Joseph Dixon (1799–1869) was an

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an id ...

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

and the founder of what became the

Dixon Ticonderoga The Dixon Ticonderoga Company () is an office and art supplies maker from the United States, with headquarters in Heathrow, Florida. The company offers a number of brands, with one of the most well-known being ''Ticonderoga'': the yellow No. 2 penc ...

Company, a well-known manufacturer of pencils in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. His fascination with new technologies led to many innovations such as a mirror for a camera that was the forerunner of the

viewfinder In photography, a viewfinder is what the photographer looks through to compose, and, in many cases, to focus the picture. Most viewfinders are separate, and suffer parallax, while the single-lens reflex camera lets the viewfinder use the main ...

, a patented double-crank

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be ...

, and a method of printing banknotes to thwart

counterfeit To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value tha ...

ers. Most notably, Dixon manufactured the first wood and graphite pencil in the country. Among his associates were such American inventors as

Robert Fulton Robert Fulton (November 14, 1765 – February 24, 1815) was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the world's first commercially successful steamboat, the (also known as ''Clermont''). In 1807, that steamboat ...

Samuel Morse Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American inventor and painter. After having established his reputation as a portrait painter, in his middle age Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph ...

, and

Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell (, born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born inventor, scientist and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and T ...

, and politician/business partner

Orestes Cleveland Orestes Cleveland (March 2, 1829 – March 30, 1896) was an American manufacturer and Democratic Party politician who represented for two terms from 1869 to 1871, and served two separate stints as Mayor of Jersey City. Early life and career ...

Joseph Dixon Crucible Company

In 1827, Joseph Dixon began his business in

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ...

and, with his son, was involved with the Tantiusques graphite mine in

Sturbridge, Massachusetts Sturbridge is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It is home to Old Sturbridge Village living museum, living history museum and other sites of historical interest such as Tantiusques. The popu ...

. Dixon discovered the merits of graphite as a stove polish and an additive in lubricants,

foundry facing A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

s, brake linings, oil-less bearings, and non-corrosive paints. He also refined the use of graphite

crucible A crucible is a ceramic or metal container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures. While crucibles were historically usually made from clay, they can be made from any material that withstands te ...

refractory In materials science, a refractory material or refractory is a material that is resistant to decomposition by heat, pressure, or chemical attack, and retains strength and form at high temperatures. Refractories are polycrystalline, polyphase ...

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 The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Second Federal Republic of Mexico, Mexico f ...

. This invention's success led Dixon to build a new mill in what is now the

Van Vorst Park Van Vorst Park is a neighborhood in the Historic Downtown of Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, centered on a park sharing the same name. The neighborhood is located west of Paulus Hook and Marin Boulevard, north of Grand Street, east o ...

neighborhood of historic

Downtown Jersey City Downtown is an area of Jersey City, New Jersey, which includes the Historic Downtown and the Waterfront. Historic Downtown Historic Downtown was an area of mostly low-rise buildings to the west of the waterfront, but by the 2000s a number of h ...

, New Jersey in 1847.Depew, Chauncey Mitchell, ed. ''1795–1895. One Hundred Years of American Commerce''. Vol 2. New York: D.O. Haynes, 1895 The Dixon Mills complex has subsequently become residences. During the 1860s, people typically wrote with quill pens and ink even though Dixon introduced graphite pencils in 1829. But the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

created a demand for a dry, clean, portable writing instrument and led to the mass production of pencils. At the time of 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 Bryn is a Welsh word meaning hill. It may also refer to: Places United Kingdom See also UK location England * Bryn, Greater Manchester ** Bryn (ward), an electoral ward in Wigan ** Bryn railway station * Cornwall Wales * Bryn, an electoral div ...

, a Pennsylvania transportation and real estate company with operations dating back to 1795. Together, these companies formed the Dixon Ticonderoga Company, named after Dixon and its oldest brand-name pencil.

References

External links

Dixon Ticonderoga CompanyTantiusques Graphite Mine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Joseph 19th-century American inventors 1799 births 1869 deaths Pencils American steel industry businesspeople American printers American engravers American lithographers People from Salem, Massachusetts 19th-century American businesspeople