Pencil thereby pushing a new tip to the top. Invented by Harold Grossman for Empire Pencil Company in 1967 and subsequently improved upon by Arthur D. Little for Empire from 1969 through the early 1970s; the plastic pencil was commercialised by Empire as the "EPCON" Pencil. These pencils were co-extruded, extruding a plasticised graphite mix within a wood-composite core. Residual graphite from a pencil stick is not poisonous, and graphite is harmless if consumed. Although lead has not been used for writing since antiquity, lead poisoning from pencils was not uncommon. Until the middle of the 20th century the paint used
Lead tetrachloride Lead tetrachloride Lead tetrachloride, also known as lead(IV) chloride, has the molecular formula PbCl. It is a yellow, oily liquid which is stable below 0 °C, and decomposes at 50 °C. It has a tetrahedral configuration, with lead as the central atom. The Pb–Cl covalent bonds have been measured to be 247 pm and the bond energy is 243 kJ⋅mol. Lead tetrachloride can be made by reacting lead(II) chloride PbCl, and hydrochloric acid HCl, in the presence of chlorine gas (Cl), leading to the formation of chloroplumbic acid HPbCl. It is then converted to the ammonium salt (NH)PbCl by adding