The Gedess lead sharpener is for lead diameters from 2 mm to 4 mm. The lead is sharpened by turning the inserted pencil.
When the first propelling pencils came on the market at the end of the 1930s, a device was needed that sharpened the lead and didn't damage the outer metal casing.
The Swiss Georges Dessonnanz from Fribourg developed a lead sharpener and filed an application for a patent: Swiss patent of April 9, 1939, US patent of March 29, 1940; the first letters of his name formed the designation of the lead sharpener: GEDESS.
The drawing in the patent specification does not show today's form yet, which has been used since about 1944, but the basic idea remained. The GEDESS has been shown at the Modern Art Museum in New York in the actual new design.
Made in Germany by Standardgraph.
