Venus Pencils were a brand name of pencils made by the American Lead Pencil Company beginning in 1905. The production of Venus pencils gave the company an early start in the manufacture of high-quality pencils marketed to artists and architects. Venus pencils became even more popular after the First World War, which had interrupted the supply of pencil from German companies.
Venus Pencils were produced in a total of seventeen degrees under the categories of very soft, soft, medium, hard, and very hard. They were made with no eraser, a tip and eraser, or an oversized tip and eraser.
In 1956, the American Lead Pencil Company officially changed its name to the Venus Pen and Pencil Corporation. A number of acquisitions followed, and in 1967, the company name was changed to Venus-Esterbrook. In 1973, the company was acquired by Faber-Castell.
A pencil is a writing or drawing implement with a solid pigment core in a protective casing that reduces the risk of core breakage, and keeps it from marking the user's hand.
A pencil sharpener is a tool for sharpening a pencil's writing point by shaving away its worn surface. Pencil sharpeners may be operated manually or by an electric motor. It is common for many sharpeners to have a casing around them, which can be removed for emptying the pencil shavings debris into a bin.
An eraser is an article of stationery that is used for removing marks from paper or skin. Erasers have a rubbery consistency and come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors. Some pencils have an eraser on one end. Less expensive erasers are made from synthetic rubber and synthetic soy-based gum, but more expensive or specialized erasers are made from vinyl, plastic, or gum-like materials.
A penciller is an artist who works on the creation of comic books, graphic novels, and similar visual art forms, with a focus on the initial pencil illustrations, usually in collaboration with other artists, who provide inks, colors and lettering in the book, under the supervision of an editor.
A mechanical pencil, also clutch pencil, is a pencil with a replaceable and mechanically extendable solid pigment core called a "lead". The lead, often made of graphite, is not bonded to the outer casing, and can be mechanically extended as its point is worn away as it is being used.
Jeffery Scott Campbell is an American comic book artist. He was initially known professionally as Jeffery Scott, but is best known as J. Scott Campbell. He rose to fame as an artist for Wildstorm Comics, though he has since done work for Marvel Comics, and the video game industry.
A pencil case or pencil box is a container used to store pencils. A pencil case can also contain a variety of other stationery such as sharpeners, pens, glue sticks, erasers, scissors, rulers and calculators.
Staedtler Mars GmbH & Co. KG is a German multinational stationery manufacturing company based in Nuremberg. The firm was founded by J.S. Staedtler (1800–1872) in 1835 and produces a large variety of stationery products, such as writing implements, art materials, and office supplies.
A writing implement or writing instrument is an object used to produce writing. Writing consists of different figures, lines, and or forms. Most of these items can be also used for other functions such as painting, drawing and technical drawing, but writing instruments generally have the ordinary requirement to create a smooth, controllable line.
The Birmingham pen trade evolved in the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter and its surrounding area in the 19th century; for many years, the city was the centre of the world's pen trade, with most dip pens being produced there. At the height of the Jewellery Quarter's operations, there were about 100 pen factories, which employed around 8,000 skilled craftspeople.
Prismacolor is a brand of professional artists' supplies originated in 1938 by the Eagle Pencil Company, and currently manufactured by Newell Brands. Products in the Prismacolor are colored and graphite pencils, and soft pastels. Other products include erasers, pencil sharpeners, and cases.
Tombow Pencil Co.,Ltd. is a private Japanese manufacturing company of stationery products. The company was founded in 1913 as Messrs "Tombow" and has since grown into an international business. Based in Tokyo with 397 employees.
Melamine foam is a foam-like material consisting of a melamine-formaldehyde condensate. It is the active component of a number of abrasive cleaner sponges, notably the Magic Eraser.
Flo-Master was a brand of inks and markers in the latter half of the 20th century, remembered particularly for the colorful opacity of the inks. These markers were designed for marking on glass, and became weapons of choice among New York City writers of the Original School of NYC Writin' in the 1970s and early 1980s.
A nib is the part of a quill, dip pen, fountain pen, ball point or stylus which comes into contact with the writing surface in order to deposit ink. Different types of nibs vary in their purpose, shape and size, as well as the material from which they are made.
The Blackwing 602 is a pencil that is noted for its soft, dark graphite, unique flat square ferrule and replaceable eraser. It was manufactured by the Eberhard Faber Pencil Company from 1934–1988, then by the Faber-Castell pencil company from 1988–1994 and by Sanford from 1994–1998. The pencil initially sold for 50 cents each. After it was discontinued single original pencils were found on eBay for over $40, with some older ones being sold for over $100. Originals are becoming increasingly rare. As of 2012 a different pencil using the same name is being manufactured by Palomino.
Drafting tools may be used for measurement and layout of drawings, or to improve the consistency and speed of creation of standard drawing elements. Tools such as pens and pencils mark the drawing medium. Other tools such as straight edges, assist the operator in drawing straight lines, or assist the operator in drawing complicated shapes repeatedly. Various scales and the protractor are used to measure the lengths of lines and angles, allowing accurate scale drawing to be carried out. The compass is used to draw arcs and circles. A drawing board was used to hold the drawing media in place; later boards included drafting machines that sped the layout of straight lines and angles. Tools such as templates and lettering guides assisted in the drawing of repetitive elements such as circles, ellipses, schematic symbols and text. Other auxiliary tools were used for special drawing purposes or for functions related to the preparation and revision of drawings. The tools used for manual technical drawing have been displaced by the advent of computer-aided drawing, drafting and design (CADD).
The Esterbrook Pen Company is a former American manufacturing company founded by English immigrant Richard Esterbrook and based in Camden, New Jersey. It was the largest pen manufacturer in the United States, having reached a record of producing 216,000,000 pens a year. The company produced dip pens, then concentrating on fountain pens until it was acquired by Venus Pencils in 1967, ceasing activities in 1971.
Rubber-Tip Pencil Co. v. Howard, 87 U.S. 498 (1874), is an 1874 decision of the United States Supreme Court concerning the patent eligibility of abstract ideas. As explained below in the Subsequent developments section, it is intermediate in the development of that aspect of patent law from Neilson v Harford, through O'Reilly v. Morse, to Funk Bros. Seed Co. v. Kalo Inoculant Co., and then to Parker v. Flook, Mayo Collaborative Servs. v. Prometheus Labs., Inc., and Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int'l.