Is a pencil an invention or an innovation?

Answer 1

It's debatable and depends on how you want to define invention and innovation. The first versions of pencils were just graphite sticks wrapped in something like string or sheepskin to facilitate stability while they were used (mostly for art purposes). The version we think of - two wooden halves glued together around a graphite core - was invented around 1560 so that innovation might be considered the invention of what we now know as the pencil.

Obviously there have been many innovations and inventions related to pencils since then including the mechanical pencil and using plastic to encase the "lead" instead of wood.