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What’s Old Is New Again
RECENTLY, PEN DESIGNERS HAVE BEGUN pitching ‘ink-
free’ pens with metal alloy tips that leave light impressions
when they touch paper, similar to pencil markings. But the
ancient Roman stylus is the earliest known of such instrument,
employing a thin piece of metal to ‘write’ on papyrus.
DECEMBER 2014 •
PPB
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Historic Notes
On The Pencil
1564
– Graphite is discovered in Borrowdale, England.
Better for marking than lead, but more brittle,
graphite requires a ‘holder’ to protect it. Early pen-
cils are graphite cores wrapped in string.
1662
– Germany begins to mass-pro-
duce graphite sticks for writing. Faber-
Castell, Lyra, Staedtler and other com-
panies help usher pencil production
into the 18th century.
1699
– The Italians encase graphite sticks in wood, crafting
the first “pencil”.
1795
– The French mix graphite with clay to make a sturdier
core for wood-encased writing tools.
1812
– After being cut off
from imports during the war
with England, Americans are
thankful for cabinet-maker
William Monroe, who crafts
the new nation’s first domestically-made pencils. At
the end of the century, Joseph Dixon Crucible
Company (now industry member Dixon-
Ticonderoga) and other manufacturers launch the
U.S. pencil boom. The 1890s saw a shift from natu-
ral-wood casings to painted, imprinted ones.
1858
– The eraser tip makes its debut on the end of the
pencil, allowing writers to second-guess their
thoughts more cleanly.
1861
– The pencil proves mightier than the sword when
graphite is appropriated by the British to line
cannonball molds.
1920
– Paper everywhere gets a
facelift when German manufacturer
Eberhard Faber introduces pencils with
colored cores.
“A No. 2 pencil and a dream
can take you anywhere.”
—Joyce A. Myers
More Than A Pencil...
WHEN HE’S NOT
REMODELING
homes, Brazilian-born
carpenter Dalton
Ghetti sculpts minute
masterpieces out of
pencils. Ghetti has
been crafting
detailed pieces from
graphite cores for
nearly 30 years.
Credit: Dalton Ghetti
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