El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-11-16

FEW of the minor industries of the
= United, States possess more inter
esting features than that OF
supplying the. nation with its pens and
pencils. 1t is estimated that it takes
nearly 10000 gross of pencils and as
many more pens to supply the demands
Of American writers. Even the con-
stantly growing popularity Of the type
writer has not seriously checked the
demand for pens. A modern pen fac
tory is in reality number of factories
in one. There must be shop for max
ing the delicate and accurate machin-
cry, as there are too few pen factories
to justify the manufacture of the ma
chimes as an independent business. The
pen shop itself is filled with machinery
and girls, most of the operations being
performed by the latter.
Only the best metal is used in the
making of the modern steel pen. 1t is
cut into strips as wide as the length OF
two pens. After being carefully an
nealed, it is put through cold steel
roller where it is rolled down to a
thickness which must not vary the
thOusandth part of an inch, for even
that much variation would make diff
ference in the flexibility of the pens.
The average manufacturer seeks to
have his customers continue the use Of
a given kind of pen throughout many
years. and therefore aims to have every
pen turned out exactly ialike in flex
Utility and writing qualities to the ones
previously sold.
Making the Pen.
After each strip has been properly
rolled it is put through a punching ma
chine operated by a girl Here the
blanks are cut out from which the pens
are made. These blanks are next
, stamped with the desired inscriptions
by heavy hitting stamper. also oper-
ated by a girl. Formerly there was
danger of, fingers being mashed by
these stampers, but the machine-mak-
ers have now equipped them with a
finger pusher," which pushes the girls
! hand away as the stamping hammer
descends.
The next process is that of cutting
| the little eyes which hold the ink. Then
each pen is examined, softened by an
| other annealing process, pressed into
shape by specially constructed ma
| chimes, hardened, and then tempered.
| They are next placed into a hollow CYL
! inder with sand and rapidly revolved,
| thus being secured to the necessary
| brightness. The next process is to
| grind the points, after which the pens
| are passed through a shearing machine
which cuts the slit from the central
| slot to the point Great accuracy is
| required in this operation, as it is alb
| solutely necessary that the slit should
| be in the exact middle of the point.
| The points are then carefully rounded.
and the pens are passed to expert girls
| who place them on a white stone to see
| that they are of the exact proportions
| as the models.
| The Final Test.
| Before the pens are finally turned
| into the stock room, samples are taken
| at random and placed in specially con-
structed machines, which automatically
test their elasticity and non-scratching
| qualities Lest there should at any
: time be d change in the qualities OF
Z the pens, a complete stock OF stand
/ ards is maintained, and each pen turn
| ed out must possess identically the
same qualities as these standards. 1t
requires some twenty operations TO
manufacture a steel pen from strip
A! of metal The principal factories of the
| world are located in England, although
the industry is growing rapidly in the
| United States and Germany.
Making Gold Pens.
1 In the manufacture Of gold pens, bars
| of the finest gold are used with iridi-
| UNI. the hardest of metals. Iridium
comes in heavy glass ounce bottles and
| is worth $500 pound, being produced
| mainly in the Ural mountain region.
| The gold bars are first rolled into
1 strips and put into the punching ma
| chimes The blanks from which the
! pens are made are gwen little recess
| at the end of the point. The operator
! takes a tiny speck of iridium from his
| bottle, places 1t on a fine brush which
| has been dipped in liquid borax, and
puts it on the point of the pen. He
must use a jewelers. magnifying glass
! to enable him to place the iridium ex-
actly right. He next holds the pen to
| a blow-pipe fire and melts the gold OF
( the point sufficiently to weld the irld-
| ium into it, just as jeweler might set
| a diamond in a gold mounting. This
operation is very delicate one since
| the slightest excess of exposure to the
heat would ruin the whole pen The