In the picture on the following page, we see the various processes
required in making a steel pen, together with a description of each
process:
[Illustration: HOW A STEEL PEN IS MADE
N^o. 1. ROLLED STEEL.
N^o. 2. SCRAP.
N^o. 3. BLANKS.
N^o. 4. MARKING.
N^o. 5. PIERCING.
N^o. 6. ANNEALING.
N^o. 7. RAISING.
N^o. 8. HARDENING.
N^o. 9. TEMPERING.
N^o. 10. SCOURING.
N^o. 11. GRINDING.
N^o. 12. SLITTING.
N^o. 13. No. 1. COLLEGE PEN No. 5. SCHOOL PEN.
(FINISHED PENS.)
COLORING AND VARNISHING.
The pictures herewith printed are by the courtesy of the Spencerian
Pen Company
_Raw Material._--The sheet steel is cut into strips of a convenient
length and width, and then rolled cold to the exact gauge necessary,
according to the pen to be manufactured.
_Cutting the Blank._--This is a mechanical operation, and is effected
with the aid of a screw press, in which a pair of tools corresponding
with the shape of the pen has been fixed. On pulling a lever the
screw descends, driving the punch into the bed, which cuts a blank
with a scissors-like action, from the strip of steel.
_Marking the Name._--This is done by means of a punch fixed in
the hammer of a stamp, worked by the foot. The blanks are rapidly
introduced between guides fixed on the bed of the stamp, and as
soon as the hammer has fallen the blank is thrown out and a new one
introduced.
_Piercing._--The tools for this operation are of a delicate
character. The blanks are fed by hand, as above explained, and the
hole punched by a screw press. This is a most important process; the
pierce hole and slide slits determine the elasticity and regulate the
flow of the ink on the pen.
_Annealing or Softening._--The blanks are still moderately hard and
before raising, it is necessary to soften them by heating to a dull
red, and allowing them to gradually cool.
_Raising._--The operator places one of the soft blanks on a die to
which guides are affixed to keep it in position; then by moving the
handle of the press, the screw descends, forcing a die which rounds
the blank into the form of a pen.
_Hardening._--The pen is now too soft, and is hardened by heating and
the immersing in oil while hot, after which it is thoroughly cleansed
from all grease.
_Tempering._--The pens are now hard but very brittle, and in order
to correct this defect they are placed in an iron cylinder, and kept
revolving over a gas or charcoal fire until they acquire a proper
temper.
_Scouring._--After soaking in diluted sulphuric acid, the pens are
placed in iron cylinders containing fine stone and water, or fine
sand, and revolved for several hours. When taken from these cylinders
they are bright and smooth.
_Grinding._--This is a process performed by hand on a “bob,” or
wooden wheel covered with leather and dressed with emory, revolving
at high speed. A light touch on the emory wheel grinds off the
surface between the pierce hole and the point, to obtain proper
action and to assist the flow of ink.
_Slitting._--This is a hand process performed with a press, the
cutters being as sharp as razors. The pen is placed in position by
means of guides, and must be cut with utmost precision from the
pierce hole to the point, the point must be divided exactly in the
middle, the least variation making the pen defective.
_Coloring and Varnishing._--The pens having been polished to a bright
silver color are placed in an iron cylinder and kept revolving over
a gas or charcoal fire until the tint required is produced. They are
then immersed in a bath of shellac varnish, and afterwards dried in
an oven.
_Examination._--Every steel pen passing through the factory is most
carefully examined before being boxed, and should the least fault be
found, it is at once rejected.]
Why Does a Pencil Write?
You can use a pencil to write with or to make marks, because the pencil
wears off if you are scratching it on a surface that is rough enough
to make it do so. Writing, you know, is only a way of making marks in
such a manner as to make them mean something. You cannot write with a
pencil on a pane of glass, because the glass is so smooth that when
you move the pencil over its surface, the pencil will not wear off. To
prove to yourself that the tip of the pencil constantly wears off when
you write, you have only to recall that when you write with it a pencil
keeps getting shorter and shorter. A slate-pencil will wear down short
by merely writing with it, but a lead-pencil must be sharpened--that
is, you must keep cutting away the wood in order to get at the lead
inside.
