In 1795, during the French Revolutionary Wars, Nicolas-Jacques Conté, a French engineer, developed a new process for making pencil leads. He ground low-quality graphite into powder, mixed it with clay, shaped the mixture into rods, and baked them. This invention, known as 'Crayons Conté,' allowed for the creation of pencils with varying degrees of hardness and was a major step in the mass production of pencils.

Conté's process made the pencil a practical, affordable, and reliable writing tool. It allowed for the standardization of pencil leads, making them available in different grades for different purposes. This invention was a huge boon for writers, including poets, who could now draft and revise their work with a tool that was easy to use, portable, and erasable. The modern pencil, as we know it today, descends directly from Conté's innovation.