[Dennis B]

I am starting this as a new thread to focus the discussion on pens made by George M. Kraker after the Sheaffer v. Barrett lawsuit as the post-Kraker Pen Company pens really have no relation to the Sheaffer pen Company.

Back in September 2005, in A Prelude to Sheaffer, Rob wrote:

"We know that George Michael Kraker did not leave the pen business following the loss in the Sheaffer law suit. Flutz has documented that he was involved with Pencraft pens and he certainly used the brand names Liberty, Yankee and Dixie. He is the Michael George of Michael George pens and clearly produced some of the Rexall Monogram pens. In short, Kraker's fingerprints are on many a pen made in the Midwest into the 1930's at least."

This is the period I would like to discuss, especially if anyon can add to Rob's information regarding brand names used by George M. Kraker.

My research shows that as early as 1918, Kraker is listing himself as employed by Pencraft in Chicago. Did Pencraft already exist or was George Kraker Pencraft?

The Michael George Company shows up in Chicago in a 1923 business directory listing as the Michael-George Co., 500 N. Dearborn. Pencraft is in the same directory at the same address. By 1928, neither Michael-George or Pencraft are listed in Chicago. (Thanks to Jineen for her Chicago research).

The Michael George Company is reported in Grand Haven, MI, at a later date, and then appears in Libertyville, IL in late 1928-early 1929.

Newspaper items from the Freeport (Illinois) Journal-Standard in 1938-39, have George back living in Chicago.

I have a BCHR Liberty pen, but it is marked as coming from New York where there indeed was a Liberty Pen Co.

I recently acquired another Liberty marked pen, though it is only marked Liberty on the clip and there does not appear to have been any other imprints on the pen. The nib is a Warranted. Could this be a Michael George Company product?



Please share your knowledge of this topic.

Thanks in advance,

Dennis B

[Dennis B]

My research partner, Jineen, has been turning up some interesting things. Please tell me if we are connecting the dots or whistling in the wind.

On December 4, 1921, The Minnesota Pen Co., St Paul, MN (Canadian Branch in Weston, Ontario) ran a contest ad in the Chicago Tribune.

On January 21, 1923, The Drew Pen Co., St Paul MN, ran a similarly themed contest ad in the Chicago Tribune. Both ads are picture puzzles and show cuts of BCHR pens that look very similar if not identical.

In April, 1918, R.W. Lotz, the Chicago attorney that represented Barrett, Craig and Kraker, was issued a fountain pen patent, no. 1,263,260. The PDB comment is that this patented lever was used on pens with the names Winter-Robbins and Drew.

On January 21, 1923, the Michael-George Co. (that we know to be George M. Kraker) advertised for help wanted in the Chicago Tribune. The address given was 500 N. Dearborn.

In the 1923 Chicago Classified Business Directory, Michael-George, Drew and Pencraft were all listed at 500 N. Dearborn. (George listed his employer as Pencraft when he registered for the draft).

The 1923 Chicago residential listings included a listing for Adeline M. Kraker, Vice-Pres. Michael George Co. Unusual to have her lsited I would think.


Recall that another Lotz patent, # 1,407,552, applied for 02-11-1920, and issued 2-21-1922, was assigned to Adeline M. Kraker, of Minneapolis, MN.

The above are the facts. Now for the speculation. The Sheaffer lawsuit had only ended in January 1918. Perhaps the 1918 Lotz patent was really for George Kraker's invention but he did not want his name on it.

Were Drew, Minnesota Pen, Pencraft all really George M. Kraker? Connecting the dots or whistling in the wind? What say you?

Dennis B

[Rob Astyk]

Hi, Dennis, et al.,

Were Drew, Minnesota Pen, Pencraft all really George M. Kraker? Connecting the dots or whistling in the wind? What say you?

I would say probably and that we should also throw in Winter-Robbins and, possibly, Brown and Bigelow. The last seems to have been an advertising and marketing firm. I own a little penknife with the legend "Brown & Bigelow, Remembrance Advertising". Suddenly, in 1920, Brown and Bigelow begins accumulating pen patents (9 located so far) by Frank J. Kristofek and Howard L. Fischer. These could be entirely separate companies, but I think that they were all getting their parts made by the same source which might well have been George Kraker.

