MARCH 30: Pencils-With-Erasers Day

illustrated by Dominique Liongson

March 30… A day that commemorates the innovation of pencils with eraser tips.

Let's see if you can answer any of these questions:

1) Do pencil manufacturers make erasers, too?

2) Who issued the first patent for attaching an eraser to a pencil?

3) Why was the eraser referred to as a "rubber"?

4) What do eraser manufacturers call the little erasers on pencil ends?

5) If today's erasers are made something other than rubber, what other substances are used to make them?

If you click and read The Great Eraser Caper: Eraser Facts and Fun, you will get the answers of these little known facts (or not-so-little known facts :-).

Here are more trivia that I learned from the same article:

--Pencils with built-in erasers are an American innovation.

--Pencils were first patented on 30 March 1858.

--In Europe, most pencils are sold without eraser heads.

Here are some snippets about pencils and me with built-in erasers:

--My one of my earliest memories with the pencil with a built-in eraser was the fatter Jumbo version that I used when I was in kindergarten.

--When the built-in eraser of my pencil is consumed to its crown level, I used to bite the pencil's crown to push out more eraser stuff. (Ew!)

--I used to lick my finger and rub out the pencil mark when I have no eraser to use.  With this method I used to think to myself: "Who needs erasers when you can lick and rub?"  Then I learned erasers still have their place for neater erasures.  Lick and rub makes my work look sloppy.  Kinda gross, too.

--I recall the times when I get peeved over low-end pencils with built-in erasers; the eraser does not erase but leaves an untidy smudge on the paper, and sometimes the pencil mark on the paper is not dark enough.

To end this blog entry, let us read a quotable quote on the wisdom of a pencil:

“We all make mistakes. That's why my pencil has an eraser.”

― Chris Grabenstein, Tilt-a-Whirl

:-( -> :-| -> :-)
DL
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"Compassion crowns the soul with its truest victory."
--Aberjhani, "The River of Winged Dreams"