Wm. K. Rockman (Guanleming): The Shanghai Years, Part 1

January 15, 2014

Previously I wrote a piece on the early years of the Wm. K. Rockman firm - now best known as Guanleming - in New York City, from its establishment in 1926, to its move to Shanghai in 1928.

As I stated before, the lack of verified information is a huge problem when researching the histories of firms based in China, so the following account is the best I can manage by piecing together snippets of information scattered all over the place; you can consider it as working hypothesis awaiting verification.

Guan Chongchang left NYC, along with his family, the machinery and materials from his NYC factory; basically he was determined to make a brand new start. When he arrived in Shanghai, he rented one or more buildings on Connaught Road (now known as Kangding Road) as his new factory, and he hired a fellow southerner, Gan Hanhui who was a college graduate in commerce, as his assistant. A new staff was hired to build his patented fountain brushes, presumably using existing parts. Right away, something went horribly wrong.

His patented fountain brush stopped working altogether.

The whole concept and design of the fountain brush were created within the American context, where traditional writing brushes and inks were not avaiable. Also, the papers in the US were made using short fibres with a high level of sizing, pressed under a much higher pressure after couching, making them less absorbent. However, in China, supply of writing brushes and inks were plentiful, and they were also optimized to go with the papers used there: they were made using much longer fibres, pressed under a low pressure after couching, and relatively absorbent. This also made pigment ink with a hide glue binder a perfect match, but the fountain brush required ink to be fed down the whole kolinsky brush head due to capillary action, thus demanding a dye ink rather than a pigment ink. Filled with pigment ink, its ink supply became permanently blocked very quickly; filled with its matching dye ink, it bled terribly as soon as the brush tip touched the paper. That's a total disaster for Guan and the Rockman company.

It was actually quite strange that Guan tried to persevere with the fountain brush for more than a day, but he did try: few of these fountain brushes were sold and soon enough, his capital ran dry. It would be impossible to know if further units were built in Shanghai with newly-made parts, or they only used existing NY-made parts.

One could only speculate how things would have turned out if he started to build regular fountain pens as soon as he arrived in Shanghai: he would not have lost his investments due to an unsuitable product for the market. On the other hand, he was stuck with the machinery and parts, and he could not have waves a magic wand to make them suitable for building fountain pens.

The best he could do was to build up capital again to re-tool his facilities for the production of fountain pens. New investments were sought in the US and Shanghai in 1929, and finally he was able to get enough money to progress further. As a result, the company was restructured and acquired a new name. While I know its name in Chinese, I am not sure about it in English, but it might have been something like "Wm. K. Rockman Pens Holdings Co. Ltd."

A new team was gathered. The CEO was a man called Liang Guanliu who was also general manager of the Guangdong Bank. Among the directors were Gan and the general manager of a major insurance firm Chen Yisheng, who was destined to play an intriguing role further down the line. Finally, they're able to build fountain pens, but they still had to rely on imported materials and parts, such as nibs from UK and Japan.

The Mukden Incident on 18th September 1931 was the prelude to all-out war between China and Japan; anti-Japanese sentiment was running hot in China, making Japanese products hard to sell. This became difficult for the Rockman firm as they had to rely on Japanese-sourced materials. Knowing it was necessary to do as much in-house work as possible, they started sourcing stainless steel sheets from Germany for making their own nibs. Iridium tipping was first done by an experienced Japanese technican, who had to work in secret due to his nationality, but Gan also learned to do it, thus eliminating the stigma of hiring a Japanese national. Gan also mastered the technique of colouring steel, which gives a golden tint: sure he was general manager and a director, but his job was indeed very hands-on.

From what can be asertained, only limited quantities of pens were built in the first years of pen production, and the styling of these pens actually bore a resemblance to the brush pens, such as Chinese markings running down the barrel. There is evidence that Quan kept in touch with his distribution network in NYC and even sold some there. In other words, there is a chance not only for NYC-built fountain brushes to be found in the US, but also early Shanghai-built fountain pens too.

With the support of local industries growing, Rockman was able to source components from newly established specialist makers, thus increasing local content. However, even if promoted as an all-Chinese products, the synthetic materials still needed to be imported; so they had to receive them somewhere else, repackaged, and then transported to the factory. In 1936, Quan sent Gan Hanhui to a secret mission to Japan to learn the technique of pressure moulding - a technique generally used for phenolic resins - and to source materials, and he was successful in his quest. The result was the compact pen, Model 50.

After the start of the Battle of Shanghai on 13th August 1937 the factory stopped operation for some time, but returned to production the following year. In 1939, production reached 200 gross per month, including some which were in colours rather than black. However, as Shanghai fell in late 1941, production basically ended, and Guan Leming, after whom the company was named, died in 1945, that affected Guan Chongchang so badly that he never recovered.

