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Who Invented the Pencil Sharpener?

Pencil sharpeners are one of those items people always expect to be there but perhaps rarely ponder the sharpener's history or creation. Pencils were around longer than the sharpener, forcing people to use a small knife to whittle a point at the tip of the device. When pencil sharpeners did come around, they showed up in a flurry of often elaborate designs and styles, but ideas petered out quickly. The basic mechanics of a pencil sharpener have not changed much in nearly 100 years.

History
- The first pencil sharpener documented by the site OfficeMuseum.com was a small, hand-held device patented in 1865 by the company Eureka. Other small, handheld sharpeners were patented in the following years by a number of companies, including the New York based Eagle Pencil Company. Once the 1880s hit, dozens of companies came up with different, innovative ways to sharpen pencils with machines that came with a variety of styles and techniques, the site said. The pencil sharpener craze had petered out by 1910 in America, with nothing new until the electric pencil sharpener debuted in a factory.
Types
- Three main types of pencil sharpeners were twirling around, according to OfficeMuseum.com. Some continue to be in use today. The simplest type of sharpener first relies on blades or an abrasive material to hone the point. These types often make the user do all the work, like the sharpeners found in school supply boxes or art class. One of the most popular types still found bolted to classroom walls and desks uses milling cutters to sharpen the tip. The milling cutters look like little jaws that grind together to perfect the point. A third type of sharpener uses a series of blades, milling cutters or other kinds of elaborate mechanisms to achieve the same goal.
Features
- Some of the pencil sharpeners found at OfficeMuseum.com sport a variety of unusual features, at least unusual when it comes to the standard idea of a pencil sharpener today. The New Era Pencil Sharpener, patented in 1916, looks more like a giant rubber stamp than a sharpener. People insert the pencil into the plunger-like device and press down repeatedly, with the blade sharpened and turned at each plunge. Another unique sharpener found at the site is the Babcock Duplex Pencil Sharpener, patented in 1900. This sharpener features a rotary of six blades that rotate around the pencil when the crank is turned with the right hand and the feed bar operated with the left.
Geography
- America may create the biggest and best of many inventions, but Germany was the place to find heavy duty giant pencil sharpeners. The Office Museum site lists a monster of a sharpener, the premiere Jupiter Pencil Pointer from Guhl &Harbeck patented in 1897. This monstrosity weighs more than 5 pounds, is more than one foot long and is packed with 34 different cutting edges. Unlike America's drop off of pencil sharpener ideas around 1910, Europe continued its quest for new and innovative technology and design through the late 1960s.
Warning
- Those scanning flea markets or antique sales for a unique pencil sharpener may be fooled by a number of other products people may try to pass off as sharpeners. These items include knife sharpeners, razor blade sharpeners, clothes line rollers, a number of bean slicers and even an egg beater.

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