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Early Office Museum

Antique Mechanical Pencil Sharpener Gallery
 ~ 1860-1899 ~

This page illustrates all machines with moving parts known to have been sold for sharpening wood-cased lead pencils prior to 1900. This page also includes all US and German patents issued by 1885 for machines for sharpening lead pencils. Many additional patents for pencil sharpeners were issued during 1885-99; we have not included these because we have not (yet) found evidence that corresponding machines were produced. Finally, this page also illustrates two devices that were designed to hold pencils while they were sharpened with a knife

Model, Year, Maker	Click Image to Enlarge
Haskell Pen Rack, Cleaner, and Pencil Sharpener Patented 1860 by Henry C. Haskell, Marshall, MI  The pencil was inserted into the cone with the red dot. There is no evidence whether this was marketed.
Woodcock Pencil Sharpener Patented 1869 by Shepherd S. Woodcock, Somerville, MA There is no evidence whether this was marketed.
Livingston Pencil Sharpener Patented 1878 by Francis Livingston, Newark, NJ There is no evidence whether this was marketed.
Sievert Pencil Holder Patented 1878 by Max Sievert, Germany There is no evidence whether this was marketed.
Rice Pencil Sharpener Patented 1880 by Henry C. Rice, Easthampton, MA In 1886, in describing the planetary cutting mechanism of the Acme pencil sharpener (see below), the inventor of the Acme made the following comments on the Rice pencil sharpener and on the Hoffman pencil sharpener (see below), indicating that these machines were produced but had deficiencies that limited their commercial success. "[T]he cutter acts or cuts in a direction nearly if not transverse to the grain of the wood of the pencil, the consequence being that the fibers are torn or broken rather than smoothly cut, and the lead itself by the same action is cracked and broken.  So pronounced, indeed, are these defects that they practically forbid any extended use of such machines, the consequence being that few, if any, of them are now found in the market."
Van Houser Pencil Sharpening Machine Patented 1880 by Henry Van Houser, Dayton, OH There is no evidence whether this was marketed.
Schmarje Pencil Sharpener Patented 1882 by J. Schmarje, Germany There is no evidence whether this was marketed.
Hambruch Pencil Sharpener Patented 1882 by H. F. Hambruch, Germany There is no evidence whether this was marketed.
Schaller Pencil Sharpener Patented 1883 by Franz Schaller, Germany There is no evidence whether this was marketed.
Pistotnik Pencil Sharpener Patented 1883 by Edmund Pistotnik, Germany There is no evidence whether this was marketed.
Ehrhardt Pencil Sharpener Patented 1883 by Friedrich Ehrhardt, Germany There is no evidence whether this was marketed.
Sibley's Pencil Sharpener Patented 1884 ~ Advertised 1884-90 Willard E. Sibley Waltham, MA Right: Earliest known advertisement for a machine designed to sharpen lead pencils (Sept. 1884). The catalog of an 1884 exhibition states that Sibley exhibited a "Lead and Slate Pencil Sharpener. -- This is an ingenious and quite effective device for sharpening pencils, and is designed mainly for schools.  It consists of a belt of sand-paper, so geared and belted that while it moves by one revolution of the crank in one direction, about five feet, the pencil is revolved fifteen times in the opposite direction, and so rapidly grinds away the pencil to a point."  Fifteenth Exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, Boston, 1884, p.101.
Hoffman Pencil Sharpener Patented 1884 by Joseph Hoffman, New York, NY. See discussion under Rice pencil sharpener (above).
Stimpson Pencil Sharpener Patented 1884 ~ Advertised 1885 George Frost & Co. Boston, MA
Keller Pencil Sharpener Patented 1884 by F. G. Keller, Germany There is no evidence whether this was marketed.
Moore Pencil Sharpener Patented 1884 by Thomas Moore, London, England There is no evidence whether this was marketed.
