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http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2013/08/presto-revelation.html).
The possibility adds real depth to the Presto story; the Presto later evolved into the Everfeed and Gilfred; by the way, I found the evidence that the Everfeed was made by the Gilfred Corporation and was not a separate brand:
It was the Gilfred Corporation that in 1942 sued Wahl for infringement of the repeating pencil mechanism patented by Abraham Pollok (see “My Find of the Year” at http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2011/12/my-find-of-year.html).
Wahl’s appropriation of Kanner’s design, whether or not it was protected by the Pollok patent (ultimately, the court decided, it was not) would be especially permicious if the company was already making the Presto in the mid-1920s and then used all of their tooling to manufacture a competing product.
In the course of researching the Presto, I ran across an interesting clue. On October 15, 1955, The Chicago Tribune ran a human interest piece about Howard R. Medici, president of the Visking Corporation – makers of cellulose sausage casings.
The article reveals that he was a Presto salesman:
“About 1921 he was invited to join a company which made casein plastic - a company which was later sold to the Karpen interests in Chicago . . . One of his customers in that period made the Presto pencil in a factory on Long Island.
“The customer asked him to go to Chicago and on the road from there, selling pencils to wholesalers, stationers, department stores and others throughout the midwest.”
Casein . . . while I haven’t seen a later Presto in anything other than bakelite, there were some which appeared to be made of Casein: the Standard (second from the top in this picture – see http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-couple-more-tumblers-click-into-place.html):
The fact that Medici’s unnamed Prestomaking customer was using casein suggests that his encounter with Kanner was after 1926; according to the article, he had left Kanner’s employ by 1929, when he joined Visking.
This clue isn’t inconsistent with the notion that Wahl might have made the metal Presto pencils in Chicago; since Medici crossed paths with Kanner after his new bakelite pencils were introduced, he might have set up shop to make bakelite and casein pencils at a different location than the metal ones (Wahl wasn’t using bakelite in the 1920s).
And then there’s that Chicago connection again . . . “to Chicago and on the road from there.”
The possibility adds real depth to the Presto story; the Presto later evolved into the Everfeed and Gilfred; by the way, I found the evidence that the Everfeed was made by the Gilfred Corporation and was not a separate brand:
It was the Gilfred Corporation that in 1942 sued Wahl for infringement of the repeating pencil mechanism patented by Abraham Pollok (see “My Find of the Year” at http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2011/12/my-find-of-year.html).
 |
| From top, a later Presto, a Gilfred, an Everfeed, and an Eversharp Doric. |
Wahl’s appropriation of Kanner’s design, whether or not it was protected by the Pollok patent (ultimately, the court decided, it was not) would be especially permicious if the company was already making the Presto in the mid-1920s and then used all of their tooling to manufacture a competing product.
In the course of researching the Presto, I ran across an interesting clue. On October 15, 1955, The Chicago Tribune ran a human interest piece about Howard R. Medici, president of the Visking Corporation – makers of cellulose sausage casings.
The article reveals that he was a Presto salesman:
“About 1921 he was invited to join a company which made casein plastic - a company which was later sold to the Karpen interests in Chicago . . . One of his customers in that period made the Presto pencil in a factory on Long Island.
“The customer asked him to go to Chicago and on the road from there, selling pencils to wholesalers, stationers, department stores and others throughout the midwest.”
Casein . . . while I haven’t seen a later Presto in anything other than bakelite, there were some which appeared to be made of Casein: the Standard (second from the top in this picture – see http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-couple-more-tumblers-click-into-place.html):
 |
| From top, an Eclipse, a Standard, a Hi-Speed (with Standard on the clip), a Repeeto, and a Presto. |
The fact that Medici’s unnamed Prestomaking customer was using casein suggests that his encounter with Kanner was after 1926; according to the article, he had left Kanner’s employ by 1929, when he joined Visking.
This clue isn’t inconsistent with the notion that Wahl might have made the metal Presto pencils in Chicago; since Medici crossed paths with Kanner after his new bakelite pencils were introduced, he might have set up shop to make bakelite and casein pencils at a different location than the metal ones (Wahl wasn’t using bakelite in the 1920s).
And then there’s that Chicago connection again . . . “to Chicago and on the road from there.”
