diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/ipens10.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/ipens10.txt | 2007 |
1 files changed, 2007 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/ipens10.txt b/old/ipens10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a4cc87c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/ipens10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2007 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Story of the Invention of Steel Pens, +by Henry Bore + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Story of the Invention of Steel Pens + With a Description of the Manufacturing Process by Which + They Are Produced + +Author: Henry Bore + +Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9954] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on November 4, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INVENTION OF STEEL PENS *** + + + + + + + THE STORY + OF THE INVENTION + OF STEEL PENS + + WITH A DESCRIPTION OF + THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS BY + WHICH THEY ARE PRODUCED + + BY HENRY BORE + LONDON + + + 1890 + +In these days of Public Schools and extended facilities for popular +education it would be difficult to find many people unaccustomed to +the use of steel pens, but although the manufacture of this article by +presses and tools must have been introduced during the first quarter +of the present century, the inquirer after knowledge would scarcely +find a dozen persons who could give any definite information as to +when, where, and by whom this invention was made. Less than two +decades ago there were three men living who could have answered this +question, but two of them passed away without making any sign, and the +third--Sir Josiah Mason--has left on record that his friend and +patron--Mr. Samuel Harrison--about the year 1780, made a steel pen +for Dr. Priestley. + +This interesting fact does not contribute anything toward solving the +question, Who was the first manufacturer of steel pens by mechanical +appliances? In the absence of any definite information, the balance +of testimony tends to prove that steel pens were first made by tools, +worked by a screw press, about the beginning of the third decade of +the present century, and the names associated with their manufacture +were John Mitchell, Joseph Gillott, and Josiah Mason, each, in his own +way, doing something toward perfecting the manufacture by mechanical +means. + +The earliest references to pens are probably those in the Bible, and +are to be found in Judges v. 14, 1st Kings xxi. 8, Job xix. 24, Psalm +xlv. 1., Isaiah viii. 1, Jeremiah viii. 8 and xvii. 1. But these +chiefly refer to the iron stylus, though the first in Jeremiah--taken +in reference to the mention of a penknife, xxxvi. 23--would seem to +imply that a reed was in use at that period. + +There is a reference to "pen and ink" in the 3d Epistle of John xiii. +5, which was written about A.D. 85, and as pens made in brass and +silver were used in the Greek and Roman Empires at that time, it is +probable that a metallic pen or reed was alluded to. + +Pens and reeds made in the precious metals and bronze appear to have +been in use at the commencement of the present era. The following are +a few notable instances: + +"The Queen of Hungary, in the year 1540, had a silver pen bestowed +upon her, which had this inscription upon it: _'Publii Ovidii +Calamus,'_ found under the ruins of some monument in that country, as +Mr. Sands, in the Life of Ovid (prefixed to his Metamorphosis) +relates. --_"Humane Industry; or, a History of Mechanical Arts," by +Thos. Powell, D.D.: London, 1661, page 61._" + +This was probably a silver reed, and, from the locality in which it +was found, was once the property of the poet Ovid. Publius Ovidius +Naso was born in the year 43 B.C., and died 18 A.D. He was exiled at +the age of 30 to Tomi, a town south of the delta of the Danube. This +at present is in modern Bulgaria, but at the period mentioned was in +the ancient kingdom of Hungary. + +From "Notes and Queries," in Birmingham _Weekly Post_, we take the +following: + +"EARLY METALLIC PENS.---Metallic pens are generally supposed to have +been unknown before the early part of the last century, when gold and +silver pens are occasionally referred to as novel luxuries. I have, +however, recently found a description and an engraving of one found in +excavating Pompeii, and which is now preserved in the Museum at +Naples. It is described in the quarto volume 'Les Monuments du Musee +National de Naples, graves sur cuivre par les meillures artistes +Italienes. Texte par Domenico Monaco, Conservateur du meme Musee, +Naples, 1882,' and is in the Catalogue: + +"' Plate I26 (v) Plume en bronze, taillee parfaitement a la facon de +nos plumes 0.13 cent. + +"' Plate I26 (y) Plume en roseau [reed] trouvee pres d'un papyrus a +Herculaneum.' + +"The former (v) is engraved to look like an ordinary reed pen, as now +used universally in the East; and the other (y) has a spear shape, or +almond shape (like many modern metallic pens), but with a sort of +fillet or ring on the stem, which indicates that the 'y' example is +not a reed, but a metallic stylus, or pen, while the 'v' example is +shown clearly as a 'reed.' The two are, however, certainly older than +A.D. 79, when Pompeii and Herculaneum were buried by the eruption of +Vesuvius." + +According to Father Montfaucon, the patriarchs of Constantinople, +under the Greek Empire, were accustomed to sign their allocutions with +tubular pens of silver, similar in shape to the reed pens which are +still used by Oriental nations. + +The following are translated from the French "Notes and Queries "-- +L'Intermediare:_ + +"A METALLIC PEN IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.--M. Reni de Bellwal, in a +very learned volume which he has published recently, on the first +campaign of Edward III. in France, says (p. 95) with respect to the +fictitious pieces (documents) fabricated by Robert d'Artois, that a +clerk of Jeanne wrote the deeds, and made use of a bronze pen to +enable him the better to disguise his writing. This plainly refers to +a pen, and not to a stylus. Is there any record of the use of +metallic pens at any period anterior to the fourteenth century? It is +very satisfactory, however, to establish (as the French used to say) +_'les preuves de 1300.'"--L'Intermediare. + +In the _Vieux-Neuf_ of M. Ed. Fournier (vol. ii., p. 22, note) there +is mentioned--according to the documents used in the prosecution of +Robert d'Artois, which are in the Archives--'the bronze pen' with +which the forgers in the pay of the count wrote the false papers which +he required. M. Fournier also quotes from 'Montfaucon' 'the silver +reeds' with which the Constantinople patriarchs used to write their +letters."--CUTHBERT, _L'Intermediare,_ 1st June, 1864. + +"METALLIC PENS (XV., 68).-Writing was done in the Middle Ages +sometimes with a metal _stylus,_ or perhaps with a metal pen; with the +former on wax, and with the pen on parchment or vellum. 'At Trinity +College, Cambridge, is a manuscript illustration of Eadwine, a monk of +Canterbury, and at the end the writer is represented with a metal pen +in his hand.' (See Bibliomania in the Middle Ages, p. 103). I have +in my possession a metal pen of Dutch manufacture, dating certainly +from the year 1717, mounted on the same pencilholder, with a piece of +solid plumbago, in a memorandum book of the same year."--SAM: TIMMINS. + +"Mr. Le Chauvine Gal, Prior of the collegiate of St. Peter and St. +Bars at Aosta, had in his collection of Roman antiquities a bronze +pen, slit, found in a tomb, among a number of lamps and lachrymatory +vases. M. Aubert has given a drawing and description of it in a work +on Aosta. It was subsequently stolen from him by a collector."--- +CHAMBERY, Un Savoyard, _L'Intermediare,_ 25th May, 1868. + +"METALLIC PENS,--In a precious volume (an account of the books of the +Decretalia) preserved in the library of Saint Antoine, of Padua, the +following notice is to be found at the bottom of the last page: 'This +work is fashioned and by diligence finished for the service of God, +not with ink of quill nor with brazen reed, but with a certain +invention of printing or reproducing by John Fust, citizen of Mayence, +and Peter Schoeiffer, of Gernsheim, Dec. 17th, 1465, A.D.' Here, +then, we have a document proving the existence of metallic pens in the +Middle Ages. But has any such pen come down to us? If so, could a +detailed description of it be obtained? On the other hand, I am +curious to know if it is possible that platinum was used in the +eighteenth century in the manufacture of pens, or whether it is +necessary to attribute a peculiar meaning to the 'platinum pen' in the +following passage of the system of shorthand by Bertin (edit. of the +year iv., p. 93) (1793). 'Those of steel and platinum are most +convenient; these latter have the advantage of all others, in that +they hold the ink a long time, and run over the paper easily, and are +not liable to corrosion by any simple acid.' I am ignorant of what +the same author means when he mentions the endless pen, which would +certainly be the best. "'--J. CAMUS, _L'Intermediare._ + +"Metallic pens were used before the fifteenth century; they were in +use at the court of Augustus." See _L'Intermed._ (I. 69, 94, 141; II. +319.) Consult also _Le Vieux-Neuf_ Ed. Fournier.--A.D. + +The following extracts show there have been several claimants, on the +Continent, who profess to have invented metallic pens, made from +steel, in the early part of the eighteenth century; but the reader had +better suspend his judgment until he has read the notes that follow +them: + +"A manuscript, entitled 'Historical Chronicle of Aix-la-Chapelle, +second book, 1748,' places on record the claims of Johann Janssen, a +magistrate of that place, as the inventor of steel pens. 'Just at the +meeting of the congress [after the Austrian war] I may without boasting, +claim the honour of having invented a new pen. It is, perhaps, +not an accident that God should have inspired me at the present time +with the idea of making steel pens, for all the envoys here assembled +have bought the first that have been made; therewith, as may be hoped, +to sign a treaty of peace, which, with God's blessing, shall be as +permanent as the hard steel with which it is written. Of these pens, +as I have invented them, no man hath before seen or heard. If kept +clean and free from rust and ink, they will continue fit for use for +many years. Indeed, a man may write twenty reams of paper with one, +and the last line would be written as well as the first. They are now +sent into every corner of the world as a rare thing--to Spain, France, +England and Holland. Others will no doubt make imitations of my pens, +but I am the man who first invented and made them. I have sold a +great number of them at home and abroad at 1s. each, and I dispose of +them as quickly as I can make them."' + +In an article on Writing Instruments, which appeared in the Berlin +_Paper Zeitung,_ on the 19th of May, 1887, the author says: + +"A school teacher of Koningberg, named Burger, in the year 1808, made +pens from metal, but he got poor by his trials. After this time, and +probably imitating the pens of Burger, the English began to take in +hand the manufacture of pens; _especially Perry,_ he having perfected +the pens, as he did not restrict himself to the simple straight slit, +but he made cuts in the sides of different kinds." + +In a pamphlet upon the manufacture of steel pens, published in Paris, +in 1884, the writer says: + +"The invention of the metallic pen is due to a French mechanic-- +Arnoux--who lived in the eighteenth century, who made as far back as +1750 a number of metallic pens as a curiosity. This invention did not +have any immediate result in France but spread to England, and became +in Birmingham, about 1830, a very prosperous industry. A very curious +fact about this trade is that, in England, it does not exist out of +Birmingham, where