The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1871-11-02
SLATE PENCILS.


twenty years az al he slate pencils used
We're manufactured in Germany She then
uppAed America with This commodity LII
iN2o mere was young man living IN Wesl
Rutland, v eighteen years of age, who for
tnnateiy discovered a supply of stone for ma
king frs class article Of slate nencils H.
hrgan by whiting out the pencils and sell
ing hem 10 school children Being better
article than that for sale in the Stores h.
found ready sale for all he could whittle
out.
He argued that II they would sell TINS read.
itl a home, they would sell readily evnrU
whore tie hecann possessed Of the idea thai
here was fortune IN the business and his
dream has been realized This quarry OF
atate PENCIL stone was slt1a,e ed in Il large ra-
wac, ionr miles nor OF CastIeton, VT, near
! BOmOseen Lake. The land on which il was
| situated Whs for sale at one hundred dollars
! lie purchased II, and began operations nv
saving out the pencils and whiting them
round
| the business of making them grew i'm
mensely on bis hands so that it was i'm nosxi
! ble to Keep clean order book
Machinery was invented to facilitate the
| process, which has reached something like
perfection, ana nOrmousiy increases the pro
durtion Of pencils AT present the quarry
ana mills are owned by joint st ock company
! lhtY are va urd AZ three hundred Thousand
dollars From fifty to one hundred thonsand
p'ncis are turned out daily, and upward of a
hundred hands are employed in the ouarry
and in the mill
After the stone is quarried it passes through
lour processes before it is made into pencils
II Is shWn INTO recbangu'ar blocks five inches
By seven, and split by hand into slabs of the
same length AMI breadth, which are carefu
~ assOr'ed heSe slabs pass through a ma
chine when shaves them all to the uniform
thickness 81 quarter o an inch, when they
are ready for the final process
/. he M tor
pencils, consists OF iron plates fitted to receive
Them, fastened TO an endless chain which
passes over rollers at either end
hese plates, OF which there about twenty
on chain, each receive slab, and as IT lass.
eS from one roller to the other the pencils are
cut ana rounded out half way to completion
hy semi circular knives; dozen different sets
OF KNIVES being firmly fastened above them
lie slaoS are then turned over and passed
pack through another machine exactly SINH
lar, ana perfect pencil is the product.
lhey are counted out by children and pack
ed one hundred IN box The pencils are
sold by the manufacturers at halfa cent {
piece or nifty cents a box, or ten times The
cost OF slate pencils in Germany. where one
thousand can be bought for less than fit,
cents. Bling made from a superior article o
; one they are used throughout the United
States In preference to those imported tron
Germany.
, The slate pencil business, like the pin bu
siness is small one in itself, but become!
large where 1t is necessary to supply all the
) school children OF America with pencils
twenty years ago the whole idea of it was il
the brain of young Yankee boy. To day il
Is d business involving over quarter million
OF money. Ii has been and will continue tC
be profitable business as this is the only
quarry and slate pencil mill in the United
States.
Besides manufacturing the pencils the firm
nave MILL tor UrOdInp the stone n hour
boiling 1t finer than fine -four, to be used II
t the process Of manufacturing paper, espec
Ially wall paper. This flour sells for twenty
dollars tun. The stone from which the
pencils are made contains upwards Of thirty
? per cent Of alumina from five to eight pei
cent more than the stone from which slate
pencils are manufactured in Scotland. The
company are putting up buildings and will
soon he manufacturing alum on a large scale
Scientific american