



Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer.











                  THE STORY
               OF THE INVENTION
                OF STEEL PENS

             WITH A DESCRIPTION OF
         THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS BY
           WHICH THEY ARE PRODUCED

                BY HENRY BORE
                   LONDON


                    1890

In these days of Public Schools and extended facilities for popular
education it would be difficult to find many people unaccustomed to
the use of steel pens, but although the manufacture of this article by
presses and tools must have been introduced during the first quarter
of the present century, the inquirer after knowledge would scarcely
find a dozen persons who could give any definite information as to
when, where, and by whom this invention was made.  Less than two
decades ago there were three men living who could have answered this
question, but two of them passed away without making any sign, and the
third--Sir Josiah Mason--has left on record that his friend and
patron--Mr.  Samuel Harrison--about the year 1780, made a steel pen
for Dr. Priestley.

This interesting fact does not contribute anything toward solving the
question, Who was the first manufacturer of steel pens by mechanical
appliances?  In the absence of any definite information, the balance
of testimony tends to prove that steel pens were first made by tools,
worked by a screw press, about the beginning of the third decade of
the present century, and the names associated with their manufacture
were John Mitchell, Joseph Gillott, and Josiah Mason, each, in his own
way, doing something toward perfecting the manufacture by mechanical
means.

The earliest references to pens are probably those in the Bible, and
are to be found in Judges v. 14, 1st Kings xxi. 8, Job xix. 24, Psalm