there are about ten manufactories. In France it has +become localized in Boulogne." + +There is also the "nameless Sheffield Artisan," who so frequently +figures in newspaper paragraphs as the inventor of steel pens; and +William Gadsby, a mathematical instrument maker, who for his own use +constructed a clumsy article from the mainspring of a watch; but it is +not till the beginning of the eighteenth century that we get anything +authentic respecting the making of metallic pens. "Este," writing in +"Local Notes and Queries" _(Birmingham Weekly Post)_ mentions a +remarkable little volume supplied to the members of the States General +of Holland, in the possession of Mr. W. Bragge, of Sheffield, dated +1717. It contained a silver pencil case, in two parts, one holding a +piece of plumbago, mounted like a crayon, and the other a _metallic +pen._ We have seen this unique book (now the property of Mr. Sam: +Timmins). The pen is of the barrel shape, apparently silver, and it +must be regarded as the earliest authentic metallic pen. Of the date +there can be no doubt, as the pen is made to pass through loops in the +cover of the volume to keep it closed, after the manner of pocket +books, and the book bears the date, printed on the title page, 1717. + +Pope, about the same time, received from Lady Frances Shirley a +present of a standish, containing a STEEL and a gold pen. In +acknowledging the receipt of this present, the poet wrote an ode, in +which the following lines occur: + + "Take at this hand celestial arms; + Secure the radiant weapons wield; + This _golden_ lance shall guard desert, + And, if a vice dares keep the field, + This _steel_ shall stab it to the heart. + Awed, on my bended knees I fell, + Received the weapons of the sky, + And dipped them in the sable well-- + The fount of fame or infamy. + What well? What weapon? Flavia cries, + A standish, _steel and golden pen!_ + It came from _Bertrand's,_* not the skies, + I gave it you to write again." + +*_Bertrand_ kept a fancy shop in Bath. He died in 1755. His wife is +mentioned by Horace Walpole, in his letter to George Montague, May +18th, 1749, which letter is printed in his Correspondence. + +In No. 503 of the _Spectator,_ bearing the date of October 7, 1712, +Steele, mentioning the conspicuous manner in which a certain lady +conducted herself in church, says: + +"For she fixed her eyes upon the preacher, and as he said anything she +approved, with one of Charles Mather's fine tablets, she set down the +sentence, at once showing her fine hand, the _gold pen,_ her readiness +in writing, and her judgments in choosing what to write." + +Edmund Waller, about the middle of the seventeenth century, +acknowledged the receipt of a _silver pen_ from a lady, in the +following verses: + + "Madam! intending to have try'd, + The silver favour which you gave, + In ink the shining point I dy'd, + And drench'd it in the sable wave + When, grieved to be so foully stained, + On you it thus to me complained. + + So I, the wronged pen to please, + Made it my humble thanks express + Unto your Ladyship, in these, + And now 'tis forced to confess + That your great self did ne'er indite + Nor that to me more noble write." + +Mr. G. A. Lomas, writing to the _Scientific American,_ November 23, +1878, says: + +"I write to inquire if you can give me information concerning the +manufacture of metal pens in this country. I may be vain in the +supposition, but I am persuaded that my people--the Shakers--were the +originators of metal pens. I write this to you with a silver pen, one +slit, that was made in the vear 1819, at this village, by the Shakers. +Two or three years previously to the use of silver pens, our people +used brass plates for their manufacture, but soon found silver +preferable. Some people sold these pens in the year 1819, at this +village, for twenty-five cents, and disposed of all that could be +made." + +The writer further says the metal was made from silver coins. + +This communication called forth the following from another +correspondent: + +"The letter in the _Scientific American,_ November 23, 1878, with +regard to the early manufacture of steel pens, reminds me of the +following note which appeared in the _Boston Mechanic,_ for August, 1835. +'The inventor of steel pens,' says the _Journal of Commerce,_ was an +American and a well-known resident of our city (New York), Mr. Peregrine +Williamson. In the year 1800, Mr.W., then a working jeweler, at +Baltimore, while attending an evening school, finding some difficulty +in making a quill pen to suit him, made one of steel. It would not +write well, however, for want of flexibility. After a while he made +an additional slit on each side of the main one, and the pens were so +much improved that Mr. W. was called to make them in such numbers as +to eventually occupy his whole time, and that of a journeyman. At +first the business was very profitable and enabled Mr. W. to realize +for the labor of himself and journeyman a clear profit of six hundred +dollars per month. The English soon borrowed the invention, and some +who first engaged in the business realized immense fortunes."' + +We do not know how much reliance may be placed upon this statement, +but, if the last assertion "that those who first engaged in the +business realized immense fortunes" may be taken as a test, the whole +must be received with a grain of salt. The letter appeared in the +_Boston Mechanic,_ in 1835, and at that date there were penmakers who +had made a modest competence, but in no case were they possessed of +immense fortunes. + +In London _Notes and Queries,_ the following appears respecting early +steel pens: + +"THE FIRST STEEL PEN.--(5th S., iii., 395.) Ten years before Dr. +Priestley was born steel pens were in use. There are references to +them in the Diary of John Byrom, who required them when writing +short-hand. In a letter to his sister Phoebe, dated August, 1723, he +mentions them as follows: 'Alas! alas! I cannot meet with a steel pen, +no manner of where I believe I have asked at 375 places, but that +which I have is at your service, as the owner himself always is."' +(Remains, Vol. i., 39.) + +Mr. Ralph N. James, writing to _Notes and Queries,_ gives the +following extract from the very amusing "journey to Paris," by Dr. +Martin Lister, 1698: + +"There was one thing very curious, and that was a _Writing lnstrument_ +of thick and strong silver wire, bound up like a hollow button or +screw, with both ends pointing one way, and at a distance, so that a +man might easily put his forefinger betwixt the two points, and the +point divided in two, just like _our steel pens."_--_London Notes and +Queries,_ vol. iii., page 346. + +This note caused another writer, Mr. C.A. Ward, to send the following: + +"STEEL PENS.--The extract given from Dr. M. Lister's, by Mr. Ralph N. +James, is very interesting. The doctor there speaks of _'our steel +pens,'_ as if they were not at all uncommon. When the poet +Churchill's effects were sold up, after his death, Nov. 10, 1764, they +fetched extravagant prices; 'a common steel pen' brought L.5." +--_London Notes and Queries,_ vol iii., page 474. + +The following extract from _London Notes and Queries_ gives very +plausible reasons against placing confidence in the preceding and +other notices of ancient steel pens: + +"STEEL PENS. (5th S., vol. iii., pp. 346, 474.) May I ask whether, in +giving the interesting references to the use of _steel pens_ before +the time of Priestley (one reference even going so far back as the +seventeenth century) your correspondents have carefully considered +what is meant by the terms. For my own part (of course I maybe quite +wrong) I should naturally have anticipated _steel pens_ in these +references to mean not the modern steel nib for ordinary penmanship, +but the ancient steel pen for drawing lines or ruling circles, such as +is contained in every box of mathematical instruments. This would +explain (to some extent) the great price fetched for a good one of +Churchill's; a mere old steel nib would scarcely enter into a sale at +all. It would explain, too, why a special process of hardening should +be applied to a quill, in order to make it do duty for the steel +instrument. One would scarcely think of hardening a quill in order to +enable it to compete with a steel nib in some of the least desirable +qualities, though one often wishes one could accomplish the reverse +process, and soften or supple a steel 'stick frog,' so as to give it +the elasticity of the grey goose quill. "--V. H. I. L. L. C. IV. (iv., +37, 5th S., _London Notes and Queries._) + +Mr. R. Prosser, author of "Birmingham Inventors and Inventions," in +writing to the compiler of this work, says: + +"It has often occurred to me that some of the very early references to +metallic pens may perhaps mean the draughtsman's 'ruling pen,' and not +an instrument made after the fashion of a quill pen with a slit in it. +That it is possible to write with such an instrument this paragraph +will show, but I must admit that it is not equal to one of Perry's +J's." + +From an entry in "Pepys' Diary," October 24, 1660, _drawing pens_ +appear to have been in use in London, at the time of the Restoration: + +"To Mr. Lilly's, where, not finding Mr. Spong, I went to Mr. +Greatorex, where I met him, and where I bought a _drawing pen._" + +In London _Notes and Queries_ (4th S., xi., 440), the Rev. E. +Smedley, editor of the _Encyclopoedia Metropolitana,_ writing to his +friend, Mr. H. Hawkins, April 10, 1833, says: + +"The process of nibbing and shaving is one which I always abominated, +and for years past I have taken refuge under the _Perryian_ pens. The +one with which I now write has been in use daily, and all day long, +for more than a fortnight, and I consider that it still owes me quite +as much worth as it has already furnished. Every packet contains nine +pens, and on an average two out of that number fail to suit my hand, +but the remaining seven are faithful servants, and their price is 2s." + +In _London Notes and Queries_ (4th S., xii., 57) a writer says: + +"I bought my first steel pen from Bramah, Piccadilly, in 1825. The +price was 1s. 6d. It was very thick and hard, with very little +elasticity. In 1829 I read advertised in the _Times,_ steel pens, +with holder, 3s. per dozen, at Kendal's, in Holborn. They were hand +made, and much easier to write with than Bramah's. Soon after the +price fell, and steel pens became common." + +In _London Notes and Queries (4th S., x., 309), October 19, 1872, Mr. +William Bates, speaking of a visit he paid to an old lady, at Studley +(Worcestershire) about 1825, says that he saw an exquisitely-finished +inkstand of pure gold, the gift of one of the Earls of Plymouth to her +father, 100 years before. The inkstand was provided with a jointed +gold penholder, terminating in a barrel (one slit) pen, resembling the +metallic pen of the present day, except that he found that it would +not write. + +In "Local Notes and Queries," published in the _Birmingham Journal and +Weekly Post,_ there have appeared a number of contributions relating +to the early manufacture of steel pens. We reproduce them here. A +correspondent writing on June 22, 1869, says: "Daniel Fellows, of +Sedgley, made steel pens about 1800." + +Another writer, on the same date, says, "The first makers of steel +pens were John Edwards, Hill Street, and Francis Heeley, Mount Street, +Birmingham." + +Respecting, the former of these, in _Wrightson's Birmingham Directory, +1823, the following advertisement appears: "John Edwards, manufacturer +of improved gold, silver, and _elastic sleel pens,_ mounted in all +kinds of cases, and desk handles, No. 40 Hill Street. N.B.