Birmingham pen trade

[3] The trade also pioneered craftsmanship, manufacturing processes and provided employment opportunities especially for women, who constituted more than 70% of the workforce.

[5] In 1828 Josiah Mason developed a cheap, efficient slip-in nib based on existing models, which could be added to a pen holder.

Many new manufacturing techniques were perfected in Birmingham, enabling the city's factories to mass-produce their pens cheaply and efficiently.

[7] He started by working in the stationery trade of Birmingham, where he learnt about the mechanical process invented by Mitchell for making steel pen nibs.

He approached five craftsmen who worked for John Mitchell in Navigation Street with an idea of setting up a business in Camden, New Jersey.

In both the USA and Britain Esterbrook also offered fountain pens from an early date, with larger scale production from the 1930s on.