Out of these four "Ever-Rite" pencils, one is marked "patent pending," the other three are marked "Reg. U.S. Pat. Off.," and all four are made using DeWitt-LaFrance patterns and Walter Sheaffer’s mechanism, which was patented in November, 1918:
The "Reg. U.S. Pat. Off." legend indicated that a trademark had been filed for the brand, which led me to this registration:
Following up on the M.S. Rodenberg Company took me in a surprising and entirely different direction. Milton S. Rodenberg was a jeweler by trade. Prior to the formation of the M.S. Rodenberg Company, he was engaged in business in a partnership named Dunn & Rodenberg. The earliest reference I found to Dunn & Rodenberg was a listing in the 1907 Rhode Island Report of the Commissioner of Labor, showing that the firm was located at 14 Blount Street in Providence.
But Dunn didn’t always have top billing . . .
To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 3, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and everywhere else you buy books, or you can order a copy signed by yours truly through the Legendary Lead Company HERE.
Amazing, convoluted journey to get there, and then a Waterman mystery solved--terrific!
ReplyDeleteGreat analysis and a compelling read.
ReplyDeleteGreat research and a good read
ReplyDeleteState of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Nineteenth Annual Report of the Commission of Industrial Statistics Made to the General Assembly at its January Session, 1906, p. 223, "Dunn, M. J. & Co., 14 Blount Street, Providence." This is a reference to Dunn in 1906 at the same address where he later took on Rodenberg.
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