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A '''pencil''' is a [[writing instrument|writing]] or [[drawing]] instrument consisting of a thin stick of [[pigment]] (usually [[graphite]], but can also be coloured pigment or [[charcoal]]) and [[clay]], usually encased in a thin wood cylinder though paper and plastic sheaths are also used. Pencils are distinct from [[pen]]s, which use a liquid marking material.
A '''pencil''' is a [[writing instrument|writing]] or [[drawing]] instrument consisting of a thin stick of [[pigment]] (usually [[graphite]], but can also be coloured pigment or [[charcoal]]) and [[clay]], usually encased in a thin wood cylinder though paper and plastic sheaths are also used. Pencils are distinct from [[pen]]s, which use a liquid marking material.


pencils are good for eating
==History==
The [[archetypal]] pencil may have been the [[ancient Rome|ancient Roman]] stylus, which was a thin metal stick, often made of [[lead]] and used for scratching on [[papyrus]], a form of early paper. The word ''pencil'' comes from the [[Latin]] word ''pencillus'' which means "little tail."

Some time prior to 1565 (some sources say as early as 1500), an enormous deposit of [[graphite]] was discovered at the site of [[Seathwaite Fell]] near [[Borrowdale]], [[Cumbria]], [[England]]. The locals found that it was very useful for marking [[sheep]]. This particular deposit of graphite was extremely pure and solid, and it could easily be sawn into sticks. This was and remains the only deposit of graphite ever found in this solid form. [[Chemistry]] was in its infancy and the substance was thought to be a form of lead. Consequently, it was called ''plumbago'' (Latin for "lead ore")<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.answers.com/topic/plumbago |title=Definition of Plumbago |publisher=Answers.com |accessdate=2007-04-21}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/plumbago |title=Definition of Plumbago |publisher=Thefreedictionary.com |accessdate=2007-04-21}}</ref>. The black core of pencils is still sometimes referred to as "lead," even though it never contained the [[Chemical element|element]] lead.

The value of graphite was soon realized to be enormous, mainly because it could be used to line the moulds for [[cannon]] balls, and the mines were taken over by the [[The Crown|Crown]] and guarded. Graphite had to be smuggled out for use in pencils. Because graphite is soft, it requires some form of case. Graphite sticks were at first wrapped in string or in [[Leather|sheepskin]] for stability. The news of the usefulness of these early pencils spread far and wide, attracting the attentions of artists all over the "known world."

Although deposits of graphite had been found in other parts of the world, they were not of the same purity and quality as the Borrowdale find, and had to be crushed to remove the impurities, leaving only graphite powder. England continued to enjoy a [[monopoly]] on the production of pencils until a method of reconstituting the graphite powder was found. The distinctively square English pencils continued to be made with sticks cut from natural graphite into the [[1860s]]. Today, the town of [[Keswick, Cumbria|Keswick]], near the original findings of block graphite, has a pencil [[museum]].
The first attempt to manufacture graphite sticks from powdered graphite was in [[Nuremberg]], [[Germany]], in [[1662]]. It used a mixture of graphite, [[sulfur|sulphur]], and [[antimony]]. Though usable, they were inferior to the English pencils.

It was the [[Italians]] who first thought of [[wood]]en holders. An Italian couple in particular, named Simonio and Lyndiana Bernacotti, were believed to be the ones to create the first blueprints for the modern carpentry pencil for the purpose of marking their carpentry pieces; however, their version was instead a flat, oval, more compact type of pencil. They did this at first by hollowing out a stick of [[juniper]] wood. Shortly thereafter, a superior technique was discovered: two wooden halves were carved, a graphite stick inserted, and the two halves then glued together&mdash;essentially the same method in use to this day.

English and German pencils were not available to the [[France|French]] during the [[Napoleonic wars]]. It took the efforts of an officer in [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon]]'s army to change this. In [[1795]] [[Nicholas Jacques Conté]] discovered a method of mixing powdered graphite with [[clay]] and forming the mixture into rods that were then fired in a [[kiln]]. By varying the ratio of graphite to clay, the hardness of the graphite rod could also be varied. This method of manufacture which had been earlier discovered by the Austrian [[Joseph Hardtmuth]] of [[Koh-I-Noor (company)|Koh-I-Noor]] in 1790 remains in present use.