Keller Pencil Sharpener Patented 1884 by F. G. Keller, Germany There is no evidence whether this was marketed.
Schaller Pencil Sharpener Patented 188_ by Georg Schaller, Zurich, Switz. There is no evidence whether this was marketed.
Lamson Pencil Sharpener (a.k.a. Dixon's Pencil Sharpener) Patented 1885 ~ Advertised 1885-87 Joseph Dixon Crucible Co.  Jersey City, NJ
Stimpson Pencil Sharpener Patented 1886 ~ Advertised 1886 George Frost & Co. Boston, MA
Gem Pencil Sharpener Patented 1886 ~ Advertised 1887-1918 Gould & Cook, Leominster, MA (1887-93) F. H. Cook & Co., Leominster, MA (1893-1902) "Gould & Cook started business in 1884...These gentlemen are the inventors and owners of the Gem Pencil Sharpener, which is considered by teachers, who have the most occasion to test an article of this kind, as the simplest and best in the market." (William A. Emerson, Leominister Massachusetts Historical and Picturesque, Gardner, MA, 1888, p. 271.)
Acme Pencil Sharpener Patented 1886 ~ Advertised 1887 Eagle Pencil Co. New York, NY
Forrester Pencil Sharpener Patented 1887 ~ Advertised 1889 Samuel Forrester, Allegheny, PA There were two earlier Forrester patents (1884, 1885) [to be added]
President Pencil Sharpener Patented 1888 ~ Advertised 1890-92 The Baltimore Specialty Co. Baltimore, MD
Dixon's Pencil Sharpener Advertised 1889 Joseph Dixon Crucible Co.  Jersey City, NJ
Unique Pencil Sharpener Patented 1889 ~ Advertised/Marketed 1887-90 E. L. Kellogg & Co. New York, NY and Chicago, IL
Franklin Pencil Sharpener Advertised 1889 New York News Co. (manufacturer's agent)
Perfect Pencil Pointer Patented 1890 ~ Advertised 1890-1913 The Perfect Pencil Pointer Co., Portland, ME (to 1892) Goodell Co., Antrim, NH (1892 on)
Dollar Pencil Sharpener Patented 1890 ~ Advertised 1891-92 Samuel C. Tatum Co. Cincinnati, OH
Unique Pencil Sharpener Advertised/Marketed 1891-94 E. L. Kellogg & Co. New York, NY and Chicago, IL
Mills Pencil Sharpener Patented 1891 ~ Advertised 1891-92 Mills Pencil Sharpener Co. Cincinnati, OH
Perfect Pencil Pointer Advertised 1892 Goodell Co., Antrim, NH Same as 1890 model but metal base. Also manufactured with metal vertical supports.
Shipherd Pencil Sharpening Device Patented 1893 William C. Shipherd (Patentee), Cleveland, OH Separate knife used to shave pencil not shown Photograph courtesy of Robert Kwalwasser
Andrews Pencil Sharpener Advertised 1894 Andrews School Furnishing Co. New York, NY
Andrews Pencil Sharpener Advertised 1895-96 Andrews School Furnishing Co. New York, NY
Peerless Pencil Pointer Introduced 1895 ~ Patented 1896 ~ Advertised 1896-1902 The Walker Mfg. Co. Chicago, IL
Planetary Pencil Pointer Patented 1896 ~ Advertised 1896-1915 A. B. Dick Co. Chicago, IL & New York, NY
Combination Eraser Cleaner and Pencil Sharpener Patented 1897 ~ Advertised 1897-1918 (The eraser cleaner without the pencil sharpener attachment was advertised in 1924.) Lord Manufacturing Co., New Haven, CT Sold with wheel for cleaning blackboard erasers and/or wheel for sharpening pencils.  Photograph shows machine with pencil sharpening wheel. Photograph courtesy of Dennis A. Traverso
Jupiter Pencil Pointer Patented 1897 ~ Advertised 1899-1914 Guhl & Harbeck Co. Hamburg, Germany
Upright Pencil Sharpener Advertised 1897-1901 Upright Machine Co. Paterson, NJ
Lincoln Pencil Sharpener Patented 1898 Sylvester Decatur Lincoln, Evanston, IL, Inventor Photograph courtesy of Howard Levin
Webster Pencil Sharpener Patented 1900-10 ~ Advertised 1898-1914 F. S. Webster Co. Boston, MA The machine illustrated in the 1892 patent listed on the machine is different; there is no evidence that it was ever marketed. The models produced are those illustrated in the 1900 and 1910 patents.
Ideal Pencil Sharpener Patented 1900 ~ Advertised 1899 J. M. Olcott & Co. New York, NY
Close But Not Quite
Crayon Sharpener Patented 1899 by J. J. Fraser.  Patent No. 625,878. U.S. Identification by Howard Levin

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