charcoal-pencil

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A crayon consisting of a charred twig of willow, or of sawdust from willow-, lime-, or poplar-wood, pressed in a mold, dried in the air, and charred in a retort.
2. n. A little stick molded from a mixture of wood charcoal in powder, gum, or starch paste, and a small quantity of saltpeter. When lighted at one end it continues to burn, and the red-hot point is used to lead a crack in thin glass, as of a tube or beaker, in any required direction, broken pieces of chemical apparatus being thus adapted to new uses.