Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-08-11

club?"
This is not advertising in the
business sense, but 1t Is that subtle
kind of personal advertising which
every human beings ego Graves.
The golf players are given the PEN
ellis when they start out on the
course, and they inquire c~uriously
who did that, and the donor gets
credit for thoughtful generosity.
A Spark Plug Tester
Recently Mr.. Dunning learned that
a lead pencil could be made into an
efficient spark plug tester for an
automobile driver, and he immedi-
ately saw a connection between that
fact and new advertising possibilities.
4 The lead in a pencil acts as a con-
ductor of electricity, while the wood
makes an insulator. By putting a
special steel cap, with a Jack-o' Ian
tern face cut in 1t, on the end of
an ordinary pencil a spark plug test
er was evolved. When the device is
leaned against the spark plug and
grounded against the engine, the
face in the steel cap will light up IL
the engine is hitting on all of it's
cylinders.
Long experience with pencils
shows the advertising man some
queer twists to human preferences.
The yellow pencil Is known to deal
ers as the best seller; why, nobody
knows. The color surely strikes the
eye, even in a collection of rainbow
hued wares. This may account for
the popularity of yellow, with men
at least. Women consume fewer PEN
ellis than men, and their tastes run
to more quiet shades. Lavender is
said to be the most likely to attract
the eye of a woman, and blue is a
close second choice. Pencils striped
In college colors strike the public
fancy, n so do maroon, and pa
tirotic combinations of red, white,
and blue.
Though Mr.. Dunning handles a
million pencils a week he has no de-
sire to make any himself. Pencil
manufacture Is an art, he declares.
The combination of graphite, clay,
and wax which makes up the lead
must be just right. The wood must
be properly seasoned. The compli-
Gated process, involves ~ operations.
Pencil making has not changed to
any extent in rs years.
That the pencil manufactures has
some troubles can be inferred from
the fact that red cedar is popularity
regarded as the best pencil wood.
The South's supply of standing red
cedar Is practically exhausted, and
agents have been buying UP old
fashioned rail fences to exc out the
supply. California cedar is regarded
by manufacturers rs equally good
material for their purpose, but the
public believes that a reddish tinge
to the wood Is a sign Of softness in
a pencil, and one that is made OF
yellowish wood is regarded as hard.
There is nothing in this, we are
told. The lead is the only factor
which makes a pencil hard or soft
and If no number Is given as q
guide, quality can be distinguished
to some extent by the size of the
lead. A soft pencil with a smalPlead
would break easily under pressure.
So, when a good deal of soft wa1
and clay are mixed with the graph
lite q large column must be made.
After hearing a few things about
what a fearful and wonderful object
a pencil is, no one can wonder tina
Mr.. Dunning prefers to take up the
career Of the pencil at the end o.
the twenty-seventh stage and to mr.
out a life work for it.. Thinking III
novel ways of getting a message int
the i~nso-utable human brain viz
pencils is obviously a less exactinl
and more exciting task than con
structing delicate columns OF leaC
strong enough when encased in tn,
remains of an old rail fence to beai
the weight of an arm.