Of course the very first pencil sharpeners were knives and blades, but the first patent for a tool especially for sharpening pencils was made by Bernard Lassimone, a French mathematician, in 1828. It looked something like this:

This isn't Lassimone's sharpener but it is similar.
However the first mechanical pencil sharpener was invented by Therry des Estwaux, also from France in 1847. It looked something like this:

The Marion pencil sharpener
Now there are sharpeners with revolving handles, and even battery operated electric sharpeners, but I like the simple wooden ones like this:

Simple is best
4 responses so far ↓
stop lying // May 24, 2009 at 6:27 am |
John Lee Love invented the first patented pencil sharpener.
lojol // May 24, 2009 at 8:49 am
Thanks for your comment stop lying, though Love’s patent was in 1897, whereas Lassimone’s patent was in 1828, and there were many other patents between these dates.
dragonlife // March 3, 2009 at 5:31 pm |
Still has a similar one!
lojol // March 4, 2009 at 10:12 am
Small, light, cheap and easy-to-use!