Factory for Mabie Todd & Company Limited, Liverpool: the assembly line

NOTES: Mabie Todd & Company, famous for Swan pens and ink, began producing dip pens and mechanical pencils in New York City in the 1840s and took out its first fountain pen patent in 1878. A London office was opened in 1884 and the manufacture of pens in the UK began around 1909. The Company's prosperity declined after World War II and production ceased before the end of the 1950s.