The Leadhead's Pencil Blog

Sunday, September 10, 2017

A Rainy Day Project

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.

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Here’s a couple of fairly straightforward-looking pencils:

I found the yellow one first, and I pulled it aside because I found that top just a little intriguing. When you unscrew it, you can adjust the eraser up and down within two prongs. It’s essentially a Faber Pony Clip pencil, with the clamping action acting on the eraser rather than the lead:

When the black one found its way to the museum, it added another dimension of intrigue:

“Russell / Pat. Pend.” Since the only thing that’s different about these pencils is the eraser arrangement, I”m sure that’s what the patent application referred to. American Writing Instrument Patents Vol. 2: 1911-1945 only goes through . . . well, 1945 of course, and from the looks of this one it might have come sometime after 1945, but there’s nothing in there like this one (all the adjustable eraser patents have some sort of a screw drive arrangement to propel the lead, while this one acts just like a catch-and-release leadholder). Perhaps, of course, the patent was never issued at all.

I did start a Volume 3 which was projected to run up through 2000, but when sales were slow of the first two patent books I decided to hold off on that project until the first two at least broke even. Maybe I’ll dust off my notes and see what I’ve got there some rainy day.

Saturday, September 9, 2017

Another Trademark from the Book

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Here’s a pair of “Jeffersons” in nicer plastics than you usually find:

Both are marked on the clip, with an intertwined “DK” in a circle above it:

Five years ago I was pretty proud of myself figuring out that DK stood for David Kahn and pinned down both the Madison and Jefferson brands (see “The Wrath of Kahn” at http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-wrath-of-kahn.html). Seems silly now, but remember that five years ago, I hadn’t written the trademark book yet:

David Kahn, Inc., located at Grand Avenue and Savoye Street, North Bergen, New Jersey, began using the trademark in November, 1928. The mark was issued as registration number 350,085 on September 14, 1937.

Friday, September 8, 2017

Thoughts Regarding a Few Connections

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I’ve had this one laying around for a long time, trying to make some sense out of it:

The celluloid has some great depth, and the clip is marked “Deluxe” in a nice, Old-English style script:

It is clearly from the same product lines as the Gold Bond. Here it is alongside two examples, one in almost the same (but not quite as “deluxe”) color, and another sporting that same clip. Note that the Deluxe has an extra trim band at the top, and all three have that black top piece with some nice detailing traditionally attributed to C.E. Barrett and National Pen Products:

However, the evidence I pieced together suggests that if these weren’t made by Rex, who clearly made earlier models of the Gold Bond, they might have been made by Sheaffer, which appears to have very quietly turned out Gold Bonds before later models were introduced which were clearly rebadged Eversharps and Watermans:

(For the whole scoop on that story, start with http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2016/08/maybe-big-three-out-of-four.html . . . from there, you can hop back to the first part of that series).

Now let’s turn the conversation up a notch:

Note that same black end with detailing at the top end? These are essentially thinner versions of the Gold Bond, with different clips. Two of these pencils – the longer ones – are ones you are probably familiar with. They are imprinted “The Monogram Pen / Unbreakable / Sold Only at the Rexall Store.” But that shorter one – like the Deluxe, with an extra trim ring at the top, says something entirely different:

The Joseph Lipic Pen Company of St. Louis.

I don’t know what all of this means. Lipic clearly made some pens and pencils, but the company may also have acquired product for a short time from Sheaffer, Rex or whomever was turning out Monogram Pens. As for Rexall, the United Drug Co. acquired product from DeWitt-LaFrance (remember the Signet?) as well as from Moore and Eagle, so it’s entirely possible to throw Rex or Sheaffer into the mix.

Chalk this article up as throwing out one piece to a giant puzzle and hoping someday I figure out at least which puzzle it’s supposed to fit in.

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Presto Footnote Number Two

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Now that I’ve had a few years to think about it, something that I found confusing years ago isn’t so confusing after all.

Remember that flat clip that appears in the Presto advertisements beginning in 1924?

Outside of the Nupoint/Hi-Speed/Presto family of pencils, that distinctive clip also appears on another brand . . . pencils marked “Gold Medal,” a name which pen lore traditionally attributes exclusively to C.E. Barrett and National Pen Products. I first documented that clip in February, 2012 (see http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2012/02/pair-of-gold-medals.html), showing it alongside a larger Gold Medal made by the Rex Manufacturing Company:

Some time later, in “The Monster Footnote” (see http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-monster-footnote.html), I was tearing my hair out wondering why that same clip appeared, from left in this next picture, on the Gold Medal, the Nupoint, and on a Salz “Manhattan”:

With the benefit of hindsight, I don’t think it is quite as complicated or mind-blowing as I used to. Since Barrett and National Pen Products had absoluttely nothing to do with the large flattops supplied to them by the Rex Manufacturing Company from 1924 on, it isn’t a stretch to believe that Barrett also had metal pencils supplied to him by outside vendors prior to that date.