American colonists imported pencils from Europe until after the [[American Revolution]]. [[Benjamin Franklin]] advertised pencils for sale in his ''Pennsylvania Gazette'' in 1729, and [[George Washington]] used a three-inch pencil when he surveyed the [[Ohio Territory]] in 1762. It is said that William Munroe, a cabinetmaker in [[Concord, Massachusetts]], made the first American wood pencils in 1812. This was not the only pencil-making in Concord. According to [[Henry Petroski]], [[transcendentalist]] philosopher [[Henry David Thoreau]] discovered how to make a good pencil out of inferior graphite using clay as the binder; this invention was prompted by his father's pencil factory in Concord, which employed graphite found in [[New Hampshire]] in 1821 by Charles Dunbar.

Munroe's method of making pencils was painstakingly slow, and in the neighboring town of [[Acton, Massachusetts|Acton]], a pencil mill owner named Ebenezer Wood set out to automate the process at his own pencil mill located at Nashoba Brook along the old Davis Road. He used the first circular saw in pencil production. He constructed the first hexagon- and octagon-shaped pencil cases that we have today. Ebenezer did not patent his invention and shared his techniques with whoever asked. One of those was [[Eberhard Faber]] of New York, who became the leader in pencil production.

[[Joseph Dixon]], an inventor and entrepreneur involved with the [[Tantiusques]] granite [[Mining|mine]] in [[Sturbridge, Massachusetts]], developed a means to [[mass production|mass produce]] pencils. By [[1870]], The [[Joseph Dixon Crucible Company]] was the world’s largest dealer and consumer of graphite and later became the contemporary [[Dixon Ticonderoga]] pencil and art supplies company.<ref>[http://www.dixonusa.com/index.cfm/fuseaction=history.dixon Dixon Ticonderoga Company]</ref><ref>[http://www.thetrustees.org/pages/368_tantiusques.cfm Tantiusques Graphite Mine]</ref>


==Manufacture==
==Manufacture==

Revision as of 22:38, 30 August 2007

This article is about the handwriting instrument. For other uses, see Pencil (disambiguation).
Two HB Pencils
A selection of colored pencils.
Two "woodless" graphite pencils in plastic sheaths, two charcoal pencils in wooden sheaths and two charcoal pencils in a paper sheath that is unwrapped as the pencil is used.
Colour pencil drawing

A pencil is a writing or drawing instrument consisting of a thin stick of pigment (usually graphite, but can also be coloured pigment or charcoal) and clay, usually encased in a thin wood cylinder though paper and plastic sheaths are also used. Pencils are distinct from pens, which use a liquid marking material.

pencils are good for eating

Manufacture

Pencil manufacturing. The top sequence shows the old method that required pieces of graphite to be cut to size; the lower sequence is the new, current method using rods of graphite and clay.

Modern pencils are made industrially by mixing finely ground graphite and clay powders, adding water, forming long spaghetti-like strings, and firing them in a kiln. The resulting strings are dipped in oil or molten wax, which seeps into the tiny holes of the material, resulting in smoother writing. A juniper or incense-cedar plank with several long parallel grooves is cut to make something called a slat, and the graphite/clay strings are inserted into the grooves. Another grooved plank is glued on top, and the whole thing is then cut into individual pencils, which are then varnished or painted.

Grading & classification

Many pencils across the world and almost all in Europe are graded on the European system using a continuüm from "H" (for hardness) to "B" (for blackness), as well as "F" (for fine point). The standard writing pencil is graded HB. According to Petrosky this system might have been developed in the early 1900s by Brookman (an English pencil maker) which used "B" for black and "H" for hard; a pencil's grade was described by a sequence or successive Hs or Bs such as BB and BBB for successively softer leads, and HH and HHH for successively harder ones.[1].

Today a set of pencils ranging from a very hard, light-marking pencil to a very soft, black-marking pencil usually ranges from hardest to softest as follows.

