Today , pencil are everywhere , from schools to golf game courses to any art studio . What seemed like a simple invention is now abillion - dollarglobal industry . But who fabricate this house staple ?
Before there were pencil , the favored writing instrument was the stylus , which had been around since the ancient Romans . Some were made of thin pieces of alloy that entrust light marks on a paper - like material calledpapyrus . Other styluses — which stuck around all the way until the 16th century — were made of lead , which proved to be a harbinger of writing musical instrument to come .
More modern pencil come up thanks to a bit of destiny and some creativity . In 1564 , a tree fell down in England and unearth a large alluviation of graphite , an incredibly worthful mineral . Unlike confidential information , graphite could leave behind sour gray , almost metal mark on paper . Despite being made of C , manybelieved it to be lead .
According toNPR , a Swiss natural scientist name Conrad Gessner create the first depiction of a pencil in 1565 . His drawing present graphite inside wood . That example became popular throughout Europe , but it would n’t be until the 1700s that pencil as we know them lead off get shape .
The late 18th century saw further pencil improvements . France , no longer able to swap with England while at war with Britain , became do-or-die for its own root of plumbago . As a substitute , engineer Nicolas - Jacques Conté created the “ wax crayon Conté . ” He mixed cheap graphite with wet remains , which was then sculpted into a retinal rod - like chassis and baked .
Since Conté , many have improved on the pencil , includingHenry David Thoreau . Thoreaucreated pencilsthat did n’t smudge as much , as well as thenumbering systemthat notes the firmness of the graphite . The salary increase of manufacturing plant and machines also helped make the composition musical instrument more popular . Eberhard Faberopened the first pencil mill in the U.S. in 1861 , about 100 years after his crime syndicate open their first one in Germany . Hyman Lipman attached the first eraser to a pencil in 1858 . Hereceived a patent , but it was later on invalidated by the royal court , as he did n’t produce erasers , just combined two item .
