On this day in 1795 Nicolas Jacques Conte announced to the world he had discovered a new pencil-making process that mixed clay and graphite to form a hard writing tip made of lead, of sorts. Then, as it is today, there’s no lead in Jacques “lead” pencil. But somehow the name stuck. Over the years, man has found many good uses for the graphite in his writing stick -- far beyond making grocery lists and writing smudgy notes. Graphite is a natural lubricant and rubbing a pencil’s soft tip on nearly anything with moving parts, like keys that go into locks and tape measures that retract in and out, keeps them working smoothly. And they won't collect dirt and gather grime as items treated with most lubricating oils do. So grab a pencil and make a note. And that's the On The House tip for today.