What’s new
a reverse chronological history of Leadholder
Dennis B. Smith, curator
2001 April 25 — 2001 July 27
I’ve begun updating Leadholder more frequently than I care to revise this “What’s New” page. I will update this page in batches when I’ve changed or added to the site significantly. Look for the “
” symbols for the most recent additions.
Reconfigured the navigation for the Patents section.
Reworked the former “Print” section into the preliminary Catalog section, and added several catalogs.
Added pages from the Frederick Post Co. 1936 catalog.
Added pages from the Keystone Blue Paper Co. c.1910 catalog.
The Wooden Drafting Pencils section has been expanded.
Added US patent 33,034 from 1861. (The earliest clutch pencil?).
Added the Theo. Alteneder & Sons leadholder to the Gallery (at long last).
Added two more Russian leadholders to the Gallery.
Added US Patent Number
Theo. Alteneder & Sons leadholder that I do not have scanned yet. So now, at least, you can see a drawing of it.)
Added
Leadholder Mechanisms section (preliminary).
Added
About Leadholder Lead section (very preliminary).
Added a
Site Map to provide a convenient overview of this growing site.
Added several lead boxes to the
Lead Box Gallery.
Updated many, many other things to numerous to worry yourself about.
Exciting News (It’s all relative, isn’t it?): The
History of Leadholders section has been rewritten with new, reliable information as to the origin of leadholders. It seems the first leadholder suitable for drafting was introduced by A.W. Faber in
1873 1861. I’m not sure of the precise model name for this leadholder, or whether it was introduced in Germany before the USA (most likely), but the
A.W. Faber “Graphite De Siberie De La Mine Alibert No. 4” is, if not the original, then identical in form to the first leadholder.
Almost as exciting as finally finding out what the first leadholder was, is my acquisition of what could be the Holy Grail of leadholders: a Theo. Alteneder & Sons! I found it in an unremarkable Post drafting set. The Alteneder is unique in that it was designed and manufactured by toolmakers, not pencil makers. It is crafted from the same gratuitously extravagant materials off pre-WWII drafting tool sets: fine nickel-silver and rosewood. The bad news is that I don't have it scanned yet, so you can't see it.
Added the
Lead Box Gallery. It really only barely exists. I thought if I just made the Lead Gallery active, maybe it would motivate me to catalog my lead. Lead is so damn boring though, I'm not sure it's going to work.
Added
patent information for the Sputnik-like
Apsco Tri-Pointer
Updated and renamed the
A.W. Faber “Graphite De Siberie De La Mine Alibert No. 4” leadholder.
Updated the
Koh-I-Noor 5616 Gallery entry with two vintage examples
Updated a few minor things. Follow the dots.
Removed the slide lock clutch category. This primitive style of leadholder is now discussed in the
History section.
Well, “very soon” has arrived. I again reworked the Gallery thumbnail image scheme. I removed leadholder thumbnails which were minor variations of one model leaving a single example to represent the model. Doing so after adding the new items reduced the page from 180K to 145K, still larger than would be ideal. Sue me.
Updated the
History of Leadholders
Updated the
Links with a link to a new Yahoo discussion group devoted to drafting instruments
Added the Russian
“Kimek” leadholder to Gallery
Added the
Staedtler Mars-Technico 500 lead pointer to Gallery
Updated the
Eagle Turquoise 10 Gallery entry
Updated the
Alvin “Scott” B/2 Gallery entry
Updated the
Venus Drawing leadholder Gallery entry
Updated the
J.S. Staedtler Mars-Lumograph 1021 Gallery entry
Updated the
Staedtler Mars Technigraph 780 Gallery entry
Updated the
Grafo/Koh-I-Noor Versatil 5347 Gallery entry
Updated the
Koh-I-Noor 5611 Gallery entry
Updated the
Koh-I-Noor 5611 (plastic) Gallery entry
Updated the
Faber-Castell Locktite 9400 Gallery entry
Updated the
Faber-Castell TK 9400 Gallery entry
Updated the
Precision-Point lead pointer Gallery entry
Reworked the Gallery thumbnail image scheme. The Gallery thumbnail navigation was topping 200K, so I split the leadholders and lead pointers into exclusive Galleries. The leadholder thumbnail navigation is still over 150K, so I'll probably reformat again in some way very soon.
