Pencil Sharpener, circa 1900

01

Artifact Overview

Inventors in the late-19th and early-20th centuries devised ways to sharpen pencils with a turn of a crank. Some sharpeners used turning blades; others used a spinning abrasive, like sandpaper or a steel file. The F. S. Webster Company manufactured this device that used still another way to create a pencil point -- a rotating milling disk.

Artifact Details

Artifact

Pencil sharpener

Date Made

circa 1900

Location

Not on exhibit to the public.

Object ID

2005.121.105

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford. Gift of Constance & James Levi.

Material

Iron (Metal)
Wood (Plant Material)
Steel (Alloy)

Color

Black (Color)
Tan (Color)

Dimensions

Height: 7.75 in
Width: 4.5 in
Length: 6.25 in

Inscriptions

front of sharpener: F.S. WEBSTER CO. / NEW YORK. / BOSTON. / CHICAGO. back of sharpener: F.S. WEBSTER CO. / BOSTON, MASS. U.S.A. / PAT. JUNE 21, 1892 / MAY 1, 1900