The story of the invention of steel pens : $b with a description of the manufacturing process by which they are producedBore, Henry
History
The story of the invention of steel pens : $b with a description of the manufacturing process by which they are produced
Bore, Henry
Pens
"C.J.," in note 372, says:
"The pattern book of John Barnes, Eagle Works, Wolverhampton, contains
engravings of early steel pens."
Mr. Robert Griffin says:
"In 1824 I wrote very much with a steel pen made under the direction
of James Perry--a pen that lasted about eight or nine weeks, writing
eight hours a day."
In note 344, "Anon" says he remembered his father (who had premises in
Water Street, Birmingham), in the summer of 1823, bringing a tall,
quiet, respectable man to the manufactory. He had a piece of iron, or
steel, which he required to be cut up into strips of about two inches
wide. The man said he was going to get the strips rolled to make into
steel pens. He gave the writer of the note sixpence and a barrel pen
for his trouble. In answer to inquiries the writer put to his father,
the latter stated he did not know the man's name nor where he lived,
but "that he met with him in a smoke room, where he (the father)
sometimes spent his evenings." The writer further remarks: "Where the
man had got his ideas from which induced him to try his hand at making
steel pens I do not know, but I have an impression that there were
several experimenters in existence at that time; and very soon
afterward Mr. William (Joseph) Gillott, with whom my father was on
terms of intimacy, came into notice as a maker of steel pens." This
is a very important statement, as it fixes a date respecting pens
being made from sheet steel.
One of the oldest toolmakers in the trade has informed us that, about
the year 1823 or 1824, he was frequently taken by his father to visit
an uncle named Clulee, who rented power at the Water Street mill. On
these occasions his father and uncle would talk about the visits of
Gillott to the latter, and the hopeful manner in which he spoke of the
experiments he was then making. Gillott rented power at the Water
Street mill, and was engaged in grinding and finishing penknife
blades, which were inserted in one end of a silver pencil case, which
his relative--Mitchell--was then making.
Now, who was this "tall, quiet, respectable man?" It could not have
been Gillott, as he was not tall and the father of "Anon" knew him;
and Mitchell was also a short man. We have failed to trace him, and
his identity is lost among the "sowers" who failed to reap the harvest
of their inventions.
Mr. George Wallis, speaking of steel pens, remarks:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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