Interesting tidbit for the day.

sixer9682

sixer9682

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Okay, since I'm a librarian I love researching shit. Today my item of interest is Skilcraft US Government Pens. I used these when I was with the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Association and loved the way they wrote. These pens last forever, literally years on one ink cartridge. It writes super smooth, never skips, and never smears.

I found one of these pens in my office at home today and started to look for information about them and here's what I found.

NSN9357135_1_1.jpg


The SKILCRAFT trade name was introduced in 1952. SKILCRAFT focuses on providing expendable property to the government. The SKILCRAFT trade helps employ more than 40,000 blind Americans working for local agencies in 44 states.

Skilcraft supplies are sold by the AbilityOne Program, which is is a coordinated effort on behalf of the Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled, National Industries for the Blind (NIB) and NISH–Creating Employment Opportunities for People with Severe Disabilities. The Skilcraft retractable ballpoint pens stamped “U.S. Government.” are popular with many branches of the Government.
Skilcraft pens are made by seven different agencies for the blind in locations around the country. The black ballpoint is produced by Industries of the Blind in Greensboro, North Carolina and Industries for the Blind in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Fun tidbits about Skilcraft pens:
He offered these bits of trivia about the pen:

  • It’s popular with Navy pilots because it measures 150 nautical miles from end to end on flight maps.
  • The metal tip is exactly the regulation length female service members are allowed to grow their nails.
  • The pen is made to fit into any military uniform pocket without being seen.
  • Some military branches train troops to use the bottom portion of the barrel as an emergency tracheotomy tube.
  • Military members have said that the bottom of the barrel also is the exact length of a two-minute fuse.
Industries of the Blind turns out 2.8 million of the pens each year. The pens cost US$ 72 for 12 dozen. All total, the agency brings in about US$ 7 million making pens for the U.S. government. From that $7 million, operating costs are deducted and the rest and everything that’s left at the end of the year goes into retirement accounts for the workers.
 
I remember them well and probably still have a couple lying around. They were great pens. Yes, they did teach us to use it for tracheotomies. On another medical tip, our ID cards could be used to help stop sucking chest wounds.
 
Yeah, they're great pens and I had no idea they were made by seriously visually impaired or blind people. Who knew? Yeah, I could see that with the ID cards for sucking chest wounds. They'd probably work very well for that, in fact.
 
I wouls say that they are also the most highly thefted pen too, there are always disappearing from my cup'O' pens that I have on my desk..... Cool info Sixer.
 
Yeah SKILLCRAFT pens are OK but they break pretty easily. The other interesting company who supplies us with office supplies and various other things is UNICOR .........

Mission Statement

It is the mission of Federal Prison Industries, Inc. (FPI) to employ and provide job skills training to the greatest practicable number of inmates confined within the Federal Bureau of Prisons; contribute to the safety and security of our Nation's federal correctional facilities by keeping inmates constructively occupied; provide market-quality products and services; operate in a self-sustaining manner; and minimize FPI's impact on private business and labor.


http://www.unicor.gov/


That's right they put Federal prisoners to work.
 
UNICOR also is a major supplier of military uniforms. I knew about skillcraft pens amoung other things. The AF had a store for office supplies and almost all of it is from the Light House.

Now you know why the military over spends on certain items. The $$ role back in another door of the gov!
 
Well, since Renno wouldn't hook me up with some of these pens I actually found them available to the public at Ability One's web site. I only bought a box because, well they last forever. I ordered Monday afternoon and got the box on Wed. morning.
 
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Those pens are pretty sweet, they fit perfectly into every pocket on your uniform, and I remember putting one in the secret pocket on the top of my BDUs. glad to know that tid bit about flight maps, I will definitely check that out.
 
sixer9682 said:
Okay, since I'm a librarian I love researching shit. Today my item of interest is Skilcraft US Government Pens. I used these when I was with the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Association and loved the way they wrote. These pens last forever, literally years on one ink cartridge. It writes super smooth, never skips, and never smears.

I found one of these pens in my office at home today and started to look for information about them and here's what I found.

NSN9357135_1_1.jpg


The SKILCRAFT trade name was introduced in 1952. SKILCRAFT focuses on providing expendable property to the government. The SKILCRAFT trade helps employ more than 40,000 blind Americans working for local agencies in 44 states.

Skilcraft supplies are sold by the AbilityOne Program, which is is a coordinated effort on behalf of the Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled, National Industries for the Blind (NIB) and NISH–Creating Employment Opportunities for People with Severe Disabilities. The Skilcraft retractable ballpoint pens stamped “U.S. Government.” are popular with many branches of the Government.

Skilcraft pens are made by seven different agencies for the blind in locations around the country. The black ballpoint is produced by Industries of the Blind in Greensboro, North Carolina and Industries for the Blind in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Fun tidbits about Skilcraft pens:
He offered these bits of trivia about the pen:

  • It’s popular with Navy pilots because it measures 150 nautical miles from end to end on flight maps.
  • The metal tip is exactly the regulation length female service members are allowed to grow their nails.
  • The pen is made to fit into any military uniform pocket without being seen.
  • Some military branches train troops to use the bottom portion of the barrel as an emergency tracheotomy tube.
  • Military members have said that the bottom of the barrel also is the exact length of a two-minute fuse.
Industries of the Blind turns out 2.8 million of the pens each year. The pens cost US$ 72 for 12 dozen. All total, the agency brings in about US$ 7 million making pens for the U.S. government. From that $7 million, operating costs are deducted and the rest and everything that’s left at the end of the year goes into retirement accounts for the workers.
Click to expand...


Necro thread:

Also of note:

 
MacN8r said:
I remember them well and probably still have a couple lying around. They were great pens. Yes, they did teach us to use it for tracheotomies. On another medical tip, our ID cards could be used to help stop sucking chest wounds.
Click to expand...

This one of the few TBG threads that involves the words "tip" and "sucking" that doesn't have to be hidden from wives or kids.

Yes, I just went there. :)
 
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