The perfect plan...sort of

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Pencils that don't need to be sharpened? You're not serious are you?

A pencil works on the basis that pieces of it are left on the paper. That's why pencils work, and that's why they need to be sharpened. As far as pencils breaking, you cannot make an unbreakable pencil, due to the same theory above. The harder the pencil (well, graphite really), the less it will write.

 

For all the people looking for information on the pencils, check this out:
http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.htm

NASA never even actually asked the pen company to develop a pen for them; the pen company developed it and gave the sample pens to NASA.

Total: I will bet that the pencil sharpener you use in school has a container that catches the shavings as they fall. In zero-G, the shavings may or may not fall past the sharpener blade. Plus, it would be a disaster to have the shavings container break open.

They do use vacuum cleaners, but they can only clean up a mess after it has already been made.

Nior: I've heard of the pens like that. Cool idea. Unfortunately, I don't know if they existed in the 1960s when al this happened. And as for splinters being a "lame excuse," a million dollars to avoid something that could risk a half-billion dollar mission is nothing. Safety has a pretty high price.

 

astra,

"splinter being a lame excuse" as i have mentioned was specifically directed to the development of the zero-g ink vs enhancing the pencil. i did have examples. it is only practical to spend half a million in enhancing something you know will work (the pencil) than to spend a million trying to create something new (zero-g ink pen). and for you to point out to me that it was the pen company who volunteered that research and development just prove my point was the logical approach. you just showed me that nasa would not spend that much for the writting-medium problem. the pen company did it because it is good for them. but nasa definitely will have to come up with better reason to justify the funding for such a project. this is simply because pencil is not the only source of splinter. and if they funded for the pen project, they might as well provide funds for the research and development of substitutes for every splinter generating objects. which in turn would actually make a project for a splinter cleaning device a much better option. you instead of suppressing 20 kinds of splinter, why not make a device that cleans 20 kinds of splinter. or better yet, research on protective materials for those half-billion dollar sensitive devices.

about the pencil that did not require sharpening and unbreakable under normal circumstances, it is simply several sharpened lead attached to small plastic holder (making it look somewhat like tiny darts w/o the shaft and flights, and let's call it a "head") and contained in a pen-like plastic tube (one after the other, like a train in a tube). whenever you used up one head, you simply pull out the head and insert it into the back of the plastic tube. this action would push a new head into place so you can start writing again. it's a very simple design compared to the mechanical pencil, and if scientists and engineers can built rocket ships in the 60's, there's no reasons why they cannot come up with an "enhanced" pencil like that.

btw, it is good to know the whole story. because it is exactly the "more justifyable reason" that i'm looking for.
sorry for straying away from the topic.

 

I never said anything against this. I know that many of the people who are actually our smartest are also among the most eccentric. Albert Einstein almost flunked out of school, but he is still remembered as one of the smartest people in history. I'm just saying that this particular guy had the IQ of a donkey if he couldn't figure out how easily the police can track down bank account numbers.

I'm curious as to how those "neverdull" pencils would work. Pencils leave pieces of themselves on paper, so unless someone can post a link that explains how they work, I simply cannot believe that.

 

And I thought stupidity had reached a maximum at IreniBush's hands... What will become of mankind if this trend continues?