Show how steel pens axe are made de I 1 it hr but a few minutes walk to mr grotts pen manufactory the substantial and nand hand foiw conw building in which the business is ia carried on n gives t token of cf the order and cle cleanliness an liness we shall find within we are given at once in harie charge of an intelligent guide chov who having pointed out the manner in which the metal a fine steel is rolled to the required thinness in a rolling mill conducts us upstairs up stairs where we are introduced to a long gallery clean lofty and airy furnished with long rows of presses each one in charge ot of young persons as ale pleasing asing i look looking ing healthy and happy as w we e could could wish chein to be they are all making pens and we must see what they are about the first fi rat to whom we were h introduced I 1 has a long ribbon of the rolled metal in her left harrid hand from which she is catling 11 1 r lanks each of which is ia to become a pen at the rate of twenty or thirty thousand thotis tind a day the ribbon of metal is something less than thi ee inches in width having cut as many pens froin one side of it as the whole length about six feet feel will furnish fa she F turns tarns it over and cuts her way back again so managing it that the points of tle the pens cut in going down the second side shall fall in the interstices between the points cut in trave traversing the first side by this means nearly the whole abole of the meta is cut into pens and but a very insignificant rn nant is left the next operator receives these tk fiat ailt blanks and subjecting each one separately to a 4 similar press armed with a different cutting implement pierces the central centra 1 liole hole and cuts cuti the two side slits our attention is now drawn to a beautiful machine which under the management of a young man performs at once both the operations above described cutting the pen from the he metal and piercing the hole and giving i ino the side slits all at one pressure with astonishing toni shing rapidity and regularity though not producing r pens equal in quality to those made by se 11 operate processes the he pens are as yet but flat pieces of metal and that of a very tard hard and Yun manageable able tem c per they have to be bent into cylinders and semi cylinders and to induce them to submit to that they lare are now heated and considerably softened in an oven anz on emerging from the oven they are stam stamped lied with the makers name I 1 on the back this is accomplished very rapidly by mea me ansof a daiev die which the operator works wi bis foot now comes the most important transformation they undergo a 4 young girl pops them consecutively into another of the omni performing presses irom from which they corae come forth as semi cylinders or if being bynums or of ofa a kind perfectly cylindrical ai an additional pressure in another 9 press ress finishes the barrel we have now to follow the pens down stairs to the mouth of a small furnace or oven where a man is piling them together in small iron boxes with loose covers and arranging them in the fire where they are heated to a white heat beat and then sudden suddenly jy withdrawn and plunged into a pan of oil this ordeal readers them so extremely brittle that they may be crumbled to pieces between the fingers they Th eyare are now placed in cylinders not unlike coffee roasters boasters mede made to revolve over a fire by which they are in a great measure freed from the oil after this they are consigned to the ahe carlof care of men whose business it is ia to temper them by a process of gradual over a coke fire until the metal is thoroughly elastic the no axt at process is IB one conducted on a rather large scale the ol 01 object of it is is to rub d down own the roughness ref resulting alting from the various treatments they have undergone anto anieto impart a perfect smoothness to every portion of their surface for this purpose they are packed in large quantities in in tin cans together with a considerable amount of sawdust these cans de are m made i ade to revolve hon boyi zon tally at a great rate by means mambo of steam the pens a triturate each other owing to the rapid p motion and the v takes up the i impurities mp unties which they disengage they come forth from those cans thoroughly and semi polished and ana are now taken to the grind 1 ing room this is is a large apartment where e a nur number rier of small grinding wheels or bobs are whizzing round under the impetus of steam each one of them in in charge of a young man or woman and each projecting a stream ani rf of sparkling fire as the pens are momentarily applied to their surfaces this grinding is al a A most essen bial process pro eess inasmuch as the pliability of the pen depends upon its proper performance the object is is to increase the flexibility of the metal ameial of the pen at a point just above the central lit by red reducing u c in g its substance ane operator seizes the pov with a pair of nippers rs n not ot unlike a small part pait of curling irons in shape applies the back of it to the wheel for one moment and the affair is is over previous to the process of grinding april ri however most it if not all ally the pens mann manufactured at this his establishment are slightly coated with varnish diluted with a volatile spirit it is this which gives them tha rich brown hue that so much improves their appearance and ax at the same time preserves them from fael rust after the grin gm guiding iding di I 1 ng they are subjected for the last time ro to ate me operation of the press at which a young girl com completes the manufacture of the pen by giving I 1 atthe central slit without which it would never be ya a condition to rival the goose quill aill the operation of slitting prease precise and delicate as 48 it is is is is so simplified by the ingenious contrivance with which the press is is armed that it is is performed with a rapidity almost rivaling n ta that of the simplest operation a single hand slitting 1 ith g nearly a h undred hundred gross a day nothing fl further arthe r now remains to be done savo d a tricking cleansing process which frees the pens from the stain of the hand after which they are packed in in boxes for for sale it is is to walk through the lish ment without receiving most moot agreeable im impressions pres the work rooms spacious lofty and airy clean as a private residence and bathed in in oi of light offer a remarkable contrast to the foul and unwholesome dens into which it is the shameful custom of too many employers to cram their unfortunate dependents the main element regarded in in the construction of the building has evidently been the health and comfort of the immense number of young young people of both sexes there congregated for the purpose of labor jabor neither have moral considerations been lost sighting sight i the females are for the most part secluded from the males and where this can not be entirely effected a constant supervision insures insures the preservation ot of decorum the result of these excellent arrangements is ap in in the healthy cheerfull aspect and unexceptionable demeanor of the operatives of both sexes and there is is little doubt but that it is is equally apparent par in the balance sheet of the spirited pro krietor etor who is is aware that humanity is la a cheap article on the whole and one that is pretty sure to pay in the long run of the amount of business done on these premises we cannot can not give the reader A better idea than by stating the fact that above one hundred millions of pens are here produced annually which gives an average of between thirty yand and forty thousand abr every working da day y harpers magazine |