--The pens +are warranted to write exceedingly fine and free." + +This advertisement contained engravings of a barrel and "nibbed" or +"slip" pen. + +J. Sargent, writing from Tettenhall, June 28, 1869, says: + +"A journeyman blacksmith, named Fellows, of Sedgley, was the first +originator of steel pens. I resided at Sedgley in 1822, when Sheldon, +Fellows's apprentice, made some of these pens. He made two for me. I +wrote very well with them. Sheldon himself told me that Mr. Gillott +commenced making the pen from seeing some of his (Sheldon's) make." + +Some one writing under the _nom de plume_ of "Un Qui Sait," says: + +"I distinctly recollect, about the year 1806, being at Fellows's home +in Sedgley, and there seeing Thomas Sheldon, his apprentice, making +steel pens. He knew of an entry in his books of pens bought from +Fellows in 1807. He paid Sheldon L.100 in 1822. He believed Fellows +made pens in 1793. Beilby and Knott (Birmingham stationers) sold +these pens in considerable quantities from 1818 to 1828. Sheldon +continued the trade until it was destroyed through inability to +compete with the machine-made pens of Mitchell and Gillott." + +Another writer, "T. S.," says: + +"In 1815, an uncle of mine used to purchase these pens from Sheldon, +of Sedgley. The price was eighteen shillings per dozen, ten per cent. +for cash. They were barrel shape. B. Smith and Co. had in their +pattern book of engravings of steel toys a drawing of one of these +pens, which were sold at thirty shillings per dozen; also one in a +bone handle, the top of which screwed off, for carrying in the pocket, +at thirty-six shillings per dozen." + +Another correspondent, writing on July 24, 1869, mentions (on +authority of the late Mr. Alderman Yates) that an old man named +Spittle made steel pens before any of the present makers. + +In note 319 this man Spittle is mentioned by another writer, who says: + +"A man named Spittle, one of the earliest makers of steel pens, lived +in Chequers' Walk, Bath Row, Birmingham. He made steel pens for sale, +and charged one shilling each for them. They were made with a tube to +fit on a quill. I bought one from him forty-five years ago (1824)." + +"E.W.," writing in 1869, says: + +"In 1821 there was a B. Smith, steel toy maker, St. Paul's [Mary's] +Square, Birmingham. He had a book of engravings of steel toys, among +which were steel pens, made to screw on and off. This pattern book +might have been one hundred years old. I sold his pens in 1823." + +The Editor of "Notes and Queries" says "Smith's pattern book was +probably fifty years old," and further remarks that steel pens must +have been a regular article of manufacture before they appeared in a +steel toy maker's pattern book. + +"C.J.," in note 372, says: + +"The pattern book of John Barnes, Eagle Works, Wolverhampton, contains +engravings of early steel pens." + +Mr. Robert Griffin says: + +"In 1824 I wrote very much with a steel pen made under the direction +of James Perry--a pen that lasted about eight or nine weeks, writing +eight hours a day." + +In note 344, "Anon" says he remembered his father (who had premises in +Water Street, Birmingham), in the summer of 1823, bringing a tall, +quiet, respectable man to the manufactory. He had a piece of iron, or +steel, which he required to be cut up into strips of about two inches +wide. The man said he was going to get the strips rolled to make into +steel pens. He gave the writer of the note sixpence and a barrel pen +for his trouble. In answer to inquiries the writer put to his father, +the latter stated he did not know the man's name nor where he lived, +but "that he met with him in a smoke room, where he (the father) +sometimes spent his evenings." The writer further remarks: "Where the +man had got his ideas from which induced him to try his hand at making +steel pens I do not know, but I have an impression that there were +several experimenters in existence at that time; and very soon +afterward Mr. William (Joseph) Gillott, with whom my father was on +terms of intimacy, came into notice as a maker of steel pens." This +is a very important statement, as it fixes a date respecting pens +being made from sheet steel. + +One of the oldest toolmakers in the trade has informed us that, about +the year 1823 or 1824, he was frequently taken by his father to visit +an uncle named Clulee, who rented power at the Water Street mill. On +these occasions his father and uncle would talk about the visits of +Gillott to the latter, and the hopeful manner in which he spoke of the +experiments he was then making. Gillott rented power at the Water +Street mill, and was engaged in grinding and finishing penknife +blades, which were inserted in one end of a silver pencil case, which +his relative--Mitchell--was then making. + +Now, who was this "tall, quiet, respectable man?" It could not have +been Gillott, as he was not tall and the father of "Anon" knew him; +and Mitchell was also a short man. We have failed to trace him, and +his identity is lost among the "sowers" who failed to reap the harvest +of their inventions. + +Mr. George Wallis, speaking of steel pens, remarks: + +"I wrote with one when a boy (1822 to 1826), having found several in a +stock of old steel waste in the warehouse of a relative, a retired +ornamental steel worker, at Wolverhampton. These pens were made (so I +was told) for the London market, late in the last or early in the +present century. Certainly they were made fifteen or, perhaps, twenty +years, when I found them, as the manufactory in which they had been +produced had been closed the former number of years. They consisted +of a holder of steel, with flutings and facets. One was solid and +tapered to lighten it; the other had a barrel with an internal screw. +The pen had two screws; one was used to screw the pen into the barrel +for use, and the other to secure it when turned inwards as a protection +when not in use, or to carry in the pocket." + +The following letter from Mr. Alderman Manton to Mr. Sam: Timmins +makes us acquainted with another manufacturer of steel pens: + +"THE METAL PENS OF 1823.--In a badly-constructed and unsanitary +manufactory (Mr. James Collins's), at the back of 119 Suffolk Street, +(Birm.), I witnessed the process of making silver and _steel_ pens. +As both metals were manufactured in the same manner, one description +will serve. It will be remembered by a few that at that time there +was a patent silver pencil case somewhat extensively manufactured, +which in addition to the pencil, had a penknife, _pen_ and toothpick +provided. The penknife was supplied by two brothers--_Joseph and +William Gillott_--who at that time rented a small shop in a corner of +the yard belonging to the rolling mill of George and P.F. Muntz, Water +Street, and from whose engine they obtained the small amount of steam +power needed. The process of making the pens was as follows: Two +narrow strips were cut from a sheet of silver or steel; they were then, +by the help of the hammer and a lead cake, or piece of hard wood, +curved. Afterwards the two strips were placed opposite to each other +on a well-polished steel wire, and drawn through a draw-plate, the +wire and plate being supplied by Wm. Billings, a celebrated tool +manufacturer, occupying premises near the top of Snow Hill (Birm.). +By the aid of a press, a small hole was made at a distance of half an +inch or five-eighths from the end, the slit was then made by a fine +saw made of watch springs. A bent pair of shears was used for cutting +the end of strip into the shape of a pen; and a half-round file or +smooth was used for finishing the pen. The pen was then sawn off the +strip by the same saw which was used for slitting the pen. The only +hardening process was the friction of the draw-plate and steel wire. +I not only witnessed the process, but was a manipulator. The cost of +making at that time, by a journeyman, was 2d. each; by an apprentice, +about one-third of that amount. Within less than thirty years of that +time, in a manufactory adjoining my own, pens were made and sold +(wholesale) at 2d. per gross, and a box containing them into the +bargain." _(Signed)_ Henry Manton, September 15, 1886. + +Mr. T. Vary writes that James Perry began making steel pens in +Manchester, and quotes the _Saturday Magazine_ to show that metallic +pens were given by him as rewards of merit in schools as far back as +1819. + +Mr. James Cocker, writing in the _Sheffield Daily Telegraph,_ in 1869, +says: "That he rolled steel wire for James Perry for penmaking in +1829." + +The death of Mr. Gillott seems to have revived the discussion of the +origin of steel pens, and a correspondent in the Sheffield _Daily +Telegraph,_ in the issue of January 11, 1872, in the following letter, +puts forth a claim on behalf of a Sheffield man: + +"The well-written and well-merited memoir of the late Mr. Gillott, the +Birmingham steel pen maker, which has just appeared in the newspapers, +affords a curious and instructive illustration of the success which +not seldom attends the combined action of ingenuity, industry, +shrewdness, and integrity among our labouring classes. Born in the +humblest rank of our local workmen, a steady scholar in our Boys' +Lancasterian School, and apprenticed to a scissors grinder, the deceased +worked his way upwards into a position of influence and opulence as a +manufacturer, which entitled him to take social rank with the merchant +princes of the land. And if his name has long since ceased to be +familiar among his once contemporary workmen in Sheffield, and is not +even mentioned in the Directory, it has for several years past been +recognized and respected by the visitors at the annual exhibitions of +our School of Art, in connection with the many rare and valuable pictures +lent by him on those occasions. The printed _fac-simile_ of the +autograph appeared in the 'advertising columns' of almost every newspaper +in the world, and perhaps, as an expert might have said, was +characteristic. In the admirable account of his life above referred +to stress is laid upon one prominent and praiseworthy feature of his +character, viz., his readiness to acknowledge the obscurity of his +origin and the steps of his industrial success. In those details no +mention is made of his Sheffield master and predecessor in the +ingenious art of steel pen making. And as the notice alluded to is +without dates, it is difficult to furnish information on the material +point of priority, though the fact of supremacy in the trade is clear +enough. In one of the columns of Lardner's Cyclopedia, published in +1833, the names of Perry, Heeley, and Skinner are mentioned as steel +pen makers. With the latter, who if he did not make wealth, certainly +earned a wide reputation for the low price and excellent temper of his +'steel nibs,' Mr. Gillett was a workman, in Nursery Street, Sheffield, +having gone with his master from the scissors grinding stone to the +making of polished steel ornaments for ladies' work, then fashionable. +How much, in what way, or whether at all, he was indebted to his +experience in Mr. Skinner's establishment may be questionable, but +that he learnt and first saw practised in Sheffield the art that +ultimately enriched him in Birmingham, he would probably be the last +to deny. It is well remembered by a worthy dealer in almost every +useful article, from a mouse-trap to a railroad wagon, that Gillott, +soon after his establishment in Birmingham, came into our townsman's +shop, and seeing on the counter a model steam engine of half-horse +power, at once purchased and carried it off to give motion to some +part of his pen machinery. Brass pens were made in Sheffield before +the close of the last century. They mostly accompanied an 'inkpot,' +called from its users an 'exciseman.' The writer of this paragraph +himself made hundreds of dozens of them, which, however, be never +used, nor steel ones either, as long as he could get a 'goose quill,' +good, bad or indifferent. The matter of slitting the nib was kept +secret by Skinner, and the double slit of Gillott more than doubled +the value of his old master's invention; but a 'four-slit' pen, _i.e., +with five points,_ if possible to make, would be useless. The +earliest experimenter in form and material was Perry, flexibility +being the great desideratum; but it is curious to see how world-wide a +currency Gillott's name and trade have given to the simplest shape; +and still more curious