The Dawn of the Space Age

It started with a leadholder.   Leadholders were used by draftsmen and engineers prior to the introduction of thin leaded mechanical pencils with lead sleeves.   I purchased these leadholders at a good price simply because they were engraved with the owner’s name. Collectors don’t like that sort of abuse but I don’t mind. That someone cared enough to engrave their name speaks to the importance they gave their tools and imbues them with a personal history.   So I did a little research.   These Eberhard Faber Microtomic 607 leadholders were made in the 1950s at the dawn of the Space race between the US and Russia. It was a golden age of engineering and technology was moving at the speed of light.   They belonged to a design engineer who was listed as working with the Hughes Aircraft Company in the 1957 Aeronautical Engineering Review - a journal published by the Institute of the Aerospace Sciences (which is now the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics).   This was a year before NASA was established.   Howard Hughes started the company in 1932. ‘The Aviator”, with Leonardo DiCaprio, is based on Hughes’ life.   A few bits from the 1957 journal:   - An interesting ad celebrating the Syrian chemist Al-Hassan er-Rammah, who is credited with inventing the first “rocket propelled torpedo” in A.D. 1280.   - In October 1957, the Russians launched Sputnik, the first human-made object to orbit the Earth. It is discussed in the Dec 1957 journal article, “Zero to Infinity”   - “United Air Lines has a new electronic brain that can retain 5 million units of information. To be placed in service next fall, the device will memorize all flight reservations on the firm’s entire system. It is reported to be the first of its kind in the transportation industry.”   - Vacuum tubes! “  - Pan American World Airways has begun non-stop service between New York and Rome, the first in transatlantic air history.”   - The world’s first unmanned helicopter.   - Staedtler does   Flying Saucers!   - Construction of the doomed Lockheed Electra was begun. Two crashes in 1959 involving in-flight separation of the wings ended its days as a passenger carrier.   - Engineering jobs were plentiful.   - “When man invades outer space, where neither normal gravity not atmosphere exist, strange things will occur.”