Genealogy of the pencil - based on “‘I, Pencil’: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read”...

29
Genealogy of the pencil based on “‘I, Pencil’: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read” The Pencil being: ‘Mongol 482’ by Eberhard Faber Pencil

Transcript of Genealogy of the pencil - based on “‘I, Pencil’: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read”...

PowerPoint Presentation

Genealogy of the pencilbased on I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. ReadThe Pencil being: Mongol 482 by Eberhard Faber Pencil Company

I am a lead pencil the ordinary wooden pencil familiar to all boys and girls and adults who can read and write.*(*My official name is Mongo 482)"I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read"I, Pencil, his most famous essay, was first published in the December 1958 issue of The Freeman. Although a few of the manufacturing details and places have changed over the past fifty or so years, the principles are unchanged."I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read"

Genealogy of the pencilbased on I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. ReadThe Pencil being: Mongol 482 by Eberhard Faber Pencil Company

Ballas Pencil Co.BodyEraser(rubber, plug)FerrulePoint/NibLabel(lettering)PartMaterialPoint/NibGraphite (clay, gums, candelilla wax) writing cores of the pencil.BodyWood (Cedar) [Lacquer on Body: castor oil; castor beans]LabelCombination of carbon black and resinsEraserFactice and rubber; pumice, sulphur chloride [latex: natural rubber]FerruleMetal: Brass (zinc and copper); aluminium; [coating on ferrule: black nickel]

Pick me up and look me over. What do you see? Not much meets the eye theres some wood, lacquer, the printed labelling, graphite lead, a bit of metal and an eraser."I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read"Genealogy of the pencilParts of the Pencil

Genealogy of the pencilbased on I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. ReadThe Pencil being: Mongol 482 by Eberhard Faber Pencil Company

In the beginning:The Family Tree begins with an actually TREE.A cedar of straight grain that grows in Northern California.Now think about:The saws, trucks and rope and other gear used in harvesting and carting the cedar logs to the railroad siding.

Genealogy of the pencilbased on I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. ReadThe Pencil being: Mongol 482 by Eberhard Faber Pencil CompanyFurther think about:All the people and numerous skills that went into their productions/fabrication: the mining of ore, the making of steel and its refinement into saws, axes, motors.Also:The growing of hemp and taking it through the stages to heavy and strong rope.And dont forget:The logging camps with their beds and eating areas, the cookery and the food supply. Even the cup of coffee drunk by the loggers had many a hand in making it!

Genealogy of the pencilbased on I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. ReadThe Pencil being: Mongol 482 by Eberhard Faber Pencil CompanyNow the where to the logs:The logs are shipped to a mill in San Leandro, California.

Think by ship: Who builds the ships? What type of skills are required? Who runs the ships and who mans them? What fuel is required? Who constructed the engine?

Think by road: What fuel is required? Diesel? Petrol? Where does the oil come from/imported from? Who digs it out? Who places it into barrels? Who makes the oil drills?

What happens to the logs at the mill?:They are cut into small pencil-length slats less than of an inch in thickness. Then kiln dried and tinted. They are waxed and kiln dried again. What skills went into the kiln? In the tint? In all that is required by a Mill? Where does the power come from?

Genealogy of the pencilbased on I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. ReadThe Pencil being: Mongol 482 by Eberhard Faber Pencil CompanyAt the pencil factory:The slats go through a process of production:The Pencil Sandwich.

Ingredients of the Pencil SandwichGraphite: mined in Ceylon.Consider the miners and the makers of their tools.Clay: MississippiThe graphite is mixed with clay and in the refining process ammonium hydroxide is used.Then they add:Wetting agent like sulphonated tallow (animal fats chemically reacted with sulphuric acid.)After passing thru numerous machines it finally appears as endless extrusions as from a sausage grinder it is cut to size, dried and baked for several hours at 1,850 degrees Fahrenheit.To make them stronger and smoother the leads are then treated with a hot mixture which includes candelilla wax from Mexico, paraffin wax and hydrogenated natural fats.

Genealogy of the pencilbased on I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. ReadThe Pencil being: Mongol 482 by Eberhard Faber Pencil CompanyThe Pencil Factory:How did the Pencil Factory get there? The building? The machinery? More women than men, why? What skills were involved? Carpentry? Woodworking? Bleistiftery? Where were these bleistift (pencil) skills learnt? Were schools built? Teachers hired? Were they trained?

Dont overlook the ancestors of the past, of the present and to be in the future who had, have and will have a hand in The Pencil Genealogy.

