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Pencil sharpener
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Pencil sharpener
A pencil sharpener (or pencil pointer, or in Ireland parer or topper) is a tool for sharpening a wood-cased pencil's writing point by shaving away its worn surface. Pencil sharpeners may be operated manually or by an electric motor. Many sharpeners have a casing around them to contain the pencil shavings produced during use.
Before the development of dedicated pencil sharpeners, pencils were typically sharpened by shaving with a blade. Often a knife was used to whittle a point.
The development of pencil sharpeners began in France when a French book from 1822 reported in detail about an invention of Mr. C. A. Boucher (Paris) for the construction of a pencil sharpener. He was working with pantographs and apparently needed a device to precisely sharpen the pencils. The device of Mr. Boucher was technically sensible and functional. His idea was also internationally known and recognized, as shown by corresponding reports in German literature at this time. But Mr. Boucher had not applied a patent for his pencil sharpener. Commercial use of his inventions is unlikely.
French mathematician Bernard Lassimonne (Limoges) applied for the world's first patent (French patent #2444) on a pencil sharpener in 1828. Pencil sharpener devices using his patent were actually produced and sold by Binant, a shop for painting accessories in Paris. In 1833 in England, Cooper & Eckstein patented the so-called Styloxynon, a simple device consisting of two sharp files set together at right angle in a small block of rosewood. This is the oldest pencil sharpener that has surviving examples.
In the 1830s and 1840s, some French people, all based in Paris, were engaged in construction of simple pencil sharpening tools, like François Joseph Lahausse. These devices were partially sold, but without supra-regional significance. In 1847, the French nobleman Thierry des Estivaux invented a simple hand-held pencil sharpener in its recognizable modern form. The first American pencil sharpener was patented by Walter Kittredge Foster of Bangor, Maine in 1855. He founded a company – the first pencil sharpener company in the world – and produced such small hand-held pencil sharpeners in a large amount. Only a few years later the sharpeners were sold also in Europe as "American pencil sharpeners".
At the end of the 19th century, especially in the United States, pencil sharpeners with various mechanisms had been developed and put on the market. These devices were often heavy and intended for use in schools and universities. Examples are the Perfect Pencil Pointer (Goodell. Co.), the GEM Pencil Sharpener (by Gould & Cook Co.), the Planetary Pencil Sharpener (A. B. Dick Company), all from the US or the Jupiter (Guhl & Harbeck Co.) from Germany. At the beginning of the 20th century the company Automatic Pencil Sharpener Co. (APSCO) was founded and brought out the US Automatic Pencil Sharpener after 1907, which dominated in those years. They later sold machines with milling mechanisms, such as the Climax, Dexter, Wizard, and Junior models. In the next few decades, APSCO became the largest pencil sharpening machine producer in the world and together with a few other US companies, it dominated the market.
Electric pencil sharpeners for offices have been made since at least 1917.
In May 2011, tourism officials in Logan, Ohio, put on display, in its regional welcome center, hundreds of pencil sharpeners which had been collected by Rev. Paul Johnson, an Ohio minister who died in 2010. Johnson, a World War II veteran, had kept his collection of more than 3,400 sharpeners in a small shed, outside his home in Carbon Hill in southeast Ohio. He had started collecting after his wife gave him a few pencil sharpeners as a gift in the late 1980s and kept them organized into categories, including cats, Christmas, and Disneyland.
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Pencil sharpener AI simulator
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Pencil sharpener
A pencil sharpener (or pencil pointer, or in Ireland parer or topper) is a tool for sharpening a wood-cased pencil's writing point by shaving away its worn surface. Pencil sharpeners may be operated manually or by an electric motor. Many sharpeners have a casing around them to contain the pencil shavings produced during use.
Before the development of dedicated pencil sharpeners, pencils were typically sharpened by shaving with a blade. Often a knife was used to whittle a point.
The development of pencil sharpeners began in France when a French book from 1822 reported in detail about an invention of Mr. C. A. Boucher (Paris) for the construction of a pencil sharpener. He was working with pantographs and apparently needed a device to precisely sharpen the pencils. The device of Mr. Boucher was technically sensible and functional. His idea was also internationally known and recognized, as shown by corresponding reports in German literature at this time. But Mr. Boucher had not applied a patent for his pencil sharpener. Commercial use of his inventions is unlikely.
French mathematician Bernard Lassimonne (Limoges) applied for the world's first patent (French patent #2444) on a pencil sharpener in 1828. Pencil sharpener devices using his patent were actually produced and sold by Binant, a shop for painting accessories in Paris. In 1833 in England, Cooper & Eckstein patented the so-called Styloxynon, a simple device consisting of two sharp files set together at right angle in a small block of rosewood. This is the oldest pencil sharpener that has surviving examples.
In the 1830s and 1840s, some French people, all based in Paris, were engaged in construction of simple pencil sharpening tools, like François Joseph Lahausse. These devices were partially sold, but without supra-regional significance. In 1847, the French nobleman Thierry des Estivaux invented a simple hand-held pencil sharpener in its recognizable modern form. The first American pencil sharpener was patented by Walter Kittredge Foster of Bangor, Maine in 1855. He founded a company – the first pencil sharpener company in the world – and produced such small hand-held pencil sharpeners in a large amount. Only a few years later the sharpeners were sold also in Europe as "American pencil sharpeners".
At the end of the 19th century, especially in the United States, pencil sharpeners with various mechanisms had been developed and put on the market. These devices were often heavy and intended for use in schools and universities. Examples are the Perfect Pencil Pointer (Goodell. Co.), the GEM Pencil Sharpener (by Gould & Cook Co.), the Planetary Pencil Sharpener (A. B. Dick Company), all from the US or the Jupiter (Guhl & Harbeck Co.) from Germany. At the beginning of the 20th century the company Automatic Pencil Sharpener Co. (APSCO) was founded and brought out the US Automatic Pencil Sharpener after 1907, which dominated in those years. They later sold machines with milling mechanisms, such as the Climax, Dexter, Wizard, and Junior models. In the next few decades, APSCO became the largest pencil sharpening machine producer in the world and together with a few other US companies, it dominated the market.
Electric pencil sharpeners for offices have been made since at least 1917.
In May 2011, tourism officials in Logan, Ohio, put on display, in its regional welcome center, hundreds of pencil sharpeners which had been collected by Rev. Paul Johnson, an Ohio minister who died in 2010. Johnson, a World War II veteran, had kept his collection of more than 3,400 sharpeners in a small shed, outside his home in Carbon Hill in southeast Ohio. He had started collecting after his wife gave him a few pencil sharpeners as a gift in the late 1980s and kept them organized into categories, including cats, Christmas, and Disneyland.
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