to note how the makers of writing ink and paper +have conformed these articles to the requirements of the uses of the +steel pen. It is always gratifying, and not unprofitable, to contrast +the small and feeble beginnings of any manufacturing enterprise with a +large and well-merited success." + +This communication appears to have caused a Mr. William Levesley to +call upon the writer of the preceding epistle, and the following which +appeared in the _Sheffield Daily Telegraph,_ January 30, 1872, was +written: + +"I have to thank you for the insertion of my queries as to the early +connection of Sheffield with steel pen making. In consequence of the +appearance of my letter in the _Telegraph,_ a cutlery manufacturer of +the name of William Levesley, called upon me, and informed me that he +was not only an early associate with the late Mr. Gillott, of +Birmingham, but the first person who made a steel pen out of London. +Stress has been laid upon Gillott's ability 'to forge and grind a +knifeblade.' It is not likely he ever used the hammer on hot steel, +but he was when young, and working with father, accounted an excellent +penknife grinder; Skinner being a scissors grinder, and Levesley a +workboard hand for the same master. A man of the name of Mitchell +having married Gillott's mother, went to Birmingham, and began the +cutlery business, the latter removing thither to grind for his father- +in-law. His brother had also gone thither, and commenced making an +article that had some run, and may be said to have united the +ingenious handicrafts of Birmingham, viz., the insertion of a penknife +blade at the end of a silver pencil case. Meanwhile, about the year +1825, Levesley saw a steel pen, made by Perry, of London, in Ridge's +shop window, in High Street. He bought it for one shilling, and +immediately set about making tools to imitate and improve upon it. He +spent, he said, L.30 in not unsuccessful, though unremunerative, +experiments. The flypress was at least as well known in Sheffield as +in Birmingham, and its power was at once brought into requisition to +work the tools for shaping, bending, and slitting the pens which were +made out of sheet steel, Perry's being made out of thick wire, rolled +flat, by Cocker, in Nursery Street. In 1829, Levesley was making pens +for sale, and that year is said to be the earliest date of actual +sales in Skinner's ledger. In 1831 he was doing a considerable +business in Sheffield, and making experiments upon the article, as +appears from specimens before me bearing his name. Stress has been +laid upon the improvement of the double slit, introduced by Gillott, +but if Levesley's statement is to be taken literally, he was the +inventor of a specialty upon which, even more than on excellence of +material, the merit of a steel pen is found to depend, viz., the +grinding of a small hollow at the back of the nib, and about the +eighth of an inch from the point. My informant described not only the +beneficial action of this thinning of the metal, as well in yielding +the gradual flow of the ink as in flexibility of writing, but the +pleasure with which he took a specimen to Birmingham to show Gillott, +and the surprise of the latter at so great and so beneficial an +effect, provided by so small a cause. He at once adopted an +improvement of which every pen made by him bears evidence; and when +his friend visited him he told him he had fifty women employed in +grinding pen points. It is pleasant to add that Gillott never visited +Sheffield without calling to see his old friend Levesley, while the +latter spoke of his early and later life with respect and +commendation, especially in his domestic relations. It is pleasing to +review a life of such humble beginnings, culminating in opulence and +usefulness like that of the late Joseph Gillott, of Birmingham; nor is +it less to name in connection therewith, as an early experimenter in +steel pen making, our worthy townsman, William Levesley, to whose +ingenious improvement every writer is so much indebted, and of whose +verbal communication to me the foregoing is an imperfect sketch." + +Now, in this statement, there are some dales given, but others are +omitted, and that is a very unfortunate circumstance. Levesley told +the writer of the article in the _Sheffield Daily Telegraph_ that he +made use of the fly press for working tools for shaping, bending, and +slitting pens. If the writer had only given the date of this it would +have been a valuable contribution toward a history of the invention. +The claim of Levesley to having invented the process of grinding pens +and teaching Gillott seems, to say the least, curious, because the +latter was a Sheffield grinder, and the idea would certainly be quite +as likely to occur to Gillott as Levesley. Besides, why did Levesley +communicate the idea to Gillott in preference to Skinner, with whom he +had business relations? The statement that Gillott had fifty girls +employed when Levesley* called upon him on his next visit to +Birmingham looks like a mistake. Fifty girls would grind on an +average seven thousand gross of pens in a week, and as this +correspondence appears to refer to the early part of Gillott's career, +it is scarcely possible that such a number of pens were produced +weekly at that period. Besides, as a matter of fact, boys were, in +the first instance, employed to grind pens. + +* Mr. Sam: Timmins says, "that Levesley told him that Gillott started +in Birmingham as a jobbing cutler; that Mitchell had the secret of pen +making; that Mitchell sent for Gillott to come to Birmingham, and that +he (J.G.) first lived at the top of Water Street; that Gillott began +to make pens in Bread Street; that Perry made pens from flattened +steel wire, the breadth of the pen (the steel was 3s. 6d. per lb., and +drawn at Old Ford); that he had seen cross grinding (at Gillott's) in +Newhall Street, and fifty women at work; and that pens had double +slits and cut holes. Levesley certainly knew all the Gillott family, +personally, in Sheffield, and he (S. T.) had a long interview with him +shortly before his death, when he mentioned all the facts given here." + +Herr Ignaz Nagel, in his "Report on Writing, Drawing, and Painters' +Requisites," at the Vienna Exhibition, 1873, says: + +"From careful inquiries that we made in Birmingham, we learned that a +knife cutler, of Sheffield, was the first man who had the idea of +making pens of steel, and that a tinman of the name of Skipper +[Skinner], of Sheffield, afterwards manufactured the pens in great +quantities. His son developed the idea still further. This, +according to our informant, was fifty years ago. A steel pen artisan, +working in Birmingham, remembers perfectly well reading the +announcement in a window of the High Street, in Sheffield, 1816: +'Steel pens are repaired here at sixpence apiece.' There was a man +named Spittle, in Birmingham, who used to make steel pens by hand. He +was succeeded by the brothers John and William Mitchell, who were +manufacturers of steel pens, wholesale and by machinery, about forty- +five years ago. Perry came afterwards, and took out a patent for the +first steel pens, and after him Gillott, who had learnt the business +with the Mitchells." + +A writer in _Herbert's Encyclopoedia_ published in 1837, says + +"The first decided attempt to introduce metallic pens to general use +was made by Mr. Wise, whose perpetual pens will doubtless be +remembered by many of our readers. The name of Wise was rendered +conspicuous in most of our stationers' shops some twenty-five or thirty +years since, as the original inventor and general manufacturer of the +steel pens." + +We stated at the beginning of this article that of three men-- +Mitchell, Gillott, and Mason--who might have done something toward +fixing the date of the invention of manufacturing pens by the +adaptation of tools worked by the screw press, only one--Mason--made a +statement: + +"The first making of steel pens that I know of was about the year +1780, by my late friend Mr. Harrison, for Dr. Priestley. He took +sheet steel, made a tube of it, and the part joined formed the slit of +the pen. He then filed away the barrel and formed the pen. I found +some of the identical pens amongst other articles and used them for a +long time. + +"The second mode of making pens was by punching a rough blank out of +thin sheet steel. This blank formed the well-known barrel pen. It +was brought into the barrel shape by rounding, but before rounding it +had to be filed into a better form about the nib, and when rounded in +the soft state, a sharp chisel was used to mark the inside of the pen +which became the slit, after hardening. Before tempering, this mark +was 'tabbered' with a small hammer, and it would crack where the +inside mark was made. Then it was tempered and underwent grinding, +and shaping the nib until a point suitable for fine or broad, as +required. + +"I made barrel pens in 1828, and 'slip' pens for Perry in 1829, and +the first lot of 100 at _one time_ was sent November 20, 1830. +Frequently, lots of 20 or 30 gross were sent between 1829 and 1830, and +in 1831 I sent pens to Perry amounting to L.1421, 1s. 3d. + +"Perry certainly never made a pen as they are now made, viz., the +_slit cut _with press tools; all he made were _cracked_ slit. + +"I made steel barrel pens some time before I made 'slip' pens for +Perry. + +"It is doubtful when metal pens were made. The first I know of were +made by Mr. Harrison, for Dr. Priestley. Perry was certainly not the +first maker of steel pens, but I have no doubt that he was the first +steel _slip pen_ maker, and no doubt the first to use a _goose quill_ +for a pen holder, hence the slip pen. + +"The first stick pen holders I made for Perry in 1832, and for Gillott +in 1835, and sold sticks to Gillott in 1840--L.293 18s. 7d." + +Mason claimed to have made barrel pens for Perry, of London, in 1828, +and "slip or nibbed" pens in 1829; but he does not appear to have made +any claim to priority of invention over Mitchell and Gillott. + +Now, although Mitchell made no claim himself, on the death of Mr. +Gillott the following letter appeared in the _Daily Post:_ + +"The remarks which have appeared in a local paper upon the death of +Mr. J. Gillott, that the steel pen owes its existence to him, and that +the adaptation of machinery to the manufacture of metallic pens was +his invention, lead the public to wrong conclusions. It is due to the +memory of my late father--John Mitchell--that I should state that he +not only made steel pens, but used machinery in their production, for +some time before Mr. Gillott commenced in that branch of business." +--HENRY MITCHELL, January 12, 1872. + +In October, 1876, Mr. Henry Mitchell writes to _Aris's Gazette,_ and +says: + +"You review, in your impression of the 23d inst., a work entitled +'British Manufacturing Industries--the Birmingham Trades,' in which +the history of steel pens forms a prominent chapter. I beg to point +out that my late father's name--John Mitchell--is certainly mentioned +in a list of the manufacturers of the article, and, to my great +surprise, simply so. In a part of the work the author states that +'The early history of steel pens is involved in obscurity.' My object +in writing to you is to remove that obscurity, as I am satisfied you +will be equally desirous of giving honor to whom honor is due. I +claim that honor for my late father--John Mitchell--who was the first +to introduce the making of steel pens by means of tools, which were +purely his own invention, and I will leave it to an enlightened public +to judge if it is not one of the greatest benefits conferred on any +civilized community. Whatever others may have done does not remove +the fact that the inventor I have named was my father; and it is only +due to him that posterity should know who originated the means whereby +millions of human beings of the present time, and generations yet unborn +are, and will be, enabled to communicate their thoughts to each +other with a facility they otherwise would not have had. For, unless +the steel pen had been manufactured by tools and machinery, that useful +article would virtually be at a prohibitory price. The date of +the invention I believe to be 1822 or thereabouts." + +This is very emphatic; but how far may it be taken as an unprejudiced +statement of facts? Well, it has never been contradicted; and Gillott +never made a claim on his own behalf, as having made pens before +Mitchell. Mason gave the year 1828 as the date when he commenced +making pens, so that the evidence is in favor of Mitchell. + +We have heard this statement of Henry Mitchell confirmed by a man who +worked for Mitchell, as a boy, and who remembered pens being made for +Sheldon by Mitchell. It is probable at this early period the pens +were made for a few dealers, and the general public was unacquainted +with the names of the manufacturers. This circumstance has no doubt +contributed to involve in obscurity the early operations of Mitchell +and Gillott. In a notice in _Lardner's Cyclopoedia_ (written by Mr. +John Holland, of Sheffield), published in 1833, the names of three +penmakers only are given--Perry, Heeley, and Skinner. From this it +might be supposed that there were no other penmakers at this date; but +Gillott had taken out a patent in 1831, and the names of both Mitchell +and Gillott appeared as penmakers in _Wrightson's Birmingham +Directory_ for 1830. It cannot be supposed that Mr. Holland wilfully +omitted to mention the names of Mitchell and Gillott, for this writer +was an impartial and painstaking collector of facts, but it is +probable the notice was written some time before it was published; +and, like many little masters, Mitchell and Gillot were only known as +penmakers to the wholesale dealers in Birmingham, upon whom they +depended for orders, consequently Mr. Holland would be ignorant of +their existence. + +In speaking of the demand for steel pens, the writer in Lardner's +says: "The rage originated chiefly, if not altogether, in the +successful speculations of Mr. James Perry, of London, whose pens, +however short their merits may fall of the praise of the inventor, are +certainly superior to most others composed of a like material. Perry +began to make steel pens, in Manchester, in 1819, and in London in +1824." The press and tools with which these pens were made are still +in the possession of Perry and Co., at their warehouse in the Holburn +Viaduct. This fact tends to confirm the statement that Mr. James +Perry was one of the earliest experimenters in the manufacture of the +article. Levesley says he bought one of Perry's pens, which he saw in +a shop window in Sheffield, in 1825, and he took it to his workshop +and improved upon it. This is somewhat similar to the account given by +Mason of his first experiment in pen making. Mason saw a pen of +Perry's in the window of a bookseller named Peart, in Bull Street, +Birmingham, in 1828, which he purchased and took home. Finding he +could produce a better article, which could be sold at a cheaper rate, +he made some and sent them to Mr. James Perry, in, London, and that +gentleman shortly after waited upon Josiah Mason, at his place of +business in Lancaster Street, and the interview resulted in Mason +beginning to make pens for Perry. It will be remembered that the +writer in the _Sheffield Daily Telegraph_ stated that the earliest +experimenter in form and material was Perry. + +Leaving the honor of having originated the application of labor-saving +machinery for the manufacture of steel pens to Mitchell, it would +appear that the merit of having popularized the article is due to +Perry. In 1830, Mr. James Perry issued a circular containing a series +of engravings of metallic pens, showing the improvements he had +patented in their manufacture. In this circular it is stated: "Till +about six months ago the public had heard little of metallic pens. At +present, it would seem that comparatively few of any other kind are in +the hands of any class of the community. This sudden transition may +clearly be traced to the announcement of the Patent Perryian Pens in +various periodicals, about six months ago, and to the general demand +which ensued for that pen in every part of the empire," + +Although this might be regarded as an _ex-parte_ statement, it is +confirmed by independent testimony that Perry popularized the article. +The _Saturday Magazine,_ 1838, says: + +"About twelve years ago (1825), the celebrated Perryian pens first +appeared. Mr. Perry may be regarded in the light of a great improver; +many of his pens are ingenious and original in construction. He +arranges his pens into _genera_ and _species._ Mr. Perry first overcame +the rigidity complained of in steel pens by introducing apertures +between the shoulder and point of the pen, thus transferring the +elasticity of the pen to a position below instead of above the +shoulder. This was the subject of his patent in 1830." + +Mr. Sam: Timmins, in 1866, writes: + +"No skill in manufacture, however, could conquer the prejudice against +any metallic pen, and to Mr. James Perry the world is much indebted +for persevering advocacy of the steel pen, and for one of the most +important improvements in its form. Mr. Perry, with his characteristic +energy, almost forced the steel pen into use, and was supplied +with pens of a first-class quality by Mr. Josiah Mason, of +this town." + +Furthermore, it is certain that about this time, steel pens began +rapidly to supersede the use of quills,* and the trade was recognized +as a rising industry. It is true that it still retained the secretive +character with which its operations were conducted in its earlier +days, which indeed in some respects distinguish it at the present +time. Its activity or dullness seldom troubles the writers of the +"Trade Reports" in the local press, although they sometimes inform +their readers about good orders having been placed for mousetraps, +stove screws, snuffer trays, candle extinguishers, and sad irons. + +*In a humorous article, "The Web-footed Interests," which appeared in +Tait's Edinburgh Magazine, vol. iii., page 280 (1833), there is a +petition to the House of Commons, from Ganders, Geese & Goslings, +setting forth the evils likely to ensue from the use of metallic pens. +It prognosticates depression in agriculture and manufactures +consequent upon a diminution in the amount of grain consumed, and a +falling off in the demand for penknives; and draws an alarming picture +of the possible failure of the supply of iron ware, and the total +extinction of literature, likely to ensue through a stoppage in the +supply of steel pens,--the web-footed interest being supposed to have +ceased to exist. The petition concludes with a prayer that the +manufacture of metallic pens be prohibited. + +To the writers of the present generation, who can purchase fairly-good +pens at one shilling or one shilling and sixpence per gross, it seems +hard to realize that people once gave one shilling each for +substitutes for quills. It is true that quills could then be bought +for a halfpenny and penny each, but how difficult it was to acquire +the art of successfully manipulating the same into a pen the following +anecdote from "Edwards' Life of Rowland Hill" will testify: + +"Mrs. Sinkinson, of Jamaica Row, Birmingham, tells me she went to a +school in Hurst Street, and that she remembered that old Mr. Hill came +one day a week to teach arithmetic, and Rowland [Sir Rowland Hill] on +another to teach writing. In those days there were no steel pens, and +Rowland couldn't mend a pen, so that whenever he came he was +accompanied by his brother, Matthew Davenport, whose office it was to +mend the pens used by the pupils the preceding week." + +Sir Josiah Mason used to relate a similar circumstance in his own +life, when at Kidderminster, that he accompanied his brother Richard, +who was a Sunday-school teacher, to mend the pens. + +Comparing the crude specimens of early steel pens with the finished +productions of the present day, we may be inclined to think that some +praise was due to the people who persevered in the use of them; but +that the purchasers of these early productions did appreciate them we +have the testimony of Mr. Robert Griffin, who says that he wrote for +eight weeks, eight hours a day, with a pen made by Perry, in 1824. +Now, the old _"scribes,"_ as the law stationers' writers were called, +were generally allowed one quill a day, and as the work of the day +usually wore out the longest quill, a considerable amount of time must +have been occupied in the renovation of the article.* This would be a +serious inconvenience to those who could manufacture a quill into a +pen, but as this was by no means an universal accomplishment, we can +form an idea how even these clumsy substitutes found purchasers at +such high prices. + +*The writer recollects the tedious waiting for the patient usher, who +from desk to desk with his penknife, mending pens, and paying very +little attention to anything else; also the wonder felt and expressed +at the first sight of steel nibs, and how they dug into the paper. + + +Tom Hood, in his "Whims and Oddities," gives some idea of the +pre-steel-pen era: + + "In times begone, when each man cut his quill, + With little Perryian skill; + What horrid, awkward, bungling tools of trade + Appeared the writing instruments, home made! + What pens were sliced, hewed, hacked, and haggled out, + Slit or unslit, with many a various snout, + Aquiline, Roman, crooked, square, and snubby, + Humpy and stubby; + Some capable of ladye-billets neat, + Some only fit for ledger-keeping clerk, + And some to grub down, Peter Stubbs, his mark, + Or smudge through some illegible receipt, + Others in florid caligraphic plans, + Equal to ships, and wiggy heads, and swans! + To try in any common inkstands then, + With all their miscellaneous stocks, + To find a decent pen, + Was like a dip into a lucky-box; + You drew, and got one very curly, + And split like endive in some hurly-burly; + The next unslit, a square at end, a spade; + The third, incipient pop-gun, not yet made; + The fourth a broom; the fifth of no avail, + Turned upwards, like a rabbit's tail; + And last, not least, by way of a relief, + A stump that Master Richard, James, or John + Had tried his candle cookery upon, + Making 'roast beef!'" + +These early pens were at first made from a piece of steel formed into +a tube, and filed into the shape of a pen by hand, the joint of the +two edges forming the slit. Afterward a blank was roughly punched +out, filed into shape, and the slit marked out with a chisel while the +blank was in a soft state. It was then shaped, hardened, tempered, +ground, and the slit cracked through by means of a hammer and tool at +the place where the mark had been made. The engravings of the pens by +Edwards, which appeared in _Wrightson's Directory,_ 1823, seem to +indicate that the piercing, side cutting and slitting were executed by +mechanical appliances. Possibly, Edwards was not a manufacturer +himself, but had his pens made for him by Mitchell. + +In the pre-steel-pen era there were many attempts made to supersede +quills. In "Peveril of the Peak," Mistress Chiffinch speaks of her +_diamond pen._ There was a pen the nibs of which were of ruby, set in +gold, made by Doughty. Dr. Wollaston made gold pens tipped with, +rhodium. + +During the time the early makers of steel pens were perfecting the +article, several experimenters were offering to the public writing +instruments made from various materials. Bramah patented _"quill +nibs,"_ made by splitting quills and cutting the semi-cylinders into +sections, which were shaped into pens, and adapted to be placed in a +holder. Hawkins and Mordan, in 1823, made use of horn and tortoise- +shell, which was cut into "nibs," softened in water, and small pieces +of ruby and other precious stones were then embedded in by pressure. +In this way they insured durability and great elasticity. In order to +give stability to the nib thin pieces of gold or other metal were +affixed to the tortoise-shell. + +Looking back at