IMPROVEMENTS IN PENCILS FOR WRITING AND DRAWING
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PENCILS FOR WRITING AND DRAWING."-A com-
munication from abroad by Joseph Reckendorfer, of New York,
in the United States of America.
Sealed the 28th April 1871, and dated the 24th February 1871.
5
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 24th February 1871, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.

page_text: grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal
Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that the
said Invention is communicated to me from abroad by Joseph Recken-
dorfer, of New York, in the United States of America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Henry Johnson, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
scal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing, and to
the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :—
The first part of this Invention is intended to provide a means whereby
articles of greater size or diameter than the ordinary lead or crayon may
be securely held in the head of a pencil of otherwise ordinary or suitable
construction without making the body of the pencil cumbrous or incon-
venient, and consists,-
Firstly. Of a pencil composed of a wooden sheath and lead or crayon
core, either black or colored, having one cud of the sheath enlarged and
recessed so as to constitute a receptacle for an eraser or other similar
article as hercin-after stated.
Secondly. Of a pencil the wooden case of which gradually tapers from
its cularged and recessed head towards its opposite end for the whole or
a portion of its length, as herein-after set forth.
The receptacle for the eraser or other article is formed in the head
without too much weakening the wood owing to the form of the sheath,
while from the same reason the end of the pencil which contains the
ordinary lead or crayon is not cumbrous nor clumsy, but can be readily
held between the fingers, just as an ordinary pencil.
In the explanatory Drawing hereunto annexed Figure 1 is a side view
of the pencil above referred to, and Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of
the same.
A is the wood casing of the pencil made in two parts and glued
together in the ordinary manner, but made larger or thicker at one end
than at the other as represented. This casing is grooved out with a
small groove for the reception of the blacklead, plumbago, or crayon B
as usual, but for only a portion of its length. The remainder at the

page_text: larger end has a much larger groove or recess, in which the india-rubber
or craser C or other similar article to be therein held is placed as repre-
sented. Pencils of equal size throughout have been heretofore made
with a slip of rubber fitted in place of the lead at one end, but such
pencils have not become of any considerable practical importance in
consequence of the smallness of the rubber, and it has been held
impracticable to make the rubber much larger without too much
weakening the wood or making the entire pencil too thick and awkward
to handle.
By this Invention the size of the rubber may be so increased while
that of the lead or other marking substance remains the same as to
render it a very effective craser, the size of the pencil lead being such as
to render it a convenient receptacle for a rubber of much more con-
siderable size or diameter than the lead.
In preparing the wood portions of this pencil it is preferred to saw the
material into tapering slips lying alternately with the ends in opposite
directions, and afterwards to reduce these pieces to the required form,
thus economizing material as far as possible. The exterior of the
improved pencil is made of a round, square, hexagonal, octagonal, oval, or
other section as may be desired, and finished in any style, but always made
with the head of a larger diameter than the opposite end. The lead or
other marking substance and the rubber may also be of any desired
section, and may be tapered if preferred, but the rubber should always
present the larger area in cross section, though a uniformity in the shape
of each is preferred. Any other erasive material may be substituted for
the rubber C without affecting the character of this Invention, or a
crayon or lead of a different color or quality may be substituted
therefor, if desired. Crayons and the softer qualities of lead require a
larger section than that given to the part B, and the enlarged head of
the pencil will receive them equally as well as the rubber. The end of
the pencil in which the rubber is placed may be cut away as the rubber
wears down as shewn in the Drawing, Figure 1.
The second portion of this Invention relates to the manufacture of
a lead pencil which is better adapted to the hand and can be held with
a nicer balance than the ordinary lead pencil, and consists of a lead
pencil the wooden part or sheath of which is enlarged in the longitudinal

page_text: centre or about midway between the two ends, and thence gradually
tapers or decreases in size towards the ends. This construction is clearly
shewn in Figures 3 and 4. The sheath of wood which surrounds the
lead core or centre is made with a swell or enlargement a about
midway between its two ends, and it theuce gradually decreases in size
towards the ends, as shewn at b.

page_text: in diameter towards each end, substantially as and for the purpose
herein-before described and illustrated by the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to
this my Complete Specification set my hand and seal, this
Twenty-fourth day of February One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-one.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)