Sharpener, Tool

Object number2008.98.1 a-c

Datec. 1900

MediumCarborundum; Paper

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

DescriptionBar of carborundum with cardboard box.Dimensions1 in. (2.5 cm)
Marks(a)
On front edge, gold metallic sticker with red & blue print, "...Y / ...UNDUM / ...OXIDE".

(b)
"A Product by / CARBORUNDUM / TRADEMARK". On left side, "431" and "ALO" in corners; "8x2x1 / COMBINATION / SHARPENING STONE / BY CARBORUNDUM". On front and back sides, "THE CARBORUNDUM COMPANY [image of waterfall with "CARBORUNDUM"] NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK".

(c)
Printed on base, "DIRECTIONS FOR USE / U...A THIN CLEAR ONLY IF STONE CUTS TOO RAPIDLY / TEMPER BY SOAKING THE STONE IN A PAN OF HOT / PETROLEUM JELLY, FILLING THE PORES F THE STONE / FOR CLEANING STONE WASHI WITH KEROSENE / THE CARBORUNDUM COMPANY / NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y., UNITED STATES OF AMERICA".
Historical NotesEdward Acheson was an inventor and entrepreneur from Washington County, Pennsylvania. He had worked for Edison and Westinghouse at one time. In 1890, while experimenting in his lab, he accidentally created a hard abrasive substance he called "carborundum" because he thought it was a mixture of carbon and corundum and found it to be a useful abrasive. A year later, he created the Carborundum Company in Monongahela, Pennsylvania--one of the "Mellon Companies" that existed or thrived because of loans from the Mellon brothers of T. Mellon & Sons Bank--to market his substance; in 1895, the company moved to Niagara Falls for cheaper power sources. It was a very successful company and still exists today as a part of Saint-Gobain Abrasives.Label TextSometime in the mid-1890s, a desperate Edward Acheson walked into Andrew Mellon’s office, picked up his glass paperweight, pulled a strange substance from his pocket—the abrasive carborundum—and etched a line into it. Acheson needed more money to keep his fledgling Carborundum Company afloat. Impressed with the product, Mellon agreed to provide him with capital. The company met with success, but Acheson’s poor management skills led to his dismissal and replacement by a Mellon associate in 1901.

Related person Edward Acheson

Related institution T. Mellon and Sons Bank

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