Why Can’t I Write on Paper With a Slate-pencil?
You cannot do so, because it takes something with a rougher surface
than paper to wear off the point of a slate-pencil. A slate is used to
write on with slate-pencils, because slate wears off the end of the
pencil easily, and also because you can rub out the writing on a slate
with water. Lead-pencils are used for writing on paper, but you must
have a rough surface on the paper to write on even with a lead-pencil.
Some kinds of papers have such a smooth surface that you cannot write
on them with a lead-pencil.
How Does a Pen Write?
Writing with a pen, however, is quite different from writing with any
kind of pencil, because in writing with ink we do not wear off the end
of the pen, but have the ink flow from the pen. For this purpose we
must have a surface that will absorb the ink from the pen, and draw
the ink down off the pen and make it flow. A slate has no power of
absorption and therefore cannot draw the ink. A piece of blotting paper
is the best kind of paper for absorbing ink, but it is too much so for
writing purposes. For writing with ink we need a comparatively hard
surfaced paper that has absorbent qualities, but not too absorbent.
How Does a Blotter Take Up the Ink of a Blot?
It is because the blotter has a very excellent ability to absorb some
liquids. The thinner the liquid the more easily the blotter will absorb
it. Ink is thin--being mostly water--the blotter is of a loose texture
and has a rough surface. This gives the blotter the ability to pick up
the ink, just as a sponge would do. A sponge has what is called the
power of capillary attraction and so has the blotter.
Where Does Chalk Come From?
Deposits of chalk are found on some shores of the sea. A piece of chalk
such as the teacher uses to illustrate something on the blackboard
at school consists of the remains of thousands of tiny creatures
that at one time lived in the sea. All of their bodies excepting the
chalk--called carbonate of lime in scientific language--has disappeared
and the chalk that was left was piled up where it fell at the bottom
of the ocean, each particle pressing against the other with the water
pressing over it all until it became almost solid. It took thousands of
years to make these chalk deposits of the thickness in which they are
found. Later on, through changes in the earth’s surface, the mountain
of chalk was raised until it stood out of the water and thus became
accessible to man and school teachers.
How Did Men Learn to Talk?
Talking and the words used came into being through the desire of men
to communicate with each other. Before words became known and used
man talked to those about him by the use of signs, gestures and other
movements of the body. Even to-day when men meet who cannot talk the
same language they will be seen trying to come to an understanding by
the use of signs and gestures and generally with fair results. The
need of more signs and gestures to express a constantly increasing
number of objects and thoughts led to the introduction of sounds or
combination of sounds made with the vocal cords to accompany certain
signs and gestures. In this way man eventually developed a very
considerable faculty for expressing himself. Sign by sign, gesture
by gesture and sound by sound language was slowly developed. A man
would be trying to explain something to another by sign or gesture
and to make it more clear would make a sound or combination of sounds
to put more expression into his efforts. Finally the other man would
understand what was meant and he would tell some one else, using the
same signs, gestures and sounds. Later on it would develop that to
express thus any certain thought, act or the name of a thing, all of
the people in the community would make this same combination of sounds,
signs and gestures to express the same thing. Finally the gestures
and signs would be dropped and it was found that people understood
perfectly what was meant when only the sound or combination of sounds
was produced. That made a word. All the other words were made in the
same way, one at a time, until we had enough words to express all the
ordinary things and the combination of words became a language. The
children learned the language by hearing their parents talk it, and
that is how men learned to talk.
How Did Shaking the Head Come to Mean “No”?
The origin of this method of indicating “No” is found in the result of
the mother’s efforts in the animal kingdom of trying to feed her young.
