THE LOWLY PENCIL IS ALIVE AND WELL AND IN USE BY MILLIONS TODAY

The pencil we use today was developed a few thousand years ago. An ancient Greek poet wrote of "leaden writing" instruments in the first century BC. The modern style of pencil dates only from about 1565AD. Graphite, a crystallized form of carbon used in modern pencils, was first discovered near Keswick England in the mid-16th century. The word graphite comes from the Latin (penicillus) , meaning “to write”. There is no risk of lead poisoning if you stab yourself with a pencil. It is made from a mixture of clay and graphite.

The pencil actually works on paper when tiny graphite flecks (often just a few thousandths of an inch wide) stick to the fibers that make up paper. In1861 Eberhard Faber built the first American mass- production pencil factory in New York City. Pencils were among the basic equipment issued to the Union soldiers during the civil War. You might be surprised to know that even in the computer age there are billions of them made. In fact half are made in China and their production in 2004 was 10 billion units. The first pencil sharpener was invented in 1847. And the eraser on the end of those yellow painted pencils was invented by the French using a vegetable gum of the time called “rubber". Until then everyone used bread crumbs. Henry David Thoreau used only pencils to write Walden . His father owned a pencil making factory near Boston.

The mechanical pencil was first patented in 1822. Pencils can write in zero gravity and were used on early American space missions. The NASA engineers were very leery of them as they potentially could be flammable. So they designed the pressurized Fisher Space pen in 1965. It has been used ever since. The average pencil today holds enough graphite to draw a line 35 miles long or to write about 45,000 words.