Pens and Pencils Inventions
Inventors and Innovators Include Nicolas Conte and Lewis Waterman
Jul 17, 2008
Millions of pens and pencils are produced yearly. They come in variety of colors, hardness or softness. They are writing tools indispensable to artists, writers and tradespeople.
History of the Pencils
Nobody can be certain when the first writing instrument was invented. For this reason, a discovery in Borrowdale, England, in 1564 is considered the birthplace of the modern-day pencil. As the story goes, an unknown passerby found bits of shiny, black stuff clinging to the roots of a fallen tree, a material that could be used to write and draw. The discovered stuff, graphite, which is a form of carbon, became known as "blacklead."
Making graphite practical for use was a problem because it is soft and brittle. It needed a holder. At first, sticks of graphite were wrapped in string. Later, graphite was inserted into wooden sticks that were manually hollowed. It was laborious but the method proved productive and the wood-cased pencil was born.
First Patent: Nicolas Conté
In 1795, the first patented process for making pencils was introduced by French chemist Nicolas Conté. His patent called for using a mixture of graphite and clay, fired prior placement into a wooden case. The earliest pencils made this way were cylindrical with a slot. After the clay-graphite mixture (lead) was inserted into the slot, a thin strip of wood was put back into place.
American-Made Pencils: William Monroe
The first mass-produced pencils made in Europe were shipped to the US, but war in Europe cut off imports. The Americans were left to devise their own pencils. William Monroe, a cabinetmaker in Concord, Massachusetts, made the first American wood pencils in 1812. He picked up on earlier pioneers who successfully marketed the instruments, even when they were only available overseas. For example, Benjamin Franklin advertised pencils for sale in his Pennsylvania Gazette in 1729, and George Washington surveyed the Ohio Territory with a pencil in 1762.
The early American pencils were made with eastern red cedar, splinter resistant strong wood that grew in the southeastern part of the US and eastern Tennessee.
History of the Pen
The first pen-and-paper system came from ancient Egypt. The Pharaoh's scribes and high-priests used reeds with the ends chewed into filaments capable of holding ink. As pigments improved, pens evolved into sharpened instruments with slits cut into the ends of them.
16th-Century. Feather quills were developed and represented a great improvement in the quality of writing instruments. They were pliable and broke less often under the user's hand pressure. Samuel Pepys wrote his famous diary, and had one in 1663.
Early 19th-Century. Joseph Bramah improved the pen in 1809 by using a barrel which had to be squeezed instead of a plunger which had to be pressed, and in 1858, Walter Mosely invented the rubber ink-sac. In the mid-19th century, metals were used, but users still had to dip the instrument into an ink well and write until the tip was dry.
Late 19th-Century. In 1884, insurance broker Lewis Waterman, fed up with the inconvenience of dipping the pen into the ink well, found a solution. In order to keep pressure on ink flow, he created channels, two or three, that permitted air and ink to move simultaneously.
Modern Times. Ballpoints and roller balls were developed. In a ballpoint, the ink is directed toward the pull of gravity, pointed toward the paper when held with the point down in writing. The ink dries immediately. A roller ball pen also differs. First, there is a cap required so the ink does not dry out, and second, the ball doesn't apply ink. The ink is also not as liquid as that in a fountain pen.
Who knows, a brilliant innovator might come up with another improvement.
Sources:
The 100 Greatest Inventions of All Time, by Tom Philbin, Citadel Books, 2003
Who Invented, Discovered, Made the First..?, by Kenneth Ireland, Ravette Books, Great Britain, 1988
