Hymen Lipman
Hymen Lipman | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 20, 1817[1] |
| Died | November 4, 1893 (aged 76) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US |
| Known for | Patent of the first pencil with attacher eraser |
Hymen L. Lipman (March 20, 1817 – November 4, 1893)[2][1] is credited with registering the first patent for a pencil with an attached eraser on March 30, 1858.[3]
Early life, family and education
[edit]Hymen L. Lipman was born March 20, 1817, to Lewis Lipman (1779–1842) and Phebe Magnus (1792–1840),[2] in either Kingston, Jamaica,[1][4] or in the Bahamas,[2] from England. The family were Sephardic Jews,[1] immigrated to the US around 1829, arriving and settling in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Hymen Lipman resided in Philadelphia for the remainder of his life. Hymen had many siblings: Henry, Naphtali, Alexander, Esther, Eliza, Louise, Charles, Lewis A., and Emily.[2]
Career
[edit]In 1840, Lipman succeeded Samuel M. Stewart, then the leading stationer in Philadelphia. Three years later, he started the first envelope company in the US.[4]
In 1862, Lipman sold his lead-pencil and eraser patent for $100,000 to Joseph Reckendorfer, who went to sue the pencil manufacturer Faber for infringement.[5] In 1875, the US Supreme Court ruled against Reckendorfer, declaring the patent invalid because his invention was actually a combination of two already known things with no new use.[6]
Misattribution of portrait
[edit]
A true picture of Hymen Lipman is not widely known as of May 2026[update]. A picture commonly used (including for this article) for him is that of physician Dr. Crawford Williamson Long of Georgia.[7] On March 30, 1842, Dr. Long became the first physician to use ether as anesthesia during a surgical operation (now celebrated as National Doctors' Day). Exactly 16 years later, on March 30, 1858, Hymen Lipman received the first patent for attaching an eraser to a wood-cased pencil (celebrated as National Pencil Day). Because these two events are frequently paired together on "On This Day in History" lists, an image of Crawford Long featured in a March 30 historical roundup was at some point mistakenly determined to instead be Lipman. From there, this misattribution propagated, even to Wikipedia itself (and Wikimedia).
Personal life
[edit]In August 7, 1848, he was married to Mary A. Lehman,[2] daughter of Peter Lehman, one of the founders of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy[4] in Philadelphia. Their offspring were daughter Mary Lehman Lipman[2] (born 1849–1938),[8] son Lewis Howard Lipman (1851–1933), and daughter Anna Elizabeth 'Lillie' Lipman (1855–1936).[2]
Hymen Lipman died at age 76. He was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[2]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 Byrne, Kerry J. (March 30, 2024). "On this day in history, March 30, 1858, American visionary Hymen Lipman patents pencil with eraser". foxnews.com. Fox News. Retrieved May 18, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Hymen L. Lipman". FamilySearch.org. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
- ↑ U.S. patent 19,783 at Google Patents
- 1 2 3 Hingston, Sandy (March 30, 2016). "11 Things You Might Not Know About Pencils". Philadelphia Magazine. Retrieved May 19, 2026.
- ↑ Petroski, Henry (1990). The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 171. ISBN 0-394-57422-2. ISBN 0-679-73415-5
- ↑ Reckendorfer v. Faber, 92 U.S. 347 (Supreme Court of the United States 1875). Retrieved May 18, 2026 – via Justia.
- ↑ "Scientist of the Day: Crawford Long". lindahall.org. Linda Hall Library. November 1, 2019. Retrieved May 18, 2026.
- ↑ "Mary L Lipman". Ancestry.com. Retrieved May 19, 2026.
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