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]
The article also tells us that "most pencils sold in Europe are made without erasers." So, an American attached an eraser to a pencil 145 years ago and the Europeans still don't put them together. What does this mean?
Article comments
1 - andy
hehe I liked that. Do European keyboards come w/ a backspace or delete key? hehe
2 - Tim Hall
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.
3 - andy
On this side of the Atlantic, we have rubbers too! Except, you can't write with them...unless you're REALLY skilled
4 - Eric Olsen
Hey Tim, you would.
5 - Brian
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...
6 - Eric Olsen
Don't trouble me with your "facts" - it's the concept that counts.
7 - andy
everyone just calm down now...it's just an eraser hehe
8 - Nigel Richardson
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.
9 - Coorinna Hasofferett
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.
10 - The Theory
*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.
11 - Corinna Hasofferett
May I comment that I am sincerely impressed with The Theory's most revealing confession?
12 - Raisa Chumillo
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.