The Smell of Freshly Sharpened Pencils

February 25th, 2013 |

I don’t know about anyone else, but I love the smell of freshly sharpened pencils.  Now it seems difficult to find anything other than plastic mechanical pencils, but less than 150 years ago lead pencils were only first being mass produced.  To meet the production advancements of pencil manufacturers, new companies were also racing to produce a user-friendly pencil sharpener.  First patented in 1906, this Automatic Pencil Sharpener was made by the Automatic Pencil Sharpener Co., Inc. in Chicago, Ill.  The sharpener uses 3 blades to shave off the wood casing surrounding the lead, while a small drawer in the bottom catches the shavings.  The Automatic Pencil Sharpener cost $2.50 new, and remained a best seller until the grooved, barrel, pencil sharpener design became the standard.

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