History of the pencil

That night in 1565, a storm broke out in the English county of Cumberland. It was raining all the time, and the gusts of the wind were so strong that even the young strong trees bent to the ground. It is not surprising that in the morning the inhabitants had to remove a lot of old trees torn from the roots. Under one of them discovered a black stone that had not been seen before.

Not much time passed, and by a royal decree, this stone was categorically forbidden to be exported from England. In addition, the stone was allowed to mine only six weeks a year. Violators were waiting for the death penalty. .. What kind of stone, which cost more than human life? He was not a gem or a diamond, although he was with the latter in "family relations".And he was valued for one quality: surprisingly soft, he left clear black marks on the fabric, paper, light skin. So graphite was found, which became the main material for the production of pencils.

A very familiar combination of words - a simple pencil. How was it born? What does the word "simple" mean? The design of the pencil itself or the look of that black trace that leaves the pencil? But is it simple, this simple pencil? After all, in the language of specialists it is called in another way: black graphite. The life of this seemingly unpretentious device for writing and drawing was also very difficult.

His distant ancestor can be considered a fireball from a fire, which the primitive man created the first masterpieces of painting on the walls of caves.

With the advent of paper, new tools for writing and drawing were needed. Ink and ink were born. But to carry everywhere with a bubble with ink, wait until they dry, suffer from blots and poor quality of feathers - occupation is not for artists. Therefore, from time immemorial, the painters tried to use various improvised means.

Information has been preserved that graphite rods for writing and drawing were already known in ancient Greece. But with the decline of antiquity, the rods, like much more, were forgotten by mankind. And when people faced a problem than draw, it was solved simply by simple charcoal. It was possible to take a charred rod from the hearth and draw. But this is a way for children. Professionals needed better tools. They were recommended to cut dry and thin willow sticks, to plan, to sharpen from both sides, to tie into bundles, and then: "Take a new pot and put it in so that the pot was full. Then take the lid and cover it with clay to make the pot impervious to smoke. In the evening, go to the baker when he finishes his work, put this pot in the oven and leave it there until morning, and in the morning see if the coals are well burned and whether they are black enough. "This is a recommendation from the "Treatise on Painting" by Cennino Chennini, an Italian Renaissance painter.

But, despite all the tricks, coal still remained coal - it fell from the paper, dirty hands, easily smeared on the drawing.

Masters invented different methods to combat this. For example, the paper was covered with an aqueous solution of glue and dried. Then they painted charcoal on these sheets. When the work was drawing to a close, the drawing was held over the steam. As a result, the adhesive layer was moistened and absorbed coal. And when the drawing dried up, the coal turned out to be quite well fixed.

Another way - to draw with metal sticks - pins. He is also known for a long time. Lead gave lines of pale gray color. They were not suitable for drawing, but they were quite suitable for stitching lines for text. When the pin was made from the material into which lead was added, a darker line was obtained, which eventually darkened further under the influence of air. It, however, could easily be wiped with breadcrumb or pumice stone. The silver pin left a dark gray line, which browned in the air. But to remove it could not do anything, the silver pin did not forgive mistakes. It is clear that only such masters of drawing could use it, who did not spend a single extra line. Until now, silver drawings of Durer, Leonardo da Vinci, Lucas Cranach have been preserved.

Cave pattern.

Leonardo da Vinci was not only a great artist, but also a great experimenter in painting. It was he who found the sanguine - "red chalk".To this day, many red-brown pencils without a rim are used by many artists. During the Renaissance in France, a pastel was invented - "colored chalk".Pastels were prepared by pressing the various paints, mixed with resin, with milk, and powdered into a fine powder. Sometimes still added chalk, gypsum, talc. Drawing pastel is characterized by softness, velvety, smoothness of transitions of tones. Probably, that's why it appealed to painters.

Self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci.

Periodically, in different countries, there were deposits of graphite, for example in the 15th century in Piedmont. Graphite was quickly appreciated by artists. But the fields were soon depleted. How to be? In France, where there were no deposits of graphite, they began to mix ordinary soot from lamps with white clay, the so-called Parisian pencil or "sauce" turned out. He, unlike natural Italian, was softer and less scratched paper. Today, sticks, pencils-"sauce" is made from a fine powder of coal and soot, in which a very weak glue is added.

Graphite deposits in England, with the history of the discovery of which we began the story, ended in two centuries. And again in the course went metal pins.

By inventing the usual simple pencil, humanity is obliged to the occasion. Once the owner of one of the Czech factories for the manufacture of chemical glassware - a certain Joseph Hartmut considered the finished product. Unintentionally, he dropped one of the cups-crucibles. Some splinter, flying past, left a clear black trace on the paper. Hartmut became interested in this and found out that a graphite powder had been added to the clay. He began to experiment, mixing in varying proportions clay and graphite powder. As a result, rods for writing were born, which their creator called "Kohinor" - "without equal."It happened in the late 18th century.

