Autopoint Company
4619-25 Ravenswood Ave,
Chicago

1927 Catalog


This catalog was in the collection of the late Dick Laymon who was associated with Autopoint for more than 50 years. The date March 1927 is written in pencil on the back cover. That could well be the publication date since the "new oversize" pencil listed in the catalog first appeared in advertisements in November 1926. 
The catalog is a single piece of paper 13.5 inches by 6.25 inches printed front and back. It was folded in the middle and then in the middle again. If read like a book, the page showing a green pencil would be the front cover, the page headed "Imprinted Autopoints" would be the left-hand page, the page headed "Autopoint Points" would be the right-hand page, and the page showing a red oversize pencil would be the back cover. 
The reverse contains a list of Autopoint products. It is arranged as one long, narrow page.
The catalog was scanned in four parts. Click on the thumbnail to see the digitized image at about twice the size of the original. 
  • Two images of the parts read like a book. 
  • Two images of the reverse showing the product listing. 
    • Notes: 
    1. The Realite pencil company which is mentioned was a precursor of the Autopoint company. As late as the beginning of World War II, Autopoint sold pencils under the "Realite" name. The Realite pencils were a less expensive line but still were excellent pencils. 
    2. Numbers 1-52 are used as model numbers. Some numbers were not used in this catalog -- 3-6, 8, 10, 20, 29, 41, 43-51. 
    3. The numbering suggests that this is the third catalog using this system of model numbers. 
      • The first catalog might have used model numbers 1-10 to list the basic "standard" and "double tip" pencils. 
      • After they introduced "regular," "de luxe," and "checking" pencils and a variety of leads and erasers, Autopoint put out a catalog in which numbers 1-29 were used for pencils and 30-40, for erasers and leads. 
      • Introduction of the "New Oversize" pencils required issuance of this catalog and use of numbers greater than 40 for the oversize pencils. 
    4. Letters used with model numbers indicate variants. 
      5. C 
      Models 1C and 2C use "THICK (CHECKING)" lead. Also, models 9 and 21-28 are "Checking AUTOPOINTS," but those model numbers are not used with a C . 
      X 
      Stands for "Vest Pocket Size." 
      XR 
      Stands for "Ladies Size" -- a short pencil with a ring on the cap over the eraser. 
    5. Two different clips are mentioned. Those are illustrated on the two "cover" pages. The red "oversize" pencil has the "ball clip." The green pencil shows the older flat clip. 

    6. Pencils with and without caps over the erasers are mentioned. The "bell cap" which goes over the eraser is shown in the picture above. Models 1C and 2C, Checking Autopoints, have a plain metal caps (not shaped like a bell) and no erasers. 
    7. The "Thin (writing)" lead is 0.046 inches in diameter. Today, that lead -- which is sold now as 1.1mm lead -- is considered huge, but in 1927 that was the standard lead for mechanical pencils. 
    8. The "Thick (checking)" lead is 0.076 inches in diameter. By the 1960s, the only pencil using checking lead was the Model No. 10 double-ended pencil. 

    Version 2.01, 9 October 2004
    © 2004 by Robert L. Bolin. All rights reserved
    Voice: (402) 472-2731 | Email: rbolin2@unl.edu