In America You Can Do it Over Again
Published March 27, 2003
Okay, so maybe I'm overreaching a bit, looking for grand patterns where there are only tenuously associated facts, but I think this minor anniversary actually reveals the soul of America:
- Sunday marks the 145th anniversary of a great marriage. On that date in 1858, the first patent was issued to Hyman Lipman, an inventor from Philadelphia, for attaching an eraser to a pencil. Unfortunately for Lipman, the patent later was ruled invalid because officials said his invention was just a combination of two existing things, not a new use.
Hey, it was still a good idea, and we'll celebrate erasers anyway.
What you want the eraser to get rid of - black pencil, color pencil or ink marks - determines its makeup. Erasers made for graphite in black pencils work by adhesion, lifting the mark from the paper. But ink soaks in, so in that case an eraser is needed that actually removes the top layer of paper. Some erasers also contain small amounts of solvents that dissolve ink.
....Pencil erasers are made by putting blended ingredients into a heated machine called an extruder. The compound is pressed through a nozzle, producing a long ribbon eraser, which then is cut into smaller lengths. Synthetic rubber erasers are vulcanized (cooked under pressure) to cure the rubber, but vinyl erasers skip this part.
After being cooled in bath water, erasers are chopped into plugs, and the synthetic ones are tumbled to create their round edges. A rotating hopper lines up the plugs and sends them down a conveyor belt where they're ready to meet the ferrules (the bands of metal on pencil ends). Plungers push glue-filled ferrules onto pencil ends, and others fill them with plugs.
And why don't pencil erasers last as long as the rest of the pencil? Manufacturers are mum, but one company rep was heard mumbling, "Maybe if people didn't make so many mistakes . . ." [Cleveland.com]
- In America You Can Do it Over Again
- Published: March 27, 2003
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- Section: Culture
- Writer: Eric Olsen
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Comments on this articleComments
My keyboard has a delete key, but it's doesn't work. Probably a sign that my laptop is approaching the end of it's useful life.
On this side of the Atlantic, we have rubbers too! Except, you can't write with them...unless you're REALLY skilled
Hey Tim, you would.
Actually, I always felt better with a big eraser next to me than that dinky eraser on my no. 2 pencil. My dad would always buy me a good eraser when school year started.
For me, the eraser on the back of my pencil actually caused more anxiousness (oh! I should have caught that error sooner, now I'll have to erase 2 lines and risk ripping up the page.)
Sorry, but I think your column may be a little overreacting...
Don't trouble me with your "facts" - it's the concept that counts.
everyone just calm down now...it's just an eraser hehe
I always found the eraser wore away long before the pencil and there was always that horrible finger-down-the-blackboard sensation when you released that instead of rubber it was the metal ferule (is that the right word?) that was being scraped across the paper and probably ripping it. Keep the rubber and the pencil separate I say! No compromise.
Germany has erasers attached to pencils.
Now I understand why.
What I do not understand is why would USA ever need an eraser, on or off a pencil. Perfection needs no erasers.
*cough*
i like the erasers on pencils more than the off-pencil erasers. it's simpler and easier to use.
however, I don't use erasers as much at all anymore just because i use pens and computers... and i use my computer backspace/delete key all the time.
peace.
May I comment that I am sincerely impressed with The Theory's most revealing confession?
I teach in a Title I school, my students are very poor, we get 2 boxes of your Sanford American Jumbo#2 pencils for the year and the led is broken in every single one, what a waist of our very limited budget. I would not recommend these pencils to anyone.
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hehe I liked that. Do European keyboards come w/ a backspace or delete key? hehe