Considerable quantities of pens were made from suitable qualities of brass strip and from steel with a nickel-silver content of 10%, but by far the most commonly used material was steel with a carbon content varying from 0.65 to 1%. This gave steel which responded more satisfactorily to heat treatment. The sheets used were 6 ft by 1 ft 5 in wide and No 23 and 26 Birmingham wire gauge in thickness.
Strips of convenient width were packed into iron boxes, so that all the air was excluded, then heated in a muffel (furnace) until dull red, and allowed to cool slowly to the correct temperature before handling. The charge, as it was called, was then emptied out an the scale caused through heating loosened in a bath of diluted sulphuric acid, before being removed completely by being revolved in a barrel with broken pebbles and water. The strips had then assumed a silver grey appearance. Later this material was supplied in coils weighing about 28lbs, a width of about 2.5 inches and about 0.010 inch in thickness. The finer and more delicate pens used for mapping purposes were of a material 0.006 inches thick. The coils were fed into machines. Over the years a number of the following processes were changed, or became more mechanised or automated.
1. Rolling: The sheet was then passed through rollers, until it reached the required thickness. This varied in accordance with the flexibility. of pen to me made.
2. Blanking: The sheet steel strip was then placed in a press, which produced blanks - flat pen shapes. Blanks were marked with small indentations on the upper edge. This showed the rough side, and in the following operations the rough side was always upward, so that in a later process it could be polished smooth.
3. Stamping or Marking: The pen blanks were placed in hand presses and identification marks were applied, i.e. name of manufacturer, pen number etc. If a more complicated stamp was required, such as an embossed head or coat of arms, the operation was done after piercing, as the pen needed to be annealed to soften the steel to obtain a better impression.
4. Piercing (Oblong perforation and Cross Punching): The sole purpose of piercing a pen was to prevent the slit, put in at a later operation, from extending further up the pen. Frequently, it was part of an ornamental design. Extra side slits were somethimes put in to increase the elasticity of the pen and to hold more ink.
5. Annealing: In preparation for shaping, the steel blanks had to be softened. The dirt and grease from previous operations was cleaned off, and the pens carefully placed in round iron pots. They were then arranged together in a larger container, covered with charcoal dust to prevent the entry of gases and placed in a muffle (furnace). After heating to a dull red and cooled, the blanks were soft and pliable for the next operation. In the early days operatives were skilled in identifying that the process was complete by the colour of the pens. But with the advent of more controlled furnaces they were heated to 650 degrees centigrade and allowed to cool off gradually for about 2 days.
6. Raising: The soft blanks were formed into their final shape and any special embossing added by a hand press.
7. Hardening and Tempering: Pens were placed in thin layers in tins with lids. Then placed in a muffle for between 20 and 30 minutes, at 790 degrees centigrade, during which they acquired a bright red glow. They were then placed in a perforated bucket, which was immersed in a tank of oil. When cool, they were lifted out, and the oil allowed to drain off. The pens were then greasy and very brittle. To remove the grease they were placed in a tank of boiling soda water. Then they were placed in a cylinder and revolved over a charcoal fire, until the required softness and elasticity was achieved. The pens were then pliable, black in colour with a sharp point. To remedy these defects pens went through a further process.
8. Blank scouring: The pens were dipped in a bath of diluted sulphuric acid, called pickle, which removed any extraneous substances acquired during previous processes. They were then placed in iron barrels with water and a small pebbly looking substance, and revolved to scour them for periods of between 5 and 8 hours, then the process was repeated using a dry compound, and finally using dry sawdust. After this they acquired a bright silver colour and a rounded point. Although they now appeared as finished articles, a few other characteristics had to be acquired through the following processes.
9. Grinding: This gave additional elasticity to the pen by making it thinner in certain places. It also helped to increase the amount of ink adhering to the pen.
10. Splitting: This is a most important operation, as it enables the ink to run down to the point. This process performed by a hand press slit the pen from the point to the pierced hole. Although now mechanically finished, it still required further treatment.
Barrelling or Final Finish: The pens were once again placed in iron barrels with a fine grinding material and revolved for 5 or 6 hours, until the pens were perfectly smooth and had a bright silver steel colour.
11. Colorizing: Pens were then colored in different colours by tempering over fire or by galvanic processes and then painted to prevent rusting. Some of the more expensive pens were plated in gold or silver.
12. Packaging: Pens were inspected, counted and placed in boxes, with elaborately printed labels. Each box generally contained a gross or parts of a gross. They were then dispatched to all parts of the world.
The steel pen is the real cause of all the evils from which society as a whole suffers in our days. One need only compare the steel nib used today with the friendly goose quill that served our good, noble ancestors. The steel pen, the modern invention, makes an unpleasant impression on us. It is like falling in love, against one's will, with a small, barely visible dagger dipped in poison. Its point is sharp like a sword, and it is double-edged like the tongue of a slanderer ...
Jules Janin, French critic, written around 1857
Strict division of labor is carried out everywhere to achieve perfect products. The nibs are first formed from thin strips of sheet steel twice the width of the nib lengths in the cutting room. The nibs are cut tip to tip in such a way that the lowest possible amount of waste remains. Since most of the work does not require any special use of strength, it is easily done by girls. By means of the piercing machine, a girl can eject three hundred per minute (two and more pieces at one stroke); a second similar machine stamps the holes and any side slits in the nib.
The nibs are then taken to the stamping room, where they are stamped with numbers and the name of the manufacturer (often also that of the customer) by means of a kind of rocker.
After previous red annealing of the nibs to soften them, they are then bent through a semicircular stamp shape. In order to restore the hardness, a large quantity of nibs is heated in shallow sheet-iron boxes under exclusion of air until white annealing and then suddenly poured into deep thrane or oil vessels. This gives the nibs such hardness that they crack like glass when pressed lightly. The adhering grease is removed by turning in a cylinder filled with sawdust.
The nibs are now tempered over a slow fire, whereby the excessive hardness is somewhat softened again for further processing. After repeated cleaning of the oxides adhering as a result of annealing and hardening by means of a reciprocal scouring process lasting several hours, grinding follows. The grinding of the now steel-white appearing nib on its convex side has the same purpose as the scraping of the keel feather on the back side of the beak above the tip, a certain part of the metal is made somewhat thinner and more flexible, and the tip, in which the gap is to come, thus becomes more flexible and tender. The longitudinal grind extends upward from the tip to near the hole, while the transverse grind must not touch the tip.
The nibs are then allowed to tarnish to the desired color. This is done by tumbling the nibs in a rotating iron cylinder over a charcoal fire. Depending on the degree of heat, the nibs first take on a light brown, then a dark brown, and finally a blue color, and this process further reduces the original brittleness.
Only now the splitting of the nib follows. It is placed in a recess in such a way that exactly half of the beak rests firmly on it. The upper punch of the piercing machine, starting from the tip of the spring, now presses the half exposed beak downwards from the other half in a scissor-like manner, and the flexibility is so high that the bent-down, now split-off part springs back into its former position of its own accord.
The subsequent testing and sorting requires the best and most skilled workers. The tip of each nib is pressed onto a piece of ivory to determine its quality. The flawless ones are then polished and given the final touches. Depending on whether the nib is to be sold as a gold tip, copper, silver, zinc composition (amalgama), gutta-percha or cement nib, it is galvanically treated or stained or lacquered with acid (cyanide).