It has been suggested that pencil lead be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

A selection of colored pencils.

A pencil is a handheld instrument used to write and draw, usually on paper. The writing is done with graphite (except for colored pencils), which is typically covered by a wooden sheath. Pencils may also have an eraser or "rubber" attached to one end, typically by means of a metal ferrule. The pencil differs from most pens in that erasing is possible. Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... Pencil lead is the marking substance inside a pencil or mechanical pencil. ... Download high resolution version (1472x1232, 1143 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (1472x1232, 1143 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... An instrument is a concrete or abstract tool intended for a purpose other than mechanical work, in particular a refined one. ... Writing may refer to two activities: the inscribing of characters on a medium, with the intention of forming words and other constructs that represent language or record information, and the creation of material to be conveyed through written language. ... Drawing is a means of making an image, using any of a wide variety of tools and techniques. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Graphite (named by Abraham Gottlob Werner in 1789, from the Greek γραφειν: to draw/write, for its use in pencils) is one of the allotropes of carbon. ... Alternate uses: Eraser (disambiguation) Regular eraser An eraser (American English) or rubber (British and Commonwealth English) is an article of stationery that is used for removing pencil writings. ... A ballpoint pen A pen is a writing instrument which applies ink to some surface. ...

History

Simple pencils.

The prototypical pencil may have been the ancient Roman stylus, which was a thin metal stick used for scratching on papyrus, often made of lead. The word pencil comes from the Latin word penicillus which means "little tail". a couple of simple pencils, taken by Joy This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... a couple of simple pencils, taken by Joy This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... The Roman Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Ancient Roman polity in the centuries following its reorganization under the leadership of Octavian (better known as Caesar Augustus), until its radical reformation in what was later to be known as the Byzantine Empire. ... Styli used in writing in the Fourteenth Century. ... Papyrus plant Cyperus papyrus at Kew Gardens, London Papyrus is an early form of paper made from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that grows to 5 meters (15 ft) in height and was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt. ... General Name, Symbol, Number lead, Pb, 82 Chemical series poor metals Group, Period, Block 14, 6, p Appearance bluish white Atomic mass 207. ... Latin is an Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ...

Some time prior to 1565 (some sources say as early as 1500), an enormous deposit of graphite was discovered at the site of Seathwaite Fell near Borrowdale, Cumbria, England. The locals found that it was very useful for marking sheep. This particular deposit of graphite was extremely pure and solid and it could easily be sawed into sticks. This was and remains the only deposit of graphite ever found in this solid form. Chemistry was in its infancy and the substance was thought to be a form of lead. Consequently it was called plumbago (Latin for "acts like lead"). The black core of pencils is still called "lead", even though it does not contain the element lead. Events March 1 - the city of Rio de Janeiro is founded April 27 - Cebu City is established becoming the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines. ... // Events Europes population was ~60 million. ... Graphite (named by Abraham Gottlob Werner in 1789, from the Greek γραφειν: to draw/write, for its use in pencils) is one of the allotropes of carbon. ... Borrowdale is the name of two valleys in the English Lake District. ... Cumbria is a administrative county located in the northwest area of England. ... Wikimedia Commons has media related to: England Inter. ... Species See text A Sheep is a mammal, one of several woolly ruminant quadrupeds in the genus Ovis. ... // Introduction Chemistry is a large field encompassing many subdisciplines that often overlap with significant portions of other sciences. ... A chemical element, often called simply element, is the class of atoms which contain the same number of protons. ...

The value of plumbago was soon realised to be enormous, mainly because it could be used to line the moulds for cannon balls, and the mines were taken over by the Crown and guarded. Graphite had to be smuggled out for use in pencils. Because the plumbago was soft, it required some form of case. Plumbago sticks were at first wrapped in string or in sheepskin for stability. The news of the usefulness of these early pencils spread far and wide, attracting the attentions of artists all over the known world. A small cast-iron cannon on a carriage A cannon is any large tubular firearm designed to fire a heavy projectile over a considerable distance. ... The Crown is a term which is used to separate the government authority and property of the state in a kingdom from any personal influence and private assets held by the current Monarch. ... Modern leather-working tools Leather is a material created through the tanning of hides, pelts and skins of animals, primarily cows. ...