Added the
Leadholders and Pointers for Sale section
Added the
Eberhard Faber Microtomic 605 to Gallery
Added the
A.W. Faber Sure-Grip 6803 to Gallery
Added the
Koh-I-Noor 999 lead pointer to Gallery
Added the
DUX 3250 lead pointer to Gallery
Added the
DUX Universal lead pointer to Gallery
Added the
Hadinor 165 lead pointer to Gallery
Added the
Hadinor 53484 lead pointer to Gallery
Added the
Dahle 53482 lead pointer to Gallery
Added the
Dahle 301 lead pointer to Gallery
Updated the
L&C Hardtmuth “Koh-I-Noor” 1511 Gallery entry
Updated the
Faber-Castell Locktite 9400 Gallery entry
Updated the
Faber-Castell TK 9400 Gallery entry
Updated the
Faber-Castell Locktite 9800 SG Gallery entry
Major update this time...
I've recently acquired a large number of leadholders from David Cullen, a longtime drafting instrument collector who had decided to liquidate his pencils. His collection was extensive and thanks to his efforts I will be adding a great deal of material to this website in the coming months.
A Netherlander couple, Gerard and Marijke Prudon, curators of a super-extensive pencil sharpener collection which also includes a number of interesting lead pointers, have kindly allowed me to use images of pointers from their collection. Images from Gerard and Marijke will be credited as such in the Gallery. They have a pencil sharpener website,
pencilsharpener.start4all.com, which serves as a gateway to an incredible quantity of information regarding pencil sharpeners.
I reconfigured the site navigation to a vertical scheme. The horizontal format had it goin' on when the site consisted of nothing but pictures of thin pencils, but now there is such a variety of information to display I decided to reconfigure. It was a large job and there are still some rough edges here and there, including a lack of title graphics, but those should be polished up soon enough.
Added
Site Usage Notes section to explain a few things
Added the bizarre
Apsco Tri-Pointer to Gallery
Added a gorgeous
Dixon's Eldorado 163 to Gallery
Added early
Eagle Turquoise 3375 variant to Gallery
Added
Eberhard Faber “Van Dyke” 609 to Gallery
Added
Alvin “Scott” B/2 to Gallery
Added
D. J. Fugle Leadlok (silver) variant to Gallery
Added
L&C Hardtmuth 4082 to Gallery
Added
Koh-I-Noor 48 to Gallery
Added
J.S. Staedtler Mars-Lumograph 1021 to Gallery
Added
Venus Drawing (alligator finish) to Gallery
Added
Worther Shorty (red) to Gallery
Added additional variants of the
C-Thru 3502 to Gallery
Added newer
L&C Hardtmuth “Koh-I-Noor” 1511 variant to Gallery
Added US Patent
2,339,514, Clutch Pencil
Added US Patent
Des. 166,161, Clutch Pencil or Similar Article
Updated the
History of Leadholders
Added
Database of Leadholder Leads
Updated the
Grafo Versatil Gallery entry
Updated the
History of Leadholders
Updated the
Leadholder Patents
Updated the
Precisionpoint Patent. It features an unusually lucid and informative opening few paragraphs.
Updated and renamed the “Index of Leadholders” to the
Leadholder Database
Added
Precisionpoint 110 lead pointer to Gallery
Added
Alvin Pro-Matic De-Lux to Gallery
Added
Staedtler Mars Technico 782 to Gallery
Many minor revisions
Added
Patents page
Added
Koh-I-Noor 5617 “Select-O-Matic” to Gallery
Added
Koh-I-Noor 992WC lead pointer to Gallery
Added US patent
Design 144,474, Pencil Lead Holder
Added US patent
2,751,700, Indicators
Added US patent
4,124,048, Lead Sharpener
Added US patent
2,540,320, Pencil Pointer
Added US patent
2,801,613, Lead Gripping Means
Added US patent
3,042,003, Pencil Pointer
Added and improved many, many other things too numerous to mention
Added “Where to Buy New Leadholders” section to the
Links
Added
Leadholder Index by Manufacturer
Added
“Pencil Usage” excerpt from
Engineering Drawing a classic textbook
Added the
Eberhard Faber Microtomic 614 to Gallery
Added
patent information for the Eagle Turquoise 17 lead pointer
Added
patent information for the Precision Point lead pointer
Removed the “What is a Leadholder” section and folded it into
History
Added
History section
Added several Lead Pointers to Gallery
Added the unique
Rollex Pencil to Gallery
Removed “Wanted” section (any leadholder not in the collection is “wanted”)
I have recently found patent information for some of the Gallery items. I will be adding this to the item descriptions and to the
History section as time permits.
Added “Wanted” section
Added
Faber-Castell TK 9400 to Gallery
Added
Staedtler Mars Technico 783 to Gallery
The site goes live!
(Note: Leadholder goes live on this date. For approximately six months prior to this date the site was known as the Smithtwins.com Leadholder Collection and was hosted at the now defunct smithtwins.com.)
