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Philadelphia inventor Hymen L. Lipman rushed heroically to assistance from mistake-prone schoolchildren, draftsmen and artists in all places when he secured the patent for the pencil with eraser on this day in historical past, March 30, 1858.
“Be it recognized that I, Hymen L. Lipman, of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a brand new and helpful Lead-Pencil and Eraser;” the visionary wrote in his patent utility.
“I make a lead-pencil in the usual manner, reserving about one-fourth of the length, in which I make a groove of suitable size … and insert in this groove a piece of prepared India rubber (or other erasive substance) secured to said pencil by being glued at one edge.”
The eraser, he famous in his utility, “is particularly valuable for removing or erasing lines, figures, etc., and not subject to be soiled or mislaid on the table or desk” — as if the aim of an eraser was unknown to mid-Nineteenth century shoppers.
Lipman was born to a Sephardic Jewish household in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1817.
He immigrated to the United States at age 21 and — like sliced-bread inventor Otto Rohwedder — set about reimagining on a regular basis objects for the higher.
“Lipman was also America’s first envelope manufacturer, and it was he who had the idea of adding adhesive to the back flap, so as to make sealing easier,” experiences Haaretz.com of Israel.
A pencil with an eraser is “particularly valuable for removing or erasing lines, figures, etc., and not subject to be soiled or rnislaid on the table or desk.” — Hyman Lipman
“He devised a method for binding papers with an eyelet that preceded the stapler by two decades. And Lipman was the first to produce and sell blank postcards in the United States, in 1873.”
His pencil with eraser marked maybe America’s biggest contribution to pencilcraft.
The earliest writing instrument, a stylus made with lead, dates again to antiquity, together with the Egyptian and Roman Empires.
Pencils gained widespread recognition with the invention of graphite deposits in the Borrowdale Valley in northern England in the sixteenth century.
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“Although (graphite) resembled coal, it would not burn,” experiences the University of Waterloo (Canada) Earth Sciences Museum. “It did, however, prove to be an excellent marker of sheepskins.”
Graphite additionally boasted one main benefit over the lead used in earlier pencils: graphite is just not no toxic.
“A market for it opened up around the end of the sixteenth century. German miners from Keswick in the early sixteenth century had made more progress mining the graphite from this site,” the college notes.
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Although generally known as the lead pencil, even in Lipman’s patent utility, they’re truly manufactured from non-toxic graphite.
“Nuremberg, Germany, was the birthplace of the first mass-produced pencils in 1662. Spurred by Faber-Castell (established in 1761), Lyra, Steadtler and other companies, an active pencil industry developed throughout the 19th century industrial revolution,” experiences Pencil.com, revealed by pencil-wood provider California Cedar Products Co.
“Early settlers depended on pencils from overseas until the war with England cut off imports. William Monroe, a Concord, Massachusetts cabinet-maker, is credited with making America’s first wood pencils in 1812.”
Famous Concord resident Henry David Thoreau, whose transcendentalist tome “Walden” stays important to American letters greater than 150 years after it was revealed, “was also renowned for his pencil-making prowess,” states Pencil.com.
“Henry David Thoreau was also renowned for his pencil-making prowess.” — Pencil.com.
The web site highlights a number of different outstanding figures in the historical past of pencildom.
Italian artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci, Founding Father Benjamin Franklin and American explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark have been all well-documented pencil aficionados.
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Yet earlier than Lipman of Philadelphia, none apparently had the foresight to connect an eraser.
“Despite the usefulness of the innovation, Lipman’s new product did not fly off the shelves at first,” pencil fanatic and blogger Patrick Murfin wrote in 2018.
The begin of the Civil War in 1861 reportedly modified the fortunes of the pencil with eraser — and the fortunes of Mr. Lipman, too.
“War, as it often does, offered an exploding market for pencil manufacturers,” added Murfin.
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“Millions would be needed by the military, industry, and government bureaucracy. Entrepreneur Joseph Reckendorfer recognized the potential and in 1862 bought the patent rights from Lipman for a then astonishing $100,000, more than $2 million in current dollars.”
He went on, “Lipman walked away a very wealthy man.”
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