History of the invention and illustrated process of making Foley's diamond pointed gold pens . iew Mr. Hawkins fitted up a lathe capable of giving tenthousand revolutions a minute to the mandril; and on this a lap oftwo inches in diameter (see page 73), the surface of which ran five thou-sand feet a minute, being eight hundred and thirty-three feet a applied diamond dust with oil on the lap, and holding a bit ofIridium against it, found to his great delight, that it was abraded alittle in five minutes. He then applied to the lap or grinding lathea Ruby which was ground away as much i
History of the invention and illustrated process of making Foley's diamond pointed gold pens . iew Mr. Hawkins fitted up a lathe capable of giving tenthousand revolutions a minute to the mandril; and on this a lap oftwo inches in diameter (see page 73), the surface of which ran five thou-sand feet a minute, being eight hundred and thirty-three feet a applied diamond dust with oil on the lap, and holding a bit ofIridium against it, found to his great delight, that it was abraded alittle in five minutes. He then applied to the lap or grinding lathea Ruby which was ground away as much in one-third of the thus became satisfied that he had at last attained the object ofmany years research, for the Ruby was reported not to wear sensiblyaway in writing. Success. In order to save labor in forming the point, very small pieces ofIridium must be used. At first a pair of small pieces was solderedto a thin plate of silver and formed into a Pen. This Pen is stillin existence, minus one speck of the Iridium, which after some dayswriting came off and rendered the Pen SWEATING ON THE DIAMOND POINTS. A lot of blank Pens are placed in rows as above, on a flat piece of charcoal; theblow pipe is then applied to the gas burner and a flame is directed steadily upon thepoint of the blank until the gold is thoroughly melted around the diamond or Iridiumpoint. This is the sweating process (no solder being used) in making Foleys it is that the points never come off. It requires much care and experience, forif the heat is applied a moment too long the whole Pen is melted and made useless. The point is now applied to the copper lathe (see 73) and brought to a squareeven face upon both sides and end. It is then ready for the blank rolls. The fine quality of Gold, over 16-karat fine, used in the manufacture of FOLEYSSolid Gold Pens cannot be affected in the slightest degree by the strong acid withwhich most of the good inks are now made. Many of the Pens in
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