The Amazing Pencil

History’s Most Significant tool Perseveres.

- Sharon Swenson

If you toured a typical American home, you’d likely see them in every room: on desks, in the kitchen, on the dinner table, on living-room end tables, on nightstands and even in the bathroom.

They vary in length, some measuring only 3 inches long, others measuring about 7 inches long. What is this oh-so-important and seemingly indispensible item? It’s the ordinary pencil.

Brief History

Ancient Romans first used a thin metal rod called a stylus to record their daily thoughts and business. Later, these were made of lead.

The forerunner to the pencil, as we know it today, has existed since 1564 when Englishmen discovered a large, non-toxic graphite deposit near Borrowdale. The graphite was valued for its ability to leave a darker mark than lead, but it was so soft and brittle that a holder was needed. Graphite sticks were first wrapped in string and later wood, which supported the core and protected the user’s hand from markings. Even though pencil cores haven’t been made of lead since the 1500's, we still refer to these writing instruments as lead pencils.

The French, Germans and English continued improving the pencil’s design. Early American colonists imported their pencils until war with England stopped imports.

In America, William Monroe is credited with first producing wooden pencils near Boston in 1812. Philosopher Henry David Thoreau developed an improved core using a poor grade of graphite, which he mixed with clay as a binder. Thoreau’s father owned a pencil factory, which made use of this improvement.

Ebenezer Wood first made hexagonal- and octagonal-shaped wooden casings to prevent the pencil from rolling off desks.

Hymen Lipman was the genius who first patented a pencil with an attached eraser in 1858.