Pencil invention: how did the most overlooked designer’s tool come to be?
Ah, the pencil. Something so small and often overlooked by everyone — designers included. We don’t know how much it means to our everyday work until we need one and can’t find/don’t have one at hand.
A tool that doesn’t require wi-fi, a steep learning curve, or even a fancy hardware machine, and yet, we don’t pay much attention to it.
But doesn’t it fascinate you how someone took a seemingly useless material like graphite, encapsulated it in wood, and attached a rubber point to create one of the most universal and fundamental tools of all times?
The origins
In the early stages of writing, the Sumerians carved tablets of clay with a wood sharpened graver. However, the origins of modern writing are linked to the stylus used by ancient Roman scribes.
Since the Middle Ages, lead was used to draw or plan manuscripts before applying ink or paint because it left a dense silvery line. Nowadays, it would be like sketching a page’s layout or wireframe before the final design.
Lead pencils were used until the 20th century when it was discovered that graphite — a non-toxic and darker material — could be a better and more efficient alternative.
Graphite, however, was discovered in the 15th century in Bavaria (a free state in the southeast of Germany). But long before that, the Aztecs used it as a marker. In reality, both materials were used long before modern society, but only one of them was widespread and was readily available.
The invention of the modern pencil
Although graphite had been used several hundred years before the 15th century, it was in 1564 that deposits of graphite were found in Borrowdale, London.
Since the mineral proved to leave a darker mark than lead but was a lot more soft and breakable, at first, the sticks were wrapped in strings so they could be held and maintain their shape.
In 1795, Nicholas-Jacques Conte, a scientist working for the Napoleonic army, invented the pencil as we know it today. He created a mix of water, clay, and graphite and boiled it at 1,900 degrees Fahrenheit. It resulted in a soft solid that he encapsulated in a wood structure.
Conte also realized that the final hardness of the pencil’s core — called the lead — can be changed by adjusting the relative amounts of clay and graphite.
Almost 30 years later, in 1822, Sampson Mordan, a British silversmith, co-invented the first patented mechanical pencils. They were made of silver and often engraved with figures that resembled animals, Egyptian mummies, and other objects.
The pencil mass production
The city of Nuremberg in Germany was the motherland of the first mass-produced pencils in 1662. After that, Faber-Castell (1761), Lyra (1806), Staedtler (1835), and other companies were born and remained active throughout the 19th century.
It was also during the 19th century that the pencil manufacturing industry blew up in London, around the place where graphite was discovered. In 1832, the first factory — Banks, Son & Co was born.
By the end of the century, several German factories had established themselves in America, specifically in New York and New Jersey. Faber-Castell, Eberhard Faber, Eagle Pencil Company, and General Pencil Company found their way to new markets.
Color choices
The first mass-produced pencils weren’t painted. They needed to showcase their high-quality wood casings to differentiate from competitors.
However, by 1890, manufacturers started painting their pencils and printing their brand names on the case. Since then, the traditional color is yellow, and there’s a neat reason why it is so. It relates to color meaning and cultural association.
In the 1800s, graphite was imported from China- it was the best graphite in the world. And though there isn’t consensus on whether it was the American manufacturers who first thought about it or a European producer, the yellow pencil became an homage. Firstly, to the Chinese origins of the material and secondly to what the color symbolizes in China: royalty and respect.
The color on the bottom of the pencil relates more to the producer than the production of the object. Staedler uses red a lot, but it depends on the grade of the pencil. The ends can also be green, blue, black, or orange.
Stylistic/practical options
Why aren’t all pencils shaped the same? Good design, that’s why.
The shape can vary from square to polygonal and round, depending on the user’s intent.
Square pencils, also known as carpenters’ pencils, were developed especially for carpentry purposes. They don’t roll over, have a thicker lead so they won’t break easily, and can act as an even spacer when positioning repetitive objects like boards.
On the other hand, the Polygonal pencil is the most used and conventional shape. It doesn’t roll off the desk as easily as the round one, provides a firmer grip regardless of where you pick it and is fit for everyday uses. It’s particularly good for writing and drawing.
Lastly, the round version has no grip. It means that is the perfect pencil for children still finding a way to hold pencils, but it’s much harder for adults because it keeps sliding off the hand. As a result, it’s better for learning rather than everyday use.
Facts and curiosities about pencils
- Derives from pincel — in Old French — and penicillus, in Latin. It means little tail and originally referred to an artist’s fine brush.
- The eraser tip appeared during the 19th century. Hymen Lipman was responsible for combining both inventions into one product. Before the eraser invention, people used bread crumbs to erase marks on paper.
- A pencil can draw a continuous line of 50 kilometers (around 31 miles), but no one has ever walked that much while drawing.
- Or on the other hand, the same pencil can write around 50 thousand words or half a romance. Hemingway and Steinbeck — famous pencil users — needed at least two pencils to write down their novels.
- Every year, on average, 15 billion pencils are produced. It’s the equivalent of two pencils for each human being, and if we combined them, they would go around the world 62 times.
Conclusion
Today, pencils have several colors, patterns, and text. They’re regular, colored, two tips, and even filled with plant seeds.
It is such a mundane and available object, but what would our life be like without it?
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