The advocate., 1897-09-08
About Making Lead Pencils.

About Making Lead Pencils,
A correspondent Of an Eastern paper
says he asked the head man Of a great
factory about the manufacture of lead
pencils and received this answer:
"I have to laugh at the queer ideas
some people have about pencils. You
will scarcely believe 1t, but the opinions
of people who know nothing about 1t
seem to be divided between the melting
of the lead and pouring 1t into the hole
in the wood and cutting out the lead to
fit the hole"
The great manufacturer laughed long,
loud and heartily over this remark, as
almost anybody else would who hap
pened to be posted in the art. But there
are those who may know how the hole
got into the macaronl who cannot imag-
Inc how the lead got into the pencil, and
1t is just possible that the pencil manu-
facturer does not know the trick about
the Italian comestibIe. But he had his
laugh out and went ON to say:
1--WE don't do 1t that way. We have q
simpler and less costly process. Bless
me, how could we sell the best pencils in
the world, in all shapes and qualities, for
a cent apiece and less, IL we had to
carve them out of solid lead or melt the
lead and pour 1t in the hole? Few people
know how 1t is done, but will enlighten
you. The part that goes into our pencils
other than the lead is cedar and comes
from the swamps Of Florida. 1t ls OBJ
tained from the fallen trees that lie
there. There are men who make busi-
ness Of supplying to pencil manufactur-
ers this cedar in blocks, which are sawed
to the length Of the pencil, some thick,
to receive the lead, and others thin for
the piece that is glued over the other
containing the lead The groove is made
by a saw, and in this the lead lies.
IL know" continued the manufacturer,
"that not one out Of ten thousand per-
sons has the least idea Of what this
lead is. See, here is fine black powder;
that is graphite, and costs somewhere
about rs cents a pound. This white sub
stance is German clay. II comes across
the ocean as ballast in vessels, and all
1t costs us is for freight. We mix clay
and powder together and grind them in a
mill, mOistening the mass carefully dur
ing the process, until the two are thor
Oughly assimilated and reduced to
paste about the consistency Of putty.
Here are the dies for the leads, into
which we press this paste Of graphite
and clay. Each die is the size Of pen
Gil lead, saving in length. There are
four leads in one of these. After press
ing they are cut into the proper lengths
and baked In an oven kept at very
high degree Of heat. That finishes the
simple process of making the lead, and
its hardness is regulated by the greater
or less amount OF clay mixed with the
graphite the more clay the harder the
lead.
"These leads are kept in hot glue and
are placed in the grooves as the blocks
are made ready. When the lead is put
in there snugly and forever, the thin
block is glued to the thick one and left
to dry thoroughly. When dry the blocks
are run through the machine and cut
apart. Next they are rum through
machine that shapes and Furnishes them
and then tied In bunches, boxed and
sent out complete. The different grades
and values are made by the more or less
fine manipulation .Ce the graphite, AN