Am I the only one...

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DurocShark

DurocShark

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...who gets really irritated by folks labeling or calling their ballpoint pens rollerball pens?

I know it's kinda petty but it is really bugging me.
 
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Well, as I'm fond of repeating in situations like this, "Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things."
 
Ive never seen that before i always thought a roller ball was the refills for higher end pens like tycoon sedona and Cambridge
 
I'm going to regret this... Just what is the difference between a rollerball and a ball point? Don't they both have a ball in the end that rolls out the ink when you write with them.....
 
From what I've been able to find, it really comes down to the ink. Rollerballs use a water based ink which flows better and requires less force while writing, while ballpoints use an oil based ink which makes the writer need to push harder, leaving a less elegant line.
 
Here's what I found out.....

Rollerball pens are similar to ball point pens in that they use the same ball writing mechanism at the nib. The key difference however is that ballpoint pens use an oil-based ink which is quite viscous. Rollerball pens, on the other hand, generally use a more free flowing water-based ink which tends to saturate more deeply and widely into the paper than ballpoint ink. This gives writing performed with a rollerball pen the look of fountain pen on the page. For this reason, rollerball pens are often considered to be halfway between a ballpoint and a fountain pen . They have the convenience of a ballpoint pen but with the feel of a fountain pen. Notice how the nib is exposed. Most ballpoint pens use either a "push" mechanism or a "twist" mechanism whereby the user twists the barrel of the pen to introduce the nib. Rollerball pens, however, generally have a removable cap, much like a fountain pen. This is so that the water-based ink of the rollerball pen doesn't evaporate and dry out--an issue not generally experienced by the viscous oil-based ink of ballpoint pens.
 
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DurocShark said:
...who gets really irritated by folks labeling or calling their ballpoint pens rollerball pens?

I know it's kinda petty but it is really bugging me.
Click to expand...

Don, If the only difference between the Rollerball and the Ball Point is the ink they use what is it that bugs you? I really don't have an opinion either way I'm just curious....:confused:
 
Let me put it this way... The pens we make and a 12c Bic are both the same. Right?

They both lay ink on paper. They both fit in a pocket.
 
pensmyth said:
I'm going to regret this... Just what is the difference between a rollerball and a ball point? Don't they both have a ball in the end that rolls out the ink when you write with them.....
Click to expand...


Good point ... both do have a rolling ball at the tip to spread the ink.

I think the manufactures use the name "Rollerball" to identify the type of ink in the thing.
Rollerball pens have a watery ink closer to a fountian pen rather than than the thick gooey stuff in a ballpoint.
(pensmyth said this better)

While we are at this ...
Isnt there a better word for that part than "refill" ... after all the first one isn't really a "refill".
 
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Roller Ball

There might be no real difference but if my wife (who uses only rollerballs) went to Staples and picked up one marked rollerball and got home with a ballpoint....she would be, to say the least, a tad upset.
 
To me a rollerball writes a lot differently then a ballpoint. I actually can not use a rollerball because of how I write. I have to use a gel or one of the parker refills that Ed sells. Everything else comes out with half of the ink missing in the letters. I have no idea why.
 
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