Sharpeners

A pencil sharpener (also referred to as pencil parer) is a device for sharpening a pencil's point by shaving one end. Pencil sharpeners exist in both electric and hand-powered forms. more...

History

Pencils were in use before the development of devices specifically to sharpen them. Previously, they were sharpened by shaving with a knife. Pencil sharpeners made this task much easier and gave a more uniform result. Some specialized types, such as a Carpenter's Pencil are still usually sharpened with a knife, due to their flat shape, though recently a fixed-blade device with a rotatable collar has become available.

Bernard Lassimone, a French mathematician, applied for the first patent (French patent #2444) on pencil sharpeners in 1828. In 1847, Therry des Estwaux invented the manual pencil sharpener. John Lee Love invented the portable sharpener originally made for artists. About.com claims that the Hammacher Schlemmer Company of New York offered the world's first electric pencil sharpener, as designed by Raymond Loewy, sometime in the early 1940s.l They now come in a wide array of colors and shapes. Now, it is common for traditional sharpeners to have a case around them so that the shavings do not fall, you can then remove this and empty the case.

Mechanical sharpeners

A mechanical pencil sharpener is hand-powered. A common, portable variety is usually small, about 1 inch (2.5 cm) in size, and has no moving parts. The tip of the pencil is inserted into the hole of the sharpener and twisted, while holding the sharpener motionless. A blade inside the sharpener shaves the wood of the pencil, thus sharpening the tip. Such sharpeners can be bare or enclosed in a container to collect the shavings. The base of such a sharpener is often made of aluminium, magnesium or hard plastic.

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