The Erasing Magic

Pencil and Eraser were best friends. If Pencil made a mistake, his friend Eraser would come forward to help him. This happens always.  Once Pencil asked Eraser “Oh my Dear friend without your friendship I couldn’t imagine how my life would be. I make so many mistakes and you help me undo it”.

Eraser replied “Pencil…if you want to thank...then you should thank Joseph Priestly and Edward Nairne. These two men discovered me and made life easy for you. My life was full of accidents”.

Pencil asked “I think you have a story to tell. Now I am free. Could you please tell me about the two men who found you?”

Eraser smiled and said “Yes, Pencil”.  He started with his own biographic narration.

In olden days, Greek people used wax cubes to erase black marks from the paper. Later they used rough bits of sandstone and pumice (ashes of volcano) as an eraser. Japan people used soft bread crust balls to erase the pencil marks. So, many found their own ways to erase.

On a fine day, Charles Marie de La Condamine, went to Latin America and saw people using tree resin to make bouncing balls for their kids to play. Charles collected some of those tree resins and sent it to Europe scientific research centre. In the lab, Joseph Priestly after doing many experiments and researches with the tree resin found out that it could erase the pencil marks. He named it as “RUBBER” (named derived from the purpose – rubbing).

                                      

On the other side, Edward Nairne, a British Engineer once was writing about an important project using a pencil. Accidently, instead of bread crust eraser ball, he took a rubber resin ball and erased the pencil mark. To his surprise, the rubber ball erased the pencil mistake neatly. He developed and designed the rubber into small cubes and sold it throughout Europe.

His product was a big hit in the market. Gradually, the sales decreased because the eraser he sold started to crack, flakes appeared on its outer layer and dried soon.

The second accident happened, when Charles Goodyear mistakenly threw eraser into a big bowl of hot sulphur (Chemical). When he took it out and used it. It worked like magic. The Eraser didn’t crack or flake or dried. It was loooooooonggggg lasting.

Pencil said after listening “Ah…Now I agree that your life is full of accidents…heee.eeee..heee” He laughed.

Eraser called him “Hey hey wait… I didn’t finish my story yet…let me tell you how the erasing magic works?”

Pencil grinningly said “Continue…my Friend”

Eraser continued “The magic works because of you, my dear pencil”.

Pencil shockingly “Who...Me … You mean Me… It’s me….???”

Eraser smiled and said “Yes….It’s because of you and you are made up of a mixture (Crystals + Carbon) = Graphite + Clay = Lead. This Lead is covered with a wooden piece and that is you, The Pencil.

Pencil shouted “You mean the black stick inside me is the Lead??”

Eraser nodded his head. He continued his story.

“When a kid uses you to write on a clean white paper, the black lead sticks to the paper’s fibers. When the marks are erased using an eraser, the black particles on paper gets stuck to the eraser. This is how the magic works. Now I will tell you three interesting facts about an Eraser.

Have you noticed the small eraser behind the pencil? It is called Plugs.

The metal band that holds the plug is called Ferrules.

There are eight types of erasers:

1. Pencil Eraser

2. Artist Gum Eraser

3. Kneaded Eraser

4. Vinyl Eraser

5. Poster Putty

6. Electric Eraser

7. Fiberglass Eraser

8. Chalkboard Eraser”

Pencil awed at Eraser and said “Wow….That was really a nice and a long story. Thank you for being my best friend. Friends Forever”.