Another geyser, hotter than ever, boiled up from the underwater world of ballpoint pens. As usual, it was started by Milton Reynolds, the Old Faithful of ball-pointism (TIME, Nov. 12, 1945 et seq ...

This was the Reynolds Rocket, the first ballpoint pen in the United States. Retailing at a steep $12.95 (about $200 today), it sold out by the end of the day, raking in a whopping $100,000 (about ...