from Manufacturer And Builder April 1892

How a Fountain Pen is Made.

The use of the fouitain pen is becoming so general, and the industry of manufacturing these instrumeats has grown to be so important, that we have embraced the opportunimy of giving a inspection of the details of the nit as practiced by the Crown Pen Company, of 78 State street, Chicago, which occupies a leading position in this field.

In the manufacture of fountain pens, a large part of the work is hand labor, and the excellence of the pen depends to a large extent upon the skill and care exercised by the workman. Pure gold is too soft and not elastic enough to make a good gold pen, hence it is alloyed with a certain proportion of silver and copper. Ten to 14 carat gold makes the best pen metal, as this proportion makes the strongest and most elastic alloy, and gives the longest life to the pen. The gold, silver and copper are melted together and cast into ingots, which are then rolled into strips eleven-sixteenths of an inch wide and No. 25 American wire gauge in thickness. The strips are passed through a die press, which cuts out pieces the size and shape of Fig. 1. Fig. 2 shows a blank from which a number of pieces have been cut. A portion of the metal is then sawed away from the under side of Fig· 1, to make room for the iridium which forms the points of the pen, leaving it as in Fig. 3. It is then ready for the iridium. This is an extremely hard metal, very bright and close grained, resembling polished steel. It is found in the metallic state, occurring in rather coarse grains or scales. The workman picks out two of these grains, of suitable size to form the point of the pen, lays them on the sawed portion of Fig. 3, and melts the gold around them by means of a blow-pipe. An operation knowa as sweating. The blank then appears as in Fig. 4. It is then passed back and forth between powerful ro11ers, care being taken not to touch the point, until it appears as in Fig. 5. The blank is now placed on a small anvil, with the point projecting over the side, and beaten with a hammer from the point midway up time pen. This is done to solidify it and give that stiffness and spring to the metal that is so necessary to a good pen. This hammering, and the thickness to which it has been rolled, determine in a great measure the hard or easy writing qualities of the pen. It is now cut out again as in Fig. 6, and the part Fig. 7 is discarded. It may now be pierced as shown in Fig. 6, and the maker's name stamped on the back, as in Fig. 8.

The surplus gold on the point, which has remained of the original thickness, is now
ground off with emery and oil on a copper spindle until the iridium point shows plainly, and the blank appears as in Fig~ 8. It is now placed in a forming die, and becomes convex in shape, except the point, which is left flat, appearing as in Fig. 9. It is then
placed in a holder and the iridium sawed through by a thin, soft copper saw without teeth, which is covered with water and fine emery, and revolves very rapidly. The principle is the same as that on which stone is sawed with sand and fine emery, sticking in the soft copper, cuts the iridium, which is too hard to be cut in any other way.

The blank Fig. 10 is then sawed by a tiny steel circular saw, completing the slit which divides time two nibs of the pen, as seen in Fig. 11. So far, all the operations have been comparatively rough; now comes in the skill of the workman. The blank Fig. 11 is placed in a strong steel holder, which reaches to where the nibs begin; some fine emery and oil are placed on each side of a very thin lion disk, which revolves so rapidly and so true that it appears to be at rest; the disk is run into the slit of the pen and slightly moves back and forth with varying pressure and positions until the sides of the slits are ground and polished true and smooth, when the pen is held steady for a second and then withdrawn with a quick motion.

It now appeams as in Fig. 12. Then the points are ground upon time other edges on a copper wheel about four inches in diameter and three-quarter inch face, which is hollowed to suit time work. The blank is again put in the holder and the nibs bent to give the pen its set. The nibs are then caught, the one over the other, and the workman
holds the iridium points against a small copper spindle covered with emery and oil, twirling them rapidly between his thumb amid finger, as one would twirl a lead pencil until the end and all foam sides of each point are quite smooth and will not stick in the paper or catch upon each other. From time to time the pensmith tests the set and tries the pen on paper until it refuses to splutter under the roughest treatment.

It will readily be seen that manual skill is of the first importance in this operation, and time, patience and judgement of the workman scarcely less so. If the points are exactly the same, evenly and smoothly polished, and the set right, the pen will glide over the roughest paper as if it were glass. If one point is thicker than the other, fine writing will he impossible; and if the edges of the slit at the point have the slightest uneveanness, the pen will splutter on the up stroke and refuse to spring back to its place afterward.

