NATIONAL PENCIL DAY MARCH 30

NATIONAL PENCIL DAY

MARCH 30

National Pencil Day is on March 30 and it is the perfect moment to explore these old writing tools.The day has been observed since the 1970s but who first launched the celebration, we've not been able to identify.Each year, March 30th National Pencil Day honors the writing utensil that has done more than just teach millions the alphabet and draw straight lines. It’s also helped win wars and enabled amazing art.

Hymen Lipman received the first patent for attaching an eraser to the end of a pencil on this day in 1858. Before that time, pencils and erasers existed separately. Lipman combined the two making two tools much more convenient to use. The intuitive businessman also manufactured envelopes for his stationery shop and was the first to add adhesive to the flap of envelopes.

Pencils have always been a necessary tool for creative people. Artists often pick up a pencil to scratch out a rough outline of an idea. However, those who live for the pencil know the feel for graphite. The black and white medium brings out beautiful works of art that achieve phenomenal depth. It’s also one of the first art classes many of us take. However, the carpenter requires a pencil for marking a piece, too. Whether working on a carving or building a piece of furniture, the masterpiece will require a pencil. And then, the overachievers of the world see the pencil as art. They get right to point and place the art on the very tip of the pencil’s tip. Miniature art carvings fascinate and amaze us.

In the United States, most pencils are painted yellow. It is believed this tradition began in 1890 when the L & C Hardtmuth Company of Austria-Hungary introduced their Koh-I-Noor brand, named after the famous diamond. They intended the pencil to be the world’s best and most expensive pencil. However, other companies began to copy the yellow color so that their pencils would be associated with the high-quality brand.

Thomas Edison had pencils specially made by Eagle Pencil. His pencils were three inches long, thicker than standard pencils, and had softer graphite than typically available.Vladimir Nabokov rewrote everything he ever published, usually several times, by pencil.

Prof. John Kurakar