208 Miscellaneous. 
which shrivels the outer skin and the inner pith. They are then 
dipped in a hot solution of alum, or in diluted nitric acid, which 
hardens them. ‘The processes of manufacture are very simple. 
The blanks are punched from a thin sheet, then the hole which 
marks the termination of tke slit is punched; the device or letter- 
ing is then made by a stamp. Dies give the semi-cylindrical 
curve to the blanks. Grinding perfects the nibs, and gives. the 
requisite elasticity. The slitting is done by two cutters, one 
working against the other. Hardening and tempering, with the 
careful assortment of the products of the manufacture, complete 
the work. But there is a certain unyielding rigidity in steel pens 
which prevents them from being universally preferred to the 
goose quill. They manifest also a tendency to adhere to the sur- 
face of the paper, requiring some degree of force to propel them, 
and sometimes piercing the sheet. For these reasons many are 
disinclined to use them. The gold pen, when properly made, 
approaches more nearly to the qualities which have for so long a 
time made the goose quill the favourite as a medium for writing. 
But even the best of the gold pens are by many deemed inferior 
to the quill, and this prejudice, or partiality, induced the manu- 
facture of pens from quills by machinery, which were used in the 
same way the steel or gold pen is used, by being fastened in a 
holder. Gold pens are tipped with iridium, making what are com- 
monly known as “ diamond points,” The iridium for this pur- 
pose is found in small grains in platinum, slightly alloyed with 
this latter metal. In this form it is exceedingly hard, and well 
adapted to the purpose of the gold pen maker. ‘The gold for pens 
is alloyed with silver to about sixteen carats fineness, rolled into 
thin strips, from which the blanks are struck. The under side of 
the point is notched by a small circular saw, to receive the indium 
point, which is selected with the aid of a microscope. A flux of 
borax and a blowpipe secure it to its place. The point is 
then ground ona copper wheel with emery. The pen blank is 
next rolled to the requisite thinness by means of rollers especially 
adapted to the purpose, and tempered by blows from a hammer. 
It is then trimmed around the edges, stamped, and formed in a 
powerful press. The slit is next cut through the solid iridium 
point by means of a thin copper wheel, fed with fine emery, and 
a saw extends the aperture along the pen itself. The inside edges 
of the slit are smoothed and polished by the same means of rapidly- 
running wheels and emery, and burnishing and hammering, to pro- 
duce the proper degree of elasticity, finish the work. 
BOOKS*< RECEIVED: 
¢Hardwicke’s Science-Gossip’ for October. No. XXII. MHard- 
wicke, Piccadilly. 
‘The Artizan’ for October. Offices: 19 Salisbury street. 
‘Paper Trade Review.’ No, 1X—New Series. 97 Newgate st., E.C. 
