The Story of the Invention of Steel Pens | Page 7

London market, late in the last or early in the present century. Certainly they were made fifteen or, perhaps, twenty years, when I found them, as the manufactory in which they had been produced had been closed the former number of years. They consisted of a holder of steel, with flutings and facets. One was solid and tapered to lighten it; the other had a barrel with an internal screw. The pen had two screws; one was used to screw the pen into the barrel for use, and the other to secure it when turned inwards as a protection when not in use, or to carry in the pocket."
The following letter from Mr. Alderman Manton to Mr. Sam: Timmins makes us acquainted with another manufacturer of steel pens:
"THE METAL PENS OF 1823.--In a badly-constructed and unsanitary manufactory (Mr. James Collins's), at the back of 119 Suffolk Street, (Birm.), I witnessed the process of making silver and steel pens. As both metals were manufactured in the same manner, one description will serve. It will be remembered by a few that at that time there was a patent silver pencil case somewhat extensively manufactured, which in addition to the pencil, had a penknife, pen and toothpick provided. The penknife was supplied by two brothers--_Joseph and William Gillott_--who at that time rented a small shop in a corner of the yard belonging to the rolling mill of George and P.F. Muntz, Water Street, and from whose engine they obtained the small amount of steam power needed. The process of making the pens was as follows: Two narrow strips were cut from a sheet of silver or steel; they were then, by the help of the hammer and a lead cake, or piece of hard wood, curved. Afterwards the two strips were placed opposite to each other on a well-polished steel wire, and drawn through a draw-plate, the wire and plate being supplied by Wm. Billings, a celebrated tool manufacturer, occupying premises near the top of Snow Hill (Birm.). By the aid of a press, a small hole was made at a distance of half an inch or five-eighths from the end, the slit was then made by a fine saw made of watch springs. A bent pair of shears was used for cutting the end of strip into the shape of a pen; and a half-round file or smooth was used for finishing the pen. The pen was then sawn off the strip by the same saw which was used for slitting the pen. The only hardening process was the friction of the draw-plate and steel wire. I not only witnessed the process, but was a manipulator. The cost of making at that time, by a journeyman, was 2d. each; by an apprentice, about one-third of that amount. Within less than thirty years of that time, in a manufactory adjoining my own, pens were made and sold (wholesale) at 2d. per gross, and a box containing them into the bargain." (Signed) Henry Manton, September 15, 1886.
Mr. T. Vary writes that James Perry began making steel pens in Manchester, and quotes the Saturday Magazine to show that metallic pens were given by him as rewards of merit in schools as far back as 1819.
Mr. James Cocker, writing in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph, in 1869, says: "That he rolled steel wire for James Perry for penmaking in 1829."
The death of Mr. Gillott seems to have revived the discussion of the origin of steel pens, and a correspondent in the Sheffield _Daily Telegraph,_ in the issue of January 11, 1872, in the following letter, puts forth a claim on behalf of a Sheffield man:
"The well-written and well-merited memoir of the late Mr. Gillott, the Birmingham steel pen maker, which has just appeared in the newspapers, affords a curious and instructive illustration of the success which not seldom attends the combined action of ingenuity, industry, shrewdness, and integrity among our labouring classes. Born in the humblest rank of our local workmen, a steady scholar in our Boys' Lancasterian School, and apprenticed to a scissors grinder, the deceased worked his way upwards into a position of influence and opulence as a manufacturer, which entitled him to take social rank with the merchant princes of the land. And if his name has long since ceased to be familiar among his once contemporary workmen in Sheffield, and is not even mentioned in the Directory, it has for several years past been recognized and respected by the visitors at the annual exhibitions of our School of Art, in connection with the many rare and valuable pictures lent by him on those occasions. The printed fac-simile of the autograph appeared in the 'advertising columns' of almost every newspaper in the world, and perhaps, as an expert might have said, was characteristic. In