Inventor's name: NICHOLAS CONTE

Invention: He invented the lead pencil.

The "lead" pencil (which contains no lead) was invented in 1564 when a huge graphite (black carbon) mine was discovered in Borrowdale. The Germans manufactured graphite sticks (made from powdered graphite), but they were impractical. The English had a monopoly on the production of pencils since no other pure graphite mines were known and no one had yet found a way to make graphite sticks. Before the mid-1500s, "pencils" consisted of a thin rod composed of soft lead, and were used mostly by artists.