Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1851-07-05
EDITORS coRRESP PoNDENcE.


Tn1 GoLD PEN-Hs Hstory--the Method of its
MGnyacture-the Condition of the Business
mfhis Country, &c. &c.
New YoRK, JUNE "a, 1851.
Among the many descriptions Of mechanical business which
hsve recently come to be Of importance in New York; few
deeye 70 rank higher of our ctys wealth and
Psqpeny than that Of making the Gold Pen, rapidly su
Its rivals of steel ron which but yesterday, il
we drove the tmehonored goose-qu almost entirely out
q 80 The capital invested in this trade and the number
of ~9kmen employed in it together with its universally
admasd success as permanent business fairly entities it to
pes 10 this series Of papers accordingly make the sub
jeu' ior my letter to-day
yne ay Of the ancen.s exclusively used for writing
- recording, history tells us throughout the world Gas in
aoms Oriental countries to this day.) until the fifth y,
uus according Isadoe who wrote the seventh century,
~ ohsrs the quis began to supply its place In later
tins geese have been raised in England and Holland almost
slop fo their quilts The Dutch who FIRST prepared the quill
~ writing puposes, kept the Of their process many
ye until il was carried to England BY Jew, where the
s still almost entirely in the hands Of that ancient
pcp have been able TO ascertain the precise date
tbs invention Of the steel iron pen, though b Of compa-
ratively very origin. 1t is certain that Mr. John Per.
ry the manufacturer Of the weknown Penyan Pen first
gave them elasticity by making Sits in their Sides That
manufacture is still very extensive The process words
broad and three feet long They then placed successive
undera stamping press which out pieces in their pro-
per form with great rapidly The nib and Sits after
wards formed in dies and the last process clean them by
introducing thousands time into lin CYLINDER which
cranks ve violent motions throw them up and
down npne direcon and the other to throw them about in
the contAry direction the cylinder being hung like
centric This motion rubs the pens together to clean
them in about three hours. They afterwards tempered
The fist gold pen of which have been able to find an
fvuan aOme hv inuen T.
don ician for his 1t pointed, like those
now used, with metal found in mines with platinum.
About tveny-f years since Mr.. Hawkins, New Eng
land mechanic established in London who by the BY was
the nveftor Of the Evepointed Pencil" the patent for
which be sold to Mordon, the great English manufacturer of
ewey hr FIVE hundred guneas) the first shop for the fab
cation Of he gold pen He returned this country about
year ago. and now resides Bordentown New Jersey He
is seventyyears Of age, and learn quite poor though the
manufacture Of his patent pencils has already enriched thou
sands. A. G. BAeLEr, Vermont mechanic, bred to the
trade Of matchmaker FIRST made the gold pen the United
States in 1885 taking the trade without previous nsruc
ton and placing the Of HAWKINS bis work. Soon
aerwsrd he became the foreman in the shop of Mr. Browne
which was the first considerable gold pen factory established
in this country. Bagey, whose pens widely
known than those of any other maker in the world long
afterwards commenced extensive establishment in his
name and has carried the business this day. being
in connexion with H. H. Houghton, Esq, formerly well
known here accomplished and popular North river
steamboat officer. Having tested his work by using Of
his pens constantly for four years in writing for the press, in
which employment wrote probably four times many words
any clerk in the Union in the me selected his fac
tory in which obtain knowledge of the process of making
the pen which is follows The gold, in eagles is first
melted into ngos weighing from seventy to eighty ounces,
Of the quality to give the proper elasticity and then pressed
BY being passed through seres of rollers into Sheets about
one thirty part inch in thickness They then
cut with great rapdity by machine into blanks, pieces
of the proper length size, and shape They passed
through circular filing machine which Sits opening in
the receive the Iridium point That point then solder
ed on 6y careful 1t he iridium poin) is
squared up" ground roughly copper "ap" The
pointed blank is passed through rollers, which, by
pressure draw them out to the required length Next they
are panshed," hammer tempered, to give them the
proper degree Of elasticity They then passed through
quired and mpresses them with the name OF the MAKER
ALnxRr G. BAeLEY, New YORK" Then the pen is taken
to still another press, where, being laid steel form, two
motions of the foot pedal instantly bends into the clip
tica or haf oval form peculiar the work Of this house
Il Is now transferred machine whereon placed, when
by two motions Of the foot pedal il is instantly slit
by steel knife which passes rapidly over its surface After
wards il taken TO small wheel, revolving with great
pdity, which, with the application OF emory saws connu-
alton Of the split in the gold through the iridium point This
operation requires great s.eadness of hand and acueness of
sight For year after inventing it. Mr. Bagley kept this
particular machine secret from the rest Of the trade. may
here mention that he invented every machine peculiar to the
business used in not only his own but every other American
or English mandatory Of gold pens It is cleaned BY
rubbing each pen by hand with Scotch sone and then it is
polshe on buf" wheels. The pens NEXT handed
70 men who carefully dress the iridium points, by passing
emory laps or Wheels to take off any inequalities in the
po;nt They are then fine ground little copper lap
which, being driven by the foot makes from three thousand
70 four thousand revolutions per minute This is the most
tedious process in the manufacture the workman being
Obliged 10 keep magnying glass his eye while engaged
an Il Afterwards they "rouged colored and then
,hey are rasped on The inside make them retain the
nk The raspers hand back the pen to the last grinder
ho ,onehes the points on bis lap" examines the whole
They are then taken from the factory the Office, and each
examined through still powerful masnfying glass, and
,,;sd nil, ink those proving in the least imperfect being
turned 10 the factory be re6nsed broken up while
,ho. hch the firm willing have 90 forth bearing their
us,L ,e ,henceforth Sin the Market There two or
three used by this house which they decline dsOs
inc so cannot describe them to your readers.
II his shop no rhodum s used for points, but somewhat
;rI.r metal styled IaIDIuM, perhaps ten times dura
h bcb is likewise found in the platinum mines Of Siberia
nncosly Unit, thus applied, both these metals were re-
as utterly vaueless understand, and great care was
The iridium will not yield to fire, TO any known acid or
acids while the rhodum usibe at very high heat They
ho,b look like small particles and scales Of cast STEEL The
purchase the hodium from eight dollars 10 dollars
ounce while the iridium costs them thirty TO one hundred
sAy per ounce. Even in the best lots Of the latter not
more than particle In ten . t TO put on pens OF the
or.;,v manufactured by A. G. Bagley & Co.
The cheapest description Of nominal gold pens made, are
f copper or brass, plated and pointed with platinum Of
course while purchasers at hand for such "Pndarish
nooa. uorkmen will stand ready to make them.
There are at present gold in and around
New York one n Syracuse, and one recently established in
phadelpha which comprise all in operation in the United
states Those in this immediate vicinity employ about three
hndred hands all of whom males II will be safe, there
se 10 write down three hundred and fifty the number Of