Who Invented the Pencil?
The First Pencil Was a Failure
The first attempt to invent a pencil was not successful. It was made of powdered or pulverized
graphite. The result was a poor quality pencil that easily broke. Graphite and clay should be
mixed well to produce a proper kind of pencil. This was done by the man who invented the
pencil properly. All quality pencil makers today, owe it to the first pencil maker who perfected
the right formula for it.
A French Army Officer Invented it
In 1795, a French officer belonging to the army of Napoleon invented and patented the first
quality pencil on earth. Nicholas Jacques Conte or simply NJ Conte discovered that ground
graphite, when mixed with the right kinds of clay, produced the best lead for pencils. Pencils do
not really contain lead. The black thin material in pencils is a mix of graphite, carbon, and clay.
NJ Conte, the first pencil maker, turned graphite into powder. Then he mixed it with moist
doughs of clay and pressed the thing to make thin sticks. He then cooked it in a kiln. This man
who invented the pencil, outdid his German counterparts.
Faber Pencils
Later, the Faber family took it from there and produced quality pencils using the Conte formula.
The same formula is used worldwide today. The writing implement was not named after NJ
Conte. It was taken from the Latin word, “pencillus”. It means “little tail”, probably referring to
the pointed lead tip. In those times, pencillus was used to refer to fine, pointed brushes before the
man who invented the pencil came up with the idea.
Wood Casing
The black lead itself is not enough to make for effective and convenient writing. It has to be
encased in wood. So, pencil makers produced thin, wooden rods from pine trees or cedar. They
cut it into halves and carved out a thin, longitudinal groove where the lead was to be inserted.
After the lead was placed in the groove, the two half rods were glued together. The rods were
then fed into a shaping and polishing machine.
To date, there are 350 different types of pencils. Each type is used for different drawing or
writing purposes. They are used from pre-school up to college and they are even used at the
professional levels. In fact, people from all walks of life have a need for this indispensable
writing material. Some famous pencil users include John Steinbeck, Vladimir Nabokov, Van
Gogh and Thomas Edison.
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