Prior to his tinkering with graphite and clay, the few people who did write resorted to the quill and ink, at best a messy and impracticable business. He also developed, accidentally, stove polish and with the money earned from that venture went on to make graphite crucibles for steel making processes which were destined to become technical and financial successes and the foundation of the Dixon enterprises.ĭixon, who has been compared with Edison for his contributions to the betterment of mankind, is best known as the father of the modern pencil. Instead his agile mind turned to solving problems and improving processes in a wide field, covering such diverse achievements as a file cutting machine (in those days files and all been made by hand), the development of photo-lithography, years ahead of its practical usefulness, the invention of new dyes and inks which made the counterfeiting of bank notes the virtual impossibility it is today. Next week sees the anniversary of his birth in the little town of Marblehead, Mass., in 1799, where his father, a shipowner had visions of his son becoming a physician.įortunately for the world and Newmarket, young Joe's interest in the healing profession waned. Today they earn their living through the original dogged persistence of this ingenious inventor who in turn was ship's boy, prankster, chemist, printer, woodcarver and bibliographer. Old Joe Dixon deserves a warm place in the hearts of many townsfolk. The extra leads make it a reusable tool too.Newmarket Era and Express, 14 January 1960, page 1 It looks good, it does write without having to click or advance and the super-short lead exposure is particularly good for people who are heavy writers. I also would have preferred a wood casing to a plastic casing for the nice smell and the less likelihood of melting or cracking in severe weather but all-in-all I find it pleasing. I tend to prefer a 0.5mm pencil lead but this works fine and if you prefer the wider lead, this might be a great option. I wrote “Eraser works” next to the “Eraser works?” question and there is almost no evidence of the word at all so yes, the eraser works well. It seems to like to be a stubby little plastic tip. It does not keep the longer length though. I did figure out that you could trick the pencil into giving a longer bit of lead by pushing the conical tip up towards the pencil body a couple times. I did find it a little odd that only a fraction of the lead was sticking out of the plastic tip - more like a rollerball pen tip than a traditional mechanical pencil but as long as you don’t write or sketch at a severe angle, it never really presented a problem. I played with the pencil on and off all week at work trying to see it if ever showed no lead or too much lead but it didn’t. The way the pencil lead works is that everytime you lift the pencil a tiny bit more lead is made available. Only one lead can be added to the pencil as a time so this little tube is useful for being able to carry a few spares easily. There is a cap at the base end which will reveal the leads. When you unscrew the pencil at the eraser ferrule you can pull out the lead tube.
What was not made quite clear on the packaging is that inside the pencil is a tube of spare leads. I admit that if it hadn’t been such a handsome pencil I probably wouldn’t have purchased it. It looks quite similar to a regular wood pencil though its actually a plastic body. The logo lettering is stamped in a green to match the ferrule and the ferrule has the classic yellow stripes painted. It has a classic hexagonal shape of a traditional wood pencil. The pencil contains 0.7mm HB #2 lead and is encased in a metallic silver body with a green metal ferrule and black eraser. It claims to be an auto-advancing so I had to see it worked. It came on a blister card as a set of two. One of the items I found was the Ticonderoga Sensematic Mechanical Pencil. I recently had a little excursion to the local Office Depot which requires a pass through the pen and pencil department no matter why I went in originally.
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