Where does this come from, and can I check it?

Crimped ridges grip both the wood barrel and the plug of rubber. The figure is taken from US Patent and Trademark Office, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a everyday life fact?

Yes. It sits on the Everyday Life shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

What else can I read about it?

The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

The metal band on a pencil is a ferrule

Crimped ridges grip both the wood barrel and the plug of rubber A ferrule is a short metal sleeve, usually aluminium, pressed onto the end of the barrel and crimped in rings so it bites into the wood. The other end wraps the eraser tightly enough to stop it pulling out. Pencils were sold without erasers until Hyman Lipman attached one and patented the combination in 1858. It sits in Mondo's everyday life collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

US Patent and Trademark Office

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

Go further

History trivia General Knowledge trivia

More facts like this

HB on standard pencils indicates a balanced medium lead hardnessPencil letters H and B measure graphite hardness and blackness intensity Breadcrumbs were used as pencil erasers before rubber was introducedWriters rubbed soft white breadcrumbs over paper to erase pencil marks Pink pencil erasers get their abrasive texture from volcanic pumiceFine pumice powder scrapes away paper graphite while rubber traps loose debris Hexagonal pencil barrels prevent pencils rolling off slanted desksFlat pencil sides improve grip and stop pencils from rolling onto floors YKK on zippers stands for a Japanese manufacturing companyThe world's largest zipper maker uses the initials of its founder's business Glass bottles pass through annealing lehrs to prevent shatteringControlled slow cooling redistributes internal glass stress in freshly blown bottles

Tags: pencils, stationery, manufacture

The metal band on a pencil is a ferrule: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: Crimped ridges grip both the wood barrel and the plug of rubber. The figure is taken from US Patent and Trademark Office, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a everyday life fact?: Yes. It sits on the Everyday Life shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.