The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1913-09-05
THE LEAD PENCIL.
origin and History-Where Graphite
and Wood Come From.

| ~''S'" anu ''lstory-Wnere Sraphlte
and Wood Come From.
1here are people surviving even to-
day who can remember when the lead
pencil as we know IL today was not.
Like fraction matches and pine, lead
pencils have become such an everyday
necessity SO cheap and in such con-
slant rcQuisition, that little thought is
| given To them, To- their origin or the
| process of manufacture.
IT was not until well near the mid
ole OF the nineteenth century that
Huill pens were succeeded by steel
pens, and il was i'm comparativelv re-
cent times that the lead pencil of to-
DAY. consisting of vein of graphite
enclosed within strips of wood was
| invented. The nineteenth century was
well under way when the only lead
pencils known were. i'm fact pencils of
| lead, literally what the name implies.
They took various forms. simply frag-
ments of the common mineral lead
exactly such lead as we see today i'm
the form of lead pipes and sheet lead.
cut, rolled or pounded into strips or
pencils. If anyone will take a piece
of ordinary lead, say from a lead pipe.
With a knife scrape or cut away the
little corrosion on the outer surface
make a rounded point so that IL will
run smoothly. he will find IT serves
very well as pencil Tho mark which
1t makes is lighter in color than that
made by the graphite pencil, but it is
perfectly eligible and il is not so cas-
lily erased In the district schools i'm
the early part of this nineteenth con-
Jury II was tue custom ct pupils To
have these home made lead pencils,
- We have indicated that were mere
~ sticks or strips of lead sharrencd
10 point, and they were wellngh in
dcsiructiblc, for much use made little
impression upon the point
The first graphite pencils were very
crude. They consisted simply of strips
of naked graphite and they were very
uncouth, inconveniently modelled. and
they were unpopular because they
soiled the hands. Finally. the lead
pencil consisting Of the graphite en-
closed IN wood came into being, and
ut first it was crude. Now graphite is
not lead, although it is mineral, but
from the fact probably, that il sue
ceedcd the real lead pencil and made
a clear black mark it was styled
"black lead" by which name it con-
tinuGs to pass today.
Graphite Is mined in various parts
ftI . h., OIL
Germany, Russia, Africa, Wales and
in several parts of the United States.
II has been mined Commcrcially on
the north side uf Mt. Monadnocl< i'm
New Hampshire. but that was many
years ago. The graphite as it comes
from the mine is very crude and one
might as well attempt to trace a line
with piece of hard coal as with
piece oi rough graphite. 1t must first
he refined and refining is accomplish
ed by grinding it and precipitatng
1t in water until the pure graphite is
left in the form of "a rcsitlum. This
is placed in moulds and kiln dried. re-
sulting in the graphite as we have it
in different kinds Of pencils.
AS important as the graphite is the
wood from which the pencils are
mace. This wood is cedar. The wood
for the manufacture of lead pencils
shOJld he straight grained. and must
be free from knots. a great deal of
the wood for lead pencils made in
this country comes from Florida, and
considerable of IL comes from other
parts of the south. 1t is known as
red cedar, although it is not, strictly
speaking, cedar although belonging To
the same family, but as everyone
knows, the wood has a beautiful. satin
free from Knots The ouor is. also
agreeable.
Tine process of making lead pencils
IS extremely simple The wood is
sawed into strips, planed. grovcd and
is thcn ready to receive the graphite
core. Tho graphite passes from the
KILN drying room to the department in
the pencil factory where the parts are
assembled Everything Is done by ma
chinery. The saving. the planning and
the growing of the wood Is done by "a
complicated machine. II is me; at a
certain point by the stick OF graphite.
The graphite, just as it meets the
wood. is given u thin coat of glue.
Automatically it is slid into the stick
having the groove; as il passes along
- brush covers the fiat surface with
glue. the other or the ungrooved half
OF the pencil meets tho glued surface.