Eberhard Faber Pencils
How They Are Made

EBERHARD FABER : NEW YORK Stamping The pencil is now ready for stamping. The better grades are stamped with gold or silver leaf. The leaf is laid on a leather-covered pad which is enclosed in a glass case open only toward the operative. This is to prevent the leaf being disturbed by air currents. With a keen, long blade knife the leaf is rapidly cut into strips the width of the stamp. These strips are then laid on the pencil and passed on to the stamping machines. A steel die, cut with the required imprint and heated by gas or electricity, is impressed over the leaf and wherever the die touches, the leaf adheres. The excess leaf is then wiped away, leaving the clearly defined lettering. After stamping, the untipped styles of pencils are given a final polishing and examination and are then ready to be put up in dozen packages or boxes and placed in stock. In this country the popular demand is for a pencil with metal tip and rubber. These tips are shaped from sheet brass or bronze metal and are therefore seamless. A cup-like piece of the metal is punched out and through a series of operations is drawn or stretched until a tube is formed the diameter of the pencil tip. After the tips are cut, they are impressed with different designs and nickel-plated, oxidized or finished in gilt. Some of these designs, such as that of the “Mongol” tip, are registered in the U. S. Patent Office and are very valuable as a trade-mark. Page 11 THE OLDEST PENCIL FACTORY IN AMERICA