Although deposits of graphite had been found in other parts of the world, they were not of the same purity and quality as the Borrowdale find, and had to be crushed to remove the impurities, leaving only graphite powder. England continued to enjoy a monopoly on the production of pencils until a method of reconstituting the graphite powder was found. The distinctively square English pencils continued to be made with sticks cut from natural graphite into the 1860s. Today, the town of Keswick, near the original findings of block graphite, has a pencil museum. The first attempt to manufacture graphite sticks from powdered graphite was in Nuremberg, Germany in 1662. They used a mixture of graphite, sulfur and antimony. Though usable they were inferior to the English pencils. In economics, a monopoly (from the Greek monos, one + polein, to sell) is defined as a persistent market situation where there is only one provider of a kind of product or service. ... // Events and trends Technology The First Transcontinental Railroad in the United States is built in the six year period between 1863 and 1869. ... Keswick is a market town in Cumbria, England, and inside the Lake District National Park, just north of Derwent Water, one of the Lake Districts most picturesque lakes. ... A museum is typically a non-profit, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study, education enjoyment, the tangible and intangible evidence of people and their environment. ... Hl. ... Events March 18 – Short-timed experiment of the first public buses holding 8 passengers begins in Paris May 3/May 2 - Catherine of Braganza marries Charles II of England – as part of the dowry, Portugal cedes Bombay and Tangier to England May 9 - Samuel Pepys witnessed a Punch and Judy... General Name, Symbol, Number sulfur, S, 16 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 16, 3, p Appearance lemon yellow Atomic mass 32. ... General Name, Symbol, Number antimony, Sb, 51 Chemical series metalloids Group, Period, Block 15, 5, p Appearance silvery lustrous grey Atomic mass 121. ...

Pencil manufacturing

It was the Italians who first thought of wooden holders. An Italian couple in particular named Simonio and Lyndiana Bernacotti were believed to be the the ones to create the first blueprints for the modern carpentry pencil for the cause of being able to mark their carpentry pieces, however, their version was instead a flat oval, more compact type of pencil. They did this at first by hollowing out a stick of juniper wood. Shortly thereafter, a superior technique was discovered: two wooden halves were carved, a plumbago stick inserted, and the two halves then glued together—essentially the same method that is in use to this day. This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... A tree trunk as found at the Veluwe, The Netherlands Wood derives from woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs. ... Species 50-55 species; see text. ...

English and German pencils were not available to the French during the Napoleonic wars. It took the efforts of an officer in Napoleon's army to change this. In 1795 Nicholas Jacques Conté discovered a method of mixing powdered graphite with clay and forming the mixture into rods which were then fired in a kiln. By varying the ratio of graphite to clay, the hardness of the graphite rod could also be varied (the more clay, the harder the pencil, and the lighter the color of the mark). This method of manufacture remains in use today. A VERY INFORMATIVE PAGE ON THE NAPOLEONIC WARS, GOES VERY FAR IN DETAIL. The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars fought during Napoleon Bonapartes rule over France. ... Napoleon I of France, by Jacques-Louis David Napoleon Bonaparte (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821) was a general of the French Revolution, and the ruler of France as First Consul (Premier Consul) of the French Republic from 11 November 1799 to 18 May 1804, then as Emperor of the... 1795 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Nicolas-Jacques Conté (1755-1805) was a French painter. ... Quaternary clay in Estonia. ... Charcoal Kilns, California Gold Kiln, Victoria, Australia A kiln is an oven that is used for hardening, burning, or drying anything. ...