Genealogy of the pencilbased on I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. ReadThe Pencil being: Mongol 482 by Eberhard Faber Pencil CompanyFinishing touches:Externally I require six coats of lacquer.Lacquer derives from castor beans that are refined to caster oil. Who would think that growers of castor beans are part of my ancestry?

Labeling:Thats a film formed by applying heat to carbon black mixed with resins.

What is Carbon Black?It is a fine, black powder essentially composed of carbon which helps strengthen things we use every day as well as last longer. It is produced by pyrolysis [partially burning low-value oil residues at high temperatures under controlled process conditions]. Carbon black is mainly used to strengthen rubber in tyres, also as a pigment, UV stabilizer, conductive agent or insulating agent in a variety of specialty rubber, plastic, ink and paint applications.

Genealogy of the pencilbased on I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. ReadThe Pencil being: Mongol 482 by Eberhard Faber Pencil CompanyThe Ferrule:My Ferrule is metal; brass to be exact made with zinc and copper. Think of all those people who mined the zinc and copper; those who transported it; those who had and have the skills to make shiny sheets of brass from these products of nature. The black rings on my ferrule are black nickel; how are they applied?

The crowning glory: My Plug (Eraser)The eraser contains an ingredient called factice; this is what does the erasing. It is a rubber-like product made by reacting rape-seed oil from the Dutch East indies with sulphur chloride. The rubber is only for binding purposes. Then there are numerous vulcanizing and accelerating agents. The pumice comes from Italy; and the pigment which gives the eraser its colour is cadmium sulphide.

Genealogy of the pencilbased on I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. ReadThe Pencil being: Mongol 482 by Eberhard Faber Pencil CompanyA Complex combination of Miracles:I, Pencil am a complex combination of miracles: a tree, zinc copper, graphite and so on. But to these miracles which manifest themselves in Nature an even more extraordinary miracle has been added:

THE CONFIGURATION OF CREATIVE HUMAN ENERGIES

- millions of tiny know-hows configuring naturally and spontaneously in response to human necessity and desire and IN THE ABSENCE OF ANY HUMAN MASTER-MINDING!...

The lesson I have to teach in this:LEAVE ALL CREATIVE ENERGIES UNINHIBITED.

Merely organize society to act in harmony with this lesson

I, Pencil, seemingly simple though I am, offer the miracle of my creation as testimony that this is a practical faith, as practical as the sun, the rain, a cedar tree the good earth.

In fact, as has been famously shown in the essay I, Pencil by Economist Leonard Reed, no single person can make a pencil alone and it takes the market price system and the collaboration of many individuals and companies with their specialized knowledge to produce even just one pencil. To produce many pencils efficiently thus involves a complex supply chain, extending around the world, that can be surprising to the newly initiated.

The Configuration of Creative Human Energiesbased on I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read

With so many types of pens, from the everyday biro to the decadent fountain and the multipurpose Sharpie, the humble pencil is often overlooked.

Thats whyPencil Day

is here to remind us just how amazing a stick of graphite encased in a tube of wood can be.Happy Pencil Day. Write On!

The Configuration of Creative Human Energiesbased on I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. ReadCreative AgencyCossettetogether withAmnesty International created an advertising campaign to raise awareness on injustice and violence in the worldSharpen Your Pencil

Our campaign increased traffic by 10% on December 8. Whats more, we surpassed our letter-writing goal by 60%.

About the CAMPAIGN: Sharpen Your Pencils

The Configuration of Creative Human Energiesbased on I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read

Video: Amnesty International: Campaign: Sharpen Your Pencils

The Configuration of Creative Human Energiesbased on I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read

The Configuration of Creative Human Energiesbased on I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read

The Configuration of Creative Human Energiesbased on I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read

Children in Crisis is a UK-based charity, helping children who are suffering the effects of conflict & civil war. They work to ensure that these children are educated, protected and that the most vulnerable amongst them do not suffer discrimination. Currently operating in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

By using the proceeds from our forthcoming book & exhibition, we aim to support their projects, helping to provide reading, writing and thinking skills, along with pens, pencils and paper; to give the opportunity to some of the less fortunate to flourish, learn, create and design

The pencil is a catalyst for creativity for all people, of all ages, in all places. A catalyst for a positive way out of poverty and trauma.

The Secret Life of the Pencil and Children in Crisis with their shared visual symbol is a natural and powerful partnership for change.Children in Crisis Organization Website

The Configuration of Creative Human Energiesbased on I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. ReadABOUT ALEX HAMMOND & MIKE TINNEYTHE SECRET LIFE OF THE PENCIL - was dreamt up by industrial designer Alex Hammond and photographer Mike Tinney to highlight the demise of the once all-powerful pencil.

