BY DANIELA LOPEZ

Pencil

PENCIL

is not known who invented the first pencil. The pencil was first documented in 1565 by Conrad Gesner, and

its invention is sometimes attributed to him, though this is unlikely. European craftsman (woodworkers)

were the first known pencil manufacturers, and it wasn't until the late 1700's that manufacturing

techniques similar to those practiced today were developed.

PENCILSome time prior to about 1560, graphite was discovered near

Borrowable, England, supposedly when a large tree was uprooted in a storm, exposing a black substance beneath its

roots. The usefulness of graphite as a marking substance was quickly realized. Though the exact date is not known for certain,

the year 1565 marks the first record of a pencil consisting of a piece of graphite inserted into a wood shaft, making the first

ancestor of today's pencil.

PENCIL

The first pencils were made in England, though this is not known for

certain. The pencil was further developed by European craftsmen . So he made the first pencil likely that the

first pencils were made in England .

PENCIL

Refer to this pictorial for an explanation of how modern

pencils are made.

PENCIL

It has been several months since I last inquired, so I thought I would re-submit my question.

  Are there still any plans to make a newer   version of Pencil available for Mac users such as myself who are still getting

plenty of good use out of our older. The pencil may be old, but like the computer today and the telegraph in 1849, it is an indisputable example of a

communications technology. Henderson unwittingly concedes as much when he adds that Thoreau’s father founded “the first quality pencil [factory] in

America.” In Thoreau’s day, a good pencil was hard to find, and until Thoreau’s father and uncle began making pencils in the New World, the best ones were

imported from Europe. The family fortune was built on the earnings of the Thoreau Pencil Company, and Henry Thoreau not only supported his sojourn at

Walden Pond and his trip to the Maine woods with pencil profits, he himself perfected some of the techniques of pencil-making that made Thoreau pencils

so desirable.