A very simple tool essential to many aspects of the modern world, in spite of advanced technology, is the common pencil. Where would students be today without the pencil? How many people would have difficulty completing the ordinary writing aspects of their jobs without the plain old pencil? March celebrates a fascinating day in history - the patenting of the first pencil with an attached eraser on March 30, 1858.
Hyman Lipman of Philadelphia is recognized for making the applicaiton for the patent which put the eraser on the end of the pencil as a combined tool for both writing and erasing. Interestingly enough, legend has it that Lipman's patent was later held invalid since he didn't really "invent" something new, but rather combined two things that already previously existed.
Simple pencil trivia...did you know that:
*the word pencil comes from the old English word meaning "brush"?
*pencil lead is really graphite?
*pencils were first mass produced in Nuremberg, Germany in 1662?
*the best wood for pencils is incense-cedar from California (discovered in the 1900s)?
*Sir Joseph Priestley discovered that a natural substance shipped in from South America called rubber was excellent for rubbing out pencil marks?
*natural rubber, unfortunately, rots, just like food?
*a man named Charles Goodyear invented a way to cure rubber to make it last? He called his process vulcanization after the Roman god of fire, Vulcan.
*the small eraser pieces at the end of pencils are called "plugs" in the industry?
*today's pink erasers are probably vinyl (the best erasers) or synthetic rubber combined with pumice?
*75% of pencils today are the common yellow color?
*pencils were originally made yellow to associate them with China, known for the best graphite in the world? The color yellow in China indicates royalty and respect.
