Autopoint Company
Encyclopedia
History
Autopoint was founded by Frank C. DeliFrank C. Deli
Frank Deli was a Chicago businessman.Deli was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and emigrated to the United States in 1903....
, Michael M. Kaufmann
Michael M. Kaufmann
Michael Kaufmann was a Chicago businessman.In the early 1920s, Kaufmann helped found the Autopoint Company. He helped pioneer the use of plastics to make mechanical pencils. Around 1925, Kaufmann sold his holdings in Autopoint to the Bakelite Corporation. Later, he invested in a machine shop...
, and John P. Lynn
John P. Lynn
John P. Lynn was a Chicago businessman.After serving in France during World War I, Lynn returned to Chicago. Around 1920, he was one of the founders of the Autopoint Company. He helped pioneer the use of plastics to make mechanical pencils. Around 1925, Lynn sold his holdings in Autopoint to the...
around 1920. They used the name "Realite Pencil Company." They worked with Lawrence V. Redman
Lawrence V. Redman
Lawrence V. Redman , was a Canadian chemist and businessman who spent much of his adult life in the United States.Redman was a pioneer in the industrial applications of plastics.-Biography:...
of the Redmanol Company to develop techniques for molding plastic bodies for pencils. They took out several patents on plastic molds. The company continued to do business with Redmanol, and later with Bakelite Corporation after Redmanol had been merged into it.
In the early 1920s, they made a business alliance with Charles Keeran
Charles R. Keeran
Charles Rood Keeran was an Illinois inventor and businessman.-Biography:He was born on 16 April 1883 on a farm near Bloomington, Illinois. Having an inventive father, William Lee Keeran, C.R. Keeran grew up with a creative spirit...
, who had been the founder of the Eversharp Pencil Company. Keeran had previously registered the trademark "Autopoint." Eventually, the company took the name Autopoint. The company continued to used the brand name "Realite" for its line of less expensive pencils until World War II.
Around 1925, the Bakelite Corporation gained a controlling interest in the Autopoint Company. Bakelite bought out founders Kaufmann and Lynn, and appointed a president who reported to Bakelite. Deli remained an officer of the Autopoint Company until his death in 1946. Bakelite did not integrate Autopoint into its organization but operated Autopoint as a separate company.
The Autopoint trademark (No. 125,149) was registered by Keeran on April 15, 1919. The trademark was used by the Autopoint Company in Chicago from the 1920s to the 1970s. It is now used by Autopoint, Inc., in Janesville, Wisconsin
Janesville, Wisconsin
Janesville is a city in southern Wisconsin, United States. It is the county seat of Rock County and the principal municipality of the Janesville, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 62,998.-History:...
.
In 1951, the Cory Corporation
Cory Corporation
Harvey Cory patented his glass filter rod design , for which the patent was granted in 1939.In 1951, the Cory Corporation, a Chicago company, bought Autopoint from Union Carbide. Cory operated Autopoint as a division appointing the president....
, a Chicago company, bought Autopoint from Union Carbide
Union Carbide
Union Carbide Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company. It currently employs more than 2,400 people. Union Carbide primarily produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more further conversions by customers before reaching consumers. Some are high-volume...
which had acquired Bakelite in 1939. Cory operated Autopoint as a division appointing the president. In the 1950s, Julius Lederer served as president of Autopoint.
Autopoint was a job shop preparing advertising pencils for many different companies. In the 1950s and 1960s, their product line also included a number of other desk top accessories.
In the 1967, the Hershey Chocolate Corporation
The Hershey Company
The Hershey Company, known until April 2005 as the Hershey Foods Corporation and commonly called Hershey's, is the largest chocolate manufacturer in North America. Its headquarters are in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which is also home to Hershey's Chocolate World. It was founded by Milton S...
bought the Cory Corporation
Cory Corporation
Harvey Cory patented his glass filter rod design , for which the patent was granted in 1939.In 1951, the Cory Corporation, a Chicago company, bought Autopoint from Union Carbide. Cory operated Autopoint as a division appointing the president....
. A few years later, Hershey sold Autopoint to Gillette which merged it with its Papermate
Papermate
Paper Mate is a registered division of Sanford L.P., a Newell Rubbermaid company that produces writing instruments. Paper Mate's offices are located in Oak Brook, IL. along with Newell Rubbermaid's other office products.-History:...
division. Gillette dismantled the Autopoint sales organization, sold the Autopoint plant in Chicago, and sold or discontinued much of its product line. The pencils that Gillette continued to produce were reengineered to allow more interchangeability of parts between the different types of pencils.
Around 1980, Gillette sold the Autopoint name and remainder of the product line to a group of business men from Janesville, Wisconsin. They founded Autopoint Inc. which continues to manufacture and sell pencils and other products under the Autopoint brand.