America colonists imported pencils from Europe until after the American Revolution. Benjamin Franklin advertised pencils for sale in his Pennsylvania Gazette in 1729, and George Washington used a three-inch pencil when he surveyed the Ohio Territory in 1762. It is said that William Munroe, a cabinetmaker in Concord, Massachusetts, made the first American wood pencils in 1812. If so, this was not the only pencil-making in Concord. According to Henry Petroski, transcendentalist philosopher Henry David Thoreau discovered how to make a good pencil out of inferior graphite using clay as the binder; this invention was prompted by his father's pencil factory in Concord, which employed graphite found in New Hampshire in 1821 by Charles Dunbar. The American Revolution is the series of events, ideas, and changes that resulted in the political separation of thirteen colonies in North America from the British Empire and the creation of the United States of America. ... Benjamin Franklin by Jean-Baptiste Greuze 1777 For the former mayor of Nepean, see Ben Franklin (politician) Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706–April 17, 1790) was one of the most prominent of Founders and early political figures and statesmen of the United States. ... George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799) was an American planter, political figure, the highest ranking military leader in U.S. history and first President of the United States. ... The Ohio Country, showing the present-day U.S. state boundaries The Ohio Country (sometimes called the Ohio Territory) was the name used in the 18th century for the regions of North America west of the Appalachian Mountains and in the region of the upper Ohio River south of Lake... Seal of Concord, MA Concord is a town located in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. ... Transcendentalism was the name of a group of new ideas in literature, religion, culture and philosophy which emerged in New England in the early- to mid-nineteenth century. ... Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862; born David Henry Thoreau) was an American author, naturalist, pacifist, tax resister and philosopher who is famous for Walden (available at wikisource) on simple living amongst nature and Civil Disobedience (available at wikisource) on resistance to civil government. ... State nickname: The Granite State Other U.S. States Capital Concord Largest city Manchester Governor John Lynch (D) Senators Judd Gregg (R) John Sununu (R) Official languages English Area 24,239 km² (46th)  - Land 23,249 km²  - Water 814 km² (3. ...

Manufacture

Artwork made using 2B–6B pencils.

Today, pencils are made industrially by mixing finely ground graphite and clay powders, adding water, forming long spaghetti-like strings, and firing them in a kiln. The resulting strings are dipped in oil or molten wax which seeps into the tiny holes of the material, resulting in smoother writing. A juniper or incense-cedar plank with several long parallel grooves is cut to make something called a slat, and the graphite/clay strings are inserted into the grooves. Another grooved plank is glued on top, and the whole thing is then cut into individual pencils, which are then varnished or painted. Source http://www. ... Source http://www. ... Spaghetti in a bowl. ... Charcoal Kilns, California Gold Kiln, Victoria, Australia A kiln is an oven that is used for hardening, burning, or drying anything. ... Oil is a generic term for organic liquids that are not miscible with water. ... Wax has traditionally referred to a substance that is secreted by bees (beeswax) and used by them in constructing their honeycombs. ... Species Calocedrus decurrens Conservation status: Secure Calocedrus formosana Conservation status: Vulnerable Calocedrus macrolepis Conservation status: Vulnerable The Incense-cedars, Calocedrus, are a genus of two to three species of coniferous trees in the cypress family Cupressaceae. ...

Many pencils, particularly those used by artists, are labelled on the European system using a scale from "H" (for hardness) to "B" (for blackness), as well as "F" (for fine point). The standard writing pencil is "HB". However, artist's pencils can vary widely in order to provide a range of marks for different visual effects on the page. A set of art pencils ranging from a very hard, light-marking pencil to a very soft, black-marking pencil usually ranges from hardest to softest as follows: Resources ArtLex. ...

 9H 8H 7H 6H 5H 4H 3H 2H H F HB B 2B 3B 4B 5B 6B 7B 8B 9B 

The American system, using numbers only, developed simultaneously with the following approximate equivalents to the European system.

 U.S. Europe #1 = B #2 = HB (most common) #2 1/2 = F (also seen as 2 4/8, 2.5, 2 5/10, due to patent issues) #3 = H #4 = 2H 

Even though the natural deposits of pure graphite are tapped out, it is still possible to write the way Englishmen did centuries ago, without clay or wax additives leaving oily stains on paper. Chemical supply companies commonly sell 99.995% pure graphite rods in 3 mm and 6 mm diameters. The largest commonly available mechanical pencils ("lead holders") take 2 mm leads.

