And That's How We Write

 

                                                                 

 

A folktale is a story passed  from one person to another, by word of mouth over a period of time. Sometimes it  seeks to explain the world around us. Sometimes it tells the whole story about real people and events. Sometimes – but not always.

Example:

Once upon a time long ago  (16th century) a fierce thunderstorm unearthed a small forest of trees  in Borrowdale (England)  After the storm ended, large deposits of a blackish material were found where the trees were uprooted. Someone said, “Hey, it looks like it’s lead” and everyone agreed that it did, so that’s what they called it. That’s the lead in your pencil. 

Is this a true story? We will check back later but now that  we “got the lead” out, let’s get to the point. This post is about pencils.

Writing is a cornerstone of human civilization, allowing us to convey knowledge, express our ideas and emotions, and help preserve culture and history. But how do we do it?

It all started in ancient times (Where else?) where the need to document and communicate gave birth to various writing tools. In Egypt, reed pens, crafted from the abundant reeds along the Nile, were dipped into ink to write on papyrus. These pens were precursors to the quills and fountain pens that would follow centuries later. The Sumerians used styluses made of reeds or wood to press cuneiform script into clay tablets, a method that preserved some of the oldest known writings.

The Romans used a metal stylus  to etch into wax tablets. Make a mistake? A do-over was no problem. Re-heat the wax.

Then graphite came along and while it was a step in the right direction, early adopters like the Greeks quickly realized its limitations. Its brittle nature made it difficult to handle. Wrapping graphite sticks in string or encasing them in wooden holders were makeshift . More work was needed.

When you think of France,  do you see charming cobblestone streets lined with cafes, smell the aroma of freshly baked croissants wafting through the air, and the marvel at the iconic silhouette of the Eiffel Tower against the Parisian skyline? I do as well, but pencils never enter into my mind. Nonetheless……”Les crayons étaient une grande affaire.” Pencils were a big deal.

In the late 18th century, Europe was facing a shortage of pure graphite, and  since England  and France were combatants in the Napoleonic Wars, England was not about to sell France any of its precious graphite to make  pencils, or cannon balls.

Cannon Balls?  Yup.

The English  found graphite to be heat resistant and an excellent material to line the molds for cannon balls. The refractory qualities of graphite enabled the casting to be free of imperfections. The munition, now perfectly round and very smooth could be fired with greater accuracy and range.

Yes …..(wait for it) …better balls contributed significantly to the growing superiority of the English Navy

 

Pencils, though crude, were very important to the military in France. Even though quill pens were common, pencils offered several advantages for military use.

Portability: Pencils are compact and do not require additional inkwells or ink supplies. Soldiers could easily carry them in their pockets or packs .

Durability: Quill pens made of feathers, were  fragile and could break or become damaged during rough handling or combat situations. Pencils were more resilient and could withstand the rigors of military life better.

Versatility: Pencils could write on various surfaces, including paper, parchment, wood, and even rough surfaces, making them suitable for different military tasks such as note-taking, map-making, and marking equipment or surfaces.

Independence from Ink Supply: Pencils do not require ink, so soldiers didn't have to worry about running out of ink during campaigns or battles. This self-sufficiency made them practical for use in the field.

Seeking a work-around to the pencil-problem, Nicolas-Jaques Conte, who was an officer in Napoleon’s army and a talented engineer, went to work. He experimented with various compositions and processes. His breakthrough was the discovery that mixing graphite with clay and then firing it in a kiln could produce a material that was not only as good as pure graphite for writing and drawing but also had several advantages. The hardness of the pencil could be altered by adjusting the ratio of graphite to clay, leading to the creation of pencils with varying degrees of softness and darkness. This was a significant improvement, offering everyone more  control over his or her work.

Conte’s method of encasing the graphite-clay mixture in wood made the pencils easier to handle and less messy. This design is still the basis for most wooden pencils produced even now. Conte is remembered not just as the inventor of the modern pencil but as a symbol of the inventive spirit that drives human progress.

Pencils continued to evolve based on the Conte Method. The Industrial Revolution played a crucial role in this evolution. This period saw the rise of factories equipped with advanced machinery, enabling mass production of pencils. Germany emerged as a leader in this industry, with companies like Faber-Castell setting standards in quality and innovation. Similarly, in the United States, brands like Dixon Ticonderoga became household names.

Ironically, today there is only one pencil manufacturer  in France, a company called La Compagnie Francaise des Crayons and  CFC only makes custom products for big companies. Now if you want a pen instead, France can help you out.  

In 1942, Mr. Marcel Bich and his partner, Édouard Buffard, set up a business making pencil holders and pencil cases in a factory in a Paris suburb.  Bich later  bought the patent for the ballpoint pen from Hungarian inventor László Bíró, and using Swiss watchmaking tools, he devised a manufacturing process that produced stainless-steel balls for the tip of the pen. Bich soon perfected the design of his ballpoint pen and put it on the market:  The Cristal Ballpoint Pen.  You probably have a BIC pen in your desk.

The Bic Cristal has sold over one hundred billion units in the last 75 years and the design of the pen has changed little since its initial launch and  remains the best-selling pen in the world.

And now was the folktale true or “tall”?

 True

 This enormous deposit of graphite was extremely pure and solid, and it could easily be sawn into sticks. Graphite is often mined close to the earth’s surface so the uprooted trees could have exposed it.   This site remains the only large-scale deposit of graphite ever found in this solid form. Chemistry was in its infancy at this time and the substance was thought to be a form of lead ore. The name for pencil graphite, lead, persists today even though graphite was found to be a natural element centuries ago.