At the same time, independently of Hartmut, the French mechanic and painter N. Conte proposed making the writing rods from a mixture of graphite powder and clay and placing them in a wooden shell. So pencils were born in the usual way for us. Since then, over 200 years past, the technology of making pencils has practically not changed.

In Russia, simple pencils before the revolution were brought mainly from Germany. Domestic did not have a good quality and could not compete with the Germans. But after 1917 the supplies of pencils ceased, and we had to establish our own production. The first pencil factory was opened in 1926 in Moscow at the suggestion of the American industrialist Armand Hammer. In 1932, the state bought the factory, and today it is called the "Moscow Plant of Writing Accessories".Sacco and Vanzetti".In 1926, the pencil factory named after Vernadsky was opened. LB Krasina. At that time the whole country sat down at desks and the slogan of Vladimir Mayakovsky was very actual: "You give pencils that are good!" In the first year, 38 million pencils were produced, and in time our industry began to produce more than a billion pieces in a year!

So, the pencils are made up of a wooden shirt and a lead. But to get the existing 21 types of degrees of hardness, you have to spend a lot of effort. First, you must grind the graphite to such a state that the finest cosmetic powder looks rough under the microscope compared to graphite, then mix it with clay( the harder the pencil, the more clay in it), press the mass through the holes and dry the obtained rods in a special furnace.

There are a lot of difficulties with "clothes" for pencils. After all, not all wood is suitable. The cedar is the best, but it has become an expensive and rare raw material, so the poplar, linden, alder come into play. First saw the size of a palm. They should be steep, dry, then wood( if it's not cedar) ennobled( impregnated with a special compound), make in the board six slots, in which the slates are laid. But first the plates are glued with glue. Above put the same plaque and press them to each other. After the glue dries, the boards are cut into six blanks that are ground. Then they are covered with paint four times, twice with varnish. Finally, the pencil gets a "passport" - it is labeled. In our country, letters are put: M - soft, T - solid, TM - medium hardness - and figures showing the degree of hardness or softness.

What pencils are not produced in the world! The most varied in size and section are round, hexagonal, octagonal, trihedral, flat, elliptical. There are pencils with brushes, rubber pencils. Or a pencil that can be sharpened without a knife - you just have to tear the nail between the holes on paper, in several layers tightly wound on graphite. There are pencils with a magnifying glass on the end, pencils with a bells. The bells wince, and writing becomes more fun. There are pencils with a calendar, a multiplication table, portraits of film artists, flags of states, with alphabet, road signs or advertising texts. Even aromatic pencils are produced. You can, for example, draw an orange, which will please not only the eye, but also the sense of smell. And what are the bad fortified pencils for schoolchildren who are used to gnawing them?

Pencils faithfully and reliably serve people for many years. They take with them scuba divers for notes and sketches under the water. The pencil is impeccable in zero-gravity conditions. At the polar stations and glaciers, "eternal" or ballpoint pens can lead - to freeze. Pencil - no.

Pencil loved to write A. Tolstoy, W. Faulkner, L. Leonov, J. Verne, J. Rainis. His fantastic works were written

pencil chained to bed A. Belyaev. Thanks to a pencil, the "Story of My Life" by the scientist and revolutionary N. Morozov, who spent 23 years in prison, reached us. He managed not only to write, but also to render what was written during his release. He invented such a trick: he covered the pages of the manuscript with a gelatin solution, folded it into bundles and tightly squeezed. It was a dense cardboard, which no one paid attention to.

Want to know how much your name and name weigh? Multiply the number of letters by 0.00033 grams - that's how much one letter written in pencil weighs. A simple pencil of medium hardness can hold a line 55 km long or write 45 thousand words.

Do you know?

Why does the pencil leave a mark on the paper? Why does it not crumble and at the same time it can be quite easily erased by an eraser?

This is due to the crystalline structure of graphite. In the plane of the crystal, the carbon atoms are interconnected by very strong chemical forces. In a piece of graphite, separate layers-planes are held not by chemical, but by much less strong molecular forces. Due to this structure, graphite is scaly, it is soft and slippery to the touch. That is why it is so simple - even from contact with paper - and it stratifies. At the same time, it is very difficult to break a graphite plate in the transverse direction, here a chemical bond is acting.

To erase a pencil with a rubber eraser is easy because during mechanical action( friction) forces of interaction between rubber and graphite molecules arise and at the same time forces that adhere to graphite particles are broken. As a result, the eraser simply pulls out graphite molecules from the paper.