had trumpeted the first sale in the U.S. of a new writing instrument that guaranteed would write for two years without refilling — the ball point pen. By the end of the day, the store had sold its entire stock of 10,000 at $12.50 each. The new pens were invented by two Hungarian brothers who set up a factory in Argentina. The idea of the ball point pen was first patented in 1888 by John Loud of Massachusetts, who never made any pens. Now, ball points are a standard item in the nation's 8,600 office supply stores, which have sales of nearly $21 billion a year. You can find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at www.census.gov.
Sources: Kane's Famous First Facts, 8154
2002 Economic Census, NAICS 453210
Profile America is produced by the Public Information Office of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on a monthly CD or on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button).
SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau
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