Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-23
THE LEAD PEN GIL
HOW IT IS MADE AND THE NUM-
Der USED IN AMERICA.


Every American man. woman and child
uses two pencils annually at the lowest
calculation Our per capita consumption is
double that Of Europe. perhaps because
there is more illteracy across the ocean, or
perhaps because we are more eXtraVagan-
and waste quite as many pencils as 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 Mas
sachusetts. Together they employ more
than 1000 people, pay nearly seven hun
dred thousand dollars in wages annually
and their yearly output, at the rate of 1900
gross daily, Is worth more than two mil
lion dollars. We are now making many
pencils as all of Europe combined; we sup
ply nine-tenths of our home demand and
ship considerable quantity abroad. And
yet despite the growing Importance of the
industry and the fact that millions of peo-
pie could not get through working day
without the use of a pencil, how few are
there who can tell how this indispensable
little article is made.
Structurally speaking, the lead pencil con-
sists of an outer shield or covering and of
an inner piece Of round, solid graphite. The
wood, which is of prime Importance, must
be durable and compact; straight grained
and soft, that 1t may be alike easy to
polish and white; if 1t is fragrant so much
greater it's value. Now of all the trees in
the world our Virginia or red cedar, which
grows so luxuriantly in the south, partcu-
larly in Alabama and Florida, is the only
one whose wood meets all these require
ments. Our pencil manufacturers own
their own cedar mills. but the European
makers much to their dislike, are obliged to
purchase their pencil covering from US. In
order to place themselves on an equal foot
ing an attempt was made to transplant the
Virginia cedar. Germany devoted a hun
dred acres to that purpose some forty years
ago, but the climate proved unfavorable
and a few stunted trees with wood as hard
oak, proclaimed the experiment rank
failure
On the other hand we go to foreign mar
kets for our graphite, the best qualities OF
which come from eastern Siberia, Mexico,
Bohemia and Ceylon. Our largest factory,
taking advantage of the cheaper labor mar
ket abroad, has all of it's graphite prepared
in Germany and sent here ready for use.
Nor is cheap labor the only consideration,
for the German graphite makers, like the
wood carvers of Switzerland and the toy
makers of Nuremberg, follow the trade
from father to son; take to it quite nat
urally and leave the rest of the world be-
hind in experiences.
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 re-
duced to fine powder in mortar, sifted
and freed from impurities by mineral acids,
Is washed and fired to bright red heat.
The next step is to add water to the prepa-
ration and pour 1t into a vat, where the
heavier particles sink. From this vat the
water carries the lighter particles into an
other at a lower level, and then on into
one or two more, where the heavier par
ticles drop to the bottom and the finer par
ticles are carried over The graphite drawn
from the last vat in the series Is in a state
Of extremely fine division, and It's value
reserves it for use in the best of pencils
only.
The clay, purged of sand and iron. goes
through somewhat the same process, and
then it is mixed with the graphite, the pro-
portion varying all the way from equal
parts to two of clay for one of graphite
the amount of clay depending strictly on
the degree of hardness or softness wanted
for the pencil leads.
When the particles OF clay and graphite
are thoroughly Incorporated and ground to-
gether they are placed in bags and squeezed
to the consistency of dough by a hydraulic
press. The formless substance, ready to be
shaped into pencil rods, Is forced by a pis-
ton in continuous threads through the many
apertures of a strong upright brass cylin-
der. each of the apertures being of exactly
the same size as the leads that are to be
fitted in the pencils. The long threads Of
graphite are received and arranged on
straight grooves of a wide board and left
to harden until they become stiff rods.
Afterward they are cut into requisite PEN
Gil lengths-seyen inches as a rule-packed
with charcoal in a covered crucble and
submitted to high furnace heat.