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Autopoint Pencils 1981, Autopoint Inc., Robert L. Bolin Depositor

Autopoint Pencils Trade Catalogs

The Autopoint Company was founded in Chicago around 1920 and grew dramatically in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. It pioneered use of Bakelite and other plastics to create mechanical pencils. It specialized in production of advertising pencils. By the 1960s, Autopoint had a sales force spread across the country, a large array of products, a factory in Chicago, and a corporate apparatus. It produced tens of thousands of pens a year.

Although Autopoint had had a number of corporate owners, it had operated as a free-standing company until the 1960s. In the late 1960s, new corporate owners dismantled the corporate …

Autopoint Imprinted Chart Availability Catalog [C.1981], Autopoint Inc., Robert L. Bolin Depositor

Autopoint Pencils Trade Catalogs

Around 1980, businessmen in Janesville, WI, bought Autopoint from Papermate and established Autopoint Janesville as a small business with a few employees and small-scale manufacturing and sales operations. In 1981, the new Autopoint company issued a new catalog to advertise itself to the world.

This catalog was apparently issued to accompany the 1981 catalog. Autopoint has sold advertising pencils for many years. One way advertisers have increased the value of their pencils by imprinting them with calendars and useful charts and tables. This catalog lists charts and tables that are available for printing on pencils.

Although it is not dated, …

Autopoint 1982, Autopoint Janesville, Robert L. Bolin Depositor

Autopoint Pencils Trade Catalogs

Around 1980, businessmen in Janesville, WI, bought Autopoint from Gillette which had been manufacturing Autopoint pencils for about 10 years. They established Autopoint Janesville as a small business with few employees and a small-scale manufacturing and sales operations. In 1981, the new Autopoint company issued a catalog to advertise itself to the world

This is the second catalog issued by the new Autopoint Janesville company. It is accompanied with a Special Order Form and a cover letter signed by David Griffiths, the president.

Interestingly, Autopoint had resumed using product names in addition to Model numbers for its pencils. The “Twin …