Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-09-02

When these boards (which are now
ready for shaping) reach the factory
thew are first passed in a continuous
line under a cutter, which cuts SIX
little grooves, round or square. for the
leads, and smoothes the faces by the
same stroke. The lead in the foreign
pencil lies wholly in one-half of the
wood, the other Slip being put on as a
cover, as nearly every body has found
occasion to know by the covers COM
ing off and leaving an unpleasantly flat
surface; but the American method hss
groove equally in each strip. Accord
ingly the two strips are glued alike.
Filling the leads is done oy girls. SIT
ting at brass-covered tables. The first
takes a grooved slip with her left hand
and a bunch of leads in her right
Spreading these out in her fingers like
the sticks of fan, she dexterOusly lays
them in the grooves and passes the
filled slip to the girl at the left, who
puts over it another slip which has jGst
received a coating of hot glue from a
brush welded by a third. Any two
slips fit together, and the united pairs
are laid in row and pressed together
in an iron frame by a screw, and the
row of slips is left to dry. The rough
ends of the slips and the projecting
parts are next ground smooth against
q wheel covered with sand-paper, and
are then ready for the most interesting
and characteristic process of all-tkat
of separating and shaping.
The foreign maker still makes each
pencil separately. His glued slip is
one pencil, and he formerly shaped it
by hand, but now does that by plane
driven back and forward by machin-
cry. Yet it is still one at a time with
him, and after shaping his pencil he
has to smooth it with sand-paper. Not
so in the American factories. The
work of separating and shaping them
in Done by the same operation of
single machine. The slip are fed one
by one under a revolving cutter. which
separates and rounds them on one side
by cutting away the superfluous wood.
AS they come from under the cutter
they are turned over and passed under
a second one, which does the same
work on the other side, SO that they
fall into basket in continuous
stream, six wide, of finished pencils.
The familiar operation of planning is
essentially that of cutting with a
pocket-knife. The planing-machine,
on the contrary, uses resolving knives,
which make a succession of little
gouges in the wood. These gouges,
which would otherwise leave the sur
face very irregular, are made to leave
it tolerably smooth by following one
another SO closely that the gouges be-
come one long gouge, or cut; but usual
ly the board is not smooth enough to
answer for nice work without further
finishing. Yet so perfect is the opera
ton of these revolving cutters that
they leave the surface not only true,
but so smooth that the finest sand
paper in ordinary use would scratch it.
The machine separates and shapes
probably fifty pencils while the foreign
maker is making one, and requires no
body to complete its work. AS the
streams of pencils fall six abreast they
are finished. in point of utility, and
are ready to be sharpened and put
to use.
Before they leave the room and sew
eral times afterward they are counted
by means of a counting board. This
is merely board on which are fastened
two strips of wood about four inches
apart, having in each strip IA grooves.
Catching up a handful of pencils the
workman rubs them along the board
once and back, thus filling up the
grooves, the pencils lying IN them as
pen lies in its rack on the inkstand,
and he has counted a gross of twelve
dozen without possibility of mistake,
and in five seconds time. By SINH
lar device, the employment of tray
having number of round impressions
of the size of a coin, into which the
pieces are shaken. gold coins are some
time counted.
In Difference to custom and the habit
of associating the desired blackness of
the leads with that of the wood the
natural beauty of the cedar il concealed
in the standard commercial grades by
coloring. After being immersed in
dye the pencils 60 to the very curious
little neutrality-suspicious. From
little hopper they settle through side
wise. and are seized between two wheels,
which thrust them endwise, one at a
time, through a hole in tube wet
with varnish from above. Each pen
Gil. pushed on by its follower in the
single-tile movement, energies from
the tube and drops on q horizontal belt.
1t then moves slowly with the belt some
thirty feet, drying as it goes. and
when the belt, reaching the pully. re
leases it, drops in basket. Ifyou place
pencil in the mouth. pushing it well
back, and then, COMPRISING the lips
tightly on it. expel the air. it will shoot
out with some force. In similar man.
ner this comical little machine spits
out from its cylinder a stream of pen
ellis at the rate of one hundred per
The other operations are of minor
consisting of shaving q
little from the ends, sharpening Ger
tain styles on a wheel, stamping each
with its proper marking, and the
various manipulations in packing. The
patent package as a stroke of inventive
genius. The dozen pencils are grouped
each in its groove, around an oval
piece of wood. The oval package is
more snowy than the round, and eight
pencils can be slipped out and replaced
at will without disturbing it. The
81 v,,x obon cl-;ll ~,,~, oil