9H 8H 7H 6H 5H 4H 3H 2H H F HB B 2B 3B 4B 5B 6B 7B 8B 9B
Hardest → Medium → Softest

Today few companies produce the entire range of pencils grades. Koh-i-noor offers 20 grades from 10H to 8B (for its 1500 series)[2]; Derwent produces also 20 different grades (from 9B to 9H--for its Graphic pencils) [3] but Staedtler produces only 16 (from 8B to 6H--for its Mars Lumograph pencils)[4]. The main market for such wide range of of grades are artists who are interested in creating a full range of tones from light gray to black; while engineers prefer harder pencils which allow for a greater control in the shape of the lead. This is reflected in the way pencils are packaged and marketed. For example, for its Graphic pencils Derwent offers three packages of 12 pencils each: Technical (with hard grades from B to 9H), Sketching (with soft grades 9B to H), and Designer (with medium grades 6B to 4H).

Another common method uses numbers to designated the grade of a pencil. It was originally created by Conté and adopted in the United States by Thoreau in the 19th century[5]. The following table shows approximate equivalences between the different systems [6]:

Tone U.S. World
#1 = B
#2 = HB
#2½ * = F
#3 = H
#4 = 2H

* Also seen as 2-4/8, 2.5, 2-5/10, due to patent issues[citation needed]

The various graphite pencil grades are achieved by altering the proportion of graphite to clay: the more clay the harder the pencil[7][8][9]. Two pencils of the same grade but different manufactures will not necessarily make a mark of identical tone nor have the same hardness[10].

Even though the known natural deposits of pure graphite are tapped out, it is still possible to write the way Englishmen did centuries ago, without clay or wax additives that leave oily stains on paper. Chemical supply companies commonly sell 99.995% pure graphite rods in 3 mm and 6 mm diameters.[citation needed]

Various coatings are rated using the pencil hardness test. These coatings are used for paint, plastics and coatings for furniture. Below is a list of ratings for a variety of coatings. Type of coatings: Pencil Hardness Catalyzed polyester: 9H Catalyzed polyurethane: 9H Catalyzed Modified Acrylic polyurethane: 4H Catalyzed Acrylic polyurethane: 2H Water-based polyurethane: 3H Low VOC Catalyzed lacquer [24 hrs]: 2H Low VOC lacquer: 3H Urethane/Nitrocellulose lacquer [24 hrs}: F[citation needed]

Color of pencils

Two pencils.

The majority of pencils made in the United States are painted yellow[11]. According to Henry Petroski[12], this tradition began in 1890 when the L. & C. Hardtmuth Company of Austria-Hungary introduced their Koh-I-Noor brand, named after the famous diamond. It was intended to be the world's best and most expensive pencil, and at a time when most pencils were either painted in dark colours or not at all, the Koh-I-Noor was yellow. As well as simply being distinctive, the colour may have been inspired by the Austro-Hungarian flag; it was also suggestive of the Orient, at a time when the best-quality graphite came from Siberia. Other companies then copied the yellow colour so that their pencils would be associated with this high-quality brand, and chose brand names with explicit Oriental references, such as Mikado (renamed as Mirado[13]; it was originally made by Eagle Pencil Company--today Berol--but it can also be found today under the trademark Papermate and Sanford as Sanford owns Berol and the trademark Papermate[14]) and Mongol[15] (originally made by Eberhard Faber the trademark is now owned by Sandford[16]).

Not all countries use yellow pencils, however; German pencils, for example, are often green, based on the trademark colours of Faber-Castell, a major German stationery company. Brazilian low-cost pencils are usually black with a round section, but may sometimes be brown, light green, metallic light blue, yellow or orange; while most pencils are round, hexagonal pencils are quite common too, and there is a growing market of triangular pencils. The traditional low-cost pencil in Argentina is black (no specific tradename), but the typical expensive, high-quality pencil is black and red or black and yellow (Faber-Castell). Low-cost pencils made by German company Staedtler are orange (available in 3 hardnesses), while the higher-end pencils are red and black (12 hardnesses) and the highest-end pencils blue (16 hardnesses) [17]. In Australia most pencils are painted bright red, though other colours are becoming more common.

Pencils in space

An urban legend in circulation since the 1970s (and told on a 2002 episode of The West Wing) tells of NASA spending large sums of money, typically in the millions of dollars, to develop an instrument that would write in space (a space pen). The typical punch line is that either someone supposedly should have sent NASA a pencil, or that the Soviets used pencils.

