The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1907-04-26
HOW PENS ARE MADE.
A Lot Of Trouble Involved in Producing
So Simple an Object.

Pens arc made Of good steel which Is
rich in carbon. 1t i imported in the
form Of sheets nineteen inches wide and
five feet long. These are cut into strips
wide enough to cut two pens whose
points interlap.
In 4 lecture describing the process, an
expert named Hawkes. says that the steel
| Is annealed to light cherry red for sew
leral hours, then gradually cooled, when
hit is soft enough to bend easily.
The scale is removed by picking the
steel in a bath Of diluted acid Ii then
goes throRgh the rolling snill. the mum
Der Of times depending upon the thin
ness desired. The next step il to the
cutting room, where pen blanks are cut
| by machines
On one side Of each blank is small
ldent, called the bit, which ii used as d
guide in passing the blanks through sue
ceeding operations.
| The pens are pierced by machinery,
some requiring but one piercing, others
two Or three. the latter being more ex-
lpensiye. From the piercing machine TIE
/ pens go to the nuifle room, where the
blanks are annealed, Fifty or mfwyp
blanks are annealed.
Fifty or sixty gross Of them are
placed in each iron pot and heated and
cooled just as was the strip steel The
name is then stamped on the blanks
and the pen Is ready 10 be formed. Some
Z pens have to be crushed, by which pro
cess a little wing Of steel is bent under
them
! Ii the pen il still soft it Il necessary
I to take 1t to the muffie room and again
heat It TO light cherry red and chill
/ 1t suddenly. This process renders the
pens quite brittle SO mach 50 indeed
4 that they can be readily erumbled be-
tween the fingers. Later on this hard
mess is drawn out by heating the steel
gradually. As the temperature rises it
becomes more and more tough, until ait
about SIS degrees ii has the resiliency Of
ia spring.
BY this time the pen has become coat
ed with an oxide, which Is removed BY
securing or By a shaking process, by
which the roughness is gradually rub
bed of.
Tile next operation Is grinding, some
] times, in some cases hv hand and in
lOtNit-- w AUNNDltNtN
The pen next passes to the Sitting
room This operation Is n very delicate
one, az the pen Il now hatd and brittle
and the slit must be cut cleanly through
I the hard steel without damaging it in
any way
4 After Sitting the pens 20 TO the round
ling room, where they are made perfect
ilv round and smooth, so that no matter
at what angle the pen IS held the paper
will be IN a tangent to its surface and
there will be no possibility Of sticking
OF scratching.
Every pen is now examined BY an eX-
pert. 50 that the faulty pens which have
accumulated may be thrown out. This
| Is the third examination.
! The pens now 90 back to the room in
/ in which the oxide was removed TO be
polished by the shaking process. II they
are To be colored thew are placed in q
Temperature cylinder and heated to the
\ desired color.
The first heat brings them to light
straw color, dark yellow a brown, a
purple and then a blue shade being
obtained hy increasing the heat If the
pen Is 20 be left white, il is, of course,
not relocated.
In order to preserve the pen and pre-
vent it from rustinRi cost of lacquer
is put on by means Of machines Il the
pen Is to be plated with copper, bronze,
silver or gold II gocs. to the plating room
before the laequeIing operation is begun.
7 Plated pens are now very popular and
they can be plated with almost any me
\ tai desired.
The pens are now ready to SO Ia the
boxing room. where they are counted by
nscertaining the weight twill be found
/ impossible to put a gtossaof pens IN the
box intended for them unless they are
I laid parallel
In order to do this quickly and easily
they are put in half-cylinder and
shaken. This quickly places them in a
parallel position, and BY a very quick
movement they are dumped into boxes,
which are they ready 60 be labeled and
packed New York sun.