Chapter 4

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.