Core77

The Self-Sharpening Pencil, Just 20 Years Too Late

By Rain Noe - April 13, 2011

in Object Culture

The Mitsubishi Pencil Company's Kuru Toga model is a couple of years old and features a gear inside that rotates the pencil lead every time it's put to paper, continually keeping a sharp, centered point on it:

An amusing piece of belated overengineering--I could've really used one of these back in the days when we actually did hand draftings. This is kind of like making a carbon-fiber T-square.

o

Favorite This
Q
6

Comment

Comments

paul

13 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

What some of the other commenters said: your cultural blindness is showing. I think Japanese culture -- drawing/manga, even simple written notes -- still shows some value for the handwritten character. I'll be looking for one of these at my local Kinokinuya book store.

!Report as spam
Marco Perry

13 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

Wow - pretty ingenious idea. I need one. The predicting the demise of pencils is like predicting the paperless office.
!Report as spam
Jon Hart

13 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

I have to say that I found the music so inspiring, and powerful, that I considered going back to a pencil.
!Report as spam
DrSpiv

13 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

I, for one, still do quite a lot of concept drawings. Judging by the number of mechanical pencils still sold these days I suspect if the price is reasonable this will be a popular item.
!Report as spam
Jeff Bianco

13 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

In days gone by, we twirled our pencil or lead holder to extend the life of a sharpened lead as we drafted.

This was slightly after the days of clay tablets, but coincident with papyrus scrolls.
!Report as spam
Tom

13 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

Still very handy for most people who design, not too sure when i'm going to start the process of design with a rendering. I think you are missing a few steps of the process by saying pencils are no longer used.
!Report as spam