Editing Pencil (section)

===Graphite powder and clay===
The first attempt to manufacture graphite sticks from powdered graphite was in [[Nuremberg]], Germany, in 1662. It used a mixture of graphite, [[sulphur]], and [[antimony]].<ref>{{cite web|title = Pencil|url = http://www.fact-index.com/p/pe/pencil.html|website = www.fact-index.com|access-date = 23 November 2015|url-status = live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120524123804/http://www.fact-index.com/p/pe/pencil.html|archive-date = 24 May 2012|df = dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title = Pencils|url = https://borrowdalepoints.wordpress.com/2015/02/10/pencils/|website = Borrowdale Points|access-date = 23 November 2015|url-status = live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151123161832/https://borrowdalepoints.wordpress.com/2015/02/10/pencils/|archive-date = 23 November 2015|df = dmy-all|date = 10 February 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title = Gyaat:The weapon we use from adolescence|url = http://www.gyaat.com/post_view.php?id=16|website = www.gyaat.com|access-date = 23 November 2015|url-status = live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151123145543/http://www.gyaat.com/post_view.php?id=16|archive-date = 23 November 2015|df = dmy-all}}</ref>

English and German pencils were not available to the French during the [[Napoleonic Wars]]; France, under naval blockade imposed by Great Britain, was unable to import the pure graphite sticks from the British Grey Knotts mines – the only known source in the world. France was also unable to import the inferior German graphite pencil substitute. It took the efforts of an officer in [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon]]'s army to change this. In 1795, [[Nicolas-Jacques Conté]] discovered a method of mixing powdered graphite with [[clay]] and forming the mixture into rods that were then fired in a [[kiln]]. By varying the ratio of graphite to clay, the hardness of the graphite rod could also be varied. This method of manufacture, which had been earlier discovered by the Austrian [[Joseph Hardtmuth]], the founder of the [[Koh-I-Noor (company)|Koh-I-Noor]] in 1790, remains in use. In 1802, the production of graphite leads from graphite and clay was patented by the [[Koh-I-Noor (company)|Koh-I-Noor]] company in Vienna.<ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.koh-i-noor.cz/en/history
 |title       = History of Koh-i-noor Hardmuth company
 |publisher   = Koh-i-noor Hardmuth company
 |access-date  = 11 September 2015
 |url-status   = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20150910213838/http://www.koh-i-noor.cz/en/history
 |archive-date = 10 September 2015
 |df           = dmy-all
}}</ref>

In England, pencils continued to be made from whole sawn graphite. [[Henry Bessemer]]'s first successful invention (1838) was a method of compressing graphite powder into solid graphite thus allowing the waste from sawing to be reused.<ref>Bessemer, Henry (1905) [https://archive.org/details/sirhenrybessemer00bessuoft ''Sir Henry Bessemer, F.R.S: An Autobiography''], London, Offices of "Engineering," Chapter 3.</ref>