Joseph Dixon
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Joseph Dixon (1799-1869) was an inventor, entrepreneur and the founder of what became the Dixon Ticonderoga Company, a well-known manufacturer of pencils in the United States.
His fascination with new technologies lead to many innovations such as a mirror for a camera that was the forerunner of the viewfinder, a patented double-crank steam engine, a method of printing banknotes to thwart counterfeiters, and patented a new method for tunneling under water.
Most notably, Dixon manufactured the first wood and graphite pencil in the country. Among his associates were such great American inventors as Robert Fulton, Samuel Morse, and Alexander Graham Bell.
[edit] Joseph Dixon Crucible Company
In 1827, Joseph Dixon began his business in Salem, Massachusetts and, with his son, was involved with the Tantiusques granite mine in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. Dixon discovered the merits of graphite as a stove polish and an additive in lubricants, foundry facings, brake linings, oil-less bearings, and non-corrosive paints.
He also refined the use of graphite crucibles, refractory vessels used for melting metallic minerals. A heat-resistant graphite crucible he invented was widely used in the production of iron and steel during the Mexican-American War. This invention's success led Dixon to built a New Jersey crucible factory in 1847.
During the 1860s, people typically wrote with quill pens and ink even though Dixon introduced graphite pencils in 1829. But the American Civil War created a demand for a dry, clean, portable writing instrument and led to the mass production of pencils. At the time of Joseph Dixon’s death in 1869, the Joseph Dixon Crucible Company was the largest manufacturer of graphite products in the world. By 1870, The Joseph Dixon Crucible Company was the world’s largest dealer and consumer of graphite. By 1872 the Dixon company was making 86,000 pencils a day.
The Joseph Dixon Crucible Company continued to prosper throughout the 20th Century by growing through a series of mergers and acquisitions. In 1982, the Joseph Dixon Crucible Company merged with the Bryn Mawr Corporation, a Pennsylvania transportation and real estate company with operations dating back to 1795. Together, these companies formed the Dixon Ticonderoga Company, named after Joseph Dixon and its oldest brand-name pencil.
