 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Writing implements |
| Founded | 1934 [1] |
| Founder | Ludwig Brenner [1] |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | Tim Tufnell (Honorary President) |
| Products | Fountain and ballpoint pens, mechanical pencils |
| Parent | Filofax Group (1988–2015) |
| Website | yard-o-led.com |
The Yard-O-Led Pencil Company is a manufacturing company founded in London, England in 1934
It was founded by German immigrant, Ludwig Brenner, [1] to produce his patent propelling pencils which contained twelve three inch leads (that is to say, 36 inches or a yard of lead). Originally based in Premier House, 12-13 Hatton Garden, London, the company moved in the late 1940s to 1 Great Cumberland Place, London.
After World War II the company merged with Sampson Mordan Ltd whose founder had patented the first mechanical pencil in 1822. They built a new factory in Birmingham and took over Edward Baker Ltd, another pencil maker. [2]
In 1988, the company was acquired by Filofax Group, [3] which owned it until 2015, when it was re-established itself as "Imperial Yard Ltd".
Yard-O-Led continues to produce fountain and ballpoint pens pens as well as mechanical pencils, most of which are made from hallmarked sterling silver.
A pencil is a writing or drawing implement with a solid pigment core in a protective casing that reduces the risk of core breakage and keeps it from marking the user's hand.
A dip pen is a writing instrument used to apply ink to paper. It usually consists of a metal nib with a central slit that acts as a capillary channel like those of fountain pen nibs, mounted in a handle or holder, often made of wood. Other materials can be used for the holder, including bone, metal and plastic; some pens are made entirely of glass.
The telautograph is an ancestor of the modern fax machine. It transmits electrical signals representing the position of a pen or tracer at the sending station to repeating mechanisms attached to a pen at the receiving station, thus reproducing at the receiving station a drawing, writing, or signature made by the sender. It was the first such device to transmit drawings to a stationary sheet of paper; previous inventions in Europe had used a constantly moving strip of paper to make such transmissions and the pen could not be lifted between words. Surprisingly, at least from a modern perspective, some early telautographs used digital/pulse-based transmission while later more successful devices reverted to analog signaling.
The Parker Pen Company is an American 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 transferred to Nantes, France.
A mechanical pencil or clutch pencil is a pencil with a replaceable and mechanically extendable solid pigment core called a "lead". The lead, often made of graphite, is not bonded to the outer casing, and the user can mechanically extend it as its point is worn away from use. The vast majority of mechanical pencils have erasers.
Pentel Co., Ltd. is a privately-held Japanese manufacturing company of stationery products. The name comes from one of their first widely known products and is a portmanteau of the English words pen and pastel. Pentel is also the inventor of non-permanent marker technology. Most Pentel products are manufactured in Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Mexico, and France.
Staedtler SE is a German multinational stationery manufacturing company based in Nuremberg. The firm was founded by J.S. Staedtler (1800–1872) in 1835 and produces a large variety of stationery products, such as writing implements, art materials, and office supplies.
The Birmingham pen trade evolved in the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter and its surrounding area in the 19th century. "Pen" is the old term for what is now generally referred to as a nib, and for over a century the city was the world's leading manufacturer of steel nibs for dip pens, also making nibs in brass, bronze, and other alloys. At the height of the Jewellery Quarter's operations there were about 100 pen factories which employed around 8,000 skilled craftspeople.
Tombow Pencil Co., Ltd. is a private Japanese manufacturing company of stationery products. The company was founded in 1913 as Messrs "Tombow" and has since grown into an international business. Based in Tokyo with 397 employees.
Pilot Corporation is a Japanese pen manufacturer based in Tokyo. It produces writing instruments, stationery and jewellery, but is best known for its pens.
Zebra Co., Ltd. is a Japanese manufacturer of writing instruments, established in 1914 by Tokumatsu Ishikawa.
Soho Mint was created by Matthew Boulton in 1788 in his Soho Manufactory in Handsworth, West Midlands, England. A mint was erected at the manufactory containing eight machines, to his own patent design, driven by steam engine, each capable of striking 70 to 85 coins per minute.
Eversharp is an American brand of writing implements founded by Charles Rood Keeran in 1913 and marketed by Keeran & Co., based in Chicago. Keeran commercialised Eversharp mechanical pencils, then expanding to fountain pens 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, which continued to use the Eversharp brand for a time.
Onoto is a British brand of luxury fountain pens and accessories. Originally manufactured by Thomas De La Rue & Company, Limited from 1905 until 1958, the brand was relaunched by "The Onoto Pen Company Limited", based in Colney Hall, Norwich in 2005. Onoto pens have been used by numerous notable people from history such as Field Marshal Douglas Haig and Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Other famous names include Florence Nightingale, Edgar Wallace and Natsume Soseki, the foremost Japanese novelist of the Meiji Era.
Perry & Co., Ltd was a dip pens manufacturer of England. The company was the largest in its country of origin, producing a huge range of models. Perry & Co. also manufactured bicycle chains and accessories.
Leonardt Ltd. is an English manufacturing company that specializes in finishing of metal components, manufacturing products such as corners for stationery such as leathergoods, photograph albums, menu covers, pattern and carpet books, binders and portfolios.
Joseph Gillott's was an English manufacturing company based in Birmingham founded by Joseph Gillott in 1827 that produced high-quality dip pens. In 1961, Joseph Gillott's was taken over by British Pens Ltd., becoming a brand of it. Pen lines with the Gillott's name were manufactured in the British Pens factory of West Midlands, and currently commercialised by William Mitchell Ltd, one of the brands of the corporation.
Kaweco is a German brand of writing implements, originally introduced by the Heidelberg Pen Company for its dip pens line in 1889. Kaweco became a public limited company in 1921, then being taken over by the Knust Woringen and Grube company (KWG), after Kaweco went bankrupt in 1930.
Penkala-Edmund Moster & Co., later as Penkala tvornica d. d., was a stationery manufacturing company that was based in Zagreb, Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia within Austria-Hungary. It was formally founded in 1911 by the industrialist Edmund Moster and inventor Slavoljub Penkala, although a smaller workshop already existed since 1907. It manufactured mechanical pencils, fountain pens and other writing implements, including ink, much of it based on Penkala's patents. At one point, it was one of the largest stationery producers in the world, exporting its products to over 70 different countries. In addition to Zagreb, it also had factories in Berlin, Germany, where it employed around 800 people, and Lepoglava. The company ceased production in 1937, and was liquidated in 1939.