The year 1924 was also an interesting one in the history of Salz Brothers, which had just been denied registration of the name ‘Salrite due to its similarity to “Shur-Rite” (see http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2016/09/before-salz-was-salz-part-ii.html). And remember . . . while the ‘Salrite was a unique product marketed by Salz, the pencils were actually manufactured by a separate (but related) company, the Pencil Products Corporation. Perhaps in 1924, as ‘Salrites were being sold on clearance and Pencil Products Corporation closed shop, Salz started acquiring pencils from other sources – and as a New York Company, who better to turn to than another New York concern such as Kanner’s Nupoint?

I think the answer is that for a short time in 1924, Kanner’s Nupoint was also being supplied to other companies, rebadged as “Gold Medal” or “Salz Manhattan” pencils, and that distinctive clip is likely in the future (especially in combination with that pivoted top) to peg other brands as having originated from that same source.

The story isn’t neatly wrapped up with a bow on it just yet. Kanner’s Nupoint was being supplied to others under different names, but I’m still not entirely sure whether it was Kanner himself who was making it. We still have that somewhat confusing reference in a 1922 issue of The American Stationer indicating that Aikin Lambert was making them (see http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2012/10/youll-flip-your-top-for-these.html):

. . . and an example marked ALCo with that pivoting top . . .

Which might leave you wondering why I’m bothering to consider Wahl as the maker of the Presto repeating pencils? Because Aikin Lambert – by then a wholly-owned subidiary of Waterman – never made a repeater, and Eversharp not only made one, it was sued by the successors to the Presto for infringement of its very patent.

Maybe Kanner had Aikin Lambert supply the flip top screw drive pencils, but later contracted with Wahl to make the company’s repeaters. In the dog-eat-dog world of the 1920s, if Barrett and Salz were acquiring pencils from more than one source, why wouldn’t Kanner?

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Presto Footnote Number One

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To circle back around to something I mentioned in passing in yesterday’s article, I posted an article here four years ago, in which I suggested that metal Presto repeating pencils such as these might have been made by Wahl, makers of the Eversharp (see

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).

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.”

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

The Research Scrap Reason

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Yesterday (at http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2017/09/let-me-count-ways.html), I listed seven different reasons why I was excited to show you these Prestos, the seventh of which was that I’ve been accumulating some bits and pieces of the Presto story tucked away that I’ve haven’t gotten around to stringing together into a story.

To summarize my research to date, it’s been four years since I was finally able to conclusively esstablish – with a bit of documentary proof supplied by Michael Rosen -- that Samuel Kanner, the assignee on the patents for the repeating pencils known as the Presto, was also the man behind the Nupoint brand (see http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2013/09/it-would-have-been-so-much-easier-had-i.html).

So let’s start at the beginning, with the introduction of the Nupoint. The first reference I found to the pencil was a short announcement in the Detroit Free Press from September, 1921:

In 1922, several advertisemts also showed these pencils, with their distinctive pivoted tops exposing the eraser mounted on the end:

In 1923, this advertisement appears to show the pencil in the same form, with perhaps a bit of artistic license (the top looks a bit different):

Now have a look at this advertisement, from 1924, and note the clip:

I’ve documented that clip before. It also appears on pencils marked “Hi-Speed,” like these which, because of that same, patented pivoting top, I’ve always associated with Samuel Kanner and his Nupoint::

On August 22, 1925, in of all places the Helena, Montana Independent Record, this advertisement appeared:

This is the earliest – and so far the only – reference to the repeater version of the Nupoint. It’s also the last reference I find to Kanner’s use of the Nupoint name. Since I last visited the subject, I’ve found a few examples of both Nupoint and Presto versions of the same pencil:

(Including, by the way, the demonstrator at the bottom)

The only difference between the Nupoint and Presto versions is the imprint at the top:

Back in 2013, I pondered whether the trademark filing for “Nu-Point” in a different font had anything to do with Kanner at “The Monstor Footnote” (see http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-monster-footnote.html). I now believe that it was a case of one manufacturer who didn’t file a United States Trademark tripping over one who did, who objected to the use of the same name. In the Nupouit trademark, as I mentioned in that earlier article, the date of first use claimed is July, 1921 – three months before that first reference I found to the Nupoint being marketed (albeit without a hyphen, and in a different script).

