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Materials science
A key part of the product development process was getting the materials
right, bearing in mind that almost all of the pencil would come from the
vending cups and that people are very familiar with pencils and would
be fussy about any new type coming on the market.
  Raw
cups.
Here are some of the criteria (or design demands) for the materials:
Stock (the piece that would normally be wood in a pencil)
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rigid and stiff enough
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but some flexibility
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easy to cut through when sharpening with a knife
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suitable for hand and machine pencil sharpeners
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not crumbly when sharpened
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smooth flowing in the extrusion
(G) process (when manufactured)
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consistent - no variations to affect manufacturing flow
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easy to produce in a factory (not laboratory) environment
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easy to process in their machinery
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no shrinkage after forming
(G)
Core (usually called the pencil's 'lead')
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resilient (strong enough during manufacturing, sharpening and use)
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good writing properties
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good drawing properties
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not brittle when sharpened
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strong enough to support the cone that projects beyond the 'wood'
when sharpened - and in use
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smooth not crumbly
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erasable (so you can rub it out)
Remember - some of these criteria are different for the stock and the
core but they are largely made from the same material.
An industrial chemist told Edward that it would not be possible to achieve
all these things but he stuck at it and created his own basic polymer
(G) (plastic compound). The core (or 'lead') has to make marks on paper
- whereas this would be very undesirable for the stock - so graphite is
added to the base material. The nature of the polymer means that graphite
can be held by it in a suspension distributed throughout the polymer matrix.
Of course there is more to it than this but Remarkable Pencils Ltd are
not giving away all the secrets of their success.
To learn more about traditional pencils click here.
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