The Portland Pudgy safety dinghy is a self-rescue boat, even without the optional inflatable exposure canopy and other survival gear. With the exposure canopy, sea anchor, and sail kit, the Portland Pudgy is an unsinkable, dynamic lifeboat.
The âlead pencil,â containing no lead, was invented in 1564, a turning point in pencil history. Although civilizations were centuries away from making mechanical pencil history, the pencil invented in the sixteenth century advanced the writing instrument. Before 1564, artists mainly used stylus-like pencils. The history of the pencil owes a dept to the discovery of a graphite mine in Cumbria, England.
This Gesner pencil has a special history because some people believe it was used by Shakespeare. Return to the top of this page. 1795- I continue the story of the pencil with the discovery of a mixture that uses graphite. In 1795, Nicholas-Jacques Conte of France discovered the process of mixing graphite with clay. This mixture was then placed in a kiln fire, which produced a superior writing material.