While considered humorous, the story is not true.[18] In fact, graphite pencils were used on all Mercury and Gemini space flights, and were replaced by pressurized "space pens" (independently developed without NASA funding) after the Apollo 1 fire. Pencils are, in fact, still used in space, for example aboard the International Space Station.

Types of Pencils

According to the material used to make them

  • Graphite pencils
  • Charcoal pencils
  • Crayon pencils
  • Grease pencils. They write on virtually any surface (including glass, metal and photographs).
  • Watercolor pencils

According to their use

  • Carpenter's pencils. These are pencils that have two main properties: their shape prevents them from rolling, and their lead is strong [19]. The oldest surviving pencil is a German carpenter's pencil dating from the 17th Century and now in the Faber-Castell collection[20][21].
  • Copying pencils are graphite pencils with an added dye that create an indelible mark. They were invented in the late 1800s for press copying and as a practical substitute to fountain pens. Their markings are often visually indistinguishable from those of standard graphite pencils, but when moisten their markings disolve into a coloured ink, which is then pressed into another piece of paper.[22][23][24] There were used until the early 1900s when ball pens slowly replaced them.
  • Stenographer's pencil, also known as steno pencil. These pencils are expected to be very reliable, and their leads break proof. Sometimes steno pencils are sharpened at both ends[25].
  • Golf pencil

According to their shape

  • Triangular
  • Hexagonal
  • Round

Other types

  • The Quadrachromic Pencil is a slightly enlarged pencil with four colours equally partitioned on the tip. The use of each colour while drawing is accomplished by rotating the pencil between the fingers.
  • Penny pencil

Miscellaneous

Pencil lead for mechanical pencils are often sold in packages that weigh more than the graphite stored inside.

Pencils are students' primary writing instruments. Due to this common usage, the pencil is a common cause of minor puncture injuries in young children. The tip of the lead may leave a grey mark inside the skin for years. This led to the old wives' tale that the lead bits could be passed through the blood vessels into the brain, causing mental retardation in those with such a wound. But of course, pencil "lead" is graphite (carbon) and not the chemical element lead. Residual graphite from a pencil stick does not seem to be poisonous, and graphite is generally harmless if consumed.[26]

On March 30, 1858, Hymen Lipman received the first patent for attaching an eraser to the end of a pencil[27]. In 1862 Lipman sold his patent to Joseph Reckendorfer for $100,000, who went to sue Faber for infringement[28]. In 1875 the Supreme Court of the United States ruled against Reckendorfer declaring the patent invalid [29].

There are also mechanical pencils, which use mechanical methods to push lead through a hole at the end. The erasers are also removable so that the user can insert new lead. Mechanical pencils are popular for their longevity and the fact that they never need sharpening.

Lead types are based on thickness. Common sizes are 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9, 1.1, and 1.6 millimetres. The 2.0 mm size is commonly used in designing, artwork, and engineering, but is not commonly used outside these fields due to its high cost. This largest size usually cannot be sharpened in pencil sharpeners: a variety of devices are used, mostly abrasive.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pencils.

