Fixpencil
Caran d’Ache’s clutch pencil of 1929, in which a push button releases a thick lead – a draughtsman’s tool.
Mechanical pencils already existed, but the Fixpencil, with jaws gripping a thick lead, became one of the most widespread. It came from Caran d’Ache in Geneva in 1929.
It became popular with architects and draughtsmen and has been made in the same basic form for almost a century.
Materials: Metal, later aluminium; graphite leads of 2 mm and thicker
Manufacture: Industrially made in Geneva.
A hexagonal metal barrel and a button at the end.
Jaws that grip the lead; the lead slides freely when the button is pressed.
The marking Caran d’Ache Swiss Made and a model number.