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Jan 1, 1560
Discovery of the Lead Pencil
In 1560(exact date unknown) in Borrowdale , England, a large storm uprooted tree, leaving underneath it, a depository of graphite. Once discovered, the soft metal exhibited to leave a black mark when touched. The first known use was for marking sheep to differentiate them among the livestock. The graphite wood be cut in strips and would lay between a piece fleece or wood.
https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/06/24/history-of-the-pencil/ -
Improvement in Graphite Mixture
Now Nicholas-Benques Conte discovered how to mix graphite, clay, and water together to make a strengthened pencil. The Graphite powder, clay, and water was mixed together then heated in a kilt to form a hardy, and usable lead base. This process then allowed for manufactures to choose which type of pencil in two varieties to create, hard, or soft. (Exact date unknown).
https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/06/24/history-of-the-pencil/ -
America's First Wooden Pencil
In 1812, William Monroe invented a machine that cut groves into the pencil in order to create mass quantities. In Massachusetts, the first factory opened up allowing Pencils to be distributed and sold across America.
(Exact Date Unknown)
http://www.pencilrevolution.com/2014/05/evolution-of-the-pencil/ -
First Refillable Lead Pencil
in 1822, Sampson Morden and Jonh Hawkins invented a way to replace or refill the lead in a pencil. They devised a way to propel a small cylinder of lead out of a holder that was steady enough to write with, then take out and put another lead piece in. They created the company S.Morden and Co. and began selling their product.
http://www.historyofpencils.com/writing-instruments-history/history-of-mechanical-pencils/ -
Henry David Thoreau and His Pencil
After he quit his job of teaching, Henry Thoreau wanted to create a supreme Pencil made with no seems along the pencil. He moved to New York and in 1834, he started his journey of refining the graphite he would use in his pencil, and demised a way to drill a hole in the pencil for the lead, instead of cutting it in half.
(Exact Date Unknown)
http://www.pencilrevolution.com/2014/05/evolution-of-the-pencil/ -
The Switch from Eastern Red Ceder to Incensed Ceder
The first manufactured pencil were made from Red Ceder that grew in Tennessee and other southern states and territories, but by the 1900s, Red Cedar could not fore fill the Manufactures need of wood. therefore companies started to migrate to California where Incensed Cedar was in abundance. Now pencils are created with this Incensed Cedar, which make a far superior pencil.
http://pencils.com/pencil-history/
(A Gradual Change, No Specific Date) -
Improvements to the Mechanical Pencil
In 1915, Tokuji Hayakawa invented the first twist action pencil after being a metal worker and improving on the first mechanical pencil. He called his creation the Ever Ready Sharp Pencil, and started selling them to companies in Osaka and Tokyo. Then he decided to make his own company called Sharp.
http://www.historyofpencils.com/writing-instruments-history/history-of-mechanical-pencils/
(Exact Date Unknown) -
The Echo SmartPen
in 2007, the company Livescribe was founded by Jim Marggraff. His hopes were to create a paper less system to write, and take notes. After other inventions including the leappad, his company focused on creating a pencil that you would write with, and it simultaneously uploads the information to your hand held device. His creation was aimed to replace the pencil in a step forward into a digital world.
http://www.livescribe.com/en-us/presskit/assets/Livescribe_FAQ_071910.pdf
(Exacte Date Unknown)
