--- description: When Scripto, Inc. and Parker Pen Co. each announced that they had a new kind of pencil that writes with liquid graphite and never has to be sharpened (TIME, Feb. 7), everyone in the industry expected... title: Business: Pencil Pact image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) # Business: Pencil Pact by [TIME](/author/time/) Feb 28, 1955 5:00 AM CUT by [TIME](/author/time/) Feb 28, 1955 5:00 AM CUT When Scripto, Inc. and Parker Pen Co. each announced that they had a new kind of pencil that writes with liquid graphite and never has to be sharpened (TIME, Feb. 7), everyone in the industry expected a dingdong patent fight and a sales battle. Scripto’s “Fluidlead,” already on the market, was a 49¢ pencil; Parker’s “Liquid Lead,” a model at under $5, was to be brought out in the spring. Last week on Valentine’s Day, instead of scrapping, the two companies kissed and made up. To avoid the expense and confusion of a long patent battle, Scripto and Parker signed an agreement (in ink) that will allow them to use each other’s formulas for a royalty. Scripto, as it has previously, will concentrate on the low-priced field; Parker will stick to the higher-priced pencil. Both companies will use Parker’s Liquid Lead name, hoping that the agreement will discourage the kind of fly-by-night competition that almost ruined the industry in the early days of the ball-point pen. Said Parker’s Executive Vice President Daniel Parker: “We feel that with a high-quality standard, any imitators at a lower-quality level will find it pretty tough sledding.” Prospective competitors would have to move fast indeed. Scripto is already producing 60,000 fluid graphite pencils a day, is sold out well into May. Said Scripto President James V. Carmichael: “By the time we catch up with present orders, we will be 3,000,000 units behind.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6798718/business-pencil-pact/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6798718/business-pencil-pact/"},"headline":"Business: Pencil Pact","datePublished":"1955-02-28T05:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T20:52:32.251Z","description":"When Scripto, Inc. and Parker Pen Co. each announced that they had a new kind of pencil that writes with liquid graphite and never has to be sharpened (TIME, Feb. 7), everyone in the industry expected...","url":"https://time.com/archive/6798718/business-pencil-pact/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/author/time/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/6798718/business-pencil-pact/","name":"Business: Pencil Pact"}}]}] ```