So it’s pre-1982. What pencils are they using?
Asia:
Europe:
North America:
South America:
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There’s a lot of left handed people in the top photo. 
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I’ve seen the mirror version of this image. I guess it was flipped 
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As a lefty, you’ve popped my bubble. Sigh.
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Incredible notice 
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I have been trawling the US Modernist archives and going thru EVERY issue of Pencil Points/Progressive Architecture from the 1930s and currently through 1986.
There is a marked change in the advertising after CAD was introduced. In the early days (30s - 40s) pencils ruled the roost. Dixon, AW Faber, Koh-I-Noor, Eagle, Venus etc were regulars. Hardly any mention of lead holders, especially during WWII.
Post-war, AW Faber came back strong and advertised regularly about their pencils and also lead holders (9400, 9400SG, 9800SG). Staedtler also showed up regularly with their Mars Technico offerings. Surprisingly, KIN was really quiet and hardly advertised full pages. Even Eagle Turquoise had a stronger showing.
In the 70s, KIN started focusing more on their Rapidograph pens. They had ‘fights’ with Staedtler over claims that MARS-500/700 pens were more durable etc. AW Faber stayed out of it.
In the 80s, advertising for pencils and leadholders faded to almost nothing. Faber Castell changed their name and for awhile, they advertised the Tk-matic as a revolution. I actually didn’t hear a squeak about the KIN Rapidomatics at all - they were all in for the pens. Perhaps the advertising shifted over to the graphic arts sector where manual illustration was still prevalent compared to the sea change that CAD brought to engineering and architecture.
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Can’t speak for those continents or for all of S.A., but here the market was dominated by STAEDTLER and FC, it’s very easy to find TG and Marsmatic pen sets, compasses, ruler sets, leadholders, … Those that didn’t have much money resorted to Compactor and local brands.
Mechanical pencils are a different story, no high end models were highly used here, you can find old FC Poly’s and even a couple of STAEDTLER’s Micro 775 but that’s about it.
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I have to wonder if a lot of those guys came home with graphite dust all over the forearms and cuffs of their shirt sleeves. FWIW, in the top photo I could make out only one woman and she appears like she may be a secretary. In the bottom photo, pretty hilarious how some guys are totally feet-off-the-floor, laying out on the drafting table. What a weird office, not making space between tables. Or, maybe there’s multiple guys working on one really huge drafting sheet.
Would be really interesting to see some kind of comparative chart in how long a typical drafting assignment took by hand versus on Auto-CAD.
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It’s of course generally a working environment far away for me (I am not young, but also not old 
).
The 2nd office appears also weird for me with people laying on the tables.
For me a typical drawing office looks like this https://fgrarch.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/fotothek_df_ps_0000314_zeichensaal_eines_konstruktionsbucc88ros-_mitarbeiter_an_arbe-e1522064236498.jpg
There are the technical drawers with boards at the left, and engineers/architects/… on the right reviewing/discussing the drawings at the tables.
And in my imagination those drawings are in ink (in German there are 2 words for ink, one for “writing ink” and one for “drawing ink”, maybe there is a similar distinction in English), done with technical pens.
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Yes, you’re right–there are 2 distinctions with fluid ink. The ink used in stylographs (employed by draftsmen and architects) is often called “India ink,” and is a permanent type due to its high carbon content. They would clog and ruin a fountain pen’s ink feed system. Ink used in fountain pens has almost no carbon at all. There are some special blends that contain more, for a more permanent inking of the paper while not presenting clogging problems for the feed.
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Haha, that is indeed a quite special office 
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Yes. The India ink has decisive specifications about durability and so on (at least here everything was standardized ). And if you use normal ink in a technical pen (which seems to be no functional issue), then it’s not a technical pen anymore in terms of standardization…
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There is also a challenge with the viscosity of normal ink. It’s thinner than India ink, so it will tend to flow faster in a stylograph… which can be a problem, depending upon the type of paper in use.
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Your images made me think of this ad from 1951.
The same pic is in the article, “When Slide Rules Ruled.” (Link below.) All of the members here use pocket protectors, right?
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Until WW2 nestler was world market leader for slide rules. @ulfesharpe has nestler pencil(s) at offer (but price expectations won’t meet ).
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I believe this distinction exists also in English and French (Lawyer and Drawing ink— and has to do with permanence. On one hand lacquer/shellac based inks called Indian ink aka Chinese Ink in French and Portuguese, or Lawyer’s/Notary’s ink for inks that used iron galls or “ebonising” processes with tannins that were suitable for legal documents — and on the other hand Drawing inks which were dyed or water-based and thus not permanent. I think they were called “drawing inks” because they were generally superior in colour (and had a much larger gamut of) and were suitable for printing and reproduction. Not sure these distinctions still exist as there are many other processes now, especially with acrylics.
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That’s because they’re the last ones on Earth (and also because ebay+currency exchange takes ~30% if you don’t count promotions…)
And I’m always open to offers 
@2nd_astronaut Speaking of Nestler, here’s one that I’m taking to the grave with me. The mighty Nestler Kaliber. I actually sold the spare one I had 2 years ago and I still haven’t recovered from it emotionally. (Nor from selling it so cheap as I did at the time)
If I was into tattoos I swear I’d tattoo the Kaliber on a sassy spot somewhere even though it’s not a 2mm
(sorry about the really crappy photos, this forum deserves much better but this is the best I can do at 4pm Xmas Eve)
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