| Show STOW OF A LEAD PENCIL I ntercst ng Light Thrown on Some Manufacturing Manufac-turing beads by a Leading Manufacturer loom the Philadelphia Times When James I of England first saw an Apple dumpling his eea grew na 10lgo I as saucers from wonder as to how the t apple got Inside the dumpling He would have droiped dead had lie seen a lead pencil for while the dough grew around the apple no tree could have ever been found that would consent con-sent to grow around the lead To oolv the mystery fis l the object of this story I One of the great factories and the head ot that factory was sought by a reporter and he said this about tile matter with every evidence of veracity he having no occasion for deceit In this simple explanation t I have to laugh rt the queer ideas some pople have About Pencils You mll scarce 1beHevo lt but tile oplll Ions of people who know nothing abou It seem to bo divided between tho melllng of the lead 1 And pouring It Into the hole in the wood nnd cutting out the lead I to fit the hole Tile great manufacturer laughed loud long and heat tils over Ills remark re-mark and almost anybody else 1 would who happened to be posted In the art But there are those who may know how the hole got 10 the mocoronl who cannot Imagine how the lead got Into the pencil anti It Is I Just possible that the pencil manufacturer fees not know the trick About the Italian comestible But he had Ills laugh out and went onto on-to pay We rlOIlt 10 It that way We have n simpler and 1083 costly Process Blets me hoW could we sell the bent pencils In the world In all shapes and nuantlllcs for a cent apiece And less I If I we had to carve them out of solid lend or melt the lend nnd pour It In the hole Tew people know how It Is I done 1 but I will enlighten Von The part that goes Into our pencils other than the lead Is I Cedar and comes from the swamps of Florida It Is I obtained from the fallen trees that lie there There ore mn there who make a final acts Of supplying to pencil man u fee ture this codor In blocks which are sawed to the length of the pencil some thick to receive the lend and others thin t for the piece that la I glued over the other containing the lead Tho blocks are awed for four pencils each The groove la I made by a saw and In this the lead lies I I know continued the manufae turer that not one out of 10000 persons per-sons has the least Idea of what his t lead la See here la I a fine black powder that Is rraphlte and costs omwber About 25 Cents rr pound This white Bubntnnce Is I dcrmaii cloy It cllmo Across the ocean no Jollot In vesSels nncfanSt roSiininia for freight We mix cln and powder together to-gether anti grind l them In a mill moisten moist-en the mass carefully during the process pro-cess until the two are thoroughly ox Sim a test and reduced to n paste that li I about the consistency ot putty Hero ore the dleR for the leads Into which we press this pasto of graphite and clay Men die Is I the sl Ie of a Pencil loodsaNing In length There ore tour leads In one of these After pressing they are cut Into the proper length and baked Inf a oven kept nt a very high degree of heat That finishes the sImple procson DC ranking tile lead and Its hardness Is I regulated by Ihe greM er or less amour or clay mixed with Ihe I grarhlte the more clay the harder the lead These leads are kept In hot glue and ore placed In the grooves as the blocks lire mode ready When the lead Is I put In their snugly and forever flit thin block la glued to the thick anti left l to dry thorough When dry the blocks ore run through the machine that shapes and burnishes them and then tied In bunches boxed anti 1 sent out complete The different grates In mluo are msM by tile more or less fine manipulation ot tho graphite A A 10 the cot ot our pnell hro in I a rii mil found In business life Thai pencil costs us n trllle more than n quarter of a cent to gi t ready for the mk t We nell It to the dealer nt 100 per cent profit und he makes much more than that An operator on one of our machine can easily make 2 Mot > < M-ot such renclln In a diy That to I the whole story honest and true Now what I want to know Is I when pen cll art 110 cheap and 1 good and handy and i useful and all that what ex usn call a lerell ctenlcr have for his Awful Time |
