Faber, Eberhard << FAY buhr, EHB ur hahrd >> (1822-1879), an American businessman born in Bavaria, built the first mass-production pencil factory in the United States. His great-grandfather had started making pencils in Bavaria in 1761. Faber moved to New York City in 1848 and opened a branch of the family firm there the next year. He sold pencils from Bavaria and exported cedar boards from Florida to European pencil manufacturers.
Faber had to pay a tariff on the pencils he imported, and so he decided it would be cheaper to make them himself. He developed labor-saving machinery to avoid high production costs and, in 1861, built a pencil factory in New York City. Faber later also made pens, erasers, and other stationery products. Faber was born in Stein, near Nuremberg, Germany.