I think that the Drew-Pencraft-Lotz-Kraker connection is pretty solid. That probably also brings in Winter-Robbins. What we need is someone in the twin Cities area to do a litte digging that will find out more about Brown and Bigelow, Minnesota Pen and Winter-Robbins.

Take care,

Rob Astyk

[JRG]

... Brown and Bigelow. The last seems to have been an advertising and marketing firm. I own a little penknife with the legend "Brown & Bigelow, Remembrance Advertising".

...

Rob Astyk

Definitely, Brown & Bigelow was (is?) an advertising and marketing firm. According to Wikipedia they were, during the 1940s, the world's largest publisher of advertising calendars. [For those old enough to remember them, those were the calendars that you received around Christmas time from the local lumber store, hardware store, etc. And very big stuff they were, back there in the days of my youth.]

I'm fairly certainly that my great-uncle made his fortune working for them, selling the advertising that appeared on the calendars. He worked out of San Francisco, having moved there from Nebraska during the Dust Bowl. Unfortunately, all those family records are currently with a cousin, half-a-continent from where I'm typing.

[Rob Astyk]

Hi, John,

Thank you for that information. I rather think that Brown and Bigelow was always an advertising firm but it focus in the 1920s might have been rather different from its focus 20 years later. There is room for some doubt that the advertising firm didn't evolve out of a specialty manufacturing firm. However, that may not be the case too. It would be interesting to know who the principles of Brown and Bigelow, Minnesota Pen and Winter-Robbins were. Was there some overlap? And, most importantly, is there some overlap with George Kraker or some Kraker related company? I would not be suprised to discover that Howard Fischer and Frank Kristofek were officers of Brown and Bigelow who fronted some patents for George Kraker.

All of that would be likely to show up in the records of whatever Minnesota cabinet office handles incorporations/dissolutions and in old city directories or phonebooks.

Take care,

Rob Astyk

[rhr]

George Michael Kraker and his brother Joseph left Sheaffer and started their own company, Kraker Pen Co., by purchasing the Akron Fountain Pen Co., the successor to the Betzler Fountain Pen Co., and then moving the factory machinery from Akron, Ohio, to Kansas City in 1916. But then they lost the factory to the Sheaffer Pen Co. after Kraker lost the court case brought against them by Sheaffer in 1917. He then started up Pencraft Co., located at 117 N. State St., Chicago, Ill., sometime around 1918-19. The "Pencraft" trademark was said to be in use since 1918 but was issued in 1920. Around 1923-24, he purchased the Evenflo Pen Co. and Kleeno Pen Co., and merged them into the Michael George Co., located in Grand Haven, Mich., from 1923-28. They made "Belmont", "Pencraft", "DixiE", and "YankeE" fountain pens and mechanical pencils. Make sure to get the spelling right. They also made pens for Rexall Drugs. The company was reorganized and moved to E. Church St., Libertyville, Ill. in 1928, and were in business into the 30s. There is a David L. Davis design patent from 1930 assigned to the company.

I don't think Kraker had much to do with Brown & Bigelow, who made and marketed their own advertising mechanical pencils, and later ballpoints, as well as the famous "Remembrance Advertising" calendars. Their principles were Herbert H. Bigelow, pres., Frank J. Kristofek, v-pres., Howard L. Fischer. I haven't been able to find out who Brown was. In 1922, they were located on University Avenue, between Syndicate & Hamline Avenues in Quality Park, in St. Paul, Minn. Their "Redipoint" trademark was said to be in use since 1917, but was applied for and issued twice in 1921 and 1922, and then renewed in 1941, and 1948. They merged with Ingersoll in 1923 and changed the name to Ingersoll Redipoint Co., with Herbert H. Bigelow, tres. They were based in New York, and made "Ingersoll" fountain pens and "Redipoint" mechanical pencils. Later the company name became just Redipoint. Howard L. Fischer applied for and received patents between 1910-32, and Frank J. Kristofek applied for and received patents between 1917-31.

