A pencil is an implement that is used to write and draw. It is usually made of a solid inner writing core of graphite, with a wooden encasing. Colored pencils use pigments, including those used in oil and watercolor paints. Pencils may also have an eraser or "rubber" attached to one end, typically by means of a metal ferrule.
The pencil found its origins in the ancient Roman stylus, which was a thin metal stick, often made of lead and used for scratching on papyrus. The word pencil comes from the Latin word penicillus which means "little tail".
In the early 16th century, an enormous deposit of graphite was discovered in Cumbria, England. This was found very suitable for marking sheep. Chemistry was in its infancy and the substance was thought to be a form of lead, and called plumbago. The black core of pencils is still sometimes referred to as "lead", even though it no longer contains the element lead.
The soft plumbago needed some form of case for rigidity, and the first plumbago sticks were wrapped in string or in sheepskin. The news of the usefulness of these early pencils spread far and wide, attracting the attentions of artists all over the "known world".
England continued to enjoy a monopoly on the production of pencils, and the distinctively square English pencils continued to be made with sticks cut from natural graphite into the 1860s.
The first attempt to manufacture graphite sticks from powdered graphite, found in other parts of the world, was in Nuremberg, Germany in 1662. They used a mixture of graphite, sulphur and antimony. Though usable they were inferior to the English pencils.
It was the Italians who first thought of wooden holders. An Italian couple in particular named Simonio and Lyndiana Bernacotti were believed to be the ones to create the first blueprints for the modern carpentry pencil, although their version was a flat oval, more compact type of pencil. They did this at first by hollowing out a stick of juniper wood. Shortly thereafter, a superior technique was discovered: two wooden halves were carved, a plumbago stick inserted, and the two halves then glued together—essentially the same method that is in use to this day.
A French officer in Napoleon's army, Nicholas Jacques Conté discovered a method of mixing powdered graphite with clay and forming the mixture into rods which were then fired in a kiln. By varying the ratio of graphite to clay, the hardness of the graphite rod could also be varied (the more clay, the harder the pencil, and the lighter the colour of the mark). This method of manufacture also remains in use today.
Today, pencils are made industrially by mixing finely ground graphite and clay powders, adding water, forming long spaghetti-like strings, and firing them in a kiln. The resulting strings are dipped in oil or molten wax which seeps into the tiny holes of the material, resulting in smoother writing. A juniper or incense-cedar plank with several long parallel grooves is cut to make something called a slat, and the graphite/clay strings are inserted into the grooves. Another grooved plank is glued on top, and the whole thing is then cut into individual pencils, which are then varnished or painted.
Many pencils, particularly those used by artists, are labeled on the European system using a "degrees" scale from "H" (for hardness) to "B" (for blackness), as well as "F" (for fine point). The standard writing pencil is "HB". However, artists' pencils can vary widely in order to provide a range of marks for different visual effects on the page. The American system, using numbers only, was developed simultaneously by Conté.
Pencils in the United States and Canada tend to be painted yellow on the outside.
Not all countries however use yellow pencils; German pencils, for example, are often green, and Brazil uses green and black
Most pencils today are Hexagonal in cross-section. This shape is comfortable to hold and reduces their tendency to roll on desks. Although they too are hexagonal, carpenter's pencils have a flattened shape, and allow for a more precise positioning of drawn lines. Cylindrical pencils are also manufactured, and often have either artistic designs or messages for promoting businesses, causes, organizations, or services on the outside. Still other pencils have a triangular cross-section, ostensibly for comfort and ergonomic reasons.
An urban legend in circulation since the 1970s tells of NASA spending large sums of money, typically in the millions of dollars, to develop an instrument that would write in space (a space pen). This task is not as simple as it seems, as standard ballpoint and fountain pens require gravity in order to function. The typical punch line is that either someone supposedly should have sent NASA a pencil, or that the Soviets used pencils.
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