The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1889-01-11
HOW PENS ARE MADE.
Tha Process Explained I'm a way That
Every Body Can Understand.


Tha Process Explained I'm q way rhns
Every Body Can Understand.
The first steel pen was mnde by an
Englishman named Wise. 1t was cyl
indrical and adjusted to bone case for
pocket use. but IL was too expensive as
well as clumsy TO come into general use.
A Birmingham man. named Meyer. who
had been experimenting TO improve on
Wise's invention. had In his employ
young man named elliott About the
time Meyer had nearly completed his in
vention, his daughter married elliott,
and told him her fathers secret. In
consequence elliott anticipated his
father-in-law. and started factory for
making the very kind OF pens the old
man had spent years In devising.
How are the pens made7 A sheet OF
the finest steel six feet long, two and a
half feet wide and one-sixteenth Of an
inch thick. Is cut into strips each long
enough TO make two pens These strips
are annealrd by placing them In pots
with clayed lids and leaving them over
night In the ''mufler," or oven. which
y kept at an intense heat When they
Are cooled they are secured with acid
to remove the scales and brighten them
They are then rolled 20 the gauge de-
sired and taken TO the cutting shop to
be transformed into blanks by hand
presses Thence they go TO the pierre
ing shop. where hand-press makes the
In sawdust to remove the grease. they
go 10 the hardening shop and spend a
second warm night In pots In the oven
Next comes the stamping room, where
the firm name and trade mark are re-
ceived
Thus far they have been merely fat
blanks. Now comes the transforma-
tion scene In the raising shop they
are given the semi-circular forms that
makes them pens After q brief in
carceration In the oven, they are given
an oil bath. shaken In a revolving
colander till the drippings are removed
and saved. and then wiped dry In drums
with sawdust towel In the temper
Ing shop hundred gross are put in a
single drum and turned slowly over
charcoal fire. man with long-handled
iadle watching the changing color.
scooping them up at the proper instant
and spreading them on cooling pan.
In the securing shops they again en-
counter sawdust in drum; In the
Sitting shop a hand-press makes the
slits In the points; in the grinding shop
they are treated To either a straight or
cross grinding. the latter being consider
ed preferable. The back of the pen
shows readily to which process 1t has
been subjected
The longest stay Is In the polishing
shop-two days-the time being spent
In the most intimate intercourse with
the rubbish known as pot and in re-
volving drums They emerge polished
and with the sharp corners worn of
the points Then another trip l. made
to the tempering room. where they are
given blue. light, dark straw, or any
other desirable color. Into a thin var
nish Of alcohol and shellac they are
plunged. and spread on perforated
and heated iron plate to dry, and themes
to the looking-over room, where girls
inspect each pen, rejecting al. defective
ones They are very particular to this
part OF the process as bad pen. like a
bad egg, wiz spoil the reputation Of the
entire box. The final processes are
the product is ready for the trade; and
after going through all these rsanipula-
tiozs the completed pens e.s sold to
dealers for about a third of cent
apiece.
Soon after steel pens became popular,
inventors went to work to discover
something better. Glass, horn, tor
toise-shell and other substances were
tried, and the numerous experiments
eliminated in the gold pen with double
diamond points. first made in England
by Isaac Hawkins, an American resid-
ing abroad. Subsequent the same man
found that iridium was about as good
as the diamond. and IL l. now used al
most exclusively. 1t Ii found in con-
nection with gold-bearing quartz In the
mines of California and Russia Until
1874 gold pens were split with scissors
and rounded up with mallet and stick.
The price was then fsem five dollars to
ten dollars pen. After John Rendell
invented machinery that wosld do the
greater portion OF the work the price
declined rapidly. and although much of
the work is still done by hand. good
gold pen can be purchased to-day for
from one dollar to two dollars. The
best gold pens are made in this coun-
try. and the expectation is quite large.
Golden Days.