Liberty Fountain & Gold Pen Co., with George F. Barrett [no relation to C. E. Barrett] as president, was located at 380 Canal, New York, N. Y. in 1917. By 1920-21, Edward Turnburger was pres., Hazlitt A. Cuppy, sec., and George F. Barrett, tres. I think it was the only Liberty pen, except for one made by Montblanc much later.

Minnesota Pen Co. was located in St Paul, Minn., with a Canadian branch in Weston, Ontario, in 1921, but I don't know that it was related to Kraker. And the same with the Drew Pen Co., and Winter-Robbins, both located in St. Paul, Minn. Winter-Robbins also made fountain pens for Rexall.

George Kovalenko.

[Dennis B]

George Michael Kraker and his brother Joseph left Sheaffer and started their own company, Kraker Pen Co., by purchasing the Akron Fountain Pen Co., the successor to the Betzler Fountain Pen Co., and then moving the factory machinery from Akron, Ohio, to Kansas City in 1916. But then they lost the factory to the Sheaffer Pen Co. after Kraker lost the court case brought against them by Sheaffer in 1917.
George Kovalenko.

George,

Thanks for all the info. Actually, Kraker Pen Co. was incorporated in Missouri in 1914 by Joseph A. Kraker, Harvey G. Craig and Leslie A. Blumenthal, and was in operation for some time before buying Akron in 1916. After the lawsuit, started in 1915, Sheaffer bought control of Kraker, exchanging Sheaffer stock for Kraker stock and paying off Kraker bank debt.

As I pointed out above, Michael-George, Pencraft and Drew were all listed at the same address in Chicago at the same time. I'm sure there is more to be found out about Drew, Minnesota Pen and Winter-Robbins, as well as Evenflo and Kleeno. Unfortunately, Minnesota does not seem to have an online searchable database of corporations like Missouri does.

I previously reported that when George Kraker registered for the draft in Chicago in 1918, he listed his employer as Pencraft. I believe R.W. Lotz provides the connection between George Kraker and Drew.

Of course I'm only speculating based on known facts and what seems to work.

Thanks again,

Dennis B

[rhr]

Thanks for fine-tuning my Kraker chronology, Dennis. I needed to catch up on my reading of the Kraker threads. ;~)

In looking up other pen companies in business directories, I have many times run across this situation where a few companies were "all listed at the same address . . . at the same time". It often ends up to be just a coincidence, because the building turns out to be a skyscraper with many floors and many offices and work spaces on each floor. Also, the pen companies in large cities were often all concentrated in the same area, in the same way that there were jewelry districts, and gold districts, and diamond districts, and shmata districts. Take a look at the concentration of pen companies in the Maiden Lane area in New York, as David Moak pointed out in his Mabie In America CD book. It takes more than just proximity to prove a business connection, although I do agree that these companies were highly promiscuous.

George Kovalenko.

[Tinker]

They merged with Ingersoll in 1923 and changed the name to Ingersoll Redipoint Co., with Herbert H. Bigelow, tres. They were based in New York, and made "Ingersoll" fountain pens and "Redipoint" mechanical pencils. Later the company name became just Redipoint. Howard L. Fischer applied for and received patents between 1910-32, and Frank J. Kristofek applied for and received patents between 1917-31.

George,

Slightly off topic, but thanks for the info about Ingersoll-Redipoint - it makes the St. Paul connection clear. Do you have more information on how they merged with Ingersoll? I know it was William H. Ingersoll, nephew to Robert Ingersoll of Dollar watch fame. William was in charge of advertising and marketing at Robert Ingersoll and Bro. until some time around the companies bankcruptcy and subsequent sale in 1922. Did he start a pen company that merged with Redipoint, or did he invest his way in through some sort of reorganization?