the early operations of the trade, and considering +that steel pens were made by hand at the beginning of the present +century, we can scarcely understand why the idea of cheapening the +production by the application of labor-saving contrivances did not +occur to those inventive geniuses, the proprietors of Soho. Boulton +had expended some time in perfecting the manufacture of steel buttons. +That local Admirable Crichton, Humphrey Jefferies, does not appear to +have ever directed his attention to the manufacture of this article, +which has now become a prime necessity of civilization. Yet we hear +of his success in the improvement of buttons, and button-makers must +have used the screw press and tools for cutting out the blank and +shaping it into form; and the process of slitting had been +anticipated, for printers had a brass rule-cutting machine in use, the +cutters of which bore a strong resemblance to those now used for +slitting steel pens. Like most of the pioneers in the path of +invention, the majority of the early makers of pens were men whose +business pursuits gave them no special facilities for entering upon +the manufacture of steel pens. The progress of the trade from 1829 +(with the exception of the period when Perry and Gillott first +commenced advertising) had been gradual, but satisfactory. In one of +Gillott's early advertisements, he stated that he made 490,361 gross +in 1842, and 730,031 in 1843. This was an advance by leaps and bounds +which has not since been maintained. Although Mason commenced making +pens for Perry in the year 1828, yet it was not till 1861 that his +name became known in England as a steel-pen maker. Many merchants in +Birmingham and Wolverhampton, who purchased steel rings from him, had +no idea that he was a maker of pens; yet on the Continent of Europe +pens bearing his name were eagerly sought after. Subsequent to 1861 +he was associated with Perry, until, in 1876, the trade-marks, +patents, etc., were purchased by a limited liability company, who now, +under the name of "Perry & Co.," have become the largest manufacturers +of pens in the world. + +At the present time (1889) there are thirteen firms engaged in the +trade in Birmingham, and they make up about twenty-four tons of steel +per week into pens and penholder tips. Making due allowance for the +material used in the latter article, this consumption would probably +represent a weekly average production of 200,000 grosses of pens. The +Birmingham penmakers employ about 3,500 women and girls, and 650 men +and boys; and besides these the number of women and girls working at +making paper boxes, in which the pens are packed, would probably +exceed 300. In addition to this there are several mills where steel +is rolled for those firms who have not sufficient power on their own +premises, but there is a difficulty in stating the number of hands +employed. The wages of the females range from four shillings to fifteen +shillings; those of the boys from five shillings to ten shillings. +The unskilled workmen earn from twelve shillings to twenty-four +shillings; and skilled men, or toolmakers, command wages varying from +twenty-five shillings to three pounds. Most of the females work upon +the piece-work system, but the men are paid weekly wages. + +In 1835, upon the authority of a writer in the _Mechanics' Magazine,_ +two tons two hundred weight of steel were used weekly in the +manufacture of pens. Mr. Sam: Timmins made an approximate estimate +that six and a half tons of steel were used per week for steel pens in +1849, and again, in 1886, he gives the amount of steel as having +increased to ten tons. It is at all times difficult to form an +accurate estimate of the quantity of material used, but we believe we +are within the mark in putting down the present consumption of steel +at twenty-two tons weekly. From this it would appear that the trade +has doubled its production during the last twenty years. Besides +these Birmingham houses there are some four or five manufactories on +the Continent, and two in the United States, but their productions +have not increased in the same ratio as that of their English rivals. + +During the last twenty years a great improvement has taken place in +the style of boxes and labels in which the pens are packed. Formerly +(with the exception of the goods issued by Gillott and Sommerville) +most of the pens were sold in boxes of the plainest description; now +the covers or labels are printed in a number of colors from elaborate +designs, by first-class artists, and in some cases the boxes are +ornamented with well-executed portraits of royal, political, literary, +or artistic celebrities. There are many peculiarities connected with +the public taste as manifested in the demand for pens. The Germans +use a greater variety of patterns than any other nation. The English +taste is more restricted, and is generally confined to articles of the +plainer shapes. Autocratic Russia and democratic America make use of +the fewest patterns. By a regulation of the Imperial Government, pens +in boxes, bearing portraits of the Russian royal family are prevented +from entering the country, and in America public taste does not favor +a demand for portrait boxes. By a law which came into operation the +1st of January, 1886, no pens can be imported into Russia bearing the +name of a Russian firm. The probable purpose of this law was to +encourage the establishment of a Russian manufactory. At present +there are no pen works in Russia. An attempt was made in Moscow, in +1876-8, to manufacture steel pens, but the experiment proved a +failure. The Germans and French are the largest buyers of first-class +pens, but the Italians are content with articles of the commonest +character. The chief demand for three-pointed pens comes from Spain. +At present the demand for steel pens is chiefly confined to European +nations and their descendants. The great Asiatic nations still write +with pens made from reeds, or camel-hair pencils. A few of the +natives of India and Japan, and some of the subjects of the Sultan and +Khe'dive are beginning to make use of steel pens adapted to the +peculiarities of their writing. From this it would appear that the +possibilities of the progress of the trade in the future are very +favorable; but in the meantime its productions are scattered over the +globe, and even in some of the darkest corners of the earth pioneers +of civilization are to be found transcribing the results of their +experience with the aid of that great factor of nineteenth-century +progress--an English Steel Pen. + + + + THE MANUFACTURING PROCESSES + OF STEEL PENS. + +The steel from which the greater part of the metallic pens are +manufactured comes from Sheffield. Notwithstanding the many names +given by the venders of steel pens to the material from which they are +manufactured there are but two sorts--good and bad--and therefore +Peruvian, Damascus, Amalgam, and Silver Steel are but fancy names. As +a matter of fact, where a number of prefixes are used to describe the +quality of an article it is generally found to have no claim to any of +them. + +The raw material is received from Sheffield in sheets six feet in +length, one foot five inches in width, and 23 or 26 Birmingham +wire-gauge in thickness. The first operation is the cutting of these +sheets into strips of convenient width. They are then packed in an +oblong iron box, placed with the open top downward in another box of +the same material, and the interstices are filled up with a +composition to exclude the air. The boxes are placed in a muffle, +where they remain until they have gradually attained a dull red heat, +and the muffle is allowed to gradually cool, or else the boxes are +placed in a cooling chamber. When the boxes have been reduced to a +temperature which will admit of their being handled, the contents +(technically called a charge) are emptied out. Now, it will be found +that the strips of steel are covered with bits of small scale, +sticking to them like a loose skin, and if this were not removed +before the next process--rolling--the steel, instead of being +perfectly smooth, would be marked with a number of indentations, +rendering it very unsightly. In order to get rid of this excrescence, +the strips are immersed in a bath of diluted sulphuric acid, which +loosens the scale, and are then placed in wood barrels to which broken +pebbles and water are added. The barrels are kept revolving until the +whole of the scaly substance has been removed and the strips have +assumed a silver-gray appearance. The steel is now ready for +manipulation in the rolling mill, where it is passed between +successive pairs of rolls until it has been reduced to the required +gauge, and this operation has to be performed with such nicety that a +variation of one thousand part of an inch in the thickness of the +strip would make such an alteration in the flexibility of the pens +made from it as to cause considerable dissatisfaction to the +purchasers of the article. + +The steel on leaving the mill is conveyed to the gauging room, and it +will be found to have increased to three times its original length, +and now appears with a bright surface. Hitherto the operations have +been conducted by men and boys; but now, in the course of manufacture, +the pens will enter on a series of processes in which the quick and +delicate fingers of women and girls play an important part. The +strips of steel are now given out to the cutters. The _Toolmaker,_ +who, as a rule, both makes and sets the tools, has placed in what is +known as a bolster a die, having a hole perforated through it of the +exact shape of the blank to be cut; and attached to the bottom of the +screwed bolt of the press is a punch, also bearing the exact shape of +the blank. The girl with her left hand introduces one of the strips +of steel at the back of the press, and, pulling the handle toward her +with the right hand, the screw descends, driving the punch into the +bed, and in so doing has perforated the strip of steel with a +scissors-like cut, making a blank which falls through the opening in +the die into a drawer below. Now, with her left hand she pulls the +strip toward her until it is stopped by a little projection called a +guide; and again the right hand moves the handle, the screw descends, +and another blank is cut. The operation is continued until the whole +of one side of the strip is perforated; it is then reversed and the +other side treated in a similar way. If you were to hold up the strip +thus manipulated--now called scrap--you would find that in some +particular part the perforations approach so nearly to each other as +to form a slight bar, which breaks easily between the thumb and +finger. This is rendered necessary from the fact that steel scrap is +worth only one-fifth of the value of the raw material, and, as under +the most favorable conditions, the scrap averages one-third the +original weight given out for cutting, it behooves the manufacturer to +reduce the scrap as much as practicable. If these blanks are +examined, a small V-shaped indentation, looking like a defect, will be +found upon the upper edge of that part inserted in the holder. This +small mark plays an important part in the succeeding processes. To a +casual observer there does not appear much difference between the two +sides of the blank; but, however well the tools are made, that side of +the blank which is uppermost in cutting out will be rougher than the +under side. This mark enables the operator to distinguish at a glance +the smooth side, and by always keeping the rough side upward the burr +is polished off in a later process. The blanks are now ready to be +passed to the next process--_marking._ This operation is performed by +a female, with the aid of a stamp. The precise mark required is cut +upon a piece of steel, and, being placed in the hammer of the stamp, +the girl puts her right foot into a stirrup attached to a rope, which +is passed round a pulley, and, pressing downward, causes the hammer to +ascend. Taking a handful of