References

  1. ^ Petrosky 1990, page 157
  2. ^ http://www.koh-i-noor.cz/main/main.php?pageid=3211&lang=4&=&filter=&cat=24&position=30 Koh-i-noor Catalog: Graphite Pencis
  3. ^ http://www.pencils.co.uk/products/derwent.aspx?sid=3&p=1 Derwent Graphic, retrieved Aug 21, 2007
  4. ^ http://www.staedtler.com/Mars_Lumograph_gb.Staedtler?ActiveID=2213 Staedtler Mars Lumograph Pencils, retrieved Aug 21, 2007
  5. ^ Petrosky claims that Conté used integer numbers that started at 1, with higher numbers indicating softer leads, while Thoreau used higher numbers to designate harder leads (Petrosky, 1990, page 157). It is believed that Thoreau developed independently his method of mixing clay and graphite, and his use of numbers to designate grades is evidence that he was at least aware of Conté methods and tried to reverse engineer them. Thoreau offered pencils graduated from 1 to 4 in the middle 1800s (Petrosky, 1990, page 119), see also [Engines of our Ingeniuty No 339 Thoreau's Pencils by John H. Lienhard].
  6. ^ Petrosky, 1990, page 230)
  7. ^ http://www.staedtler.com/upload/graphite_video_eng_16461.mpg "Staedtler Pencil", video, retrieved Aug 21, 2007.
  8. ^ Petrosky, 1990)
  9. ^ http://www.pencils.co.uk/heritage.aspx?id=6&sid=1 Derwent Manufacturing Process, retrieved Aug 21, 2007
  10. ^ Petrosky claims that pencil grades vary "depending upon the manufacturer, when the penils are made, and the source of graphite and clay. One analyst found that graphitic carbon content, for example, to vary from about 30 to about 65 in a variety of different pencils bearing the same designation." Petrosky, 1990, page 229
  11. ^ 75% of the 2.8 billion pencils made in the United States are painted yellow (Steve Ritter "Pencils & Pencil Lead", Chemical & Engineering News, Volume 79, Number 42 page 35, Oct 15, 2001 http://pubs.acs.org/cen/whatstuff/stuff/7942sci4.html).
  12. ^ Petrosky, 1990, pages 162-163
  13. ^ Eagle Pencil Company applied for the trademark Mirado in 1947 (US Trademark 71515261). It is common belief that this was an attempt to disassociate the pencil brand from Japan, as one of the meanings of Mikado is emperor of Japan. Petrosky (Petrosky, 1990) states that Eagle Pencil Company changed the name after the Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor.
  14. ^ http://www.brandnamepencils.com/brands/eagle/mikado174.shtml Mirado Pencil
  15. ^ http://www.pencilpages.com/gallery/eberhard-faber/mongol.htm Eberhard Faber Pencil Gallery.
  16. ^ http://timberlines.blogspot.com/2005/08/mongolized.html Timberlines Blog "Mongolized" Aug 31, 2005, retrieved Aug 23, 2007
  17. ^ http://www.staedtler.com/pencils_gb.Staedtler?ActiveID=2448
  18. ^ The Write Stuff, Snopes. January 16, 2007.
  19. ^ http://www.pencilpages.com/articles/carpentr.htm Doug Martin, 2000, "Carpenter's Pencils", retrieved Aug 23, 2007
  20. ^ http://www.faber-castell.com.au/docs/default-news.asp?id=19463&domid=1010&sp=E&addlastid=&m1=14248&m2=16959&m3=19364&m4=19463 "History Pencils & Historic Packaging" Faber Castell Australia, retrieved Aug 23, 2007
  21. ^ http://www.pencilpages.com/gallery/oldest.htm "Oldest Known Pencil in Existence", retrieved Aug 23, 2007.
  22. ^ http://aic.stanford.edu/sg/bpg/annual/v17/bp17-05.html The Copying Pencil: Composition, History, and Conservation Implications by Liz Dube
  23. ^ http://blog.awm.gov.au/lambert/?p=95 The Magic of Purple Pencil, retrieved Aug 23, 2007
  24. ^ http://pencils.smoky.ca/2006/03/l-c-hardmuth-koh-i-noor-kopierstift-1561 L. & C. Hardmuth Koh-I-Noor Kopierstift 1561, retrieved Aug 23, 2007
  25. ^ http://pencils.smoky.ca/2006/06/reporter-pencils Paper and Pencil Blog "Reporter Pencils" retrieved Aug 23, 2007.
  26. ^ Graphite - Identification, toxicity, use, water pollution potential, ecological toxicity and regulatory information
  27. ^ http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=19783 US Patent 19783 Combination of Lead-Pencil and Eraser by L. Lipman
  28. ^ Petroski, Henry (1990). The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-57422-2; ISBN 0-679-73415-5, page 171
  29. ^ http://supreme.justia.com/us/92/347/case.html Reckendorfer v. Faber 92 U.S. 347 (1875)
  • Petroski, Henry (1990). The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-394-57422-2; ISBN 0-679-73415-5.
  • Petroski, Henry. "H. D. Thoreau, Engineer." American Heritage of Invention and Technology, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 8-16.
  • Acton Convservation Commission, Early American Pencils. [1]

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