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On March 30, 1858, a patent was issued for a pencil with an eraser on the end – the sort we still use today.
What we call a “lead” pencil doesn’t actually have lead in it. #Graphite is the dark material that marks the paper.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #capebreton Image
#Graphite was discovered in 1564 in #Borrowdale, #England. At first locals thought it was coal but it wouldn't burn. Then they thought it was lead, which the Romans had used in styluses for writing on wax tablets or papyrus. That’s why we call them lead pencils.
#nspoli #cbpoli Image
#Graphite pencils were soon being used by shepherds in Northern #England to mark sheep. As the use of pencils spread, people used balled-up bread to erase until the 1770s when the rubber eraser was invented.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #capebreton Image
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