The Pencil

By: Tanvi Iyer 5AB

12th of January 2011

Tanvi Iyer Friday, January 14, 2011 1:11:05 PM Hong Kong SAR China Time
 Invention of the
Pencil

Where/What
A pencil is a resource we use in our every day lives. The
people of Seathwaite village a country in Cumbria discovered
a huge pit of graphite near a sleepy hamlet. Later on they
learned that this hard resource could be used to mark their
cattle or sheep so they could distinguish and keep count on
how many their are.

Who/When
In Germany 1662 the first attempt to make pencil cores from
powdered graphite was successful. Another man named
Nicholas Jacques Conte a French man succeeded in making a
pencil core too in 1795. he used a mixture which had fired
clay and graphite. The same technique was used by another
man called Joseph Hardtmuth from Austria who actually
discovered it five years before but never popularized his
effort.
How
The way it is made now a days has dried ground graphite, a
form of carbon which is mixed with clay and water.
Pencils with more clay tend to be harder and pencils with
more graphite tend to be softer.

Fun Facts
Did You know that the modern pencil is actually a new
version of a roman writing instrement called a stylus which
scribes used. It was a thin metal rod that left a light but was
readable on papyrus

Tanvi Iyer Friday, January 14, 2011 1:11:05 PM Hong Kong SAR China Time
 Dates
1564 - The pencil was invented in Seathwaite village a
village in Cumbria, England discovered a huge pit of
graphite near a sleepy hamlet. When the pit was discovered
then pure graphite sheets were created and cut into square
rods.

1662 - In Germany the first attempt to make a pencil from

powdered Graphite was successful.

1761 - The company Faber Castelle was founded as a pencil

factory in 1761. It was owned and managed by Count Anton
Wolfgang Von.

1795 - In 1795 a French officer Nicholas Jacques Conte

invented and patented the first quality pencil on earth.

1822 - As the wooden pencil evolved the new pencil the

mechanical pencil was introduced. It was invented by
Sampson Mordan and Gabriel Riddle.

1858 - Hyman Lipman invented the first pencil with an eraser

on top.

1890 - The first color pencil was invented in 1890.

1897 - A sharpener called John Lee love’s pencil sharpener

was patented on November 23, 1897.

1915 - A mechanical pencil called Ever-Sharp pencil was

invented.
It was an amazing invention that everyone wanted to buy.

Now a days we have pencil grips, pencils with designs and

shaped pencil sharpeners. The pencil has changed in a lot of
ways.

Tanvi Iyer Friday, January 14, 2011 1:11:05 PM Hong Kong SAR China Time