Pencil



Background

One of the oldest and most widely used writing utensils, the pencil originated in pre-historic times when chalky rocks and charred sticks were used to draw on surfaces as varied as animal hides and cave walls. The Greeks and Romans used flat pieces of lead to draw faint lines on papyrus, but it was not until the late 1400s that the earliest direct ancestor of today's pencil was developed. About one hundred years later graphite, a common mineral occurring as soft, lustrous veins in rocks, was discovered near Borrowdale in northwestern England. The Borrowdale mine supplied Europe with graphite for several hundred years; however, because people could not then differentiate between graphite and lead, they referred to the former as "black lead." Cut into rods or strips, graphite was heavily wrapped in twine to provide strength and a comfortable handle. The finished product, called a lead pencil, was quite popular. In the late sixteenth century, a method for gluing strips of wood around graphite was discovered in Germany, and the modern pencil began to take form. In 1779, scientists determined that the material they had previously thought was lead was actually a form of microcrystalline carbon that they named graphite (from the Greek "graphein" meaning "to write"). Graphite is one of the three natural forms of pure carbon—the others are coal and diamond.

In the late eighteenth century the Borrowdale mine was depleted, and, as graphite was now less plentiful, other materials had to be mixed with it to create pencils. A Frenchman chemist, Nicolas Jacques Conte, discovered that when powdered graphite, powdered clay, and water were mixed, molded, and baked, the finished product wrote as smoothly as pure graphite. Conte also discovered that a harder or softer writing core could be produced by varying the proportion of clay and graphite—the more graphite, the blacker and softer the pencil. In 1839, Lothar von Faber of Germany developed a method of making graphite paste into rods of the same thickness. He later invented a machine to cut and groove the pencil wood. Following the depletion of the once-abundant graphite source at Borrowdale, other graphite mines were gradually established around the world.

A number of these mines were set up in the United States, and the first American pencils were manufactured in 1812, after the War of 1812 ended English imports. William Monroe, a cabinet maker in Concord, Massachusetts, invented a machine that cut and grooved wood slats precisely enough to make pencils. Around that time, American inventor Joseph Dixon developed a method of cutting single cedar cylinders in half, placing the graphite core in one of the halves, and then gluing the two halves back together. In 1861, Eberhard Faber built the United States' first pencil-making factory in New York City.

Today, the hardness of a pencil is designated by numbers or letters. Most manufacturers use the numbers 1 to 4, with 1 being the softest and making the darkest mark. Number 2 pencils (medium soft) are used for normal writing. Pencils are also sometimes graded by letters, from 6B, the softest, to 9H, the hardest. The idea of attaching an eraser to a pencil is traced to Hyman W. Lipman, an American whose 1858 U.S. patent was bought by Joseph Rechendorfer in 1872 for a reported $100,000.

The first step in pencil manufacture involves making the graphite core. One method of doing this is extrusion, in which the graphite mixture is forced through a die opening of the proper size.
The first step in pencil manufacture involves making the graphite core. One method of doing this is extrusion, in which the graphite mixture is forced through a die opening of the proper size.

In addition to the conventional wood pencil, a number of other pencils are widely used. In the early 1880s, the search for a pencil that didn't require sharpening led to the invention of what has variously been termed the automatic, propelling, or repeating pencil. These instruments have a metal or plastic case and use leads similar to those found in wood cased pencils. The lead, lodged in a metal spiral inside the case, is held in place by a rod with a metal stud fastened to it. When the cap is twisted, the rod and stud move downward in the spiral, forcing the lead toward the point. The early twentieth century saw the development of colored pencils in which the graphite core was replaced by a combination of pigments or dyes and a binder. Today, colored pencils are available in more than 70 colors, with 7 different yellows and 12 different blues. However, the cedar-casing lead pencil—manufactured at a pace of 6 billion per year in 40 different countries—continues to outsell all of its competitors, including the ballpoint pen.

Raw Materials

The most important ingredient in a pencil is the graphite, which most people continue to call lead. Conté's method of combining graphite with clay is still used, and wax or other chemicals are sometimes added as well. Virtually all graphite used today is a manufactured mixture of natural graphite and chemicals.

