A Rainy Day Project

This article has been edited and included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 5; copies are available print on demand through Amazon here, and I offer an ebook version in pdf format at the Legendary Lead Company here.

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Here’s a couple of fairly straightforward-looking pencils:

I found the yellow one first, and I pulled it aside because I found that top just a little intriguing.  When you unscrew it, you can adjust the eraser up and down within two prongs.  It’s essentially a Faber Pony Clip pencil, with the clamping action acting on the eraser rather than the lead:

When the black one found its way to the museum, it added another dimension of intrigue:

“Russell / Pat. Pend.”  Since the only thing that’s different about these pencils is the eraser arrangement, I”m sure that’s what the patent application referred to.  American Writing Instrument Patents Vol. 2: 1911-1945 only goes through . . . well, 1945 of course, and from the looks of this one it might have come sometime after 1945, but there’s nothing in there like this one (all the adjustable eraser patents have some sort of a screw drive arrangement to propel the lead, while this one acts just like a catch-and-release leadholder).  Perhaps, of course, the patent was never issued at all.

I did start a Volume 3 which was projected to run up through 2000, but when sales were slow of the first two patent books I decided to hold off on that project until the first two at least broke even.  Maybe I’ll dust off my notes and see what I’ve got there some rainy day.