Show origin of lead pencils T P HE peculiar thing about the so called lead pencil is that it is not a lead pencil at all it is made of graphite and contains not the slightest trace of lead the first pencils made of graphite which comes from the greek word graphe gra pho meaning 1 I write were invented back in the time of queen elizabeth they created q quite bite a stir because they were much easier to write with than the old goo sequill pens and could be carried around anywhere stocks of the graphite mines in england underwent almost as big a boom as wildcat gold mine stocks did during the gold rush days but after the first excitement was over the early pencils proved to be too expensive tor for ordinary use the graphite had to be cut with crude saws and since it broke very easily there was a tremendous waste it was not until 1795 when a frenchman named conte conceived the idea of using pulverized graphite with binding clay that pencils became cheap enough for popular consumption an even bigger impetus was given to the pencil industry when an englishman happened to think ot of tipping them with rubber erasers he was smart enough to patent his idea and during the years that his patent lasted his roy royalties altie 3 amounted to over annually R it just goes goe s to show ow how much money can be made from one good idea |