Self Assigned Essays

Self Assigned Essay #4: Pencils

The History Of Pencils (And Mechanical Pencils, Their Far Superior Siblings)

By: Jay Allen

Ahh, pencils. Amazing objects, amazing inventions. You can write things down and, unlike their permanent besties, pens, they can be erased in case you need to change a word or misspelled something. But... they are inventions. Creations. Which means they had to be made, right? Who made them? What genius created them? Did they have a different original intention? Okay, chill out, calm down. We shall find this out together.

So, did you know that modern pencils owe it all to an Ancient Roman writing instrument called a stylus? Yeah, me neither. People called scribes would use this stylus, a thin metal rod, to leave light, but readable, marks on papyrus (an early form of paper). Other early styluses were made of lead. That's what we call the core of a pencil, right? But that's not actually what it is. Pencil cores are actually made of non-toxic graphite. Graphite? Let's focus on that for a moment. Graphite became more commonly used after the discovery of a large graphite deposit in Borrowdale, England back in 1564. Fifteen sixty-four. Jeez. The graphite left a darker mark than lead, which was good, but it was so soft and brittle that it would break easily. Therefore, it had to have something around it so that it wouldn't constantly break as the miners are trying to write love letters to their lovers. Originally, the graphite was wrapped in string, but later on it was instead placed into hollowed-out wooden sticks. Tada, wood-cased pencils!

The birthplace of mass-produced pencils was in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1662. However, an active pencil industry didn't develop until during the 19th century industrial revolution. Early settlers had depended on pencils from overseas, but the war with England cut off imports. A cabinet maker from Concord, Massachusetts, called William Monroe, is credited with making America's first wood pencils in 1812. Another individual from Concord, called Henry David Thoreau, was also infamous for pencil-making in America. The American pencil industry really took off when The Joseph Dixon Crucible Company (as it was known by, it's now called Dixon Ticonderoga. Heard of it? Yeah, me too.) started getting into the act of mass-producing more wood pencils, along with other pencil manufacturers. Towards the end of the 19th century, New York and New Jersey had several factories that were established by prominent German pencil manufacturers. Some of the names of those German pencil manufacturers were Faber-Castell, Eberhard Faber, Eagle Pencil Company (which was later changed to Berol), and General Pencil Company. I've heard of the first one, I think. But then again, I never used to examine the names of the company that had made the pencil I was using. This will be changing starting today, of course.

The first mass-produced pencils were natural and unpainted, to showcase the high-quality wood casings. But by the 1890's, many pencil manufacturers started painting pencils and imprinting them with brand names. But... why yellow? Of all the colors to ever exist, yellow? Now that it's been mentioned, I am intrigued concerning the story behind the yellow coloring that most pencils nowadays bear. How about we go into that? Not like you exactly have much say in whether or not we do, since I am the author and I will be finding out why the yellow color was chosen. So, during the 1800's, the best graphite in the world came from China. America realized this, and wanted a special way to show that their pencils contained Chinese graphite. In China, the color yellow is associated with royalty and respect. Therefore, American pencil manufacturers began painting their pencils bright yellow, in order to communicate this regal feeling and to associate their connection with China through the graphite they used to write with. It is said, however, that a European producer, called Koh-I-Nor, was the first one to introduce the yellow pencil. Nowadays, a majority of pencils in the US are painted yellow, and the color and pencil - and graphite - that was once seen as regal is now simply seen as common. 'Tis a shame, really, but now, when you hold a yellow pencil, maybe you'll have that royal and respected feeling that pencils used to give.