Iridium is very brittle, as well as hard, and frequently breaks or scales off in grinding; when this hapens, and enough iridium is left, the othet point is ground down to match it, making a fine-pointed pen out of what was originally intended to be a coarse one. After the pen has become pointed properly, comes time question of strength. Some writers like a hard, stiff nib; others a delicate, flexible one. The varying degrees of flexibility are obtaimmed by grindinig more or less of gold from the nib, between the nibs and iridium points, on the upper side of the pen. It is then roughened on the under side with pumice stone and a Scotch hone, so that it will hold the ink, as the balance of the pen is made so smooth that the ink will slip off. Finaly, it is smoothed and burnished, and takes its place in the case.

There is a popular notion that the best gold pens are pointed with diamonds. This is incorrect. There were a few made in that way about twenty-five years ago, but they
were very expensive, and the discovery of the valuable properties of iridium put an end to their manufacture.

The best quality of vulcanized rubber is necessary for a fist-class fountain pen holder, and the feeding device is the all-important part of it. One style of holder comprises five parts namely, a barrel, cap, nozzle or point section, core with top feed, and underfeed. The rough stock for the barrel and cap looks like a piece of small gas pipe closed at one end, while that for the nozzle, core and feed would pass for a piece of a small iron rod with a tiny hole running through it. These parts are brought to a smooth, dark exterior by turning on a lathe. The barrel is rounded at the solid end to give accuracy in tapping; the open end is then tapped with No. 36 thread. It is then turned to the diameter desired, pumiced, cut off at he open end to give a good joint, chased with No. 50 thread, a place turned for a cap to fit on the solid end, and stamped with the name and patent mark, as seen in Fig. 13.

The cap is turned to the diameter of the barrel used, then pumiced, wiped out, and cut off to give a smooth end (Fig.14). The nozzle stock is made in long tubes, then cut into pieces of a certain length, threaded at one end to fit the threads of a barrel, while the other end is given a neat form and trimmed to fit the cap already fitted to the barrel used. The core and top feed stock are also made in long tubes, then cut into pieces 1 1/8 inches long, one end drilled 5/8 inch long with a scant 1/8 inch hole and then turned so that the cylindrical part having the 1/8 inch hole, shall be 5/8 inch long and 3/16 inch diameter, the other part to taper to 1/8 inch. The taper part is now polished. The top feed is made by sawing away most of the taper part (Figs. 16 and 17), and filing the under side and both edges of the feed part. The pen slit (Fig. 18) is now sawed. All cores have the same size hole, but their other dimensions are governed by the size of the gold pen to be used. For very large gold pens, gold top feeds are used, because rubber top feeds break easily when very long
and as slender as they have to be made.

The under feed stock (Figs. 19, 20, 21 and 22) is also made in long tubes. It is cut into pieces 15 inches long, then rounded (Fig. 19) to 1/8 inch diameter, then one side is cut off (Fig 20), sawed through the flat side to the hole (Fig. 21), the other edges of the flat side rounded (Fig. 22) on a sandstone wheel, cut into pieces of desired length, and polished on the under side.

The barrel, cap, and nozzle are dipped into bi-sulphuent of carbon, then polished, the vent drilled through the solid end of the cap, and the frontt end of the nozzle drilled 8/4 inch deep with scant 3/16 inch hole to receive the core (Figs. 18 and 23). The barrel is usually stamped at this stage of the work.

The lathe work and polishing completed, then comes the assembling of the various parts of a pen. Each pen is built up of its own particular and individual parts, which cannot be made to be interchangeable, the necessity of exact fitness being so essential to the perfect pen. The core and feeds are fitted to the gold pen (Figs. 12, 18, 22 and 23) by carefully filing, heatiug and bending the feeds. The core thus fitted up (Fig. 23) is then pushed into the front end of the nozzle, the nozzle being heated if necessary. Ihe cap is now taken from the barrel and put over the pen. The pen and filler (Fig. 24) are packed in a neat slide paper box containing full directions, and are now ready for the market.

Fountain pens should never be left lying exposed to a warm sun, as the heat turns them brown and warps the barrel or feeds. Alcohol rubbed on the barrel will brighten it. In selecting a pen, choose one adapted to your hand and you will experience an ease and facility of movement which will surprise you, and the quality of your penmanship will be greatly improved. Indeed, the difference is so marked that many once used to a fountain pen, will never use any other, but hold on to it until the pen and owner grow old together.