This is a collection of bits and pieces which don't fall neatly into any other section. Hopefully you'll find something of interest somewhere. I've also jotted down a few ideas for care of the plastic.
The Howell Factory On Film
In 1912, Hertfordshire film pioneer Arthur Melbourne-Cooper documented the making of walking sticks at Henry Howell & Co. Ltd. That film is now stored in the East Anglian Film Archive, owned and operated by the University of East Anglia, Norwich (UEA). The film was made well before the production of YZ articles began but it gives a fascinating insight into the scale of the business and of techniques used.
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The East Anglian Film Archive website provides the following information:
"Supplies from across the globe are gathered at the Henry Howell & Co. factory on Old Street in London; pimento from the West Indies, ash from England. Inside the factory, workers shape hazel on a bandsaw and bend rattan to form crook handles, whilst rough sticks are heated in a kiln ready for straightening. A wider shot shows employees in one of the company's cramped but busy workshops. A medium shot shows a worker cutting silver ready for mounting.
Once shaped and straightened, each stick is carefully tested and examined, before being adorned with hand-chased silver mounts or engraved silver handles. Each stick-end is then sanded ready to be fitted with a ferrule cap to protect these ends from wear and tear. The despatch room is as busy as the workshop, as stock is pulled from storage and orders are prepared for delivery. A completed order, placed in a large box bound for Philadelphia, is loaded onto the street. As the day draws to an end, workers are shown leaving the factory, with just enough time for a bit of fun out the back, where two employees demonstrate 'the long and the short' of working for Howell's."
Henry Howell & The Old Bailey
Given the size of Henry Howell's manufacturing operation, it would be surprising if some theft of stock had never occurred. These pages from the records of The Old Bailey, November 16,1903 detail a prosecution for theft of umbrella handles from Henry Howell & Co and from J. Husbands & Company, a wholesale umbrella and blouse manufacturer.
Henry Howell's Australian Influence
This is an extract from an issue of the Queenslander newspaper, reporting Henry Howell's involvement in Australia's attempts to find commercial outlets for its native plant species.
An Oddly Different Patent
On February 20th, 1926, Henry Howell & Co Ltd submitted an application to the Patent Office. The patent - no. 264,035 (no. 1,622,196, filed March 23, 1926 and patented March 22, 1927, in the US) - for 'Improvements in or relating to Smokers Companions, Ash-trays, Match or Cigarette Containers and Like Smokers Requisites' was granted on January 13th, 1927. An owl's eyes were intended to light up when a match was struck. Suggested future modifications were that 'the switch may be operated by the opening of a lid of a cigarette container, or by other hand operated part'.
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This patent was also given a mention in the 'Patents and Trademarks' section of the April, 1927 edition of 'The Fancy Goods Record'. In November, 1927, the 'Blinking Owl' appeared in a YZ promotional article in 'The Fancy Goods Trader'.
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The full Patent Specification can be found here.
(A pdf reader is necessary to read the document: eg. Foxit Reader or Adobe Reader)
The End of Henry Howell & Co
The Fourth Kingdom
The Fourth Kingdom is a 29 minute promotional film made in 1937 by the Bakelite Corporation. It presents Bakelite as part of a fourth kingdom created by chemical research and tells the story of the production of phenolic resin materials and the rapid expansion of uses for them since the invention of Bakelite in 1907. It's an interesting overview of the history, manufacture and uses of phenolic resins.
Keeping your collection in the right environment will go a long way towards preventing problems developing. Plastics deteriorate and break down with age, just like other materials, and phenolic resin may be changed by exposure to high temperatures, damp, direct sunlight, perfume or other chemicals such as smoke.
Should you need to clean or polish the plastic, the best product I've found is the strangely named "Paste Polishing No. 5", which brings a satisfying gloss back to the material. It's made by Greygate Chemical Products Limited, Brunel Way, Stephenson Industrial Estate, Coalvillle, Leicestershire. LE67 3HF, telephone 01530 839222 - though an Amazon or eBay search will quickly find a supplier. It is mildly abrasive, and so should be used with care, but its action is gentle enough that it shouldn't cause any problems. It also works well on the polished surfaces of Tagua nuts.
If a slightly more aggressive cleaning/polishing is needed, Autosol metal polish is very effective - search on Amazon or eBay.
Cotton buds are useful for getting into awkward crevices and, for really difficult to reach areas, pipe cleaners can be a life saver.
General restoration techniques are beyond the scope of this site but, should you have a specific problem, I'll be happy to help out with advice if I can.
