Today's post asks the question: What makes a mechanical pencil? Day three's Nestler with its complex double-push action definitely qualifies; the simple cedar pencils of day two, clearly not. Going…
Most modern fineliner pencils come in a range of different lead sizes within the same basic chassis, typified by Pentel's P200 range which are identical in design except for the…
It's Monday and we all probably need a bit of cheering up, so today's post is completely free from obscure patents, overcomplicated mechanisms and wacky design features (unless you count…
Day the fourth be with you! On that note, it's hard to think of a more quadratic pencil than the Eversharp 4 Square. This was a mechanical pencil of square…
As promised, today's entry brings together Slide Rule Saturday and Mechanical Pencil Month in the hope of fostering a new spirit of love and cooperation between the two rival kingdoms.…
As a bit of weekend fun, here's something called a Rechenstift - German for "calculating pen" - by the venerable Hamburg firm of Dennert & Pape, erstwhile inventors of the…
A recent discussion with Peter Hopp of Slide Rules fame, prompted by an item in the latest UKSRC Newsletter, finally encouraged me to photograph some of my fan scales. This type of…
A recent discussion about instruments named after mythological figures brought to mind the "Titan" Combination Compass, a simple design that aimed to provide a full drawing set in a box.…
The name Rotring will forever be synonymous with the tubular technical pens on which their business was built, so it easy to forget that they were also highly regarded for…
