One hundred years ago
The Americans are beating us again. This time, they have invented a pencil which will make an indelible mark. The lead in the pencil is not plumbago, but a composition; it writes as easily as a pencil, and after a few seconds, the writing cannot be effaced. There is no fluid used, no scraping needed, and the pencil will write on for months unchanged. The defect of the invention is that the composition, as yet, writes in purple, instead of black. When that has been removed, which seems easy, the American 'ink leads' will, we imagine, completely supersede every kind of pen and ink. The power of writing with an instrument which needs no apparatus, and can be carried as easily as any pencil-case, is practically invaluable.
Spectator 21 May, 1881
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