3 ms·

I was astonished to discover (via HN) that the pencil was invented (patented) in 1795, I has always assumed that it was from antiquity

maxwell 2y ago
The ancients had reed/bamboo pens, which looked similar to modern pencils, though they were largely supplanted by quill pens by medieval times.
- Telemakhos 2y ago
  They had charcoal too. There are charcoal graffiti in Pompeii.
  - TZubiri 2y ago
    The answer is 100% charcoal. Ancient pencils were made of charcoal, unless you have a very obtuse definition of what a pencil is. If you've never made a pencil at home out of charcoal, can you even say you are a free (wo)?man\?
perihelions 2y ago
There were predecessors to pencils going back hundreds of years before that, with very similar capabilities. They used soft metals that streak when dragged across a surface, particularly silver and lead (Pb) (also the etymology of "pencil lead"); and sharpened these into narrow points. The modern pencil sort of iterated on those ideas. Soft graphite powder, in a wax binder, leaves a streak superior to metals; and encasing it in wood was the solution to the graphite composite's brittleness. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverpoint https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverpoint Here's a zoomable example by da Vinci (don't you agree they look awfully similar to pencil lines?) https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1860-0616-100 https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1860-0616-...
- julian_t 2y ago
  My wife does silverpoint. A couple of bucks worth of fine silver wire in an old mechanical pencil, and you're set for years of drawing. Pretty much the cheapest way to do art (and it looks good, too)
- kjkjadksj 2y ago
  Seems like taking charcoal and binding it with cleaner wood to not soil your hands would be one of the first inventions after using charcoal to draw
jcranmer 2y ago
A pencil is essentially a core of something that easily rubs off onto other things surrounded in a protective cladding of something that keeps it from rubbing off onto your hands; stuff like this has existed for centuries. There is essentially only one place in the world where graphite suitable for pencils naturally exists, and this wasn't discovered until the 1500s. Making it artificially from powdered graphite was first done in 1662, and the first process that approximates modern pencil construction was done in 1795, which is probably what you're calling the invention of the pencil.
kryptiskt 2y ago
Henry Petroski wrote a great book about the history of the pencil. There used to be a mine in Southern England which contained pure graphite, that was found in the 16th century. That graphite could just be cut into sticks and made into writing implements. The modern pencil consisting of powdered graphite with a binder is a response to that mine being exhausted. So it's a substitute for a product that wasn't possible before that pure deposit was found.
- dambi0 2y ago
  At risk of pedantry and not to diminish the overall point. I think the graphite deposit was in Borrowdale which is in NW England. There’s actually a pencil museum in Keswick, a nearby town.

maxwell 2y ago

The ancients had reed/bamboo pens, which looked similar to modern pencils, though they were largely supplanted by quill pens by medieval times.

Telemakhos 2y ago
They had charcoal too. There are charcoal graffiti in Pompeii.
- TZubiri 2y ago
  The answer is 100% charcoal. Ancient pencils were made of charcoal, unless you have a very obtuse definition of what a pencil is. If you've never made a pencil at home out of charcoal, can you even say you are a free (wo)?man\?

perihelions 2y ago

There were predecessors to pencils going back hundreds of years before that, with very similar capabilities. They used soft metals that streak when dragged across a surface, particularly silver and lead (Pb) (also the etymology of "pencil lead"); and sharpened these into narrow points. The modern pencil sort of iterated on those ideas. Soft graphite powder, in a wax binder, leaves a streak superior to metals; and encasing it in wood was the solution to the graphite composite's brittleness. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverpoint https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverpoint Here's a zoomable example by da Vinci (don't you agree they look awfully similar to pencil lines?) https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1860-0616-100 https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1860-0616-...

julian_t 2y ago
My wife does silverpoint. A couple of bucks worth of fine silver wire in an old mechanical pencil, and you're set for years of drawing. Pretty much the cheapest way to do art (and it looks good, too)
kjkjadksj 2y ago
Seems like taking charcoal and binding it with cleaner wood to not soil your hands would be one of the first inventions after using charcoal to draw

jcranmer 2y ago

A pencil is essentially a core of something that easily rubs off onto other things surrounded in a protective cladding of something that keeps it from rubbing off onto your hands; stuff like this has existed for centuries. There is essentially only one place in the world where graphite suitable for pencils naturally exists, and this wasn't discovered until the 1500s. Making it artificially from powdered graphite was first done in 1662, and the first process that approximates modern pencil construction was done in 1795, which is probably what you're calling the invention of the pencil.

kryptiskt 2y ago

Henry Petroski wrote a great book about the history of the pencil. There used to be a mine in Southern England which contained pure graphite, that was found in the 16th century. That graphite could just be cut into sticks and made into writing implements. The modern pencil consisting of powdered graphite with a binder is a response to that mine being exhausted. So it's a substitute for a product that wasn't possible before that pure deposit was found.

dambi0 2y ago
At risk of pedantry and not to diminish the overall point. I think the graphite deposit was in Borrowdale which is in NW England. There’s actually a pencil museum in Keswick, a nearby town.