By Tim Lambert
The name pencil comes from a Latin word, Penicillus, which means brush. In the Middle Ages, in England, a pencel was a small brush made of camel hair, used for painting.
Graphite was discovered in Bavaria in the 15th century. However, a pure deposit of graphite was discovered in Borrowdale, Cumbria, England. Graphite was useful for marking, but it was brittle. At first it was wrapped in a string, but later it was encased in wood, and the pencil was born! People mistakenly thought that graphite was a form of lead, so the graphite in pencils is still called lead.
In 1795, Nicholas-Jacques Conte invented a new method of manufacturing pencils. He heated clay and graphite in a kiln to produce the pencils ‘lead’. It was then encased in wood. By altering the ratio of clay and graphite, the pencil could be made harder or softer. So pencils could be graded. Today they are graded from 10H, the hardest, to 10B, the softest. HB pencils are in the middle. In 1812, William Munroe began manufacturing the first pencils in the USA.
Johann Sebastian Staedtler invented coloured pencils in 1834. However, at first, coloured pencils were used for marking. Art colour pencils were first made in 1924.
The pencil was first recorded in 1565, but the first pencil sharpener was not invented till 1828, by a Frenchman named Bernard Lassimone. In 1847, Thierry des Estivaux invented a better pencil sharpener. John Lee Love patented a pencil sharpener in 1897 with a hand crank and a compartment for shavings.
15 April is National Rubber Eraser Day. On this day in 1770, scientist Joseph Priestley recorded that he used a piece of rubber to erase pencil marks. (Previously, people used bread). Hymen Lipman invented a pencil with an attached eraser in 1858.
Today, most pencils are made with cedar wood. Finally, 30 March is National Pencil Day.
