ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER

Abelman, Frayne, &Schwab

On March 30, 1858, the U.S. Patent Office issued U.S. Patent No. 19,783 entitled "Combination of Lead Pencil and Eraser" to Hyman L. Lipman, of Philadelphia, Pa. (No. 19,783). The '783 Patent disclosed a pencil which was made in the usual manner, with one-fourth of its length reserved inside one end to carry a piece of prepared India-rubber, glued in at one edge. By cutting/sharpening one end the lead was prepared for writing, while cutting the other end exposed a small piece of India rubber. The invention was considered extremely novel at the time as an eraser was now conveniently available whenever needed, and eliminated (i) the need of keeping a bulky chunk of India-rubber at hand to correct one's mistakes and (ii) the possibility of misplacing the eraser. Further, the eraser could be sharpened to a finer point to make a more precise erasure of fine lines in a drawing, or cut further down if the end became soiled.

Also on March 29, 1886, the first batch of what was to become one of the most famous trademarks in history, "Coca Cola," was brewed over a fire in a backyard in Atlanta, Georgia by Dr. John Pemberton. Dr. Pemberton had created the concoction as a cure for "hangover," stomach ache and headache. He advertised it as a "brain tonic and intellectual beverage," and first sold it to the public a few weeks later on May 8, 1886. The original Coke contained cocaine as an ingredient – and its use continued until 1904, when the drug was banned by Congress.