Turner & Harrison
Steel Pen Manufacturing Company
Helping to answer the question, "Who were the other 3 U.S. manufacturers in 1882 besides Esterbrook?"  was Ms. Sam Fiorella, who in July  1998 sent me a photocopy of a pricelist from "Turner & Harrison Pen Manufacturing Company, Inc., Falcon Pen Works, Philadelphia, Pa."   The word "works" clearly says that they weremanufacturers, and the paper provides evidence that they were in business at least as early as 1880--although no other dates are mentioned. 

Then in August 1998, NIBbler/calligrapher Ms. Judy Walker ofThe Write Place in Tipton, Indiana, acquired a box of T & H nibs on which it is stated "Since 1876". 

But how long did the company  last?   Did the C. Howard Hunt Pen Co., also of Philadelphia and which has survived intact to the present, buy them out?  Nobody I've asked so far at Hunt seems to know. 
 
 

    Another very interesting aside, however, is that Sam's Turner & Harrison price list is subdivided into four sections: 
              (1)   T&H SILVER ALLOY PENS, 
              (2)   LEON ISAACS & CO. GLUCINUM PENS, 
              (3)   RUSSIA-MOHETA PENS, and 
              (4)   T&H STANDARD STEEL PENS 
    (with per-gross prices in descending order listed as $1.75, $1.65, $1.40, and $1.35, respectively), giving good evidence that Turner and Harrison were the makers of Leon Isaacs and Russia-Moheta Pens as well!  

    Of course, these could have been smaller yet successful companies that T&H bought out, simply retaining the earlier, popular names as two of the "lines" of T&H.

    But this quote from the bottom of the price sheet seems to rule out this last paragraph: "Leon Isaacs & Co GLUCINUM PENS: One of our lines which has been in high favor with bankers and officials since 1880. We have always called them the 'Slickest Pen Ever Made,'--a claim freely admitted by those who have used them."