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PENCIL (Lat. penicillus, brush, liter...

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 86 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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PENCIL (Lat. penicillus, brush, literally little tail)

PENCIL (See also:
LAT
Lat. penicillus, See also:
BRUSH (from Fr. brosse, which, like the English word, means both the undergrowth of a wood and the instrument; if the word in both these meanings is ultimately the same, then the origin is from a bundle of brushwood used as a brush or broom, but this is h
BRUSH, GEORGE DE FOREST (1855– )
brush, literally little tail) , a name originally applied to a small See also:

FINE

fine-pointed brush used in See also:

PAINTING

painting, and still employed to denote the finer See also:

CAMEL (from the Arabic Djemal or the Heb. Gamal)

camel's-See also:

HAIR (a word common to Teutonic languages)

hair and See also:

sable brushes used by artists, but now commonly signifying solid cones or rods of various materials used for See also:

writing and See also:

DRAWING

drawing. It has been asserted that a See also:

MANUSCRIPT

manuscript of See also:

THEOPHILUS

Theophilus, attributed to the 13th See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century, shows signs of having been ruled with a See also:

black-See also:

lead pencil; but the first distinct allusion occurs in the See also:

TREATISE

treatise on fossils by See also:

Conrad See also:

Gesner of See also:

Zurich (1565), who describes an See also:

ARTICLE (from Lat. articulus, a joint)

article for writing formed of See also:

wood and a piece of lead, or, as he believed, an artificial See also:

composition called by some stimmi anglicanum (See also:

ENGLISH

English See also:

ANTIMONY (symbol Sb, atomic weight 120.2)

antimony). The famous Borrowdale mine in See also:

Cumberland having been discovered about that See also:

time, it is probable that we have here the first allusion to that See also:

GREAT

great find of See also:

GRAPHITE

graphite. While the See also:

SUPPLY (through Fr. from Lat. supplere, to fill up)

supply of the Cumberland mine lasted, the material for English pencils consisted simply of the native graphite as taken from the mine. The pieces were sawn into thin sheets, which again were cut into the slender square rods forming the " lead " of the pencil. Strenuous efforts were made on the See also:

CONTINENT (from Lat. continere, "to hold together "; hence " connected," " continuous ")

continent of See also:

EUROPE

Europe and in See also:

England to enable manufacturers to become See also:

INDEPENDENT

independent of the product of the Cumberland mine. In See also:

NUREMBERG (Ger. Nurnberg)

Nuremberg, where the great pencil factory of the See also:

Faber See also:

FAMILY

family (q.v.) was established in 176o, pencils were made from pulverized graphite cemented into solid blocks by means of gums, resins, See also:

GLUE (from the O. Fr. glu, bird-lime, from the Late Lat. gluten, glus, glue)

glue, See also:

SULPHUR

sulphur and other such substances, but none of these preparations yielded useful pencils. In the See also:

YEAR

year 1795 N. J. See also:

CONTE

Conte (q.v.), of See also:

Paris, devised the See also:

PROCESS

process by which now all black-lead pencils, and indeed pencils of all sorts, are manufactured. In 1843 See also:

William Brockedon patented a process for compressing pure black-lead See also:

POWDER (through O. Fr. puldre, modern poudre, from Lat. pulvis, pulveris, dust)

powder into solid compact blocks by which he was enabled to use the dust, fragments, and cuttings of fine Cumberland lead. Brockedon's process would have proved successful but the exhaustion of the Borrowdale supplies and the excellence of Conte's process rendered it more of scientific See also:

INTEREST

interest than of commercial value.

The pencil leads prepared by the Conte process consist of a mixture of graphite and See also:

clay. The graphite, having been pulverized and subjected to any necessary purifying processes, is " floated through a See also:

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

series of settling tanks, in each of which the comparatively heavy particles sink, and only the still finer particles are carried over. That which sinks in the last of the series is in a See also:

CONDITION (Lat. condicio, from condicere, to agree upon, arrange; not connected with conditio, from condere, conditum, to put together)

condition of extremely fine See also:

DIVISION (from Lat. dividere, to break up into parts, separate)

division, and is used for pencils of the highest quality. The clay, which must be See also:

FREE

free from See also:

sand and See also:

IRON [symbol Fe, atomic weight 55.85 (0=16)]

iron, is treated in the same manner. Clay and graphite so prepared are mixed together in varying proportions with See also:

WATER

water to a See also:

PASTE (O. Fr. paste, modern pate, Late Lat. pasta, whence also in Span., Port. and Ital., from Gr. 1r&vrrl or 1raara, barley porridge, or salted pottage, ir&ao'ety, to sprinkle with salt)

paste, passed repeatedly through a grinding See also:

mill, then placed in bags and squeezed in a See also:

