Today in History
March 30, 1858
Hymen L. Lipman makes his mark in pencil history
The graphite pencil is first developed sometime in the mid to late 1500s. (Its first known literary appearance is in a 1565 treatise on fossils by German-Swiss naturalist Konrad Gesner, who touts the convenience of this new-fangled writing implement.) Graphite pencils are soon realized to be a convenient alternative to pen and ink, and devices to cleanly hold raw graphite are devised and evolve and by the end of the 17th century. Pencils begin to resemble the supply room staple we recognize today: a rod of graphite encased in a piece of wood. However, it is Hymen Lipman of Philadelphia who has the idea of attaching a piece of rubber inside one end of the pencil. On this day in 1858, Lipman is issued a patent for marrying the pencil to the eraser.
Unfortunately for Lipman, the patent would later be revoked, when the U.S. Supreme Court rules in 1875 that a pencil with an eraser is just a pencil with an eraser and not a new invention.
Unfortunately for Lipman, the patent would later be revoked, when the U.S. Supreme Court rules in 1875 that a pencil with an eraser is just a pencil with an eraser and not a new invention.
March 2009
Today's Feature History Article
Sharp Pencils
How three pioneering reporters reshaped the way the press covers elections-and politics itself
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