It feels a bit ironic to be talking about the history of the pencil through the internet and computers.
Pencil:/ˈpensəl/an instrument for writing or drawing, consisting of a thin stick of graphite or a similar substance enclosed in a long thin piece of wood or fixed in a metal or plastic case.
This is not a good way to celebrate the storied history of the writing device, but alas, here we are.
History of Pencils:
To start our journey, we return to ancient Roman times. The Romans, who, as I'm guessing you've figured out by now introduced us to so many major inventions that we still use to this day, used long metal rods to make marks on papyrus, or early paper. Some of those styluses were made of lead, which ironically enough, would be used in future iterations of the writing device. But it's not lead that is used in pencils, it's actually graphite. What is graphite? Graphite, unlike lead which it's typically called, is non-toxic and leaves the dark marking that we are accustomed to.
Evolution of Pencils:
The first wooden pencil originated back in 1560, where an Italian couple named Sinomio and Lyndiana Bernacotti had the idea to wrap the graphite in wood. Their first design was more oval shaped and looked similar to carpentry pencils today. The more traditional pencil shape didn't come along until much later.
We jump ahead to 1564, when a large deposit of graphite was discovered in Borrowdale, England. This was a powerful find for England, as they essentially had a monopoly on pencil making until future graphite mines were found. The only problem was that graphite is brittle. If you've ever used a pencil before, which I'm assuming you have, you know it breaks quite easily. So, the graphite cores needed something to be wrapped around them to make them actually useable. Initially, string or sheepskin was used to wrap around the core to make a writing utensil. But it's brittleness didn't stop the Brits from finding other uses for the substance. Graphite was also used for cannon ball molds and marking sheep. England was able to be the sole owner of a graphite mine all the way up until the 19th century, making them a powerhouse when it came to graphite.
During the Napoleonic Wars, France was unable to import graphite from England. This lead to them inventing a new way of crafting pencils. While the English mine was solid and perfect for cutting in whatever shape was needed, the French only had access to powdered graphite, which obviously doesn't work well for writing. That's where Nicholas Jacques Conte comes in. He mixed the powered graphite with clay and heated it up before pouring it into a wood shell. His process he invented in 1795 is still the process we use today as it allows the maker to change the hardness and shaping of the graphite. The more clay that is added, allows the pencil to be harder, but the marking will be lighter.
The Pencil Industry in America and Why Those Suckers Are Yellow:
In the 1800's, early settlers were reliant on British made pencils, but when they were cut off from England, a cabinet-maker by the name of William Monroe took charge and started making pencils in 1812. Years later, the first mass-produced pencils were produced in America and were left unpainted to showcase the wood, but that was about to change. The 1890's was when the painting of pencils first began.
That yellow color is no mistake either! American pencil makers wanted to distinguish their pencils from the rest. During the 1800's the best graphite came from China. To tell people that their pencils contained high quality, Chinese graphite, American makers painted their pencils yellow, a color that is associated with royalty and respect. They hoped that users would get the "regal" feeling of using their pencils over others.
Adding the Eraser:
The eraser took a bit to add. It wasn't until Hymen Lipman decided in 1858 that pencils should have something to help clean up those mistakes! Lipman was able to get a patent for the idea of putting erasers on the end of pencils, but would later go on to lose that patent. Was that a mistake? I guess that's a story for another day.