Birmingham pen trade same time Osmiroid International had a large production plant in the city. Birmingham pen trade The Birmingham pen trade evolved in the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter and its surrounding area in the 19th century; for many years, the city was the centre of the world's pen trade. In Newhall Street, John Mitchell manufactured pens; he pioneered mass production of steel pens (prior to this, the quill pen was the most common form of writing instrument). Mitchells are credited as being the first manufacturers to use machines to cut pen nibs, greatly speeding up the process. John's brother William later set up
Joseph Gillott's (pens) the price was reduced from one shilling each to 4 pence a gross. His son, also Joseph, continued the family business of manufacturing steel pen nibs and continued to live in the Birmingham area, close to the large factory on Graham Street in the Jewellery Quarter, known as the Victoria Works. Nevertheless, the decreasing production of dip pens and the subsequent demise of the industry in Birmingham is often blamed on the invention of the ballpoint pen in 1938 by the Hungarian Laszlo Biro. In 1920, when Hinks Wells & Co and William Mitchell came together at the Pedigree Works