The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-08-11
deceit in this simple explanation

II have to laugh at the queer ideas
some people have about pencils. You
will scarcely believe it, but the opin-
ions of people who know nothing
=, about it seem to be divided between
the melting of the lead and pouring it
into the hole in the wood and cutting
out the lead to fit the hole
The great manufacturer laughed
loud, long and heartily over his re-
mark, as almost anybody else would
who happened to be posted in the art.
But there arc those who may know
how the hole got into the macaroni,
who cannot imagine how the lead got
into the pencil, and it is jast possible
that the pencil manufacturer docs not
know the trick about the Italian comes
tible. But he had his laugh out and
went on to say:
eve don't do it in that way. We
have a simpler and less costly process.
Bless me, how could VIC sell the best
pencils in the world, in all shapes and
qualities. for a cent apiece and less,
if We had to carve them out of solid
lead, or melt the lead and pour it in
the hole I? Few people know how it is
done, but I will enlighten you. The
part that goes into our pencils other
than the lead is cedar and comes from
the swamps of Florida. tits obtained
from the fallen trees that lie there.
There are men there who make bust
ness of supplying to pencil manu-
%facturers 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 blocks are sawed for four pencils
each. The groove is made by a saw.
and in this the lead lies.
II know" continued the manufac'
turer, ''that not one out of ten thou.
sand persons has the least idea OF
what this lead is. Sec, here is a fine
black powder that is praphite and
costs somewhere about rs cents
pound. The white substance is Ger
man clay. 1t comes across the ocean
as ballast in vessels and all it costs is
for freight. We mix clay and powder
together and grind them in a mill.
moistening the mass carefully during
the process, until the two are thor
oughly assimilatcd and reduced to
paste that is about the consistency OF
putty. Here arc the dies for the
leads, into which we press this paste
of graphite and clay. Each die is the
size of a pencil lead, saving in length
There arc four leads in one Of these,
After pressing they are cut into the
proper length and baked in an oven
kept at a very high degree of heat.
That finishes the simple process Of
making the lead, and it's 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 for
ever, the thin block is glued to the
thick one and left to dry thoroughly
When dry the blocks are u through
the machine and cut apart. Mex
they are run through a machine thai
shapes and Furnishes them, ard then
tied in punches, boxed and sent Out
complete. The different grades IN
value are made by the more or less fine
manipulation of the graphite. AS te
the cost of our pencils, here is a pen
Gil of good finish that is an average
pencil found in business life. That
pencil costs US a trife more than &
quarter of a cent to get ready for mar
ket. We sell to dealers at a hundred
per cent. profit. An operator on one
of our machines can easily make 2,5O(
of such pencils a day. That is thu
whole story, honest and true. Now,
what I want to know is, when pencil:
are so cheap and good and handy ano
useful and all that, what excuse can
pencil ~stealer have for his awful
crime 2"-Philadelphia Times.