John Lee Love

The "Love Sharpener", was designed by John Lee Love of Fall River, MA. Love's invention was the very simple, portable pencil sharpener that many artists use, the pencil is put into the opening of the sharpener and rotated by hand, and the shavings stay inside the sharpener. Love's sharpener was patented on November 23, 1897 (U.S. Patent # 594,114). Four years earlier, Love created and patented his first invention the "Plasterer's Hawk." This device which is still used today, is a flat square piece of board made of wood or metal, upon which plaster or mortar was placed and then spread by plasterers or masons. This was patented on July 9, 1895.

Below you can view the patents issued to Love.