A mother animal would be trying to get her young to accept the food she
brought them and tried to put it in their mouths. Perhaps, however, the
young animal had had sufficient food or did not fancy the kind of food
offered. The natural thing to do under the circumstances would be to
close the mouth tight and shake the head from side to side to prevent
the mother from forcing the food into the mouth. Thus we get the closed
lips and the shaking the head from side to side to mean “No.” In other
words, that kind of a way of saying “No” came from an effort to say “I
don’t want any.”
How Did a Nod Come to Mean “Yes”?
The idea of nodding to mean “Yes” comes from the opposite of the action
which, as just described, indicates a “No.”
When the young animal was anxious to accept the offered food, it made
an effort to get at the food quickly. Hence, the pushing forward of the
head and the open mouth (always more or less opened when you nod to
indicate “Yes”) and an expression of gladness. You will notice if you
see anyone nod the head to indicate “Yes” that the lips are open rather
than closed, and that there is always a smile or an indication of a
smile to accompany it. In other words, the nod to mean “Yes” is only
another way of saying “I shall be pleased.”
Why Do We Count in Tens?
When man even in his uncivilized state found it necessary to count, the
only implements at hand were his fingers and toes, and as he had ten
toes and ten fingers, he naturally began counting in tens, and has been
doing so ever since.
When we to-day count on our fingers we confine ourselves to our fingers
leaving our toes stay in our shoes, where they naturally belong. But
the first men who counted used both fingers and toes, and so he was
able to count twenty before he had to begin over again, while little
children to-day, when they count with their fingers, must begin where
they started after they reach ten.
What Does Man Mean by Counting Himself?
The expression “counting himself” was originated by the first man who
counted. Such a man would count all of his fingers and toes and the
result would be twenty. Then, so that he would remember the number of
times he had counted himself, he made a mark some place each time he
reached twenty. The mark he made was a mere scratch in the dirt or on a
hoe or something else. To make a scratch you merely, of course, score
the surface of whatever you happen to be scratching on, and that is how
it happened that the word “score” in our language to-day means as a
term in counting, twenty.
There has been a great effort made to change our system of counting in
tens to one where you count in twelves. That would fit in very well
with our system of measuring which is based on the foot of twelve
inches, and of our calendar for recording the passage of time which has
twelve months. There are many arguments in favor of this change, among
the principal of which is the fact that it would make our problems of
division much easier, for our ten can be evenly divided by but two of
our single figures, two and five, whereas twelve can be evenly divided
by four of our single figures, viz., two, three, four and six. It is
believed that sooner or later the system of counting by twelve instead
of ten will be adopted by the entire world for counting everything. As
it is now we do part of our counting by one system and part of it by
another.
Where Did All the Names of People Originate?
There is no scientific plan by which people get their names. There is
not much except curious interest to be gleaned from the study of how
people got their names.
In the earliest days of the world, or at least as soon as men had
learned to speak by sounds, all known persons, places and groups of
human beings must have had names by which they could be spoken of or
to, and by which they were recognized. The study of these names and
of their survival in civilization enables us in certain instances to
tell what tribes inhabited certain parts of the earth now peopled
by descendants of an entirely different race and of another speech
altogether. We learn such things from the names of mountains and other
things, for instance, which still cling to them.
The story of personal names is very complex, but comes from very simple
beginnings. The oldest personal names were those which indicated a
group of people rather than individuals who may have been actually
related to each other or even bound together for reasons of protection
or other convenience. In the races of Asia, Africa, Australia and
America examination shows that groups of people who considered
themselves to be of the same relationship, attached to themselves the
name of some animal or other object, whether animate or inanimate, from
which they claimed to be descended. This animal or object was called
the “totem,” and thus the earliest and most widely spread class and
family names are totemistic. Such groups called themselves by names
from wolves, turtles, bears, suns, moons, birds, and other objects, and
these people wore badges with pictures of the animal or object from
which they took their names to identify them to other people.
