Many of the Blackwing 602’s design changes were subtle from pencil to pencil, and spread out over time. For example, the “black steel polish” evolved to graphite-grey, ferrules changed then ultimately lost their painted bands, and elements of the imprint varied as well. But there was one change that was dramatic and more substantial.
As you can see, the first four pencils can be grouped by length; the first three of which have the same style of logo. The fourth pencil seems transitional—it has the new logo but it retained the shorter length. The paint used for the logo is the same as that found on the previous three. But the fifth pencil is noticeably longer, somewhat lighter in shade, and the logo has reached its “classic” look—crisply stamped in metallic foil and with additional elements:
The following is pure speculation, but I wonder if the changes in length and design found between the fourth and fifth pencils mightn’t be connected to the 1956 move made by Eberhard Faber from Brooklyn, New York to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The previous factory was considered obsolete, prompting Eberhard Faber IV to relocate and re-tool (Petroski, 174). If pencils were being produced with new, state-of-the-art machinery then it seems plausible for changes in the length, color, and imprint to have occurred. I can’t claim that the fifth pencil is precisely from 1956, but it may at least be representative of this overall change in production—I think it may be why they look so different from then-on.
Now, the hunt begins for some catalogs from 1957 and shortly before, which would cleanly resolve the matter. Actually, the hunt just continues for any vintage Eberhard Faber catalogs.
Coincidentally, I just found a source in New York for Eberhard Faber catalogs from 1942, 1943, 1944, 1947, 1951, 1954, and 1956-57(!) But unfortunately I’m nowhere near New York, and won’t be in the near future. Some scanning services are available at this particular institution, but I would need to tell them specifically which pages to scan—they can’t be expected to search for the information I need, too. But I obviously don’t know the page numbers, and it would just be too costly to have them scan everything. Then there are the usage fees (even for a non-commercial blog), and you get the idea…
A fee grows in Brooklyn.
But, I’ve sent out a request to someone who may have some similar information, so we’ll see.
If I were in New York… I would like to be in NY right now and give you a hand on this matter but I am far away.
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I appreciate the sentiment, though. 🙂
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Questions, questions. The Wilkes-Barre retooling made possible the lengthening of the Blackwing, but why? Was EF responding to customer demand for a longer premium pencil? Counterintuitively, was the Blackwing somehow of equal or lesser expense to produce lengthened, or did EF charge more per pencil (accounting for inflation) to recoup the cost of greater material inputs? It would appear that 100’s and Regular cigarettes have an equal volume of tobacco, so I must speculate whether or not EF shaved some millimeters off the Blackwing’s lead diameter during the changeover–are there any compensating material changes offsetting the increased length? Did the Microtomic gain stature as well during the transition? Apologies Sean, my pencil cup runneth over today.
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All good questions, Jacques. The longer length may not have been due to a positive choice, rather it may have been the result of changes in the equipment, or perhaps changes in the slats that were provided to them. It possibly may have been a chance for them to “start over” in a sense: to ditch the smaller packaging style, and in turn, ditch the shorter pencils. The packaging grew equally in dreariness as it did in length at this time.
Perhaps they were comporting to practices found elsewhere in the industry at that time.
I think Gunther may be able to better speak to how companies have gotten more out of the slats by making thinner pencils overall. I recall a post at Lexikaliker but don’t have the link offhand.
Who knows…maybe this will all lead to a new branch of science: forensic pencilry.
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As far as I know many companies now cut ten pencils from one sandwich instead of nine, producing slightly thinner pencils.
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