Morning journal and courier., 1886-05-26

it may be thought difficult if not impossi- be task for one to collect any accurate sta tistics in regard to this commodity, since the idea prevails that the names found on the various grades represent those of the manu- lecturers. The fact is however, that almost all American pencils are produced by four we'll known establishments in this city, who make not only the goods bearing their own imprint and trademark, but also stock for outside persons, large stationery dealers, railroad companies and the like, stamping such stock the name of the dealer, firm or corporation instead of their own. The i'm mense quantities of pencils that are given away as an advertisement by enterprising merchants in western cities are all made here. There are few small concerns in va- rious parts of the country that make cheap stock, but their entire product does not amount to over few thousand dollars worth year and the number of pencils imported is comparatively small. The total number imported, it is said, will not average fifty thousand gross a year. A tariff of fifty cents per gross and thirty per cent. ad valo- rem prevents foreign competition from being felt appreciably except in the finest grades.
 It is matter of curiosity with many peo- pie as to why the term lead is applied to pencils, since not particle of this mineral enters into them. The explanation involves a brief history of the article itself. It is generally held that the pencil was the first instrument used by artists and consisted then of Jumps of colored earth, chalk or charcoal, simply cut into form convenient for holding in the hand. With such pencils were executed the line drawings of Aridices, Telephones and also the early -colored pictures of the Greeks and Egyptians. The introduction of wet colors, however, led to the employment of fne-pointed hair brushes and caused a partial abandonment of the older instruments by the artists. These hair brushes or pencils are still used in place of pens for writing by the Chinese, as every pa- tron of their laundries is aware. They cling to these ancient implements of chirography with tenaeity only second to that which holds them to the antiquated custom Of the queue. Just when the classical stylus gave place to the real lead pencil. i. G., the metal lie strip of lead inclosed in wood, is not known, but it was some time during the middle ages. The first traces of drawing in lead contemporaneous with the earliest developments of modern art Mention is made of works by masters of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the Van Eycks, Memlink and others which appear to have been produced by some pencil-like instru- ment on paper surfaced with chalk. But these metallic lead pencils, which still used by some bookkeepers and draughtsmen for making faint lines, never had any gene ral acceptance, the quill being the main reli- ance both for writing and drawing. To Eng land belongs the credit of substituting
 
 for lead pencils in 1564.
 This material was obtained from the Bor- rowdale mines in Cum mberland, which for years furnished quantities of exceedingly fine graphite, but are now exhausted. The graphite with it's black streak offered such contrast to the pale one of the lead that it was called in eontradistinction black lead, and this misnomer is still applied to it.
 Graphite is found in several States of the Union and in various European countries, but there are only about half dozen mines in the world that yield it in large quantities and of quality suitable for use. These are in Prussia and Austria; the Albert mine on the Oka river, Siberia, which is only worked every third year: the rich veins in Ceylon and the one at Ticonderoga, the only mine of the kind that has proved success on this continent The discovery of the last-named mine and the introduction of machinery into the manufacture of pencils few years ago completely revolutionized the business and placed American goods in the front rank of this industry. About two hundred tons of graphite used in this country for pencils every year.
 The process of manufacturing pencils is simple. The graphite when taken out of the mine is carefully sorted, crushed and repeat edfy sfciced until all the silicon, iron and other foreign substances which it usually contains have been removed. It is then mixed with properly prepared clay in certain prOpOfUloH according to the QuaHCy or leaQS desired. Pure graphite is too soft for use in it's natural form and clay is added simply to harden it; consequently the hardest pencils, the V. H. or HHHHH, are those which con tain most of this earth. The combined sub stances are then thoroughly ground in water and afterward dried and ground again and again until the requisite degree of fneness is attained. The mass comes out in the form of dough, which is kneaded by hand into a cake by skilful workmen. This cake is placed in cast iron cylinder and by severe but slow pressure is squeezed through 8 small hole in the bottom, from which it is- sues in the shape of a continuous thread, coiling itself up like rope on a board be- low. This is the lead which is afterward put into wood to form the pencil. At this stage, however, it is soft and elastic. After strengthening out the coil it is cut into re- quisite lengths and dried in ovens of pecu- liar construction. When this is done the leads are ready for the wood. The cedar for the coverings is cut into little boards about seven inches long, five or six wide and half the thickness of the pencil. Half a dozen or more grooves are made lengthwise in these of shape to correspond with the form of the leads. The leads arc glued in these and the covers, cut to correspond, are glued on and pressed down tightly. When sawn asuEder the pencils are to all intents and purposes finished. But they still have to un- dergo all that large variety of processes which change them from rough, square sticks into smooth, polished, rounded or cornered, stamped, gilded, headed and com pleted articles which everyone handles with ing of how many hands contributed to their