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 Company SPICESS: Interconnections - Pencil and the World and its Connections to it. WORKSHEET available at slideshare link: http://www.slideshare.net/yaryalitsa/worksheet-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-company *Full animation of pages ONLY when downloaded. Especially Slide Three: The table will show information. :) Fonts different when downloaded.

1. The Pencil being: ‘Mongol 482’ by Eberhard Faber Pencil Company

2. “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"
based on “‘I, Pencil’: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read”
The Pencil being: ‘Mongol 482’ by Eberhard Faber Pencil Company

3. B a l l a s ’ P e n c i l C o .
Body Eraser
(rubber, plug)
Ferrule
Point/Nib Label
(lettering)
Part Material
Point/Nib Graphite (clay, gums, candelilla wax) writing cores of the pencil.
Body Wood (Cedar) [Lacquer on Body: castor oil; castor beans]
Label Combination of carbon black and resins
Eraser Factice and rubber; pumice, sulphur chloride [latex: natural rubber]
Ferrule Metal: 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 – there’s 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"
Parts of the Pencil

4. based on “‘I, Pencil’: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read”
The 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.

5. based on “‘I, Pencil’: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read”
The Pencil being: ‘Mongol 482’ by Eberhard Faber Pencil Company
Further 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 don’t 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!

6. based on “‘I, Pencil’: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read”
The Pencil being: ‘Mongol 482’ by Eberhard Faber Pencil Company
Now 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 ¼ 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?

7. based on “‘I, Pencil’: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read”
The Pencil being: ‘Mongol 482’ by Eberhard Faber Pencil Company
At the pencil factory:
The slats go through a
process of production:
‘The Pencil Sandwich’.
Ingredients of the Pencil Sandwich
Graphite: mined in Ceylon.
Consider the miners and the makers of their
tools.
Clay: Mississippi
The 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.

8. based on “‘I, Pencil’: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read”
The Pencil being: ‘Mongol 482’ by Eberhard Faber Pencil Company
The ‘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?
Don’t 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’.

9. based on “‘I, Pencil’: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read”
The Pencil being: ‘Mongol 482’ by Eberhard Faber Pencil Company
Finishing 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:
That’s 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.

10. based on “‘I, Pencil’: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read”
The Pencil being: ‘Mongol 482’ by Eberhard Faber Pencil Company
The 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.

11. based on “‘I, Pencil’: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read”
The Pencil being: ‘Mongol 482’ by Eberhard Faber Pencil Company
A 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.”

12. based 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.
That’s why
Pencil 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!

13. based on “‘I, Pencil’: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read”
Creative Agency Cossette
together with Amnesty
International created an
advertising campaign to raise
awareness on injustice and
violence in the world
Sharpen Your
Pencil
Our campaign increased traffic
by 10% on December 8. What’s
more, we surpassed our letter-
writing goal by 60%.
About the CAMPAIGN: Sharpen Your Pencils

14. based on “‘I, Pencil’: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read”
Video: Amnesty International: Campaign: Sharpen Your Pencils

15. based on “‘I, Pencil’: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read”

16. based on “‘I, Pencil’: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read”

17. based 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

18. based on “‘I, Pencil’: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read”
“ABOUT ALEX HAMMOND & MIKE TINNEY
THE 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
who’ll help the next generation of children themselves, create.”
The Secret Life of Pencil

19. based 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 century’s 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

20. Delicate Pencil Sculptures
Carved by: Salavat Fidai
By Christopher Jobson
Video: Eiffel Tower Pencil
Carving by Salavat Fidai
based on “‘I, Pencil’: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read”

21. Voilà 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, doesn’t 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]; that’s 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"

22. – acronym –
“A word formed from the first letters of other words.”
Scale
Environment
Change
Interconnection
Space
Place
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 Earth’s surface.
A part of the Earth’s surface that is identified and given
meaning by people.
Sustainability The ongoing capacity of Earth to maintain all life.
Interconnection
The relationship between all things, both animate and
inanimate, and all processes, both natural and human.

23. The picture on your left illustrates the steps involved in the
manufacturing of the modern day pencil.
1. It starts with a block of cedar.
2. Which is then cut into slats.
3. The slats are stained.
4. Grooves are then cut into one surface.
5. Prepared leads are placed into the grooves.
6. A second slat is placed on top and bonded with the first.
7. The now ‘pencil sandwich’ is passed through a milling
process.
8. This separates the individual pencils.
9. The pencils are painted.
10. The pencils are finished.
11. A ferrule is crimped on the end.
12. An eraser is crimped into the ferrule.
Steps in producing a modern day pencil

24. What did or didn’t 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.

25. The Lead Pencil Myth
There 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 wouldn’t 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.
WritingImplements:RomanStyli

26. 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
world’s GRAPHITE.
 GRAPHITE production increased in China
Madagascar and Sri Lanka from 2012.
 2012 saw a decrease in production from Brazil.
Graphite: What is it?
So 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 graphite’s
distinctive greasy feel.
Graphite is the only non-metal element
that is a good conductor of electricity.
Graphite: What is it?

27. Materials and Countries
Material Countries
Candelilla wax Mexico,
Castor Bean Oil Brazil, India, New Mexico Texas,
Copper (+ Zinc = Brass) USA, Chile, Australia, China, Peru, Russia
Clay Kazakhstan, Estonia, Kentucky, Georgia,
Factice Indonesia, Java (Dutch East Indies)
Graphite Brazil, Mexico, Montana, Mississippi, Ceylon,
Metal (Aluminium) Sweden. South Africa
Paint (Lacquer) Kazakhstan, Estonia
Pumice California, New Mexico, Italy,
Rubber Thailand, Malaysia
Soybean oil (latex from trees South America, USA, Brazil, Argentina, China, India
Wood (Softwood) China, Mozambique
Zinc (+ copper = Brass) Australia, Canada, China, India, Peru, USA

28. The Myth of the Yellow Pencil
Since 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 Petroski’s
‘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 1790
KOH-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.
1790 An earthenware factory was founded in Vienna by Josef Hardtmuth
1802 The production of graphite leads from graphite and clay was patented
1808 A new factory producing pencils and earthenware in Vienna was built
1848 The factory was relocated from Vienna to České Budějovice
1870 The production of earthenware was terminated; the focus of the production now switched to pencils
The KOH-I-NOOR website

29. • Amnesty International: Sharpen Your Pencil – Campaign
• Art Sponge Mode: Getting to Know your Pencils
• Days of the Year: Pencil Day
• Eberhard Faber Factory in New York, 1903
• "I, Pencil: My Family Tree as told to Leonard E. Read“
• I, Pencil: The Movie - based on the essay by Leonard E. Read (1958)
• Lead in your Pencil
• Pencil Museum
• Mineral Information Studio: Get to the Point
• Video: Discovery Channel: How It's Made - Pencils
• Writing Instruments over 6000 years