They were aware that many children around the world do not have the luxury of choice when it comes to educational tools. A natural alliance was formed with the charity Children in Crisis who share the symbol of the pencil as a catalyst for creativity and a positive tool to battle poverty and trauma.

Join Alex and Mike in celebrating what has been created, whilst raising funds to support Children in Crisis wholl help the next generation of children themselves, create.The Secret Life of Pencil

The Configuration of Creative Human Energiesbased on I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read

Offering not just an appreciation of the pencil but an insight into the lives of the people who use them, the pencils offer a direct link back to some of the 20th and 21st centurys greatest illustrations, artworks,, fashion and poems.

All of this pencil craft is for a good cause. Working hand-in-hand with the charity Children in Crisis, The Secret Life of the Pencil hopes to raise money and awareness for children who are suffering the effects of conflict & civil war.Artsthread: The Secret Life of the Pencil

Delicate Pencil SculpturesCarved by: Salavat FidaiBy Christopher Jobson

Video: Eiffel Tower Pencil Carving by Salavat FidaiThe Configuration of Creative Human Energiesbased on I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read

The miracle of making the pencilVoil le crayon!A timeless creative tool I am a lead pencil the ordinary wooden pencil familiar to all boys and girls and adults who can read and write.*(*My official name is Mongo 482. My many ingredients are assembled, fabricated and finished by Eberhard Faber Pencil Company.)"I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read"Simple? Yet not a single person on the face of this earth knows how to make me. This sounds fantastic, doesnt it? Especially when it is realized that there are about one and one-half billion of my kind produced in the USA each year."I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read"

Writing is both my vocation and my avocation [hobby]; thats all I do."I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read"I, Pencil, simple though I appear to be, merit your wonder and awe, a claim I shall attempt to prove if you can become aware of the miraculousness which I symbolize, you can help save the freedom mankind is so unhappily losing. I have a profound lesson to teach. And I can teach this lesson better than can an automobile or an airplane or a mechanical dishwasher because well, because I am seemingly so simple."I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read"

s.p.i.c.e.s.s acronym A word formed from the first letters of other words.SPICESScaleEnvironmentChangeInterconnectionSpacePlace======The spatial level at which a geographical inquiry takes place personal, local, regional, nation or global.A specific place on Earth and all the things, both animate and inanimate, that are there.The dynamic nature of all process on Earth, whether slow or fast, small or large.The relationship between all things, both animate and inanimate, and all processes, both natural and human.The way things are arranged on the Earths surface.

A part of the Earths surface that is identified and given meaning by people.S=SustainabilityThe ongoing capacity of Earth to maintain all life.

InterconnectionThe relationship between all things, both animate and inanimate, and all processes, both natural and human.

The picture on your left illustrates the steps involved in the manufacturing of the modern day pencil.

It starts with a block of cedar.Which is then cut into slats.The slats are stained.Grooves are then cut into one surface.Prepared leads are placed into the grooves.A second slat is placed on top and bonded with the first.The now pencil sandwich is passed through a milling process.This separates the individual pencils.The pencils are painted.The pencils are finished.A ferrule is crimped on the end.An eraser is crimped into the ferrule.The making of The PencilSteps in producing a modern day pencil

pencil factsWhat did or didnt you know about pencils?Lead pencils contain no lead. Graphite was thought to be lead even though it did not really contain the element lead, and this term stuck which is why to this day we still call the black rod of the pencil lead.Graphite is extremely soft an smudges anything with which it comes into contact. Graphite feels greasy or slippery to the touch.The less clay mixed with graphite, the softer and blacker the lead will be.Wood cases for most pencils are made of incense cedar, a North American tree of the cypress family.Wood for pencils must be straight-grained and of a texture that can be cut against the grain with a pencil sharpener.The word pencil comes from the Latin PENICILLUS, which means little brush. The English made the first graphite pencils in the mid-1500s.The Germans were the first to enclose the graphite in a wood case, about 1650.Nicolas Jacques Conte of France, in 1795, developed a pencil-making process that manufacturers still use today.William Monroe of Concord, Mass., in 1812, sold the first American-made pencils to a Boston hardware dealer.Eberhard Faber, an American businessman built the first mass-production pencil factory in the United States in 1861.More than 2.5 billion pencils are sold each year in the United States alone about 11 pencils for each person in the country.Before people started encasing graphite in wood, they wrapped it with sheepskin or strings to prevent it from breaking.

