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Group of Three Eagle Pencil Company Drawing Leads

National Museum of American History

Object Details

Eagle Pencil Company
Description
Two of these leads are 5-1/8" in length and are marked: SSWS MADE U.S.A. U.S. PAT. 1,832,654 (/) 3H EAGLE TURQUOISE ® ELECTRONIC 3H. One lead is 4" long and marked: SSWS MADE U.S.A. U.S. PAT. 1,832,654 (/) 2H EAGLE TURQUOISE ® ELECTRONIC 2H.
Adolf Pischel of New York City and Paul Pischel of London, England, applied in Germany in 1928 and in the United States in 1929 for patents on a process that made a plastic from "earthy matter," graphite, and Turkey red oil, forming the plastic into pencil leads. They assigned their U.S. patent to the Eagle Pencil Company.
German immigrant Heinrich Berolzheimer opened Eagle Pencil Company as a pencil shop in New York City in 1856, with a factory in Yonkers. By 1880, the firm made mechanical pencils as well as pens and erasers. Its Turquoise line of drawing leads was widely sold in the first half of the 20th century. In 1969 the company changed its name to Berol Corporation, and the Empire Pencil Corporation purchased it in 1986.
These objects were received and are stored with a set of drawing instruments, 1985.0909.01. The set was owned by Harald Trap Friis (1893–1976), a Danish emigrant who became a prominent radio engineer for Bell Labs.
Reference: Adolf Pischel and Paul Pischel, "Process for Manufacturing Rods from Plastic Materials" (U.S. Patent 1,832,654 issued November 17, 1931).
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Transfer from Library of Congress, Exchange and Gift Division
1929-1958
ID Number
1985.0909.04
accession number
1985.0909
catalog number
1985.0909.04
Object Name
leads, group of three
pencils
Physical Description
plastic (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 13 cm x .6 cm x .2 cm; 5 1/8 in x 1/4 in x 3/32 in
place made
United States: New York, New York City
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Pens and Pencils
Science & Mathematics
National Museum of American History
Subject
Mathematics
Drafting, Engineering
writing implements
Record ID
nmah_1214602
Metadata Usage (text)
CC0
GUID (Link to Original Record)
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a9-bc96-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

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Pencil Leads
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
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