The wood used to manufacture pencils must be able to withstand repeated sharpening and cut easily without splintering. Most pencils are made from cedar (specifically, California cedar), the choice wood for many years. Cedar has a pleasant odor, does not warp or lose its shape, and is readily available. Some pencils have erasers, which are held on with a ferrule, a metal case that is either glued or held on with metal prongs. The erasers themselves consist of pumice and rubber.

The Manufacturing
Process

Now that most commercially used graphite is made in factories rather than mined, manufacturers are able to easily control its density. The graphite is mixed with clay according to the type of pencil being made—the more graphite used, the softer the pencil, and the darker its line. For colored pencils, pigments are added to the clay, and virtually no graphite is used.

Processing the graphite

Making the wood casings

Shaping the pencils

Final steps

Colored pencils

Colored pencils are produced in much the same way as black-writing pencils, except that their cores contain coloring materials such as dyes and pigments instead of graphite. First, clay and gum are added to pigment as bonding agents, and then the mixture is soaked in wax to give the pencils smoothness. When the pencils have been formed, the outsides are painted according to the color of the center mixture.

Quaility Control

Because they travel along a conveyor belt during the manufacturing process, pencils are thoroughly scrutinized before they are distributed to the public. Workers are trained to discard pencils that appear dysfunctional, and a select number are sharpened and tested when the process is complete. A common problem is that the glue of the sandwiches sometimes doesn't adhere, but this nuisance is usually caught when the sandwiches are being cut.

Where To Learn More

Books

Fischler, George. Fountain Pens and Pencils. Schiffer Publishing, 1990.

Petroski, Henry. The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance. Knopf, 1990.

Thomson, Ruth. Making Pencils. Franklin Watts, 1987.

Periodicals

Leibson, Beth. "A Low-Tech Wonder." Reader's Digest. July, 1992, p. 92.

Lord, Lewis J. "The Little Artifact that Could." U.S. News & World Report. January 22, 1990, p. 63.

Sprout, Alison. "Recycled Pencil." Fortune. June 15, 1992, p. 113.

Urbanski, Al. "Eberhard Faber: the Man, the Pencil, the Born-Again Marketing Company." Sales & Marketing Management. November, 1986, p. 44.

Jim Acton



Also read article about Pencil from Wikipedia

User Contributions:

1
j.ashwin
that was an absolutely comprehensive article on how pencils are made...just makes us realise how much we take them(the procedures involved in their manufacture) for granted...way to go...
2
sarfraz
Hello....
It's really interesting and knowledge full and good effort to introduce child.I read this article and told the whole process of pencil making to my 4 childs.But im sorry you did not explained that which clays are mixed in graphite to make pencil.Childs are
eager n anxious to know which clays in which propotionate mixed in graphite.I belive you will must do a kind favour to answer it by mail! Thanks & Best Regards
3
Hans Koseck
A very thoroughly informative lecture. I found only one mistake: the spelling of Quality.
4
Mahesh
It is really interesting but need little bit more comprehensive about RAW MATERIALS.
Besides the written publications and periodicals listed, are there any pictorials or film clips about pencil manufacture? Thank you.
6
mitesh
Its a intersting process but i could not understand a composition of clay ,water,pigment.and etc...and also dont know a base core of to appling before paint so plz help us to know that commposition
7
NazmiRazman
tell me a little bit about the raw materials that use to make a pencil.
what is the equipment that use?
You mention that Joseph Dixon, an American, in c.1812 was cutting single cedar cylinders in half, placing the graphite core in one of the halves, and then gluing the two halves back together. The excavation of the East Indiaman, Earl of Abergavenny, sank 1805, has yielded a large number of both standard and sliding pencils. They were made as above and were made this way from 1783 or earlier. Made from Red Cedar the machining of the cedar for both the graphite groove and in the case of the sliding pencil, the dove-tail of the two halves is machining at its best. I would love to know how they did this. They were made by 'Lincolns Warranted' of whom I can find nothing..
9
Walter GayRiffin
For you're next article, you should go over how wood is made! really like trees and was wondering how paper is made!

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