0:00:00.198,0:00:03.563
The sound is a really big part, I think,[br]of the experience of using a pencil,

0:00:03.588,0:00:07.064
and it has this really[br]audible scratchiness.

0:00:07.088,0:00:09.290
(Scratching)

0:00:10.286,0:00:12.806
[Small thing. Big idea.]

0:00:13.985,0:00:16.313
[Caroline Weaver on[br]the Pencil]

0:00:16.556,0:00:18.926
The pencil is a very simple object.

0:00:18.950,0:00:21.435
It's made of wood[br]with some layers of paint

0:00:21.459,0:00:22.975
an eraser and a core,

0:00:22.999,0:00:25.395
which is made out of graphite,[br]clay and water.

0:00:25.419,0:00:27.951
Yeah, it took hundreds[br]of people over centuries

0:00:27.975,0:00:29.651
to come to this design.

0:00:29.675,0:00:32.956
And it's that long history[br]of collaboration

0:00:32.980,0:00:35.638
that, to me, makes it[br]a very perfect object.

0:00:36.075,0:00:38.349
The story of the pencil[br]starts with graphite.

0:00:38.373,0:00:41.290
People started finding[br]really useful applications

0:00:41.314,0:00:42.925
for this new substance.

0:00:42.949,0:00:45.107
They cut it into small sticks

0:00:45.131,0:00:47.599
and wrapped it in string[br]or sheepskin or paper

0:00:47.623,0:00:49.617
and sold it on the streets of London

0:00:49.641,0:00:51.797
to be used for writing or for drawing

0:00:51.821,0:00:54.313
or, a lot of times,[br]by farmers and shepherds,

0:00:54.337,0:00:55.996
who used it to mark their animals.

0:00:56.020,0:00:57.263
Over in France,

0:00:57.287,0:01:01.441
Nicolas-Jacques Conté figured out a method[br]of grinding the graphite,

0:01:01.465,0:01:04.584
mixing it with powdered clay[br]and water to make a paste.

0:01:04.608,0:01:07.777
From there, this paste was filled[br]into a mold and fired in a kiln,

0:01:07.801,0:01:10.751
and the result was[br]a really strong graphite core

0:01:10.775,0:01:13.894
that wasn't breakable,[br]that was smooth, usable --

0:01:13.918,0:01:17.014
it was so much better than anything else[br]that existed at the time,

0:01:17.038,0:01:20.848
and to this day, that's the method[br]that's still used in making pencils.

0:01:21.461,0:01:24.588
Meanwhile, over in America,[br]in Concord, Massachusetts,

0:01:24.612,0:01:27.660
it was Henry David Thoreau[br]who came up with the grading scale

0:01:27.684,0:01:29.770
for different hardnesses of pencil.

0:01:29.794,0:01:31.717
It was graded one through four,

0:01:31.741,0:01:35.392
number two being the ideal[br]hardness for general use.

0:01:35.416,0:01:37.966
The softer the pencil,[br]the more graphite it had in it,

0:01:37.990,0:01:40.355
and the darker and smoother[br]the line will be.

0:01:41.495,0:01:43.782
The firmer the pencil,[br]the more clay it had in it

0:01:43.806,0:01:45.816
and the lighter and finer it will be.

0:01:46.607,0:01:49.774
Originally, when pencils were handmade,[br]they were made round.

0:01:49.798,0:01:51.472
There was no easy way to make them,

0:01:51.496,0:01:54.758
and it was the Americans[br]who really mechanized the craft.

0:01:54.782,0:01:56.728
A lot of people credit Joseph Dixon

0:01:56.752,0:02:00.440
for being one of the first people[br]to start developing actual machines

0:02:00.464,0:02:04.371
to do things like cut wood slats,[br]cut grooves into the wood,

0:02:04.395,0:02:05.604
apply glue to them ...

0:02:05.628,0:02:08.439
And they figured out[br]it was easier and less wasteful

0:02:08.463,0:02:10.091
to do a hexagonal pencil,

0:02:10.115,0:02:11.973
and so that became the standard.

0:02:12.558,0:02:14.121
Since the early days of pencils,

0:02:14.145,0:02:16.210
people have loved that they can be erased.

0:02:17.942,0:02:19.510
Originally, it was bread crumbs

0:02:19.534,0:02:21.617
that were used[br]to scratch away pencil marks

0:02:21.641,0:02:23.210
and later, rubber and pumice.

0:02:23.675,0:02:26.967
The attached eraser happened in 1858,

0:02:26.991,0:02:30.948
when American stationer[br]Hymen Lipman patented the first pencil

0:02:30.972,0:02:32.354
with an attached eraser,

0:02:32.378,0:02:34.250
which really changed the pencil game.

0:02:34.965,0:02:38.359
The world's first yellow pencil[br]was the KOH-I-NOOR 1500.

0:02:38.383,0:02:39.888
KOH-I-NOOR did this crazy thing

0:02:39.912,0:02:42.825
where they painted this pencil[br]with 14 coats of yellow paint

0:02:42.849,0:02:44.782
and dipped the end in 14-carat gold.

0:02:45.442,0:02:47.016
There is a pencil for everyone,

0:02:47.040,0:02:49.447
and every pencil has a story.

0:02:50.046,0:02:54.425
The Blackwing 602 is famous[br]for being used by a lot of writers,

0:02:54.449,0:02:57.409
especially John Steinbeck[br]and Vladimir Nabokov.

0:02:57.433,0:03:00.037
And then, you have[br]the Dixon pencil company.

0:03:00.061,0:03:02.998
They're responsible[br]for the Dixon Ticonderoga.

0:03:03.022,0:03:04.173
It's an icon,

0:03:04.197,0:03:06.724
it's what people think of[br]when they think of a pencil

0:03:06.748,0:03:09.171
and what they think of[br]when they think of school.

0:03:09.195,0:03:11.409
And the pencil's really[br]a thing that, I think,

0:03:11.433,0:03:13.910
the average user[br]has never thought twice about,

0:03:13.934,0:03:16.079
how it's made or why it's made[br]the way it is,

0:03:16.103,0:03:18.047
because it's just always been that way.

0:03:19.050,0:03:21.284
In my opinion, there's nothing[br]that can be done

0:03:21.308,0:03:23.172
to make the pencil better than it is.

0:03:24.267,0:03:25.417
It's perfect.