The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-07-05
PENCILS NOW MADE
FROM IRISH SPUDS
Vegetable Furnishes Covering
for a Misnamed Article in
General Use.
GERMAN GENIUS HAS
MADE A DISCOVERY
II Will RevoIutiOnize the Man
ufacture of What Is Known
as Lead Pencils.

"Nice pencil, that said promi-
nent stationer to The Stroller yesterday.
German made, you say7 Yes, but it
has an advantage over the American
made pencil, in that this pencil is edi-
when you are out in the hills or over
in the desert. Furnishes you with food,
as we'll as an instrument with which to
record your doings. Don believe it ?
Well, I expected you would say that; +;
but all the same, it is a fact.
Now. the potato-the plain old
1nsh boy, as it is known-is now used
in the manufacture OF pencils. Yes,
1t is an innovation, but the cedar wood
heretofore and now being used is get
ting scarce; hence q substitute had to
be found The old spud furnishes the
substitute.
Made in Germany.
cover in Germany a company has
been formed to manufacture potato
covers for pencils; that is, to cover the
graphite or pluInbago which constitutes
the writing portion of the pencil. The
name lead pencil is a nlisnomer-there
is no such thing as lead in pencils.
Graphite is the core TO the covering.
This German corpora tion has capital
of Sl50,000. The patents under which
they will operate have been perfected
in fourteen countries. The corporation
proposes to turn out every day of the
800 working days in the year $4,000
pencils, or l4,400,000 pencils every year
These pencils made with a potato
cover-which, by the way. sharpens
more easily than wood-if laid end to
end would extend a distance OF almost
1900 nliles-greater than the distance
from Chicago to Salt Lake.
Need Pencils in Plenty.
Salt Lakers use pencils in plenty
continued this stationer, 10000 gross
coming here every year. That s a good
many pencils, you say? Well, II is only
100 miles of pencils if they were all
laid end to end. Now, mark YOU, this
is just pencils alone; it does not include
many things that come under the head
of pencils.
"There are only six pencil msnufac-
turing establishments in the United
States; all Of them are in the Eastern
States. Of course, the importation of
pencils is remarkably heavy From
Germany alone come 1916 tons of
pencils annually. or 3,O33 ,200,0 900 single
pencils, or enough to grdle the earth
fifteen times. Pencils in plenty-well,
/ guess yes.
HThese new pencils are really made
from potato starch. They are a little
heavier than an ordinary pencil, but
are uniform in size with the established
makes and are, as said, easily sharp
ened. This will be great convenience.
especially TO women. Why TO women
more than others, you aske Well, You
Just watch woman sharpen a pencil
Cost Is but Nominal
"Then, too, these potato pencils can
be produced very cheaply. The cost
of manufacture, including ali expenses
that IS, rent, light, power, wages. com.
position, the so-called lead and selling
COSTS $00092s for the best quality, |
while a second grade will cost s000595 |
each, or, for the best grade, 92S cents
per 1000, while the second grade can be
made for 5.95 cents per 1000 Cheap |
OF course it is cheap. and then, when
you can eat it, too, makes it remarka-
bly, cheap.
''of course, American people are just
as extravagant IN the use of pencils as
they are in everything else. 4 German
will make pencil go ever so much fur
ther than an American, and the same
is true of other foreigners This NAV |
be accounted for by the fact that in |
the Old World wages are much less than |
in the United States and the people, !
as whole, have TO and do exercise the |
most riigld economy. It is. said you
know, that an average foreign family |
will live, and live we'll, upon what an
American family throws away.
About Graphite.
Now, as to graphite, form of car
bon often called plumbago and black |
lead-this is the lead in the pencil AS |
IT occurs in nature IL is usually mixed |
WIN more or less foreign matter, con-
meegneeia, Yes, it is found in Utah,
principally, in Beaver county, but it
has never been produced there in mar
ketable quantity, although there is
plenty Of it. The purest known variety
OF natural graphite is found at Ticon-
deroGa, n Y. This is almost pure,
namely, 99.9 carbon. Ceylon graphite
and then comes that from the Cumbcr.
land mine IN England, ST per cent
AS 1 said, graphite is used mostly
Tor the manufacture Of pencils, although |
Its uses are varied. 1t is used for coat
ing molds in eloctrotyping, the process
known as blackleading. Then, too it is
used Tor foundry facings and in the
pencils, however, its use is greatest in |
the manufacture of crucibles.
Finest Variety Is Used.
In pencils the finest variety is used
The product from the Cumberland mine
~as S III sueh hlgh repute that 1T brought |
$40 per pound A. W. Faber of Stein,
Germany. for years enjoyed a monopoly
IN the Siberian graphite from the Ali.
bert mine, the product from this prop.
erty ranking with that Of the English |
product. In the manufacture of pencils
cement is used with the graphite after
1T has been ground to an impalpable
IS mixed III. '
"Ceylon furnishes the United States
with ITS largest supply of graphite. In |
prlce 1T brings from $3.50 To $500 per
ton, and the importation aggregates
about 10000 sons.
The United States is now the great
est pencil manufacturing country in the |
world. The capital invested in the |
plants runs up into the MILLIONS, while |
the output IS something enormous. Will |
the factories in this country use the
potato coveringf Well, that IS dificult
question. As | understand it, the lcw
cover Gov. is patented in the United States.
oI course. royalty might be paid the
patentees in Germany and this will ~ |