The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1884-11-21
Making Steel Pens.

The steel pen is a modern invention,
not fifty years having elapsed since it
was introduced, and like many other
innovations it met with much opposi.
tion, and bad number of rivals. OF
these the quill pen was the most for.
midable, and to this day the quills of
geese are used by some old persons.
Pens of silver and gold, the latter es.
pecislly, have been great favortes
with those who admire much hexibili-
ty in pen, and the handy self.feeders,
as the geographic, have plenty of US
ers. But, after all, the steel pen is the
most generally used, and unlike most
inventions, the method of its manufac.
ture has not been essentially changed
or improved.
The steel from which pens are made
is the finest crucible cast steel rolled
into sheets 7-l000 of an inch thick.
From this the blanks are cut by means
of punch and die in presses worked
by hand or foot, the operators being
girls. The side slits in the pen, the
central oval or semi-circular hole, the
corrugations or embossing., the curved
or semi.circular form to the originally
flat bank, and the stamp Of the pen oI
maker, are all formed and produced by
similar means-the screw hand pres,
or the lever foot press-by the use Of
punches and dies, each pen being han.
died separately.
These corrugations and slits and cen
tral cuts are not merely fanciful orna
ments, but are intended to adapt the
pen to the user. Some want resist
ing pen, very stiff and allowing con-
siderable pressure without opening the
nibs wide enough to make heavy
mark others yielding pen that re
quires but a touch to open the nibs
Then there are many degrees of these
qualities required, as we'll as difference
in sizes, SO that single establishment
makes no less than forty-six styles Of
steel pens.
OF course cast steel of such extreme
tenuity becomes hardened by these
successive DRESSINGS, and must be an
nealed. This is done by placing the
blanks or unfinished pens in a cast
iron box, which is then covered by s
: larger box, leaving space all around
: of half an inch or more, which is filled
with ashes or fine charcoal. The whole
is then subjected to a glowing rec
heat for about two hours and allowed tc
cool. When annealed the blanks may
be rolled up by the fingers just like &c
many bits of tea lead, which they much
resemble in softness.
In heating for hardening the same
method is used-packing in double
boxes six or eight inches square-ant
when they are red hot they are poured
into tank of animal oil. When tax
en- from this bath they must be hand
led carefully, as they are not stiff anc
brittle, but crumbly; they can b'
squeezed to minute fragments between
thumb and finger. They are then plac
ed within cone-shaped, sheet iron re
ceptacle, open at the larger end, an(
, mounted on a spindle, and are rotated
over glowing fire until they turn t,
full or slow" blue. They are ther
chilled in oil, and when cool are rat
tied in saw-dust until they are quit
clean and bright. The next process i
4 the grinding of the nibs on minut
! wheels of fine emery and of corundum
and lastly comes the essential process
that completes the pen and makes it
t pen--the Sitting of the nibs. This
D done by pair of shears acting tn
7 same as the presses and punches. Thi
splits the steel from point to centrs
t hole without removing particle G
e material. The pens are then lacque1
D ed. straw or brown, blue or black, c
z left bright, as the style demands, an
n packed for the market.