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A pencil (/ ˈ p ɛ n s ə l / ⓘ) is a writing or drawing implement with a solid pigment core in a protective casing that reduces the risk of core breakage and keeps it from marking the user's hand. Pencils create marks by physical abrasion, leaving a trail of solid core material that adheres to a sheet of paper or other surface.
A mechanical pencil or clutch pencil is a pencil with a replaceable and mechanically extendable solid pigment core called a "lead" / ˈ l ɛ d /. The lead , often made of graphite , is not bonded to the outer casing, and the user can mechanically extend it as its point is worn away from use.
Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man (c. 1485) Accademia, Venice. Drawing is a visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface. The instruments used to make a drawing are pencils, crayons, pens with inks, brushes with paints, or combinations of these, and in more modern times, computer styluses with graphics tablets or gamepads in VR drawing software.
Colored pencils are made in a wide range of price, quality and usability, from student-grade to professional-grade. Concentration of pigments in the core, lightfastness of the pigments, durability of the colored pencil, and softness of the core are some determinants of a brand's quality and, consequently, its market price.
From the 16th century, all pencils were made with leads of English natural graphite, but modern pencil lead is most commonly a mix of powdered graphite and clay; it was invented by Nicolas-Jacques Conté in 1795. [60] [61] It is chemically unrelated to the metal lead, whose ores had a similar appearance, hence the continuation of the name.
Aaron Bartholmey started a pencil collection after a Christmas gift from his first-grade teacher. Three decades later, he has a Guinness World Record. This Iowan has collected pencils for 30 years.
Joseph Dixon (1799–1869) was an inventor, entrepreneur and the founder of what became the Dixon Ticonderoga Company, a well-known manufacturer of pencils in the United States. His fascination with new technologies led to many innovations such as a mirror for a camera that was the forerunner of the viewfinder , a patented double-crank steam ...
Pencils made of pure graphite easily crumbled and broke. Thus in 1771 Faber undertook the first attempts to improve pencils by combining ground graphite with sulfur, antimony, and binding resins. The technique of gluing pencils into wooden sticks [clarification needed] was already well known in Nuremberg at that time, but Faber did not use it.