Interesting that two of the former watch company Ingersolls went on to start pen-and-pencil companies - William with Ingersoll Redipoint, and Charles Ingersoll of the Chas Ingersoll Dollar pens. Arthur N Ingersoll (3rd brother to Robert and Charles) went on to make rubber stamps. Robert Ingersoll seems to have gone into retirement and died in 1928.

Anyway, back to Kraker et. al.

John

[Dennis B]

In looking up other pen companies in business directories, I have many times run across this situation where a few companies were "all listed at the same address . . . at the same time". It often ends up to be just a coincidence, because the building turns out to be a skyscraper with many floors and many offices and work spaces on each floor. George Kovalenko.

George,

Absolutely true. I checked a Chicago City Directory, I believe it was for 1928, and there were a lot of companies at 500 N. Dearborn. M-G, Drew, Pencraft were all gone by then to some other location. I wish we could find some Minnesota or Michigan records relation to M-G. We need someone in Minneapolis and someone in Grand Haven, MI, to do some detective work.

Dennis B

[rhr]

John, I would love to be able to give you more information on Redipoint and Ingersoll, but most of my information comes from the spotty holdings of business directories in the genealogy websites such as ancestry.com, and these directories don't have any information on incorporation, and bankcruptcies, and subsequent sales, and mergers, and who invested how much. For that, "someone" will have to do some more digging in the legal databases, and the agencies that have the incorporation files. I think that that "someone" just might be you, John. ;~)

George Kovalenko.

[Tinker]

I think that that "someone" just might be you, John. ;~)

Well, I'm focusing my work on Chas. Ingersoll right now, but Ingersoll Redipoint seems to be on the agenda as well. As much as I can do, at least, between work, family, and being 3000 miles from Newark and New York. Got someone who can offer some help on the Newark part, at least.

John

[Tinker]

They merged with Ingersoll in 1923 and changed the name to Ingersoll Redipoint Co.,

Better move that merger date up to 1922 - Ingersoll Ad.

I also have a Minnesota Pen ad I will post sometime when I can get it scanned.

John

[Jineen]

About a month ago Dennis contacted me after having noticed that I live in a community in which George Kraker had lived and worked; he was trying to recruit a vict.... I mean, a volunteer who could check up on a few things at the local level. A month ago I didn't even know that my community of Libertyville Illinois had once been home to a fountain pen factory. Now I know that one of my regular walks to the public library takes me on the very street on which the George Kraker family had lived.

Since then I've been trying to learn more about fountain pen history as I uncover little details, and try to fit them in their proper places in this huge and confusing jigsaw puzzle. (Yes, there are a few pieces yet to be found!) However, it seems often that the latest piece of information just vanishes into a tangled maze, without any Gordian knot solution in view. But I'm also finding that the combined knowledge of the membership of the Lion & Pen could more than fill several fat tomes! Hence this posting.

After having found ads for Minnesota pens and Winter-Robbins pens and Drew pens, and a Chicago address for Drew pens which in 1923 was in the same building as Michael-George and Pencraft (duplicating the efforts of some of you researchers, I'm sure), and scratching my head over it all, I read Rob Astyk's posting from a year ago outlining the history of the Rexall pens:
My Webpage

"Subsequent contracts for Rexall fountain pens went to the company that produced both the Winter-Robbins and Drew pens in St. Paul, Minnesota (Brown and Bigelow?) and later(?), possibly to George Kraker. Eventually, the contract for Rexall pens went to the Moore Pen Company. ....
By 1926 the Winter-Robbins/Drew manufacturers had the contract. The repair facility was at 1510 Washington Street, Grand Haven, Michigan."

It turns out that the Rexall repair facility was none other than the old Water Works of Grand Haven, home to the Michael-George Co. from 1927 to 1928 (years given in monograph by Walter Ewing, A Chronological Directory of Industries... in Northwest Ottawa County). Yes, our friend George Kraker! The same study mentions that the factory received an order each spring from Rexall for about 5,000,000 pens.