HYDRAULIC

hydraulic See also:

PRESS (through Fr. presse from Lat. pressare, frequentative of premere, to crush, squeeze, press)

press till they have the consistency of stiff dough, in which condition they are ready for forming pencil rods. For this purpose the plastic See also:

mass is placed in a strong upright See also:

CYLINDER (Gr. KvAwSpos, from KvXivaety, to roll)

cylinder, from which a plunger or See also:

PISTON (through Fr. from Ital. pistone or pestone, a great pestle, from Late Lat. pistare, to pound, a frequentative form of classical Lat. pinsere)

piston, moved by a See also:

SCREW (O.E. scrue, from O. Fr. escroue, mod. ecrou; ultimate origin uncertain; the word, or a similar one, appears in Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Schraube, Dan. skrue, but Skeat, following Diaz, finds the origin in Lat. scrobs, a ditch, hole, particularl

screw, forces it out through a perforated See also:

BASE

base-See also:

PLATE

plate in a continuous See also:

THREAD (0. Eng. praed, literally, that which is twisted, prawan, to twist, to throw, cf. " throwster," a silk-winder, Ger. drehen, to twist, turn, Du. draad, Ger. Draht, thread, wire)

thread. This thread is finally divided into suitable lengths, which are heated in a closed crucible for some See also:

HOURS, CANONICAL

hours. The two factors which determine the See also:

COMPARATIVE

comparative hardness and blackness of pencils are the proportions of graphite and clay in the leads and the See also:

HEAT (0. E. haktu, which like " hot," Old Eng. hat, is from the Teutonic type haita, hit, to be hot; cf. Ger. hitze, heiss; Dutch, hitte, heet, &c.)

heat to which they are raised in the crucible. According as the proportion of graphite is greater and the heat See also:

LOWER

lower the pencil is softer and of deeper black streak. The wood in which the leads are cased is pencil See also:

CEDAR (Lat. cedrus, Gr. iapos)

cedar from Juniperus virginiana for the best qualities, and See also:

PINE (Lat. Pinus, Gr. srlrur)

pine for the cheaper ones. A See also:

BOARD (O. Eng. bord)

board of the selected wood, having a thickness about equal to See also:

HALF

half the See also:

DIAMETER (from the Cr. &a, through, µErpov, measure)

diameter of the finished pencil and as wide as four or six pencils, is passed through a See also:

machine which smooths the See also:

SURFACE

surface and cuts See also:

ROUND (O. Fr. rond, Lat. rotundus, the Fr. is the source also of Du. rond; Ger., Swed., Dan. and Nor. rond)

round or square grooves to receive the leads. The leads being placed in the grooves the board is covered with another similarly grooved board, and the two are fastened together with glue.

When dry they are taken to rapidly revolving cutters which remove the wood between the leads. The individual pencils thus formed only need to be finished by being dyed and varnished and stamped with name, grade, &c. Instead of wood, See also:

paper has been tried for the casings, rolled on in narrow strips which are torn off to expose fresh lead as the point becomes worn down by use. Black pencils of an inferior quality are made from the dust of graphite melted up with sulphur and run into moulds. Such, with a little See also:

TALLOW (M.E. talugh, talg, cf. Du. talk, L. Ger. talg ; the connexion with O.E. taelg, dye, or Goth, tulgus, firm, is doubtful)

tallow added to give them softness, are the pencils commonly used by carpenters. Coloured pencils consist of a mixture of clay, with appropriate See also:

MINERAL

mineral colouring See also:

MATTER

matter, See also:

wax, and tallow, treated by the Conte method, as in making lead pencils. In indelible and copying pencils the colouring matter is an See also:

ANILINE, PHENYLADIINE, or AMINOBENZENE, (C6H5NH2)

aniline preparation mixed with clay and See also:

GUM (Fr. gomme, Lat. gommi, Gr. Kµµ1, possibly a Coptic word; distinguish " gum," the fleshy covering of the base of a tooth, in O. Eng. gbma, palate, cf. Ger. Gaumen, roof of the mouth; the ultimate origin is probably the root gha, to open wide, seen in

gum. The mixture not only makes a streak which adheres to the paper, but, when the writing is moistened with water, it dissolves and assumes the See also:

APPEARANCE (from Lat. apparere, to appear)

appearance and properties of an See also:

INK (from Late Lat. encaustum, Gr. gysavorov, the purple ink used by Greek and Roman emperors, from iyKaiew, to burn in)

ink.

End of Article: PENCIL (Lat. penicillus, brush, literally little tail)

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