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Show H l .... I HOW GOLD PENS ARE MADE H Wttl I Rolled Into a Ribbon and Pen Shapet Are Cut Out bf H Machinery. I The tiny tip of white metal seen on H the under sldo of the point ot a gold I pen may be of platinum, but It la more H likely to be Iridium. Iridium la a Tory H bard metal and it la expensive; It coita about four times aa much aa H gold. The, purpose ot tho iridium Up I la, of course, to give tho pen a more HA durable Up. 0 The gold pen maker buys his gold at the aaaay offlco In bars of pure 24 karat gold, which ho melts and alloys with his allTor and copper to tho degree de-gree of flnenees required. Gold of 14 karate Is used In tho manufacture of tho beat American gold pens, that being be-ing tho degree of flnenoss deemed moat sultablo for pon use; but good 'pens made In this country for salo In France are made of 18 karats, the French government requiring that all articles exposed for sale In that country coun-try as gold shall bo ot not loss than 18 karats. ' The gold from which tho pens aro to bo mado Is rolled and rorolled until what was originally a tnicK, noavy Dar , of gold has been rolled Into a thin . gold ribbon about threo feet In length by four Inches wide. Then this gold ribbon is put into a machine which stamps out of It pen shapos, all still flat Then on tho tip ot each of thoso' pens Is fused tho iridium point, and then tho shapes go to a ellttlng machine, ma-chine, which cut tho silt In tho pen. From this slitting machine the pens go through another, which glvos them their rounded, familiar pen form, and thon tho pens aro 'ground and polished polish-ed and finished ready for uso. American gold pens in fountain pons or as dip pens aro sold In every coun. try In Europe In competition with pons of BrlUsh or of German manufacture, and under the satno competition they aro sold throughout tho world, in South America, Africa, Japan, China, wherever pens nro used. |