STEEL PENS. Toward the close of the eigh teenth century various experiments were being made in France, England, and America toward the manufacture of steel pens. At first they were barrel-shaped and were made as much like a quill pen as possible. They were by bending a flat piece of steel into a tube and then filing it into shape, the joint of the two edges forming the slit. These pens were expensive and unsatisfactory, for they were hard and inflexible. In 1320 Joseph Gillott, of England, began the manufacture of steel pens and greatly improved their form. He also cheapened their price by in troducing machinery for their manufacture. Presses were contrived for cutting, bending. and marking, and other maehinery for cleaning and polishing. The manufacture of steel pens was not introduced into the States until about ISGO. By that time the art. had been perfected and a knowledge of the varieties of steel best qualified for pens had been acquired. of the steel used in American factories is imported from Sweden. The steel, which is received by the manufacturer in sheets of varying thickness, is prepared for conversion into pens by a prelimi nary process of annealing, and rolling. The last named operation requires considerable care and skill, for the steel must be passed be tween successive rollers until reduced to a re quired thickness, which is usually 1-160th of an inch. The slightest variation in the thickness of the sheet affects the flexibility of the finished pen. The blanks are next stamped or pressed into the desired shape. and then the small hole which terminates the slit in the finished pen and pre vents it from spreading is punched. After an other annealing. the blanks are placed between a pair of dies which give them their curved form. Hardening by plunging into hot oil, cleaning in sand and sawdust. and tempering are the next processes. The polishing; is performed by placing the pens in revolving barrels of sand or saw dust and then grinding against a revolving emery wheel. The tempering is done by placing the
pens in an iron cylinder which is kept revolving over a charcoal fire until they are of the proper temper. This is a delicate process, regulated by the color shown by the pens, which indicates the temperature of the metal. The last and per haps most important mechanical operation is slitting the pen point. This is done by a spe cially constructed pair of cutters of great deli eaey of construction. The pens arc now subjected to a final burnishing, and possibly lacquering to prevent rust, and are ready for the market.
(low Tres. Though steel pens are used in greater quantities than any other kind, there is an increasing demand for gold pens on account of their greater flexibility and durability. Gold pens were first made in 1825 in England. In the United States their manufacture was first at tempted by a watch-maker of Detroit in 1535. In 1840 the business was moved to New York, various improvements were introduced. and the manufacture grew in importance. At first the points of gold pens were protected by diamonds or rubies. The discovery that the native alloy of iridium and osmium could be used much more cheaply as well as satisfactorily was made by John Isaac Hawkins, an American. residing in England. The American right to this discovery was purchased by a New York establishment. About 1350 it was discovered that by the iridium points in the gold instead of solder ing, them on a stronger pen was produced. Gold pens are made in a manner similar to steel pens, by rolling the metal into thin sheets and stamp ing out the blanks and shaping them with dies. The under side of the point is notched with a circular saw to receive the iridium tip, which is secured by a flux of borax and a blowpipe. The slit is cut through the solid iridium by means of a thin copper wheel, after which it is extended up the pen itself, to the notch, with a saw. The pen is now finished by polishing it and by ham mering till the desired degree of elasticity is secured.