544 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



camphor alone was mixed with the ground cotton pulp, which 

 hardens in drying and becomes celluloid. This substance 

 which is maintained by the inventor to be a truly chemical 

 compound, and not a mechanical mixture can be colored in 

 any way desired. The varying degrees of solidity and flex- 

 ibility required are obtained by the different proportions of 

 the camphor. The substance is naturally of a pale amber 

 color, but may be made of any tint by the application of min- 

 eral pigments or dyes soluble in alcohol, or any of the ani- 

 line colors may be employed. 



Celluloid is hard and elastic, ranging in hardness from that 

 of iron to ivory. It is as tough as whalebone, elasticity be- 

 ing one of its most prominent characteristics. In this respect 

 it greatly exceeds ivory. It makes good insulators for knobs 

 of telegraphic instruments, for insulating posts for electrical 

 machines, and for telegraphic wires ; as, although a good non- 

 conductor, it is not perceptibly electric. It is well adapted 

 to the manufacture of combs, and is largely used in the prep- 

 aration of dental plates, as it can be made of precisely the 

 color of the palate and gums. At a temperature of 250 to 

 300 it can be moulded into any desired form. Several com- 

 panies have been started for the manufacture of different ob- 

 jects from celluloid ; among them the Celluloid Novelty 

 Company of Newark, and the Celluloid Harness -trimming 

 Company of the same city, and several others in Phila- 

 delphia, New York, and elsewhere. 17 A, September 1, 1874, 

 139. 



VERY SIMPLE AND CHEAP FOUNTAIN-PEN". 



In spite of the recognized desirability of a pen that will 

 retain a supply of ink for some time, no one of the various 

 and more or less complicated forms of so-called fountain-pens 

 has proved entirely satisfactory, although generally com- 

 paratively expensive. According to the following plan, sug- 

 gested by Engineer Klette, any one can in a few minutes 

 construct a pen of the kind that will be perfectly satisfactory. 

 Two ordinary steel pens are fixed in the same holder in such 

 a way that they may be separated by a space of about one 

 twenty-fifth of an inch, and that the point of the upper one 

 may be a little above that of the other. By selecting for the 

 upper pen one with a bend in the middle, this will be most 



