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.