1
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If I dip a goose quill
in ink, I can write.

2
00:00:03,404 --> 00:00:07,400
Except I keep dipping, and
sooner or later it blots.

3
00:00:07,450 --> 00:00:10,160
So I put a steel nib on the end.

4
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But I still have to dip, and
I knock over the inkwell.

5
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So I put the ink inside the pen.

6
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But sometimes it leaks,
and my pocket gets inky.

7
00:00:23,460 --> 00:00:28,040
So I add a ball: it rolls and carries ink.

8
00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:32,570
But thin ink leaks out
and smears under my hand.

9
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So I mix a thick ink like
newspaper ink: it dries fast.

10
00:00:39,370 --> 00:00:42,910
Except ink that's too thick
dries inside the pen too.

11
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So I mix for years, until
it doesn't leak or dry up.

12
00:00:49,090 --> 00:00:52,800
In nineteen thirty-eight,
I apply for a patent.

13
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But that same year I have
to flee with my family.

14
00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:02,140
So I carry on in Argentina, and
British aircrews write with it.

15
00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:05,510
So it gets a spring, and it clicks.

16
00:01:06,310 --> 00:01:10,640
In Britain, they still
call a ballpoint a biro.

17
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I'm writing again.

18
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Only now the paper gets inky, not me.