From "The Cyclopædia of American Biography." 1925

The best metal, made from Dannemora or hoop (L) iron, is selected
and laminated into slips about 3 feet long, and 4 inches broad, of a thickness corresponding to the desired stiffness and flexibility of the pens. These slips are subjected to the action of a stamping-press, somewhat similar to that for making buttons.

The point destined for the nib is next introduced into an appropriate gauged hole of a little machine, and pressed into the semi-cylindrical shape; where it is also pierced with the middl6 slit, and the lateral ones, provided the latter are to be given. The pens are now cleaned, by being tossed about among each
other, in a tin cylinder, about 3 feet long, and 9 inches in diameter; which is suspended at each end upon joints to two cranks, foimed one on each of two shafts. The cylinder, by the rotation of a fly-wheel, acting upon the crank-shafts, is made to describe such revolutions as agitate the pens in all directions, and polish them by mutual attrition. In the course of 4 hours several thousand pens may be finished upon this machine.

When steel pens have been punched out of the softened sheet of steel by the appropriate tool, fashioned in the desired form, and hardened by ignition in an oven and sudden quenching in cold water, they are best tempered by being heated to the requisite spring elasticity in an oil bath. The heat of this bath is usually judged of by the appearance to the eye; but this point should be correctly determined by a thermometer, according to the scale; and then the pens would acquire a definite degree of flexibility or stiffness, adapted to the wants and wishes of the consumers. They are at present tempered too often at random.

Gillott, Joseph, Victoria Works, Birminghamn, Inventor and Manufacturer. Specimens of metallic pens. Steel pen making may be briefly described as follows: The steel is procured at Sheffield; it is cut into strips, and the scales removed by immersion in pickle composed of dilute sulphuric acid. It is passed through rollers, by which it is reduced to the necessary thickness; it is then in a condition to be made into pens, and is for this purpose passed into the hands of a girl, who is seated at a press, and who by means of a bed and a punch corresponding speedily cuts out the blank. The next stage is piercing the hole which terminates the slit and removing any superfluous steel likely to interfere with the elasticity of the pen; at this stage they are annealed in quantities in a muffle, after which by means of a small stamp the maker's name is impressed upon them. Up to this stage the future pen is a flat piece of steel: it is then
transferred to another class of workers, who by means of the press make it concave, if a nib, and form the barrel, if a barrel pen.

Hardening is the next process: to effect this a number of pens are placed in a small iron box and introduced into a muffle; after they become of a uniform deep red, they are plunged into oil; the oil adhering is removed by agitation in circular tin barrels. The process of tempering succeeds; and finally the whole are placed in a revolving cylinder with sand, pounded crucible, or other cutting substances, which finally brightens them to the natural colour of the material. The nib is ground with great rapidity by a girl who picks it up, places it in a
pair of suitable plyers, and finishes it with a single touch on a small emery wheel.

The pen is now in a condition to receive the slit, and this is also doneby means
of a press; a chisel or wedge with a flat side is fixed to the bed of the press; the descending screw has a corresponding chisel cutter, which passes down with the minutest accuracy; the slit is made; and the pen is completed. The last stage is colouring brown or blue; this is done by introducing the new pens into a revolving metal cylinder, under which is a charcoal stove, and watching narrowly when the desired tint is arrived at. The brilliancy is imparted by means of lac dissolved in naphtha; the pens are immersed in this, and dried by heat. Then follow the counting and selecting.

Women are mostly employed in the manufacture, with skilled workmen to repair and set the tools. This exhibit Or employs upwards of five hundred hands, of which fourfifths are women. The nmanufactory has been established upwards of thirty years, and has been the means of introducing many improvements in the manufacture.

Wiley, W. E. & Co., 34 Great Hampton Street, Birmingham-Manufacturer. Specimens of gold, palladium, gold and silver, and silver pens, pointed with the native alloys of iridium and osmium, the hardest of metals. These pens, being formed of metals not acted on by the ink, appear almost indestructible; their permanence in use is further maintained by the attachment to the point, by soldering, of a minute portion of the metals named, which are extremely
hard and durable.

Hincks, Wells, & Co., Buckinhgham street, Birmingham-Manufacturer. Patent selfacting cutting, piercing, and raising pen machine. The ordinary presses are worked by hand. The self-acting machines are driven by steam; they cut, pierce, and side slit two pens at one stroke, performing six processes at once.
Specimens of liliputian pens complete, intended to show the skill of the tool cutter and the perfection of the machinery employed. A gross of the smallest weighs less than 34 grains, and can be contained in a barcelona nutshell.
Specimens of finished pens. Steel in its rough state, and after it has passed through the rolling-mill; scrap steel from which the pens are cut; pens cut and pierced. The other processes exhibited in the finished pen.
Specimens of pierced pens, to show the modern improvements in the art of toolcutting.