What is The pencil made of?The Lead Pencil MythThere is no lead in pencils today. The core is made up of a non-toxic mineral called GRAPHITE. The common name PENCIL LEAD is due to an historic association with the stylus made of lead in ancient Roman times. Around 1300BC the Romans scribed into thin sheets of wax (on wooden tablets). They used a metal stylus. When they no longer needed the writing, they rubbed it out with the flat end of the stylus. The modern LEAD-FREE pencil first appeared in the 1500s, in Borrowdale, in the Cumberland Lakes District of England.

The legend has it that a large tree blew over, and the local shepherds noticed a black material clinging to the roots. They tried to burn it thinking it was COAL but it wouldnt burn; what they discovered was GRAPHITE which is actually a variety of CARBON. At the time they thought it was just a variety of LEAD, so they called it BLACK LEAD. Nonetheless, they did find a use for it; they marked their sheep with it.

Although writing pencils made of GRAPHITE were first used around 1565, writing pencils that used lead were still commonly used in the 18th century why? Because they were cheaper even though they were toxic. Lead pencils became extinct only in the early 20th century.

Writing Implements: Roman Styli

Throughout 2012-2013 demand worldwide for GRAPHITE increased. It is believed that this increase resulted from the improvement of GLOBAL ECONOMIC CONDITIONS and its IMPACT on industries that use GRAPHITE.

Principal sources of NATURAL GRAPHITE:China, Mexico Canada, Brazil and Madagascar.Mexico and Vietnam provided AMORPHOUS GRAPHITE.Sri Lanka provides all the lump and chippy dust variety.China, Canada and Madagascar are major suppliers of CRYSTALLINE FLAKE AND FLAKE DUST GRAPHITE.During 2013 China produced the majority of the worlds GRAPHITE.GRAPHITE production increased in China Madagascar and Sri Lanka from 2012.2012 saw a decrease in production from Brazil.Graphite: What is it?GRaphiteSo what is it?

Pure graphite is a mineral form of the element carbon (element #6, symbol C).

It is an extremely soft mineral and it breaks into minute, flexible flakes that easily slide over one another. This feature accounts for graphites distinctive greasy feel.

Graphite is the only non-metal element that is a good conductor of electricity.Graphite: What is it?

Where does the pencil come from?Materials and CountriesMaterialCountriesCandelilla waxMexico,Castor Bean OilBrazil, India, New Mexico Texas,Copper (+ Zinc = Brass)USA, Chile, Australia, China, Peru, RussiaClayKazakhstan, Estonia, Kentucky, Georgia,FacticeIndonesia, Java (Dutch East Indies)GraphiteBrazil, Mexico, Montana, Mississippi, Ceylon,Metal (Aluminium)Sweden. South AfricaPaint (Lacquer)Kazakhstan, EstoniaPumiceCalifornia, New Mexico, Italy,RubberThailand, MalaysiaSoybean oil (latex from treesSouth America, USA, Brazil, Argentina, China, IndiaWood (Softwood)China, MozambiqueZinc (+ copper = Brass)Australia, Canada, China, India, Peru, USA

Why yellow pencils?The Myth of the Yellow PencilSince 1890s American pencils have been painted predominately yellow. There is a story or a Myth if you choose to call it that.

During the 1800s, the best graphite in the world came from China. The yellow colour in China is associated with royalty and respect and since the American pencil makers wanted to tell people they were using Chinese graphite for their pencils they began painting their pencils bright yellow to communicate this association with China.

There is another myth that according to Henry Petroskis History of the Pencil, the European producer Koh-I-Noor** was the first to introduce a yellow pencil. The Yellow Pencil

**KOH-I-NOOR HARDTMUTH - TOOLS FOR CREATORS SINCE 1790KOH-I-NOOR HARDTMUTH a.s. is one of the world leaders in the production and distribution of first-rate stationery for artists, schools and offices.The company is a member of the KOH-I-NOOR holding a.s. Group.

1790An earthenware factory was founded in Vienna by Josef Hardtmuth1802The production of graphite leads from graphite and clay was patented1808A new factory producing pencils and earthenware in Vienna was built1848The factory was relocated from Vienna to esk Budjovice1870The production of earthenware was terminated; the focus of the production now switched to pencilsThe KOH-I-NOOR website

Amnesty International: Sharpen Your Pencil CampaignArt Sponge Mode: Getting to Know your PencilsDays of the Year: Pencil DayEberhard Faber Factory in New York, 1903"I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. ReadI, Pencil: The Movie - based on the essay by Leonard E. Read (1958)Lead in your PencilPencil MuseumMineral Information Studio: Get to the PointVideo: Discovery Channel: How It's Made - PencilsWriting Instruments over 6000 years

Bibliography, Webography &ResourcesAssembled by: A. Ballas