Thanks to a delightful and informative book that was just released, American Writing Instrument Trademarks 1870-1953 (shameless plug), we now have the Presto trademark registration, in which Kanner claimed that he first used the mark on July 1, 1925:

So Kanner abruptly changed the name of his pencils and promptly registered a trademark to protect the new name. If that doesn’t scream objections from the prior registrant, I don’t know what does!

Kanner introduced the more commanding oversized bakelite models shortly after . . . here’s the first announcement for the “marvelous new” Presto, from the April 25, 1926 edition of the Cincinnati Inquirer:

And another advertisement, from the Philadelphia Inquirer on August 16:

Take a look at this advertisement, from the Winnepeg (Canada) Tribune on March 3, 1927:

That’s the same logo found on my large, oversized bakelite pencil from yesterday’s article:

Now have a look at these two ringtop versions of the Presto metal pencil:

The longer one was featured here before, when I was pondering whether Wahl might have made these early repeating pencils (see http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2013/08/presto-revelation.html). The shorter one came to me in an online auction, and I was excited to add it to my collection because it’s the only example I’ve found with a price sticker:

But when it arrived, I was surprised, pleased and puzzled by the imprint:

Did Kanner use the new, script style logo earlier, or did he continue making the metal version of his pencils for a time after introducing the snazzy new bakelite models?

Note that the imprint unlike every other metal example I’ve seen, is imprinted “Pat.” Not “Pat. Pend.” Abraham Pollak’s patent, assigned to Kanner, was granted on July 13, 1926 . . . and the bakelite models were introduced earlier that year.

So the answer is that this pencil offers proof that the metal pencils remained in production after the introduction of the bakelite models - if only for a short time.

(Note: footnotes coming over the weekend. Stay tuned.)

Monday, September 4, 2017

Let Me Count the Ways

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There’s an auction at the Raleigh Pen Show each year, and there were more pencils than usual among the lots being offered. The real reason I attended, however, was because I was chasing this:

This Presto set caught my interest in several respects: first, the boxes are nearly impossible to come by (one of my earliest articles posted here was about one – for a little throwback Thursday, see http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2011/11/and-presto-my-good-deed-definitely-went.html).

Second, while one of the things which attracts me to the Presto is the impressive size of these repeating pencils, this one is especially enormous – a full six inches long.

Third, I’ve only seen one other example with gold filled trim (I picked it up from Jim Carpenito at the Baltimore show years ago, back when it was still held at the Masonic lodge).

Fourth . . . I suppose . . . is that it came with that pesky matching fountain pen of equally impressive size, with a number 8 nib:

Presto pens are unusual in that the barel is made of bakelite to match the pencils; while this material is well suited to thick-barreled pencils, the material is too brittle for use in the thinner walls of pen barrels and caps. To compensate for this, the barrels were lined with aluminum.

Fifth, the logo on that pencil is a little different from the usual block print:

Which ties in nicely with a picture I’ve had on the back burner for years – I don’t even remember where it came from now – which had me wondering whether the company did something more than make writing instruments:

The logo on the pencil is too close to that for the “Presto Personal Paper Punch” to be a coincidence.

A sixth reason for me to pursue this set came during the auction itself, when Ben Mawhorter announced that the set included a matching desk pen:

Well, almost matching, anyway . . . with orange flecks rather than yellow, in a darker shade of green. But still – I’ve never seen a Presto desk pen, and if the pencil is gargantuan, the pen is the King Kong of desk pens. It even has a Presto nib and the same logo on the lever:

And then there’s that seventh reason I couldn’t wait to circle back around to the Presto: the “research scraps reason,” we’ll call it.

When I took my recent sabbatical from the blog, the first thing I needed to do (in addition to sipping a pina colada or two) was to organize the mass of pictures and other images which had built up over the years, separated into folders partitioned along arbitrary lines. I straightened all of this out into a folder called “Pencil Pictures,” renaming every stinkin’ image by brand name so that I could find them, and another called “Leadhead’s Research Scraps,” containing random bits of information I’ve stumbled across and tucked away for the day they might coalesce into an article here.

I've had a few research scraps concerning the Presto. Since this article is in danger of becoming overly long as it is, I’ll pull together everything I’ve got for tomorrow’s installment . . .

Note: see http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2017/09/the-research-scrap-reason.html.