Next time I shall relate the behind-the-scene cloak-and-dagger manoeuvres which had impacts way beyond the boardroom and factory walls.

Edited January 15, 2014 by Seele

January 25, 2014

Thanks for sharing your interesting research.

Do you know if their model 38 was made in NYC or in Shanghai?

January 26, 2014

I am not familiar with their Model 38; a picture would be helpful! But as far as I know, only their patented fountain brush was made in the US, all pens with nibs were built first in Shanghai, and much later, in Changsu.

January 26, 2014

I have a red model 38, a lever-fill pen. I don't have any picture of it, but I'll try to do some next week. The clip has the same imprint as your model 50, but the barrel imprint is different. It looks like a mid or late 20's American pen and it might be a NYC brush pen, though the brush is missing.

January 26, 2014

It sounds quite likely to be a regular pen with a nib, and Shanghai-built rather than Changsu or New York; the brush pens, even if built in Shanghai, could have been assembled using NY-made parts, and the markings on the barrel is quite distinctive, with Chinese writings running down the barrel, a style adopted by the first nib pens made in Shanghai after the regrouping of the firm.

That said I am looking forward to seeing your example; thank you in advance!

May 22, 2016

Apologies for digging up this old thread. I have just chanced upon this print ad for Rockman's fountain brush, probably from the late 20s or early 30s.

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x101/Seele2015au/WritingInstruments/RockmansFountainBrushAd_zpshncfy1sq.jpg

In English it says:

William K. Rockman Company

Chinese-made product

Latest invention, different from all others

Self-inking writing brush

Introduced after more than a decade of development, a new era in Chinese industries, and the tool to promote culture

497 Connaught Road, Shanghai

Telephone 45263.

And in the middle the four characters means "smooth-writing ink" which was the name given to the pigment ink formulated for use with the fountain brush.

Also, here is another print ad, probably slightly later and somewhat cropped along the bottom edge, showing both fountain brush and pen.

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x101/Seele2015au/WritingInstruments/RockmanPenAndBrush_zpsvprwxl71.png

Hope this is of some interest.

Edited May 22, 2016 by Seele

September 29, 2017

Previously I wrote a piece on the early years of the Wm. K. Rockman firm - now best known as Guanleming - in New York City, from its establishment in 1926, to its move to Shanghai in 1928.

As I stated before, the lack of verified information is a huge problem when researching the histories of firms based in China, so the following account is the best I can manage by piecing together snippets of information scattered all over the place; you can consider it as working hypothesis awaiting verification.

Guan Chongchang left NYC, along with his family, the machinery and materials from his NYC factory; basically he was determined to make a brand new start. When he arrived in Shanghai, he rented one or more buildings on Connaught Road (now known as Kangding Road) as his new factory, and he hired a fellow southerner, Gan Hanhui who was a college graduate in commerce, as his assistant. A new staff was hired to build his patented fountain brushes, presumably using existing parts. Right away, something went horribly wrong.

His patented fountain brush stopped working altogether.

The whole concept and design of the fountain brush were created within the American context, where traditional writing brushes and inks were not avaiable. Also, the papers in the US were made using short fibres with a high level of sizing, pressed under a much higher pressure after couching, making them less absorbent. However, in China, supply of writing brushes and inks were plentiful, and they were also optimized to go with the papers used there: they were made using much longer fibres, pressed under a low pressure after couching, and relatively absorbent. This also made pigment ink with a hide glue binder a perfect match, but the fountain brush required ink to be fed down the whole kolinsky brush head due to capillary action, thus demanding a dye ink rather than a pigment ink. Filled with pigment ink, its ink supply became permanently blocked very quickly; filled with its matching dye ink, it bled terribly as soon as the brush tip touched the paper. That's a total disaster for Guan and the Rockman company.

It was actually quite strange that Guan tried to persevere with the fountain brush for more than a day, but he did try: few of these fountain brushes were sold and soon enough, his capital ran dry. It would be impossible to know if further units were built in Shanghai with newly-made parts, or they only used existing NY-made parts.

One could only speculate how things would have turned out if he started to build regular fountain pens as soon as he arrived in Shanghai: he would not have lost his investments due to an unsuitable product for the market. On the other hand, he was stuck with the machinery and parts, and he could not have waves a magic wand to make them suitable for building fountain pens.

The best he could do was to build up capital again to re-tool his facilities for the production of fountain pens. New investments were sought in the US and Shanghai in 1929, and finally he was able to get enough money to progress further. As a result, the company was restructured and acquired a new name. While I know its name in Chinese, I am not sure about it in English, but it might have been something like "Wm. K. Rockman Pens Holdings Co. Ltd."

