The Portland Pudgy safety dinghy is a self-rescue boat, even without the optional inflatable exposure canopy and other survival gear. With the exposure canopy, sea anchor, and sail kit, the Portland Pudgy is an unsinkable, dynamic lifeboat.
The âlead pencil,â containing no lead, was invented in 1564, a turning point in pencil history. Although civilizations were centuries away from making mechanical pencil history, the pencil invented in the sixteenth century advanced the writing instrument. Before 1564, artists mainly used stylus-like pencils. The history of the pencil owes a dept to the discovery of a graphite mine in Cumbria, England.
Perhaps it was because of the advent of reliable prism sharpeners, or maybe it was just serendipitous timing, but 10 years later in 1861 Eberhard Faber established the first pencil factory in New York City and pencils were suddenly widely available.