The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1897-08-29
THE INVENTOR OF.
THE LEAD PENCIL
Iladelphia Times.

From the Philadelphia Times.
History has failed to record the name
of the great genius who gave to the world
that most useful little instrument that
shouHl be in the possession of every man,
woman and eeiid in every civilized COM
munity on the globe. We have heard all
about the discovery of burnt snuff and
the sewing machine and typewriter and
all that, but the inventor of the lead PEN
ell has evidently gone down into the
shadow of oblivion, "unwept unhonored
and unsung." 1t Is a pity. Inventors
such as he, who gave to the world such
an invaluable instrument as this, the ge
MUS who blessed womankind with the
thimble, the wonderful being whose hap
by thought was the occasion of the great
est blessing to womankind-the hairpin-
and "a few other human beings who add
ed.happiness and prevented much SHINING
in the world, such as swearing, by in
venting the most useful although simple
articles, that have proved themselves to
be Indispensable to humanity, would be
sainted if their names only were known.
And the genius who gave US the lead pen
ell would come next to the hairpin man.
8 Everybody possesses lead pencil. Per-
haps it would be better to state it truth
fully, as this Is q, public matter, and say
that everybody POSSESSES a lead pencil
un.fi he loans it, and it seems as though
the greater part of humanity are in poss-
esia.on of lead pencils that do not belong
to them. 1t is a remarkable fac that on
the irELarIt of lending lad pencil the
lei-lder forgets the act. 1t becomes con-
venisnt for the borrower to do the same.
This occasions my remark, relatively
tlaSad on the remark of Abraham l.
o5ln, CO n Ger I'M g fo oil i ng123456234
coIn concerning footing the people, which
Il that a man may have his own rei1cil
some of hle time and somebody else's all
OF THE time, but he can not have his own
lsaid pencil all of THE time. 1t Is perfect
ly safe to take a. lead pencil out of The
hand cf anybody ishalt ts using it and ir-
digniantly excIaim that lit is yours. 1t is
she hedgh& of extravaganza to poesesH
more than cire lead pencil, or to have one
in sight when not in use. The wise man
goes anl.o hiding when he sharpens hts
lead pencil, ais a. measure of safety, for
beth pencil and knife. These precepts
e1ould be posted in everyb ody's hat.
When James l., of England first saw
an apple dumping, his eyes grew as large
as saucers from wonder as to how the
apple got inside the dumping! He
would have dropped dead had he seen a
lead pertcil, for while the dough grew
around the apple, no tree could ever be
found that would consent to grow around
the lead To solve this mystery is the
object of this story. One of the great
factories and the head OF that factory
was sought, and he said this about the
matter, with every evidence of variety;
he having no occasion for deceit in this
simple explanation:
1T have to laugh at the queer ideas
some people have about pencils. You
will scarcely believe 1T, but the opinions
of people who know nothing about it
seems to be divided between the melting
of the lead and pouring it into the hole
in the wood and cutting out this lead to
fit the hole"
The great manufacturer laughed loud,
long and heartily over his remark, as al
most anybody else would who happen
ed to be posted in the art. But ther+ arc
those who may know how the hole got
Into the macaroni who cannot imagine
how the lead got into the pencil, and
1t is just possible that the pencil manu-
facturer dos not know the trick about
the italian comestible. But he had his
laugh out and went on to say:
1--WE don't do it that way. We have
a simpler and less costly process. Bless
me. how could we sell the best panels in
the world, in all shapes and qualities,
for a cent apiece and less, IL we had
to carve them out of solid lead, OF melt
the lad and pour it in the hole? Few
people know how 1T is done, but will en-
tighten you. The part that goes into our
pencils other than the lead is cedar, and
comes from the swamps of Florida. 1t
is obtained from the fallen tries that lie
there. There are men there who make
a business of supplying to pencil manu-
facturers this cedar in blocks, which are
sawed to thu length of the pencil, some
thick, to receive the lead, and others
thin for the piece that is glued over the
other containing the lead. The Blocks
are SAWED for four pencils each. The
groove is made by a, saw. and in this the
lead lies. e5= Ia Il.
81 know" continued the manufacturer.
THAT not one out of ten persons has the
leaEJa idea of whal- this lead is. See, hare