A new team was gathered. The CEO was a man called Liang Guanliu who was also general manager of the Guangdong Bank. Among the directors were Gan and the general manager of a major insurance firm Chen Yisheng, who was destined to play an intriguing role further down the line. Finally, they're able to build fountain pens, but they still had to rely on imported materials and parts, such as nibs from UK and Japan.

The Mukden Incident on 18th September 1931 was the prelude to all-out war between China and Japan; anti-Japanese sentiment was running hot in China, making Japanese products hard to sell. This became difficult for the Rockman firm as they had to rely on Japanese-sourced materials. Knowing it was necessary to do as much in-house work as possible, they started sourcing stainless steel sheets from Germany for making their own nibs. Iridium tipping was first done by an experienced Japanese technican, who had to work in secret due to his nationality, but Gan also learned to do it, thus eliminating the stigma of hiring a Japanese national. Gan also mastered the technique of colouring steel, which gives a golden tint: sure he was general manager and a director, but his job was indeed very hands-on.

From what can be asertained, only limited quantities of pens were built in the first years of pen production, and the styling of these pens actually bore a resemblance to the brush pens, such as Chinese markings running down the barrel. There is evidence that Quan kept in touch with his distribution network in NYC and even sold some there. In other words, there is a chance not only for NYC-built fountain brushes to be found in the US, but also early Shanghai-built fountain pens too.

With the support of local industries growing, Rockman was able to source components from newly established specialist makers, thus increasing local content. However, even if promoted as an all-Chinese products, the synthetic materials still needed to be imported; so they had to receive them somewhere else, repackaged, and then transported to the factory. In 1936, Quan sent Gan Hanhui to a secret mission to Japan to learn the technique of pressure moulding - a technique generally used for phenolic resins - and to source materials, and he was successful in his quest. The result was the compact pen, Model 50.

After the start of the Battle of Shanghai on 13th August 1937 the factory stopped operation for some time, but returned to production the following year. In 1939, production reached 200 gross per month, including some which were in colours rather than black. However, as Shanghai fell in late 1941, production basically ended, and Guan Leming, after whom the company was named, died in 1945, that affected Guan Chongchang so badly that he never recovered.

Next time I shall relate the behind-the-scene cloak-and-dagger manoeuvres which had impacts way beyond the boardroom and factory walls.

Hello Seele,

Here are something from Japanese document 中華民國實業家名鑑 The Index of ROC's entrepreneurs.

I translated it into Chinese and English:

關勒銘自來水筆公司

Ppronounce:Kwan-la-ming-shih-la-mow-sui-pie-kung-sze〈關勒銘自來墨水筆公司〉

Rockman Inc., Wm. K.

所在地上海康腦脫路四九七五O一號

LocationNo.497-No.501, Connaught Road, Shanghai

設立一九二八年〔一九二六年〕

Found in 1928(1926)

資本150000元

Capitalism:$150000

公司形式股份有限公司

Type of Companyincorporated company

取引銀行〈资金存放银行的意思〉上海商業儲蓄銀行、中南銀行

Bank of depositShanghai Commercial and Savings Bank, China & South Sea Bank

設备機械十五臺馬達一臺二五馬力〈25馬力〉

Instrument: Machine x 15, a motor with 25 horse power

從業員五人

Number of staff: 5

製品萬年筆、萬年毛筆、墨汁、墨水

Product: Fountain pen, fountain brush, Chinese ink and ink.

商标Rockman

Brand: Rockman

產值年1000000元

output: $1000000/year

銷路去向国内及南洋方面

Market: China and Southeast Asia

總經理關偉林

General manager:Guan Weilin (Guan Chongchang)

技師關勒銘

Engineer:Guan Leming

營業經理甘翰輝

Sales manager: Gan Hanhui

And in Chinese document 現代工商領袖成名記-關勒銘先生 said that before Rockman Inc. Wm. K. founded, Guan leming(However, in this document, Guan Weilin(Guan Chongchang)=Guan Leming ) was working in Water Man's Fountain Pen Co. for 3.5 years while in 國貨月報 Volume 1, Issue 3, Page 80 1939.04.15, it is Guan Leming(the son) who study fountain pen manufacture in the U.S. for 15 years from his fifteen to thirty(1928).

In 戰後上海暨全國各大工廠調查錄(1940), Guan Leming is the manager and Gan is responsible for Chongqin's affairs. The distributor located on 廣東廣州漢民北路150號 No.150, North Han-ming Rd. Guangzhou, Guangdong