Suspecting the Former

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Note:  this is the second installment in a three-part series.  If you landed here directly, the first installment is posted at https://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2021/04/perfect-on-third-try.html.

It’s impossible to discuss the Perfect Point without mentioning its crude cousin, the “Acme,” and I do have something new to show in that department, as well:

Third from bottom is the new addition.  An online seller had several Acme pencils with original price stickers; I was surprised how much a couple of the full-length pencils brought, but when one of the ringtops came around I was better prepared:

I’ve always associated the Acme with the Prefect Point, due to the similarities between the two:

Other than patterns (and the fact that the Acme came in three sizes, rather than just two), the only real difference I’ve noted between Acmes and Perfect Points is at the top end.  While the Perfect Point has a top button attached to a lead magazine, the Acme has a shorter button, more coarsely threaded, and spare leads are stored in the barrel itself:

There is, however, one other important difference inside:

Missing from the Acme is Jacob Stull’s patented combination pushrod and screw drive.  That subtle difference I believe, is what unravels the story of the relationship between these two brands.

From yesterday’s article, we know that Perfect Point pencils were made for Stull-Boylson by some unknown firm in Attleboro, Massachusetts, until Stull-Boylson suddenly decided to set up its own manufacturing operations in Lima, Ohio in late 1922, only to fail and “retire” from the business by mid-1923.  I mentioned that it was unclear whether Perfect Point pencils were made by an independent firm on Stull-Boylson’s behalf, or whether they happened to be made off-site using Stull-Boylson’s own equipment.  I suspected the former, and I believe the Acme proves it.

In the last article I wrote about the Perfect Point (Volume 1, page 334) I also discussed the Acme.  The brand name was reportedly used by jeweler Max J. Averbeck of New York, who was “out of business” by 1922, when that year’s issue of Trade-Marks of the Jewelry and Kindred Trades was published:

“Acme” is a generic name, and there may have been more than one.  An “Acme Pencil Company” in Pennsylvania looked promising, until I noticed that it was in operation well before these would have been made.  No trademark registration was ever granted for the name, probably because it was so generic, so I was left to see when and by whom these pencils were offered.

References I found to an Acme all-metal propelling pencil are consistent with them being offered by a jewelry wholesaler such as Averbeck, but he was most certainly not “out of business” in 1922 as claimed – perhaps he simply was no longer offering pencils under the Acme name by then.  There was a flurry of advertisements for the pencils in mid-1921; these appeared in the New Castle (Pennsylvania) Herald (this one is from June 1):

This mention was in the Hartford (Connecticut) Courant on June 10, 1921, establishing that Acme pencils were widely distributed:

Advertisements in 1922 show a different version of the Acme, with a bell top lacking that screw-in eraser.  This one was in the Akron Beacon Journal on December 20, 1922:

These resemble other versions of the Acme, that I haven’t been able to place:

Then, the Acme – just like the Perfect Point – disappears.

The Acme and Perfect Point pencils are so similar that they must have been made using the same equipment and tooling.  The Acme is a later, modified version of the Perfect Point design, different enough from the Perfect Point that it wouldn’t infringe Stull’s patent.  There is no connection I have been able to find between Stull-Boylson and Max Averbeck.  

The conclusion is inescapable that one firm in Attleboro, Massachusetts made pencils for two unrelated customers using the same machinery and equipment.  

And that same firm quit making both brands, some time in 1921 or 1922.

I started digging around, trying to figure out what Attleboro pencil maker might have been that manufacturer, and what made that company stop doing so.  I found one that checked off all the boxes, and suddenly an untold story emerges which explains the Perfect Point, the Acme . . . and pencils introduced by a third, much better-known company . . . 

A company that was having an “Oh Crap, we’d better start offering pencils quick” epiphany at precisely that moment.  

Note:  the story continues at https://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2021/04/checking-off-all-boxes.html.