If in this tangled maze we focus only on the Rexall pens for a moment, this raises some questions of chronology: About when did the Moore Pen Co. get the Rexall contract? and along with that, does anyone have information on where Rexall's repair facility was located after 1928? Did the Michael-George Co continue to repair -and to manufacture - Rexall pens in its Libertyville location (1929-1932)? or did another affiliated company do so elsewhere? Or was this the point at which Moore got the contract?

Jineen

[Dennis B]

Jineen,

Welcome to Lion & Pen. Your efforts have been amazing and I'm glad you came on board as a "history detective." It's a fascinating area of pen collecting that far too many people skip. Your assistance is greatly appreciated since the only way we will ever put this pizzle together is collectively.

Roger Wooten sent me a copy of Walter Sheaffer's unpublished autobiography and Roger pointed me to something there I was not aware of before. According to Sheaffer, Sheaffer loaned a patent search file done by his attoney to the Brown and Bigelow Company of St Paul, MN (who was suing him for patent infringment) so that they could sue George Kraker. In that account Sheaffer says George Kraker was the only man in the world he would let someone use that information against. Such bitterness. Sheaffer also says Kraker lost a good deal of money to the Minnesota Pen Co. but the details didn't need to be discussed.

Anyone know anymore about this?

Dennis B

[Rob Astyk]

Hi, Jineen,

Welcome and thank you for the research assistance. This is very valuable work that you and Dennis have been doing. You have together increased our knowledge of George Kraker, his business and his family exponentially in just the last year. We all owe you both great thanks.

Take care,

Rob Astyk

[Jineen]

Thanks for your kind words of welcome, Rob, and Dennis.

It happened already ---- I need to amend my first posting!

According to Ewing the Michael-George Co. was at the 1510 Washington Street address from 1923 to 1928. I had jumped to conclusions that it was there only two years, because of confusion in the history of the water works.

Ewing did say that the Water Works had been at this address, and he does clearly state that the Grand Haven Water Filtration Plant moved to a new location on Sherman St. in 1927. What we do not know is whether the two companies occupied the same building, or whether the water works had been at another location prior to their 1927 move.

Sorry for any confusion!

Jineen

[Tinker]

This thread is rapidly getting entangled with the Rexall thread, but . . .

I recently aquired two Pencraft pens, pictures of which are sitting here a few inches away from my computer, in a digital camera for which I forgot the download cable .

I already posted some info about these over in the Rexall thread in relationship to a Monogram pen over there. Rob Astyk commented that the Monogram pen had ends that he associated with Gold Bond pens, raising the question of whether Gold Bond was a Kraker brand, or Pencraft put together parts turned elsewhere. Hasn't George offered the opinion that Gold Bond was one of the many brands that used C.E. Barrett as their parts supplier?

I took another look inside the two Pencraft pens I have, and both have pretty standard levers, but their pressure bars are not spring-loaded. They have flat preassure bars that attach to a vertical rod in the back of the pen, similar to the way some Wahl's did. The other place where I have seen this type of pressure bar is The Good Service Pen Company - which I believe was also a C.E. Barrett/National project.

So does that make any connections? Do other C.E. Barrett pens also use the post and pressure bar rather than a spring-j-bar, particularly Gold Bond? Could Pencraft have gotten parts from Barrett?

More questions in the whole tangle. . .

John

[Rob Astyk]

Hi, John,

O, yes, it is a tangle. And, yes, Gold Bond is a Barrett product. I'm in the midst of preparation for a major storytelling event on Sunday so I haven't had the time to cross-reference things properly, but you are coming to understand why I've been saying for decades that the pen business was actually very small and very incestuous. In this particular case it's beginning to look like that M.C. Escher print of the stairs that go up and down and always meet.

Take care,

Rob Astyk

[Tinker]

Here are the images.

The larger one was procured from Ebay and came with a Warranted #5 nib.

The smaller one was a local antique store find - somewhat a surprise. It had a broken nib, which I have replaced with a Welty nib (at least keeping the mid-western feel), but I am keeping that broken nib as well - for reasons you might imagine. Anyone ever see a Pencraft Nib?







John