blanks with her left hand, by a dexterous +motion she makes a little train of them between the thumb and finger +in parallel order, presenting the first in the most ready position to +be passed to the other hand. The right hand is brought toward the +left, and, taking a blank, places it with the point toward the worker +in a guide upon the bed of the stamp, then by suddenly letting the +hammer descend a blow is struck upon the blank, which gives an +impression of the name cut upon the punch. The quick fingers of the +operator pass backward and forward with such rapidity that a skillful +girl will mark from two hundred to two hundred and fifty gross per +day. If the mark required is unusually large, the marking process is +deferred until after the pen has been pierced, in order that the blank +may be annealed (or softened), which takes the impression more readily +than the hard steel. + + +Now, in order to make a metallic pen suitable for writing it is +necessary to consider some means of producing elasticity, and also to +devise some method by which the smooth steel shall cause the ink to +attach itself to the pen. This is brought about by the next process-- +_piercing._ In this operation the tools are of a very delicate +character, and as the center pierce (the aperture in which the slit +terminates) is frequently of an ornamental design the tools, being +small, have to be made with great precision. The piercing punch and +bed having been fixed in a screw press, and an ingenious arrangement +of guides fastened thereto, the girl selects a blank from a tray on +her left hand, and, placing it in its proper position by the aid of +the guides, pushes the fly of the press from her, the screw descends, +driving the punch into the bed, and the operation of piercing is +completed. + +The blanks are still moderately hard, and before they can be made to +take the shape of a pen it is necessary that they should be softened, +which is effected by the process called _annealing._ The blanks +having been freed from the dust and garbase that has become attached +to them are carefully placed in round iron pots, which are again +inclosed in larger ones and covered over with charcoal dust to prevent +the entrance of gases, and put into the muffle, heated to a dull red, +and then allowed to cool. + +The blanks are now soft and pliable, readily taking the various shapes +into which pens are made by the next process, called _raising._ This +operation is performed by the aid of a punch and die fitted into a +screw-press. The punch is fitted into a contrivance called a false +nose, fixed in the bottom of the screw of the press; and the die or +bed is placed in a cylindrical piece of steel (called a bolster) with +a groove cut for the reception of the die, the bolster being fastened +to the bottom of the press by a screw underneath. The punch and die +being fixed so as to exactly fit each other, the toolmaker places a +small piece of tissue paper between them, takes an impression, +examines it, and proceeds to rectify any inequality in the pressure, +so as to insure perfection in the shape. This being accomplished, the +toolmaker fixes four pieces of steel (called guides) to the bolster in +such positions that the operator is enabled to slide the blank into +the bed, where it is held by the guides till the punch descends, +forces the blank into the bed, and gives the pen its shape. The +article is now narrower than it was in its blank form, and the girl +pushes it through the tools with a small stick held in the hand with +which she works the press handle, while with the other hand she places +another blank in its position in the bed. + +The pen is now shaped or raised, but it is still soft, and +consequently another process is necessitated--_hardening._ This is +effected by placing the pens in thin layers in round pans with lids. +They are placed in the muffle for a period varying from twenty to +thirty minutes, during which time they have acquired a bright red +heat. The workman then withdraws them and empties the contents into a +large bucket immersed in a tank of oil. The bucket is perforated at +the bottom, and being elevated, the oil drains off. The pens are next +placed in a perforated cylinder, which, being set in motion, revolves +and drains off the remainder of the oil. The pens are still greasy, +and as brittle as glass; and in order to free them from the grease +they are again placed in perforated buckets and immersed in a tank of +boiling soda water. After they are freed from the grease the pens are +put into an iron cylinder, which is kept revolving over a charcoal +fire until they are softened or tempered down to the special degree +required. In this process the workman is guided by the color, which +indicates the varying temperature of the metal of which the articles +are made. Brittleness has given place to pliability, but the pens are +black in color and scratch at the point, and to remedy this defect +they are subjected to the next process--_scouring._ In order to do +this the pens are dipped in a bath of diluted sulphuric acid--called +pickle--which frees the articles from any extraneous substances they +may have acquired in the hardening and tempering processes. This +requires to be done with great care, or the acid would injure the +steel. The pens are then placed in iron barrels with a quantity of +water and small pebbly-looking material. This latter material is +composed of annealing pots broken and ground fine enough to pass +readily through a fine riddle. The barrel being set in motion, the +pens are scoured for periods varying from five to eight hours, and are +placed again in barrels with dry pot for about the same period, after +which they are put into other barrels together with a quantity of dry +sawdust. On being taken out of these barrels the body of the pen has +acquired a bright silver color, and the point has been rounded. + +The article has now the shape and appearance of a finished pen, and +yet it possesses none of its characteristics, and, if tried, will be +found to have no more action than a lead pencil, as it is deficient in +that important part of a writing instrument--the slit. Before being +slit the pen is ground between the centre pierce and the point. This +process is performed by girls, with the aid of what is called a "bob" +or "glazer." The "bob" is a circular piece of alder wood about ten +and a half inches in diameter and half an inch in width. Round this a +piece of leather is stretched and dressed with emery. A spindle is +driven through the centre, and the two ends placed in sockets. The +"bob" is set in motion by means of a leather band, and the girl +holding a pen firmly, with a light touch grinds off a portion of the +surface. + +This operation being completed, the last and most important mechanical +operation has to be performed--_slitting._ The tools with which this +process is effected are two oblong pieces of steel about an inch and a +half long, three-eighths of an inch thick, and an inch and a quarter +wide. These are called the cutters, and upon the preparation and +setting of these the successful issue of the process depends. The +edges of these cutters are equal in delicacy to the cutting edge of a +razor, but the shape is more suggestive of a portion cut from the +thickest part of a large pair of shears. The cutter being fixed in +the press, a pair of guides are screwed on either side, and a small +tool called a table, or rest, being attached to the contrivance called +a bolster, which holds the bottom cutter, the operator takes a pen, +places it on the table, pushes the point up toward the guide, pulls +the handle, the upper cutter descends, meets the lower one, and the +process of slitting is completed. + +Now, although this operation completes the mechanical processes of pen +making, the article is by no means finished. If you examine the pen +now you will find that the outer edge of each point is smooth, while +the inside edges which have just been made by the slit are sharp and +scratch. To remove this defect the operation of "barreling" has to be +again resorted to. The pens are again placed in the iron barrels with +pounded pot, kept revolving from five to six hours, and finally +polished in sawdust. + +The pens are now of a bright silver-steel color and perfectly smooth, +but as they are required in various tints, they are colored and +afterward varnished to prevent rust. To accomplish the first of these +results the articles are placed in a copper or iron cylinder and kept +revolving over a coke fire until the requisite tint is obtained, the +color depending upon the temperature of the cylinder. If the pens are +intended to be lacquered they are placed in a solution of shellac +dissolved in methylated spirits. The spirit is drained off, and the +pens are placed in wire cylinders and kept revolving until the action +of the air dries the lacquer. They are then scattered upon iron +trays, inserted in an oven, and the heat diffuses the lacquer equally +over the surface of the pens, so that when they have cooled down they +have a glossy appearance, which gives to them an air of finish and +prevents rust. + +The pen is now finished as far as manufacturing processes are +concerned, yet before it can be offered to the public it has to +undergo a rigid examination called _"looking over."_ This is +performed by trained girls, and when the defective ones have been +sorted out the good pens are sent to the finished warehouse to be put +up into boxes. These boxes are of various descriptions, adapted to +suit the markets for which they are intended. In many instances the +labels which form the covers of the boxes are elaborately printed from +first-class designs, and some of them have highly-finished steel +engravings of royal personages and celebrities in the scientific, +literary, musical, and political world. The quantities contained in +these boxes vary with the countries for which they are intended; for +the manufacturers study the wants of their customers, and do not offer +articles counted in dozens to people who reckon by tens. + +We have now traced the manufacture of this little article from its +beginning as a plain piece of steel through all its stages until it +has developed into that indispensable requisite of daily life--a pen. + + HISTORY OF THE PERRYIAN + PEN WORKS. + +The firm of Messrs. Perry & Co., London, was founded in the year 1824 +by Mr. James Perry, who carried on business originally in Manchester, +then in London. Mr. James Perry died in the year 1843. Mr. Stephen +Perry, who conducted the business afterward in partnership with Mr. +Hayes and others, died in the year 1873, and was succeeded by his +sons, Messrs. Joseph John and Lewis Henry Perry. The firm of Perry & +Co. was known all over Europe as the house which first introduced to +the commercial world steel pens of a superior quality, and in many +countries steel pens are now known under the general denomination of +_"Perry pens."