Sunday, May 1, 2011

WHAT IZZIT?

Do you recognize it? Still not totally uncommon, though this sort is a little bit special:(No, it's not a UFO!)
Post your answer in comments. Be specific.

14 comments:

  1. It's a sharpener for a drafting pencil. I had one like it when I drew blueprints 35 years ago.

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  2. It's a lead pointer for drafting. Looks like a Bruning Tru-Point No. 3746 made by the Charles Bruning Company, Inc., of Mount Prospect, Illinois, USA, probably sometime from the late 1950s to early 1970s, although they were still available within the last decade or so. Back in the days before computerized drafting systems, these things were ubiquitous in drafting rooms.

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  3. Conant: Unh, I did say "be specific," but holy cow! Exactly that.

    I really (*REALLY*) hate a lousy point on a leadholder or pencil (and these will do pencils, if you start with a sharpened one and carve the wood back), so I was delighted to find that lead pointers go quite inexpensively at the various auction-type sites.

    I think with my fingertips and have found the lazy girl's shortcut to CAD: draw it (at the scene, usually), scan it, CAD on top of it. Eventually, you delete the hand-drawing on the bottom layer and do final clean-up. For me, this is about three times faster than starting with a blank screen and my notes.

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  4. I knew ehat it is, but everybody beat me to it!
    And that's the best way to make a CAD drawing "from scratch" that I've ever heard!
    I make excellent sketches of things, and I think I'm going to swipe your idea the next time I need a CAD drawing!

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  5. Yeah, I used one a long time ago.

    Hank

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  6. It's a powdered graphite mess-maker. Ask anyone who had one. They know.

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  7. Looks like the one on my desk right now.

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  8. The one on my desk at work is a rectangular plastic model (Berol Turquoise 17) with the little fibrous cartridge to take the graphite dust off of the newly sharpened lead.

    The one at home looks more like this one.

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  9. It's the original digital CAD provider. Without one of those, your digital drawings were just not up to snuff.

    Yep, still have one, and I use it. Dull pencils are for the dull. lol

    Ciao,
    GEO

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  10. I haven't seen anything like it. I insist it's a UFO; you're in cahoots with the Pentagon!

    Just stumbled upon your blog. I like. Will follow.

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  11. I just realized that I have one of those exact mechanical pencil sharpeners on my desk. I was researching antique typewriters on the Internet and I came upon this site. Odd?

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  12. It's one of those related things: "if you like antique typewriters, you probably like...." I'd certainly put fountain pens good pencils and related appurtenances on the "like" list. :)

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