The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1905-06-08
SOMETHING ABOUT
The LEAD PENCIL
The Per Capita Consumption
of America Is Double That
of Europe.
MAINTAIN SIX FACTORIES
Together They Employ More Than 2
900 People and Pay Nearly
100000 in Wages Annually
import Our Graphite.

Pearson's Magazine: Every Ameri-
san a roma and child uses two
pencils annually at the lowest calcu-
lation. Our per capita consumption Is
double that Of Europe, perhaps because
there is more iliiteracy across the
ocean, or perhaps because we are more
e~xtravagant and waste quite as many
pencils as we use. There are six lead
pencil factories in the United States;
two in New York, two in New Jersey,
one in Illinois and one in Massachu-
sets. Together they employ mors
than 1000 people, pay nearly seven
hundred thousand dollars in wages an
nually and their yearly output, at the
rate of 10000 gross daily, is worth more,
than two million dollars. We are now
making as many pencils as all of
Europe combined; we supply nine
tenths of our home demand and ship
a considerable quantity abroad. And
yet, despite the growing Importance of
the industry and the fact that millions
of people could not get through a
working day without the use Of a pen
ell, how few are there who can tell
now this indispensable little article is
made.
Structurally speaking, the lead pen
ell consists of an outer shield or COY
ering and Of an inner piece of round,
solAo S1dpiAle. 1He WOuu, WHICH Is OIL
prime Importance, must be durable
and compact; straight grained and
soft, SO that 1t may be alike easy to
polish and white; if it is fragrant so
much greater it's value. Now of all
the trees in the world our Virginia or
red cedar, which grows SO l%uxuriantly
In the south, particularly in Alabama
and Florida, Is the only one whose
wood meets all these requirements.
Our pencil manufacturers w their
own cedar mills, but the European
makers, much to their dislike, are
obliged to purchase their pencil cover
ing from us. In order to place them
selves on an equal footing IN attempt
was made to transplant the Virginia
cedar. Germany devoted a hundred
acres to that purpose some forty years
ago, but the climate proved unfavor-
able and a few stunted trees with wood
as hard as oak, proclaimed the expert
nent a rank failure.
On the other hand, we go to foreign
arket for u graphite, the best
qualities of which come from eastern
Our largest factory, taking advantage
IF the cheaper labor market abroad,
has all of it's graphite prepared In Ger
many n sent here ready for use.
Nor Is cheap labor the only considera-
lion, for the German graphite makers,
like the wood carvers Of Switzerland
Ind the toy makers Of Nuremberg, fol-
.oW the trade from father to son; take
20 it quite naturally and leave the rest
Of the world behind in expertness.
Pencil leads consist Of a mixture of
clay and graphite, both undergoing a
careful and separate treatment before
they are united. The raw graphite,
after being reduced to a fine powder in
4 mortar, sifted and freed from i'm
DlritiRS nv rinnro1 ooi1o Go -,o
n fired to a bright red heat. The
1ext step is to add water to the prepa-
:ation and pour it into a vat, where
The heavier particles sink. From this
the water carries the lighter par
:icles into another at a lower level,
ana then on into n or two more,
where the heavier particles drop to the
bottom and the finer particles are car
led over. The graphite drawn from
The last vat in the series is in a state
If extremely fine division, and It's value
reserves 1t for use in the best pencils
,nly.
The clay, purged Of sand and iron,
goes through somewhat the same pro-
cess, n then 1t Is mixed with the
graphite, the proportion varying all the
way from equal parts to two Of clay
.or one of graphite-the amount. Of
clay depending strictly on the degree of
aardnes or softness wanted for the
pencil leads.
When the particles of clay and
graphite are thoroughly Incorporated
Ind ground together they are placed In
bags and squeezed to the consistency
IF dough by a hydraulic press. The
Iormless substance, ready to be shap-
I'd into pencil rods, is forced by a pis-
ton 5in continuous threads through the
many apertures Of a strong upright
brass cylinder. each Of the apertures
being OF exactly the same size as the
!eads that are to be fitted In the pen
ellis. The long threads OF graphite are
received and arranged on straight
grooves Of q wide board and left to
harden until they become as stiff as
rods. Afterward they are cut into
'equisite pencil lengths-seven inches
Is q rule--packed with charcoal in q
covered crucible and submitted to q
high furnace heat.
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