A zipper has three parts

Pencils and Pens

No one knows who invented pencils or when it happened. A Swiss described a pencil in a book in 1565. He said it was a piece of wood with lead inside it. (Lead is a very heavy, soft, dark gray metal.) Pencils weren't popular, and people continued to write with pens. They used bird feathers as pens.

Then, in 1795, someone started making pencils from graphite, and they became very popular. Graphite is like coal. (Coal is black, and we burn it for heat and energy.) Today, people make pencils in the same way. They grind the graphite, make it into the shape of a stick, and bake it. Then they put it inside a piece of wood. One pencil can write 50,000 English words or make a line 55 kilometers long.

People wrote with feather pens and then used pens with metal points. They had to dip the point into ink after every few letters. Next, someone invented a fountain pen that could hold ink inside it. A fountain pen can write several pages before you have to fill it again.

Two Hungarian brothers, Ladislao and Georg Biro, invented the ballpoint pen. They left Hungary and started making ballpoint pens in England in 1943, during World War II. English pilots liked the pens. They couldn't write with fountain pens in airplanes because the ink leaked out. Later, a French company called Bic bought the Biros' company.

Some people call ballpoint pens "Bics." Australians call them "biros." Whatever we call them, we use them every day.

The Umbrella

The umbrella is a very ordinary object. It keeps the rain and the sun off people. Most umbrellas fold up, so it is easy to carry them. However, the umbrella has not always been anordinary object. In the past, it was a sign of royalty or importance. Some African tribes still use umbrellas in this way. Someone carries an umbrella and walks behind the king or important person.

Umbrellas are very old. The Chinese had them more than 3,000 years ago. From there, umbrellas traveled to India, Persia, and Egypt. In Greece and Rome, men wouldn't use them. They believed umbrellas were only for women.

When the Spanish explorers went to Mexico, they saw the Aztec kings using umbrellas. English explorers Native American princes carrying umbrellas on the east coast of North America. It seems that people in different parts of the world invented umbrellas at different times.

England was probably the first country in Europe where ordinary people used umbrellas against the rain. England has a rainy climate, and umbrellas are very useful there.

Everybody uses umbrellas today. The next time you carry one, remember that for centuries only great men and women used them. Perhaps you are really a king or queen, a princess or prince.