Harris, Carl C.

The noble Slencil

Carl Chester Harris was born May 9, 1880 in Orange, Massachusetts to Nelson Elvirus Harris and Evie Sophia Sawyer. Carl’s first marriage was to Marie Elizabeth Stewart on August 23, 1905 in Boston. They had three children before Marie’s death on November 10, 1914. He remarried before 1918 to Marion Felton and had two sons with her. It was his son Earl from this marriage, who joined Rodney Hunt Machine Company and took over the management when Carl retired in 1956. Carl C. Harris passed away on April 4, 1960 at the age of 79.

At the age of 18 while still in school, Carl began his first entrepreneurial endeavor by starting and running the Home Telephone Co. He ran it for approximately a year before selling it to an outside interest. By the time of his first marriage, Carl was already employed at Rodney Hunt Machine Company as an agent and at the beginning of a long and successful, if eccentric, career with the company. When Carl registered in 1918 for duty in World War I, he was remarried and was Vice President and Treasurer of Rodney Hunt Machine Company. The following year he became a member of the Masons and maintained an unblemished membership until his death. When World War II arrived, Carl was President of the machine shop, when he registered for duty at the age of 61.

Other early endeavors included C.C. Harris & Co. and The Harris Register Company. Under the auspice of the C.C. Harris & Co., two of Carl’s earliest inventions were The Harris “Wrench-less” Tool Post and the personal toiletry item called the Climax Pocket Instrument. One of his earlier patents for this company was for a Time Keeping Device, which was officially patented in 1913. This system was eventually referred to as the Harris or Unigraph Individual Time-Keeping System during its lifespan. The Harris Pocket Adder was created by Carl under the auspice of C.C. & Harris Co., but was marketed by The Harris Register Company, a subsidiary of the former company. This early interest in marketing, as well as the model of subsidiaries, served him well throughout his career.

Eventually, Carl, following in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps, started working for Rodney Hunt Machine Company, where he helped create not only an Automatic Water Wheel Control, but also a Motor Operated Gate. This did nothing to curb his curiosity and the need to improve or create products for various aspects of people’s lives from the office to recreation. The items for the office or home included plastic hinge box, bottle stamp pad, Good Will Cup (for smokers), Pendex, an open desktop filing system, and the card flipper, which appears to be an early version of a roll-a-dex. At this time his main effort in devising products for recreation was focused on the beach front and included an “Airplane” Slide, Corker-Bobbers, which are floatation devices, and an umbrella support. Carl was even able to pull ideas for products from newspaper articles as demonstrated by his safety ladder, which he devised after reading an article the detailed the ineffectiveness of regular ladders during an unsuccessful attempt to save three children who had fallen through the ice.

With his next endeavors, Carl created his first subsidiary named Rivet-O Manufacturing Company. Once again Carl’s inventions covered a range from toys to improving business/office efficiency. Among the toys he created are the Spirit of Chance Game and the Rivet-O Toy and Punches. For the Rivet-O Toy, various kits, designs and booklets were created, which allowed children to assemble the items with plastic rivets, while playing quietly for hours. On the other hand, there were the products for the office including the Speed-Mo Line, whose main focus was stamp pads, envelope moisteners and typewriter cleaner. With this last product, Carl demonstrated his ability to multipurpose a product by marketing it as a spot remover for clothing. Additional products, included Sten-Roll, used for stenciling labels onto boxes, and a stamp pad testing machine.

Carl’s second subsidiary was The Slencil Co., whose main product was the Slencil, a flat mechanical pencil. Carl demonstrated his ingenuity for marketing by envisioning sales both directly to the public as well as to businesses for giveaways and eventually advertising. Slencils were originally constructed of metal and named Socials and were eventually made of plastic and called Stags. In addition, Carl invented various clip styles and products to be used in conjunction with Slencils. He also focused on creating displays to properly showcase the products to different segments of the public. The most successful of these was the Adjusto Display unit, which could be properly viewed no matter on what shelf it was placed.

It is during the Rivet-O and Slencil years that Carl built up a connection with various patent law firms and a personal rapport with specific patent lawyers. It is with these lawyers that Carl was able to obtain patents and trademarks in Canada and various European countries. In addition, when physical examples of products were needed or if there were production complications, Carl came to rely on four individuals at the factories. These gentlemen were Earle Bean, Howard Day, Bob Sisson and Dick Waterman.

Carl C. Harris was a gentleman, whose creativity combined with his ability to work tirelessly allowed him to successfully invent items to fill needs or improve various aspects of public or business life. In addition, his ingenuity led him to successfully market items to different segments of the population. He was never one to rest upon his laurels or to be content if improvements could be made, which is demonstrated by the innumerable Slencil variations and products. It is because of his ability to keep moving forward, even when faced with an occasional setback combined with his civility, patience, professionalism and ingenuity that allowed Carl C. Harris to become the success he was.