The Dixon Ticonderoga Company () is an office and art supplies maker from the United States, with headquarters in

Heathrow, Florida Heathrow is a census-designated place and an Unincorporated area, unincorporated suburban community in Seminole County, Florida, Seminole County, Florida, United States. Heathrow is on the I-4 Corridor in Central Florida, 19 miles northeast of Orl ...

. The company offers a number of brands, with one of the most well-known being ''Ticonderoga'': the yellow No. 2 pencil known for its distinctive green and yellow

ferrule A ferrule (a corruption of Latin ' "small bracelet", under the influence of ' "iron") is any of a number of types of objects, generally used for fastening, joining, sealing, or reinforcement. They are often narrow circular rings made from me ...

. Other brands include Dixon and Oriole pencils, Dixon Industrial products, Prang school and art supplies, and Lyra art products.

History

The company was formed by the merger of Joseph Dixon Crucible Company of New Jersey with Bryn Mawr Corporation of Pennsylvania, dating to 1795. The company was founded by Joseph Dixon and his son. Dixon also acquired 200-year-old German-based manufacturer Lyra. The pencil's name originates in the graphite ore discovered on Lead Mountain in 1815 and processed in

Ticonderoga, New York Ticonderoga (, moh, Tekaniataró:ken) is a town in Essex County, New York, United States. The population was 5,042 at the 2010 census. The name comes from the Mohawk ''tekontaró:ken'', meaning "it is at the junction of two waterways". The Tow ...

. In 2002, the company closed down its

Sandusky, Ohio Sandusky ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Erie County, Ohio, Erie County, Ohio, United States. Situated along the shores of Lake Erie in the northern part of the state, Sandusky is located roughly midway between Toledo, Ohio, Toledo ( wes ...

factory shifting the manufacturing operations to Mexico. In 2005, the company was acquired by F.I.L.A., a manufacturer of school and art supplies based in

Milan, Italy Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

, and announced the closure of its main US factory in

Versailles, Missouri Versailles is a city in Morgan County, Missouri, United States. The population was 2,482 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Morgan County. Locally, the town's name is pronounced “Ver-sails”, rather than “Ver-seye,” as in the Fr ...

. The company retains a distribution center in Georgia, where it makes limited numbers of pencils in order to claim status as a domestic producer, and a headquarters facility in

. A consultant and former director of business development for the Dixon Ticonderoga company has been

Lee Corso Lee Richard Corso (born August 7, 1935) is an American sports broadcaster and football analyst for ESPN and a former coach. He has been a featured analyst on ESPN's '' College GameDay'' program since its inception in 1987. Corso served as the he ...

(who is better known as a

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

broadcaster on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

). According to ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'', his on-air trademark is waving a pencil to punctuate his speech.

Ticonderoga pencil

The Classic ''Ticonderoga'' is a wood-cased graphite

pencil A pencil () is a writing or drawing implement with a solid pigment core in a protective casing that reduces the risk of core breakage, and keeps it from marking the user's hand. Pencils create marks by physical abrasion, leaving a trail ...

. It is well-known for having a characteristic yellow color, a now green (originally brass) metallic ferrule, and a soft pink eraser. The pencil has a mild

hexagonal In geometry, a hexagon (from Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°. Regular hexagon A '' regular hexagon'' has ...

shape that slows surface rolling. Its thickness is approximately 7mm, and its unsharpened length is 19cm. The Ticonderoga was traditionally manufactured from

Eastern red cedar ''Juniperus virginiana'', also known as red cedar, eastern red cedar, Virginian juniper, eastern juniper, red juniper, and other local names, is a species of juniper native to eastern North America from southeastern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico a ...

, but it is now made from an unspecified American cedar. The

eponymous An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

Ticonderoga model pencil is distributed by the Dixon Ticonderoga Company. The company, which was originally located in downtown

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

and Germany. Dixon Ticonderoga manufacture a variety of pencils, including the Classic, Black, Noir, Tri-Conderoga, Microban, Laddie, My First (formerly Beginners), SenseMatic, and colored pencils. The pencils are available in different grades: #1 (Extra Soft), #2 (Soft), #2½ (Medium), #3 (Hard), and #4 (Extra Hard). Ticonderoga pencils were the favorite pencil of the author

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl has be ...

. Dahl began using them, along with yellow lined legal pads, whilst living in the U.S, and upon returning home to the U.K. had them specially shipped over for use in his writing shed at

Gipsy House Gipsy House (formerly Little Whitefield) is a house in the village of Great Missenden in the English county of Buckinghamshire. It was the home of the writer Roald Dahl and his family for several decades. The house is situated on Whitefield Lane, ...

, his home in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

Brands

* Prang * GoWrite! * Pacon * WonderFoam * KolorFast * Dixon * Ticonderoga * Ghostline * Princeton Artist Brush

References

External links

* {{Authority control American subsidiaries of foreign companies Manufacturing companies based in Florida Companies based in Seminole County, Florida 2005 mergers and acquisitions Pencil brands