Talk:Mechanical pencil

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Contents 1 Purpose of Mechanical Pencil 2 Clutch Pencil 3 Image Request 4 What is a Metal propelling pencil? 5 Clicky pencil 6 Environmentally friendly?

[edit] Purpose of Mechanical Pencil

There should be an overall paragraph about the purpose of a mechanical pencil; currently those ideas are spread throughout the article-

Suggest adding: Mechanical pencils have an advantage over standard wooden pencils by maintaining a consistent point width without sharpening. This is useful for mechanical drafting, where line width is important, or quick sketching, when sharpening may inconvenient.

and moving this elsewhere or removing: "Likewise to the name Ever-Sharp, mechanical pencils are used for their preciseness and the fact that they do not get dull."--192.195.66.45 23:55, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Clutch Pencil

I think clutch pencil is enough of a different device to have its own entry:

1. A clutch pencil needs to be sharpened (or pointed)

2. A clutch pencil can draw with varying thickness - mechanical pencils draw with a uniform thickness

3. The lead falls out when advancing - a mechanical pencil always holds the lead.

--192.195.66.45 23:55, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Image Request

does anyone have an image of a mechanical pencil that we can use? -Vince251

I can scan one in tomorrow. --Carnildo 09:38, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] What is a Metal propelling pencil?

One of the pictures is labelled "Metal propelling pencil", but there no discussion of what that means in the article.

Er, that would be a propelling pencil that is made of metal, I presume. 143.252.80.110 15:45, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

That's kind of misleading. The pictured pencel is a Pentel Graphgear - it looks shiny and silvery, but the body is actually plastic. Actually, almost the entire pencil is plastic. 58.104.104.130 10:01, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Re Pentel Graphgear, Pentel state that the body is aluminium, not plastic.

[edit] Clicky pencil

I'm guessing that a mechanical pencil could also be called a clicky pencil, because it makes a clicking sound. – SilverBulletx3_talk^{contributions} 18:37, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Environmentally friendly?

"Mechanical pencils are considered to be more environmentally-friendly than conventional pencils due to the fact that wood is not necessary for its manufacture and no wasteful wood shavings are created."

What? It seems to me that far more energy and materials would be needed to produce a mechanical pencil than a few standard pencils. And most softwoods, such as those used to make pencils, are farmed anyway. I'm removing this - if anyone can come up with a decent cite then by all means put it back. 143.252.80.110 15:45, 22 March 2006 (UTC)