http://www.businessinsider.com/china-has-finally-figured-out-how-to-make-ballpoint-pens-2017-1 http://www.businessinsider.com/china-has-finally-figured-out...

http://www.businessinsider.com/china-has-finally-figured-out-how-to-make-ballpoint-pens-2017-1 http://www.businessinsider.com/china-has-finally-figured-out... Not sure why I'm being downvoted, it's a perfect example of a difficult problem (creating the metal ball) taking a long time to figure out when there isn't a shortcut. It's not a value judgement, other countries have had longer to figure this stuff out.