Pencils in space

A story in circulation since the 1970s tells of NASA spending large sums of money, typically in the millions of dollars, to develop an instrument that would write in space (a space pen). This task is not as simple as it seems, for standard ballpoints and fountain pens require gravity in order to function. The typical punch line is that either someone sends NASA a pencil, or that the Soviets used pencils. This second form appeared as a joke as high up as an episode of The West Wing. Jimmy Beertow is the most famous pornstar of this decade he starred in movies such as BackDoorSluts3 and the Famous Schoolhouse Confessions Parts 1 through 6. He ultilized the secret school location made famous by the series. ... NASA Logo Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from the revision dated 2005-09-01, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... The Space Pen, which term generally refers to those marketed by Fisher Space Pen Co. ... A ballpoint pen A ballpoint pen, in many countries also eponymously called a biro, is a writing instrument, more specifically a pen, similar to a pencil in size and shape. ... A fountain pen is a writing instrument, more specifically a pen, that contains a reservoir of water-based ink that is fed to a nib through a feed via a combination of gravity and capillary action. ... Gravity is the force of attraction between massive particles. ... Soviet Soyuz rockets like the one pictured above were the first reliable means to transport objects into Earth orbit. ... The West Wing is a popular and widely-acclaimed American television serial drama created by Aaron Sorkin for NBC which has aired since 1999. ...

While humorous, it is not true (See Snopes for details). There are drawbacks to using pencils in space. The act of writing would cause graphite dust to come free from the lead and float about the cabin. From there it could become a health risk by being inhaled by the astronauts, clog filters in the ventilation system, or even cause short-circuits by getting into switches and other electrical equipment.

Carpenter's pencil

A carpenter's pencil is not round or square. It appears as though it were a flattened circle. This shape performs two functions; a flat pencil does not roll away from the user, and a flatter pencil marks a line closer to the cutting edge, allowing for a more precise cut.

Miscellaneous

The pencil is a common cause of minor puncture injuries in young children. The tip of the lead may leave a grey mark inside the skin for years. This led to the old-wife's tale that the lead bits could be passed through the blood vessels into the brain, causing retardation in those with such a wound. Of course, pencil lead is graphite (carbon) and does not contain the element lead, so it is not poisonous, despite what teachers have been telling school children for decades. Pencil lead is the marking substance inside a pencil or mechanical pencil. ... General Name, Symbol, Number carbon, C, 6 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 14, 2, p Appearance black (graphite) colorless (diamond) Atomic mass 12. ...

See also

• Ballpoint pen
• Dixon Ticonderoga
• Fountain pen
• Mechanical pencil
• Pencil case
• Pencil lead
• Pencil sharpener

A ballpoint pen A ballpoint pen, in many countries also eponymously called a biro, is a writing instrument, more specifically a pen, similar to a pencil in size and shape. ... The Dixon Ticonderoga is a high-quality pencil model distributed by the Dixon Ticonderoga Company. ... A fountain pen is a writing instrument, more specifically a pen, that contains a reservoir of water-based ink that is fed to a nib through a feed via a combination of gravity and capillary action. ... A ratchet-type mechanical pencil A mechanical pencil or propelling pencil is a pencil that does not need to be sharpened due to an internal mechanism that pushes (propels) graphite through the tip. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... Pencil lead is the marking substance inside a pencil or mechanical pencil. ... A hand-spun pencil sharpener. ...

References

• Petroski, Henry (1990). The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0394574222; ISBN 0679734155.
• Petroski, Henry. H. D. Thoreau, Engineer. American Heritage of Invention and Technology, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 8-16.

External links

• The Pencil Pages – A website containing history, numbering systems, and other pencil information
• Pencil information More information about the pencils.
• The Cumberland Pencil Museum in Keswick
• History of pencils, pencil lead; details of modern pencil manufacture – An article from the American Chemical Society

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a learned society (professional association) based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. ...