Mechanical PencilsBy: Mary Sumner K.AndFelix S.

Design There are many different designs for

mechanical pencils. It usually depends on the brand. There are different brands such as BIC, office depot, and sharpie. And also different prototypes such as the BIC velocity. There is also concepts such as what materials are needed, how it will be made, and how long it will last.

Materials Needed Plastic Graphite Metal Synthetic Rubber

How it will be madeFirst they make barrels that are made from plastic, though sometimes rubber is used. Then, a mold is created, and from there machines are used to duplicate this mold as many times as they need to.Also, in the making of a pencil is the mechanical action itself. It is designed out of metal, working on a spring system. When a button is pressed, this spring pushes the lead forward, and then pushing back so the lead is locked into place.Then things like graphite and erasers are added to the pencil before it is placed in packaging and shipped off to stores.

How long it will lastDepending on how much you write it will last for a different amount of time. If you write every single day, it should last about one month per pencil. The softer that you use it, the longer it will last. It also depends on which brand the pencil is.

Materials Acquisition and Materials Processing

This step requires you to know what materials you need and how you will get them.

Plastic We get plastic from oil and natural

gases. Oil and natural gas are the major raw materials used to manufacture plastics. They usually start by treating the crude oil and natural gas. This changes it into hydrocarbon monomers.

Graphite Graphite is mined around the world by both open

pit and underground methods. The open pit mines usually need machinery like bulldozers to scoop up the ore which is usually put in trucks and moved to the plant. The underground graphite mines employ drilling and blasting to break up the hard rock (ore), which is then moved by mine cars pulled by a truck to the surface and then to the plant. In less-developed areas of the world, the ore can be mined by pick and shovel and transported by mine cars pushed by a laborer.

Synthetic Rubber Synthetic Rubber comes from a milky white juice which

some trees and plants have instead of sap. This liquid, called latex, can be found in the roots, stems, branches, bark, leaves, and fruit of over 400 different plants. Most latex comes from the inner bark of the rubber tree found in Brazil.

To get the latex, workers cut narrow slits in the bark of the rubber tree for the latex flows easily when the air is still cool. The latex is then allowed to drip into cups attached to the tree

The latex, is then taken to a rubber factory. There, it is heated and mixed with acid.

Metal Heavy machinery is needed in mining for metal, to

break and remove rocks of various hardness, to process the ore and for reclamation efforts after the mine is closed. Bulldozers, drills, explosives and trucks are all necessary for excavating the land.

Metal goes through many complicated processes. you place the ore in a very hot oven until the metal melts and the slag is separated. Slag is all the unwanted minerals and other metals in the ore.

It then goes through several chemical and electrical treatments to further purify the ore until you get purified metal and close to zero slag.

MetalIn Mechanical pencils metal is used to make things such as springs. Springs are put in a mechanical pencil so that when you press the button to get more led the spring compresses and feeds out the led.

Manufacturing This step is the step where you Make

the final product. You have to make the product with all the materials (In this case plastic, metal, graphite, and synthetic rubber).

Plastic Plastic, though sometimes rubber is

then shaped in a mold. From there machines are used to duplicate this mold as many times as they need to. This mold is used for the shell or the outer piece of plastic on the mechanical pencil.

Graphite Graphite is used in a Mechanical pencil

so that you can actually write. The graphite is shaped in to long skinny circular pieces so that they fit perfectly in to the mechanical pencil.

Synthetic Rubber Synthetic rubber is used in a Mechanical

pencil for the small eraser on the top of the pencil. The most common eraser colors are pink and white but can also be other types of colors by adding dye.

PackagingThe packaging for mechanical pencils depends on which company you buy them from. For BIC they use plastic. So all 8 pencils are isolated I a plastic bag. Once the individual packs are finished they ship the pencils to stores across the globe in cardboard boxes.

DistributionMechanical Pencils must be sold to be

used. And in order to sell it must be distributed to stores like office max, office depot and staples. The manufacturing plant is in Century Corners Pkwy, Euclid, Ohio. So to transport the mechanical pencils from Ohio to Michigan is not that far away, but it still gives off Co2 .

Use When you use a Mechanical pencil it

eventually creates waste but not until the pencil is either broken or you don’t have any more lead. Also, when you do throw it away it doesn't create that much waste. But there are ways to dispose of it safely

Reuse/RecyclingA mechanical pencil can be reused a lot because all you have to do is put in more lead.There are places where you can go to recycle them. You take the materials to the plant and they will recycle it.

DisposalYou can recycle mechanical pencils so for disposal you take it to the recycling plant then they take the materials apart and separate them into categories to be recycled.

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