Having used and even attempted to fashion several rastra of my own, this 1878 ad for McGee’s draughting pencil caught my attention for its ability to draw 5 lines:
The advertisement mentions that this pencil was “recently patented”, so I did a quick search through the U.S. patent archives:
I don’t know if this product sold very well or was a boon to its target consumers, but I wonder if any musicians might have picked one up along the way.
What an unusual device! Thank you for unearthing and showing it. – I wonder what prevented the leads from falling out of the tubes.
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