PENCILMANIA--Imagine learning that after
living for decades “put some lead in your pencil” that there is no lead in real
pencils. Whom do we need to sack in the
cliché development bureau?
After
very little research, we discovered the "lead" pencil (which contains
no lead) was invented in 1564 when a huge graphite (black carbon) mine was
discovered in Borrowdale, Cumbria, England. The pure graphite was sawn into
sheets and then cut into square rods. The graphite rods were inserted into
hand-carved wooden holders, forming pencils.
But, on
this day in 1858 pencils with attached eraser was patented by American Hyman L.
Lipman of Philadelphia.
Welcome
to the state of pencilmania:
--Today
is Happy National Pencil Day celebrating Mr. Lipman.
--According
to the Roanoke Times in Virginia, writer Robert Linsford pointed out “in Middle
English the word, spelled pencel, meant “artist’s brush.” It was borrowed from
Old French pincel or peincel, related to Modern French peinture “painting.” The
French inherited the word from the Latin penicillus, for “little tail.”
Also:
Do you know why pencils are yellow?
The
emergence of Siberian graphite as the standard led manufacturers to associate
pencils with the Orient by using names such as Mongol and Mikado and painting
them yellow, a color associated with royalty and respect in China.
Pencils
have their own blog: Pencils.com
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