TITLE: Why is a colored pencil circular?
Ver.2.02: 12th Mar.1998,
Ver.2.01: 17th Dec.1997,Ver.1.01: 9th Jul.1997
(Japanese original: 12th Dec.1996)
Written by Yukio Fukushima
Translated by Snowman Happyisland
Edited by Nadia McKechnie
That the axis of a pencil is shaped like an ordinary hexagon is well known.
Hexagon shaped pencils were invented, because circular pencils often rolled off the desk.
This is a good idea.
A hexagon shaped pencil is easy to hold,because we can hold it with three fingers, and the three sides are flat.
So even if we write for a long time,we don't become tired.
Also, it is said that this is the pencil width to which one is most empirically suited.
If a pencil is wider than this and is attenuate,it is tiring to hold.
Apart from souvenir pencils,the pencil is of an identical width worldwide.
Question:
Well, why then are colored pencils circular?
It would also be a good idea to make colored pencils hexagon shaped.
However, this is difficult.
Answer:
The lead of a colored pencil is soft and thick.
This is mainly how it differs from an ordinary pencil.
If a colored pencil is shaped like a hexagon, the wooden part can be easily broken by the power of a finger.This is because the wooden part is thinner than that of an ordinary pencil.
If we made a colored pencil as strong as an ordinary pencil, the axis of the colored pencil would be wider than that of an ordinary pencil.
So the colored pencil would be difficult to hold.
The strength of the wooden part can only be sufficiently secured by making the axis circular.
We have to sacriface the advantage of having a hexagon shape and the pencil not rolling.
However as we don't write with colored pencils for a long time we usually use graphite pens.It is possible to make this sacrifice.
However,I still wonder if it isn't possible to prevent it from rolling.
Do you have any ideas?
|
|
| An ordinary hexagon shaped pencil | A circular colored pencil |
前のページに戻る