_ The first pens were manufactured by Perry & Co. in +London, principally from flattened or ribbon steel wire, and in the +year 1828 Mr. Josiah, afterward Sir Josiah, Mason, _then a +manufacturer of steel split rings,_ produced steel pens so much +superior to the pens made up to that period that Messrs. Perry & Co. +entered into contracts with him for the sole supply of all the pens +they might require; this connection continued up to the time of the +formation of this company. In the meantime, Messrs. Perry & Co. had +also introduced the sale of elastic bands and pencil cases; the +production of the latter was confided to Mr. W.E. Wiley, who, in the +year 1850, began the manufacture first of gold pens, afterward of +pencil cases. Messrs. Perry & Co. also contracted with Mr. Wiley for +the purchase of all the pencil cases they might dispose of, and thus +Mr. Wiley's works assumed gigantic proportions. Mr. Alfred +Sommerville, who had been connected with the steel-pen trade since its +infancy, established the firm of A. Sommerville & Co. in the year +1851. Although he, in the year 1857, began manufacturing steel pens in +connection with a partner, he likewise contracted with Mr. Josiah +Mason for a superior class of steel pens, principally intended for the +Continental markets, and many of which were either his own invention +or suggested by him. Mr. Sommerville desiring to retire from +business, Sir Josiah Mason purchased his trade in the year 1870, but +continued to carry it on under the old style of A. Sommerville & Co. +These four businesses being so intimately connected and dependent upon +each other, some gentlemen of eminence in the manufacturing town of +Birmingham decided, in conjunction with some of the leading +proprietors, to establish a limited company, for the purpose of +uniting and amalgamating inseparably the various establishments, and +thus the company of _"Perry & Co., Limited,"_ was formed. + +On the spot forming the principal entrance to the works, Mr. Samuel +Harrison, in the year 1778, founded a manufactory in which he carried +on his invention of steel split rings; but Mr. Harrison, who was an +ingenious mechanic, also manufactured mathematical instruments, some +of which were used by Dr. Priestley in his researches, and on one +occasion he made a steel pen for Dr. Priestley, probably the first +steel pen ever produced. Mr. Josiah Mason succeeded to the business +of Mr. Harrison in 1823, and in 1828 began the manufacture of steel +pens. For several years he gave his whole attention to improvements +in the manufacture of steel pens, and Mr. Perry took out several most +important patents for the improvement of steel pens, many of which +have not been surpassed in ingenuity or in utility, and the principal +among them, the so-called "double patent," is universally applied by +the pen trade to a great number of pens to this very day. In 1842 Mr. +Mason's attention was absorbed by the process of electroplating and +gilding, at that time invented and carried on by Mr. Elkington, in +partnership with whom he founded the great firm of Elkington, Mason & +Co. For some years the production of pens flagged, but in 1852 a +nephew of Sir Josiah Mason, Mr. Isaac Smith (deceased in 1868), gave a +new stimulus to the manufacture of pens, and from that time the +production gradually increased until it assumed its present +proportions. The manufactory now covers nearly two acres; it occupies +a whole square and fronts four streets. In the building fronting +Lancaster Street (five stories high) the offices, warehouses and +storerooms of finished goods are distributed. The underground floor +forms a huge machine shop, in which all the presses, rolls, and +general iron and machine work employed throughout the manufactory are +produced by skillful mechanics. Behind the front building there are +several courtyards and quadrangles, in the largest of which are placed +in a row five double-flue boilers, each 20 feet long by 7 feet +diameter, working at a pressure of more than 55 lb. to the square +inch, supplying the steam power both for propelling the steam engines +and for heating the manufactory. In the rolling mill, measuing 64 by +38 feet, three double-cylinder engines, working up to 293 indicated +horsepower, give motion to 18 pairs of rolls, rolling four to six +tons of steel per week. The largest workshops are the slitting and +grinding rooms, 64 by 38 feet, the latter 24 feet high. In the +slitting room 90 girls apply the last mechanical process to the +manufacture of steel pens, in slitting them by presses of ingenious +construction. In the grinding room more than 160 girls are busily +employed cross and straight grinding steel pens on wood cylinders +covered with emery. The room in which the finished pens are placed in +boxes measures 54 by 30 feet, and in it alone are employed 50 girls +boxing and labeling steel pens, or fitting penholder tips on handles +of various materials, principally of cedar. In that part of the +building having a frontage on Corporation Street there is a dining +room 86 feet 6 inches long by 68 feet wide, fitted up with tables to +accommodate 600 people. Here the employees are served with a warm +dinner at prices varying from 2d. to 6d. At one end of the room there +is a stage, where dramatic entertainments and concerts are given in +the winter season by the workpeople. At the other end there is a +library, in a glazed partition, containing about 2,000 volumes of +standard works. These books are issued to the hands employed by the +firm free. One of the important features of this manufactory is the +employment of muffles heated by gas produced from Siemens's gas +generators. These muffles allow the heat to be regulated to a nicety, +and enable the company to carry on the process of annealing and +hardening to very great perfection. + +The manufacture of steel pens employs in all about 900 workpeople, the +weekly production is 45,000 gross, which quantity will shortly be +increased to 50,000 gross, per week. Six smaller steam engines are +employed independently of those already mentioned in various parts of +the works. The manufacture of penholder sticks is carried on in two +separate buildings. Penholder sticks were produced by Mr. Mason as +far back as 1835, but their manufacture had lapsed; it was only +resumed eight years ago, since which time, by new and ingenious +machinery, principally the inventions of Mr. W. E. Wiley, the managing +director, it has assumed proportions of great magnitude. + +The pencil case and solitaire works carried on by Mr. Wiley, first +alone, and then in co-partnership with his son in Graham Street, have +now been transferred to Lancaster Street. + +Pencil cases, first introduced by Messrs. Mordan & Lund, in London, +have undergone various changes and improvements, the principal of +which was a lead holder passing through the point of the pencil case, +which was slit for that purpose. This invention was patented by Mr. +Wiley in the year 1857, and created a complete revolution in the +pencil-case trade, as it enabled the manufacturers to use a thicker +and longer lead, which could be propelled and withdrawn at will and +would last in daily use more than six months. This patented mechanism +was introduced into cases made from hard wood, bone and ivory, but +since the year 1868 a composition called aluminium gold, so resembling +gold that it cannot be distinguished from it, and resisting the +effects of oxidation, consequently free from tarnish, made a further +revolution in the pencil-case trade, enabling the million to possess +an elegant and highly-wrought pencil case at a very moderate price. +Messrs. Perry & Co., of London, gave to this manufacture publicity in +every part of Europe, and the quantities produced and sold are +incredible. + +In 1874 a new patent was added to the many inventions for which this +establishment was famous. Its purpose was to produce a solitaire stud +made in two parts, so as to enable its ready application without the +trouble of passing a button of large diameter through a small +buttonhole. A self-acting steel spring is fixed in the upper part of +the stud, and snaps as soon as inserted into the lower part, where a +slight pressure on two projections releases the springs and permits +the separation of the two parts. These solitaires are manufactured of +gold, silver, and a variety of other metals, the principal of which is +gold plate. There are now more than five hundred patterns in +existence, and this useful manufacture grows daily in extension. +Perry & Co.'s paper binders, an article now universally used for +fastening together loose papers, cloth patterns, etc., are produced in +infinite styles and sizes, principally by self-acting machinery. + +The total number of workpeople employed in the company's manufactories +exceeds 1,300. + +The business of Perry & Co. was carried on for more than forty years +at 37 Red Lion Square, London, but the increase of business and the +reconstruction of London required that a more central position should +be found for the development of the commercial department of the +company. Large and handsome warehouses having been constructed on the +Holborn Viaduct, the company transferred their London depot to a +building five stories high on the side fronting the Holborn Viaduct +and eight stories high at the back. In this immense warehouse are +stored not only the produce of the manufactories of this company, but +also special articles for which this firm has been famous for the last +thirty years, principally the elastic or endless bands, patented by +Mr. Daft and Mr. Stephen Perry, and originally introduced by Perry & +Co. in conjunction with McIntosh & Co., afterward in conjunction with +Warne & Co. Perry's Royal Aromatic Bands are now an indispensable +article, and may be procured in every city of the world. Every +fancy article required by stationers can be found in these vast +stores. An illustrated price current which appears monthly, and which +numbers more than 120 pages, gives fair idea of the variety of +articles of which samples and stock can be found ready for daily +delivery. The increase of business has been so rapid that the company +found it necessary to lease the adjoining premises, which is stored +with some of the two thousand articles forming the staple trade of the +London depot, and the principal of which are the following: American +Letter Files, Clips (now manufactured in Lancaster Street), Marking +and other Inks, Aromatic Bands, Audascript Pens, Bostonite Goods, +Cigar Lighters, Copying Ink and Copying Ink Powder, Copying Ink +Pencils, Copying Presses, Corrugated Imperial Bands, Essence of Ink, +Grease Extractors, India Rubber for Erasing, Ink and Pencil Erasers, +Ink Extractors, Patent and other Inkstands in every variety, Key +Rings, Letter Clips, Letter Files, Metallic Books, Paper Binders, +Pencil Point Protectors, Pencils and Pencil Cases, Penholders, Pen +Knives, Pen Racks, Gold Pens, Portfolios, Presses, Scotch Tartan Fancy +Goods, Solitaires or Sleeve Links, etc., etc., etc. + +This establishment is under the exclusive management of Mr. Joseph J. +Perry, managing director. + +_[The illustrations in this work are engraved from pen-and-ink +sketches executed by Walter Langley with a Perry's No. 25 pen.]_ + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of the Invention +of Steel Pens, by Henry Bore + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INVENTION OF STEEL PENS *** + +This file should be named ipens10.txt or ipens10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, ipens11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, ipens10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our Web sites at: +http://gutenberg.net or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text +files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+ +We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002 +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks! +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated): + +eBooks Year Month + + 1 1971 July + 10 1991 January + 100 1994 January + 1000 1997 August + 1500 1998 October + 2000 1999 December + 2500 2000 December + 3000 2001 November + 4000 2001 October/November + 6000 2002 December* + 9000 2003 November* +10000 2004 January* + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, +Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, +Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, +Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South +Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West +Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +Donations by check or money order may be sent to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information online at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the eBook (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only +when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by +Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be +used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be +they hardware or software or any other related product without +express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + |