![]() ![]() Dick Planetary Pencil Pointer was patented in 1896 and sold until the mid-1910s. The photo to the right shows the cutter for a Planetary Pencil Pointer. The cutters came in a number of shapes, including disks with cutting edges on the face, wheels with cutting edges on the periphery, cones and cylinders. While the Gem and Perfect remained in production into the 1910s, few new pencil sharpener models that relied on abrasion were introduced after 1900.Ī large number of early pencil sharpeners used either one or two steel milling cutters with multiple raised cutting edges. At $1 to $1.75, the Perfect was among the least expensive mechanical pencil sharpeners available until the mid-1910s. Another otherwise identical model is longer. One model is 9.75” long and weighs 10 oz. Unlike most early pencil sharpeners, which are made principally of cast iron, the Perfect is made largely of wood. As you slide the carriage along the horizontal wooden shaft, the pencil rubs the file and simultaneously rotates. You then grasp the carriage and press the side of the pencil tip against the file. You insert the pencil into the chuck, which is mounted in a circular sliding carriage. ![]() This antique pencil pointer uses a stationary steel file to sharpen the pencil. The Perfect Pencil Pointer was patented in 1890 and sold until the mid-1910s. This large antique pencil sharpener is 7.75” tall and weighs 5 lb. When you turn the crank, both the sandpaper disk and the pencil rotate. The Gem uses a rotating sandpaper disk 5.75” in diameter to sharpen the pencil. The Gould & Cook Gem Pencil Sharpener was patented in 1886 and sold until 1918. For example, the 1900 Challenge pencil sharpener simultaneously used a blade to cut the wood and sandpaper to sharpen the lead. Yet other machines use from one to a dozen or more blades. A few used two of these methods. Other machines use a steel milling cutter with multiple cutting edges. One category of antique pencil sharpener relies on abrasive media such as sandpaper or a steel file. During this three-decade period, commercially successful mechanical sharpeners embodied a wide variety of approaches to the central problems involved in sharpening a pencil, namely, to remove wood from the point and sharpen the lead, and either to rotate the pencil or to rotate the cutter around the pencil, all without breaking the lead.Īntique mechanical pencil sharpeners can be divided into three categories based on the cutting medium or mechanism. between 18, scores of machines were introduced between 18. While a handful of mechanical pencil sharpeners were patented in the U.S. On the European continent, sharpeners with different technologies continued to be sold as late as the 1960s. (Click here to read about the history of lead pencils.) In the US, the period of innovation virtually ended in the mid-1910s, when pencil sharpeners employing twin planetary cylinders with spiral cutting edges (image to right) drove from the market machines with numerous alternative sharpening technologies that had co-existed for as long as twenty-five years. This work commenced in earnest shortly after mass production of wood-cased lead pencils with round leads began in the late 1870s. 650, Eagle Pencil Co., New York, NY, patented 1906īetween the 1880s and 1910s, numerous inventors and companies took up the challenge of supplying offices, schools, draftsmen, artists, and eventually homes with efficient machines to sharpen lead pencils. ![]() Left: Eureka Pencil Sharpener, patented 1869 (Two images immediately below) For our exhibit of Small Pencil Sharpeners from 1837 to 1915, click here. Small handheld pencil sharpeners were popular beginning in the mid-19th century. Until the early 20th century, the most common method of sharpening pencils was whittling with a pen knife. Unfortunately, it appears that the newest version of Internet Explorer no longer recognizes the HTML code used for these moving pictures. You can see the movement if you use the Firefox browser. This page and a number of other pages on this website have photos that show pencil sharpeners and staplers in motion to enable you to see how they work. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |