On The Level

This article has been edited and included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 5; copies are available print on demand through Amazon here, and I offer an ebook version in pdf format at the Legendary Lead Company here.

If you don't want the book but you enjoy this article, please consider supporting the Blog project here.

The first thing I bought at the DC Show last August might seem a little odd . . . but then again, I’ve got something of a fetish for “trick” pencils that do something else in addition to writing:

It’s another Monroe, and I thought it was unusual first because I didn’t know Monroe made a level pencil, and second because you don’t usually see Monroes in anything other than black.  This one is marked “The Musical Sales Company”:

Level pencils came into vogue just before America got dragged into the Second World War.  Ralph N. Skrainka of University City, Missourit filed an application for a utility patent for a level attachment, for either a pen or a pencil, on March 27, 1940, and it was issued as number 2,251,640 on August 5, 1941:

Meanwhile, Morris Gurtov of New York took out a design patent for a pencil with a ruler on one side and a level built into the other, filed January 25, 1941 and issued as Design Patent 126,555 on April 15, 1941:

Here’s a couple other level pencils from my collection:

These were usually advertising pencils, with “Always on the level” surrounding the bubble to hint at the honesty and trustworthiness of the proprietor:

The pencils themselves are identical, but there’s two distinctly different clips::

One is the “Pencilevel,” and the other reads “On the Level” on the clip – along with a breadcrumb: “Reg. U.S. Pat. Off.”  That suggests a trademark was registered for the phrase.  Did I find and include a trademark for “On The Level” in American Writing Instrument Trademarks 1870-1953?  Why yes . . . yes I did . . .

Abraham Schlosser, of New York, filed an application for trademark number 373,010 on June 23, 1939 for the phrase “On The Level” in connection specifically with mechanical pencils – a year before Skrainka applied for a utility patent and two years before Gurtov applied for his design patent.   What’s more, Schlosser claimed to have used the mark since 1936!

I don’t know what else “On the Level” could have meant other than for pencils with built-in levels such as these, so that raises some questions how a utility patent applied for four years later might have been issued, or whether it was ultimately invalidated. 

A Few Tricks from Monroe

This article has been edited and included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 5; copies are available print on demand through Amazon here, and I offer an ebook version in pdf format at the Legendary Lead Company here.

If you don't want the book but you enjoy this article, please consider supporting the Blog project here.

“Trick” pencils . . . that’s the name by which I like to refer to pencils which, in addition to writing, do something else.  It’s like this pencil collecting business is two different hobbies for me: on the one hand, sometimes I’m exploring the history and showing off the artistry of some serious artifact, delving into the history and art of (what I consider to be) some pretty valuable collectibles.

And then on the other, I get just as much a kick out of a lighter pencil, that goofy Golf-Meter pencil from the other day, an Apex “Magic Multiplier” pencil.   I could probably save myself a ton of money if I just went down the trick pencil rabbit hole and stayed there. 

I won’t.  I’m too omniverious when it come to this stuff.

One of my favorite trick pencil makers is Monroe – no affiliation with the Eclipse “uberbrand” with classic deco stepped-end deco styline and stepped-up price stickers, but Monroe as in these:

The company made the most of this format, and these are just the most recent versions which have turned up recently.  The top one is one of the coolest I’ve seen, the “Monroe Slide Rule Pencil Pat. Pend.,” which changes the numbers in the window with a turn of the cap:

I haven’t found the patent for this one.  It’s possible one was never issued.  The next one is one I spent some time hunting down for a reasonable price: the “Monroe Cocktail Pencil.”  Turning the cap reveals the ingredients for several adult beverages:

From one extreme to the other, here’s the “Way of Life” pencil.  Turning the cap takes you from “Hell Bound” to “Heaven Bound.” 

Last for now is just one of the many variations of measuring pencils.  These came tailored for a variety of applications, from lumber estimating, carpeting, paint . . . this one is for wallpaper:

And then there’s even more . . . have a look at these two:

If you look at the trim bands, they match what you’ll see on a Monroe exactly.  And they have a different trick: the perpetual calendar complication at the top end:

The clip rotates with the calendar to the correct day of the month, lining up with the numbers to make it even more clear which numbered days correspond to that day of the week.  Like the Monroe Slide Rule Pencil, this is also marked “Pat. Pend.,” and also like the Monroe, I haven’t found the patent. 

A Good Day For A Few 3-Ways

I don’t know which would be funnier – whether during the straight-laced Ozzie-and-Harriet days of the early 1950s the makers of the Monroe hadn’t considered the double entendre, or whether they knew exactly what they were doing.

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.

Seen At The Ohio Show

Hey, they don’t call them "shows" for nothing, right? At the Ohio Show, quite a few guys stopped by to "show" off some things they’ve found lately. Greg Christy wanted to show off this black and pearl Eclipse and a really nice Univer in turquoise and bronze:

To learn more, this full article is included in The Leadhead's Pencil Blog Volume 2, 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.

One Classy Find

The one thing about us rabid leadheads is that each of us knows and understands the feeling of seeing something in an online auction and actually having a feeling of panic that someone else might win the auction. Once in a great while, we will send a very short message out to our brethren who we know are probably also watching:

Dibs.

A while back, Joe Nemecek sent out such a plea for a particular piece that came up for sale. I did have it saved in my watch list, but hey . . . Joe called it, so I let it go and Joe did end up winning. There was, however, a small price for Joe to pay for me to sit on my hands: he had to bring it with him to DC so I could photograph it . . .

NOTE:  This article is now included in the print version of The Leadhead's Pencil Blog, available anywhere you buy books, or also from The Legendary Lead Company.

To order, here's the link:  Volume 1 at Legendary Lead Company