Eversharp is an American

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

writing implement A writing implement or writing instrument is an object used to produce writing. Writing consists of different figures, lines, and or forms. Most of these items can be also used for other functions such as painting, drawing and technical drawing, ...

s founded by Charles Rood Keeran in 1913 and marketed by Keeran & Co., based in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. Keeran commercialised ''Eversharp''

mechanical pencil A mechanical pencil or clutch pencil is a pencil with a replaceable and mechanically extendable solid pigment core called a "lead" . The pencil lead, lead, often made of graphite, is not bonded to the outer casing, and the user can mechanically e ...

s (manufactured by two companies, Heath and Wahl), then expanding to

fountain pen A fountain pen is a writing instrument that uses a metal nib (pen), nib to apply Fountain pen ink, water-based ink, or special pigment ink—suitable for fountain pens—to paper. It is distinguished from earlier dip pens by using an internal r ...

s when the company was acquired by the Wahl Adding Machine Co. in 1916 and it was named "Wahl-Eversharp". The company continued until 1957 when it was acquired by

Parker Pen The Parker Pen Company is a manufacturer of luxury writing pens, founded in 1888 by George Safford Parker in Janesville, Wisconsin, United States. In 2011, the Parker factory at Newhaven, East Sussex, England, was closed, and its production tran ...

, which continued to use the ''Eversharp'' brand for a time. Keeran is considered a pioneer maker of

s,Charles Keeran, a Mechanical Pencil Pioneer
on University of Nebraska-Lincoln as the inventor of the first successful one.
by Bill Kemp on ''The Pantagraph'', Jul 14, 2013

History

Charles Rood Keeran, a native of

Bloomington, Illinois Bloomington is a city in McLean County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census showed the city had a population of 78,680, making it the List of municipalities in Illinois, 13th-most populous ci ...

,A Tale of Two Pencils: Keeran's Eversharp & Hayakawa's Ever-Ready Sharp
The PENnant, Winter 2001 had worked for the Bloomington Pickle Co. in his 20s. Around 1911 he partnered with J.F. Funk to manufacture White Crown Mason jar lids, though his attention soon turned to mechanical pencils. Keeran's earliest patent on a pencil dates to October 10, 1913. He was granted US patent 1,130,741 on March 9, 1915. The first production of ''Eversharp'' pencils was made in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

by the "Heath Corporation", a prominent provider of high quality metalwork to the writing equipment industry. These pencils were test-marketed over the holiday season of 1913 at

Wanamaker's Wanamaker's was an American department store chain founded in 1861 by John Wanamaker. It was one of the first department stores in the United States, and peaked at 16 locations along the Delaware Valley in the 20th century. Wanamaker's was pur ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Keeran returned to Bloomington sometime in 1914 and established "Keeran & Co.", selling Heath-manufactured pencils. Those pencils had a lead, which became the industry standard for thin mechanical pencil lead (although today the most popular sizes are 0.5 mm and 0.7 mm). In October 1915, Keeran relocated operations in

, then signed a contract with the "Wahl Adding Machine Company" of Chicago to manufacture Eversharp-branded pencils. In mid-November 1915 Wahl took control of Eversharp in exchange for a capital infusion of $20,000. At the end of 1916, Eversharp was wholly absorbed by Wahl through an exchange of stock. Keeran retained a small stake in the combined firm and held the position of sales manager, but by the end of 1917 Keeran had been squeezed out of the company. The Eversharp pencil was a huge success. By 1921 over 12 million had been sold. It allowed Wahl to become one of the leading manufacturers of pencils and eventually pens. Wahl's entry into the fountain pen business in 1917 was also facilitated by Charles Keeran, through purchase of the Boston Fountain Pen Company. Initially the "Wahl" brand name was used for pens and the "Eversharp" brand name for pencils, until at the end of the 1920s, the company renamed itself "Wahl-Eversharp", and all products, were branded accordingly. In 1941 the company renamed itself to "Eversharp". It remained a major player throughout the 1940s, but a series of missteps in its attempts to enter the then-new field of ballpoint pens hurt the company badly. In 1957 the Parker Pen Company acquired Eversharp. The ''Eversharp'' brand name continued to be used for a few years, but the production of Eversharp pens and pencils was stopped. Until 1999 the "Eversharp" brand name was still used for accessories such as refills, not only for legacy "Eversharp" products, but also suitable for products by many other companies. Beginning in 2004, Syd Saperstein in the United States and Emmanuel Caltagirone in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

attempted to revive the "Wahl-Eversharp" brand, working independently at first, then joining efforts. In 2012, they secured abandonments of the original "Wahl" and "Eversharp" trademarks and filed new trademarks for a new venture, reviving the brand name as the "Wahl-Eversharp Company", a wholly owned

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

of Pensbury Manor LLC, an Arizona corporation. Today the company produces modern fountain pens based on original patented designs of Wahl and Eversharp.Company info
on Wahl-Evershap website

Patents

* New and useful Improvements in Lead-Pencils and #1151016, and #1153115

References

Bibliography

* ''The pencil: a history of design and circumstance'', by

Henry Petroski Henry Petroski (February 6, 1942 – June 14, 2023) was an American engineer specializing in failure analysis. A professor both of civil engineering and history at Duke University, he was also a prolific author. Petroski wrote over a dozen books ...

, Knopf, 1992. , pp 265–270.

External links

Wahl-Eversharp website

A gallery of company advertisements up to 50s
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