SKILLS!

[Compwhiz]

Well today in Choir class i found a pencil sharpener in the trash. I asked Mr. Burdine why it was. He said it was shot. I took it home, ripped it apart, and i discovered that a pice of pencil was logged in the tranny. So i removed it plugged it in and it worked!!!

 

[westytoploader]

Electric pencil sharpeners are simple, but have weak motors and tend to break easily.

I have an electric "school-type" Boston (new, not vintage) and I am surprised at how little power it has.

 

[jasonl]

Yeah, I'd imagine, just a tiny little motor in there. I always like the Panasonic ones that had a little light that would come on when it thought your pencil was sharp enough.

 

[Designgeek]

Or how'bout one of those classic Boston pencil sharpeners with the crank on the side and the wheel for selecting the appropriate diameter of entry hole for the pencil you were sharpening. I remember some of those had, instead of the wheel, a little "grip" thing you could pull out that would grab the pencil and automatically pull it into the mechanism until it was properly sharpened, at which point it would stop.

I wonder if they still have such things in modern classrooms?

 

[tolivac]

The govt LOVES those electric pencil sharpeners-we have a "Hunt-Boston" at my workstation-the sharpenings basket is cracked-but it still works-also had them in other govt plants I worked at.It just runs when you put the pencil in it-will runs as long as you like-will even grind the pencil down to sawdust!

 

[Designgeek]

Aha, that's why. It will grind the pencil down to sawdust.

I bet if you look closely in the fine print of the legislation or whatever, that specified those electric pencil sharpeners, you will find a certain amount of pork being directed toward a state that produces pencils. The more you grind away to sawdust, the more they sell.

Can't do that when you're twirling a crank.

 

[tolivac]

Its sort of interesting-the pencil sharpener is hardly used-we put all the info in our operating logs with the computer or with pens.As I look in its shavings drawer-its full-someone on another shift must love to grind down those pencils.I do miss those ones that had the crank-like those in the school classrooms.