When, then, we come to investigate the giving of personal names among
the tribes, we see that most uncivilized races gave a name to each
new-born infant derived from some object or incident. So a new-born
member of the “Sun” tribe would be named “Dawn,” and would be known
as “Dawn” of the “Sun” tribe; or perhaps a new-born son of the tribe
of “Wolf” would be called “Hungry,” and be known as “Hungry Wolf.” A
member of the “Cloud” tribe would be named “Morning,” because he was
born in the morning. He would always be known as “Morning Cloud.”
Later, as society became more established and paternity became
recognized, we find the totem name give way to a gentile name.
Among the Greeks and Romans the system was early adopted and proved
satisfactory. Thus we have Caius Julius Caesar. Caius indicates that
he is Roman; Julius is the gentile name given him and the Caesar a sort
of hereditary nickname. On the other hand, the early Greeks began the
system of introducing a local name instead of the gentile name. Thus
Thucydides (obtained from the grandfather), the son of Olorus, of the
Deme (township) of Halimusia.
~HOW DIFFERENT NAMES ORIGINATED~
This was all right and suited the purposes of the Greeks and Romans,
who had plenty of time to give full explanations in this way. But
in Europe, for instance, civilization demanded more speed, and the
increase of population demanded more names, so that nicknames and names
indicating personal descriptions and peculiarities came into use. Such
names as Long, Short, Small, Brown, White, Green and others of the
same kind came from this source, and as families grew these surnames
stuck to the family and parents gave their children Christian names
to further distinguish them as individuals. Other surnames such as
Fowler, Sadler, Smith, Farmer, etc., became attached to people because
of the occupations in which they were engaged, and yet other names
were derived from places. The owner of an extensive estate would be
designated by a Christian name which might be George (after his King)
and then to indicate his landownership, von (meaning of) Wood, making
the combination of George von Wood, meaning George, the owner of the
place called Wood. On the other hand, he might have working for him a
laborer who lived at the place and, if his name was Hiram, they would,
to indicate where he belonged, put the Wood after the Hiram; but, lest
there be confusion as to his class, they would put an At before the
Wood and make him Hiram Atwood, indicating his Christian name, where he
worked and the fact that he was not a landowner.
Many other names were invented in similar manner. When Adams became so
common that there would likely be confusion on account of there being
so many of them, a son of one of the Adams family would add to the name
the fact that he was a son by writing his name Adamson, and thus start
a new family name. Thus, in the same way also came Willson, Clarkson,
and other names of that kind.
For a long time the Jews had only one word for a name, such as Isaac,
Jacob, Moses, etc. They became so numerous that it was impossible to
distinguish them, and so a commission was named to give surnames to
all the Jews in addition to their other names. As the race was then,
as now, held in derision by the rulers of many nations into which the
tribe had become scattered, the people who had charge of the naming of
the Jews took advantage of the opportunity to make sport of them, and
gave them such names as
Rosenstock (Rose bush),
Rosenszweig (Rose twig),
Rosenbaum (Rose tree),
Blumenstock (Flower bush),
Blumenthal (Flower valley),
etc., etc.
Our Christian names are from similar sources, and while many of them
are well selected because of their beautiful meanings, there are many
of them which mean nothing as words as they were only invented for the
purpose of giving a new name to a new child.
Why Can You Blow Out a Candle?
When you light a candle it burns, because the lighted wick heats the
wax sufficiently to turn it into gases, which mix with the oxygen in
the air and produce fire in the form of light. You know it is not easy
to light a candle quickly. You must hold the lighted match to the wick
until the wax begins to melt and change to gases. As long as the wax
continues hot enough to melt and turn to gas the candle will burn until
all burned up; but if there is a break in the continuous process of
changing the wax to gas, the light will go out. Now, when you blow at
the lighted candle, you blow the gases which feed the flame away from
the lighted wick, and this makes a break in the continuous flow of gas
from the wax to taper, and the light goes out.
[Illustration]