USA > Connecticut > Connecticut as a colony and as a state; or, One of the original thirteen, Volume III > Part 13
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There are scattered throughout the State, kindred cotton industries producing hosiery, underwear, cotton yarn, shade cord, twines, etc. In the manufacture of cotton goods Con- necticut ranks third in New England, having fifty-five of the three hundred and thirty-two establishments located in the Eastern States; her factories are equipped with 1,001,474 active spindles and 19,545 looms.
The experiments of Dr. Nathaniel Aspinwall in the culti- vation of the silk-worm in Connecticut, although confined largely to Mansfield, laid the foundation for one of the great industries of the State: previous to 1788, thirty-two persons had petitioned the Legislature for incorporation to manufac- ture silk thread in that town. Among the early pioneers was Colonel Elderkin, who owned an extensive mulberry orchard in the adjoining town of Windham. He produced about ten thousand pounds of silk annually, which was manufactured into the fashionable long stockings of the day; handkerchiefs and vest patterns were also successfully fabricated; and sev- eral pieces of dress silk were produced, with which the daugh- ters of the proprietor adorned themselves.
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After the death of Colonel Elderkin, the property passed into the hands of Rodney Hanks and his nephew Horatio of Mansfield, who in 1810 invented and built a machine for spinning silk by water power. It was several years, however, before a silk factory was established, and the early attempts were not profitable. The Mansfield Silk Company was char- tered and began business in 1829, equipped with machinery made by Edmund Golding, who was familiar with the Eng- lish method of construction ; this was the first practical success in manufacturing sewing silk, except by hand power. The company became involved in the mulberry speculation about 1839, and dissolved, though some of the members became interested in other silk enterprises.
Frank and Ralph Cheney in 1836 laid the foundation for the largest silk textile industry in the State. They began to manufacture at South Manchester, in a small way, silk thread from imported raw material, and since that time the busi- ness has continued in the hands of members of the Cheney family. The business was incorporated in 1854. The plant . of the Cheney Brothers is of extensive area, employment being given to over one thousand persons, to whom every encouragement has been extended by their employers, for the improvement of their health and welfare.
For a number of years, only reeled-silk and silk fibre were used; but in 1865 the company experimented in spun silk, which led to great developments in the industry. Silk at one time was recognized as a luxury; but through the endeavors of manufacturers, largely attributable to Cheney Brothers, it has been placed within the reach of a majority of the pop- ulation of the country. The introduction of spun silk caused the production of pongees and florentines, plain, figured, and printed, for dress goods and decorations; satins, twills, and
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armures in printed patterns and solid colors, black and col- ored grosgrains, velvet plush and upholsterers' materials, drapery fabrics and curtains, handkerchiefs, mufflers, and flags; ribbons in grosgrain and satin, plain and fancy edges. The American products became standard, rivaling those of Europe and the Orient, thereby obtaining the monopoly of home consumption. The Cheney Brothers perfected the pro- duction of printed silk by machinery. By their method, as many as a dozen different colors can be put on the same piece of goods by one process; in foreign countries this was done by hand, thus rendering the finished article much more expensive.
The manufacture of silk was introduced into Rockville in 1857 by E. K. Rose; but it received no impetus until some six years afterwards, when the founder associated with him- self in the business the three Belding brothers. This part- nership remained in force three years; Mr. Rose then with- drew and started the Rose Silk Manufacturing Company, which, however, was short-lived. The Beldings' interests at Rockville remained inactive; but they established sole agen- cies in the large cities of the United States, and added mill after mill to their manufacturing resources. In 1870 opera- tions were recommenced; in 1876 the works at Northamp- ton, Massachusetts, were started, and subsequently those at Montreal, Canada, and San Francisco, California, all of which are outgrowths from the Rockville enterprise.
Willimantic Village, being contiguous to Mansfield, where at an early day silk mills were started by Joseph Conant, naturally attracted the attention of silk manufacturers. The Holland Silk Manufacturing Company was established there in 1865. In 1872 O. S. Chaffee & Co. removed from Mansfield to this place the mills originally started by Conant;
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silk and mohair braids, sewing silk and buttonhole twist, are their principal products. The Natchaug Silk Company, an outgrowth of this industry, was incorporated in 1887, for the manufacture of silk dress goods, serges, and satins.
The silk industry has been carried on at South Coventry since 1866; and for over half a century the L. D. Brown & Son Company have manufactured a line of machine twist, sewing silk, floss, dress silk, linings, fish lines, etc., at Middle- town. The pride of the factory enterprises of New London is the Brainerd and Armstrong Silk Company, whose special- ties are sewing silk, machine twist, knitting silks, floss and embroidery silk, in all colors and shades. The New London Wash Silk Company are pioneers in the production of wash silks in this country; they manufacture a line of the finest kind of filo, floss, twist, etc., placed on the market.
The Owaneco Silk Company of Norwich is a reorganiza- tion of a stock company that was engaged in the silk industry in the adjoining town of Preston. The Oneida Community established a silk mill in Wallingford in 1868 ; but on removal of its branch some twelve years later, it was discontinued. In 1878 the manufacture of silk dress goods was introduced at Putnam. The Globe Silk Works at New Haven manufacture a peculiar silk twist, used by boot, shoe, and clothing manu- facturers, besides a regular line of embroidery and sewing silks, braid, and spun silk.
There are a few scattered silk manufactories located in the western part of the State. The Eagle Silk Company of Sey- mour was established in 1850, and after continuing a score of years, was disbanded; the plant however was utilized in 1880 by the Tingue Manufacturing Company, who manu- facture silk and mohair plushes for dress goods and uphol- stery. The Winsted Silk Company was established at Win-
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sted in 1874; they manufacture silk twist. Other silk fac- tories are scattered throughout the State, several being located in the parent town of the industry. In 1900 Connecticut ranked fourth in the United States in silk products; her $12,- 166,775 worth of productions represented thirty-eight estab- lishments, and gave employment to 6,514 of her people.
The combined textile industries of the State in 1900 com- prised one hundred and ninety establishments, whose capital amounted to $66,340,241, and which employed 32,469 of her inhabitants, paying them wages to the amount of $II,- 539,771. The salaried officers were 963 in number, whose compensations amounted to $1,423,307; raw material was used to the value of $26,910,550; and the productions aggre- gated $48,728,019. This has not varied over two million dollars in the last twenty years.
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CHAPTER XVI METAL INDUSTRIES
T HE centralization of the metal industries in the western part of the State is largely due to the fact that the early endeavors of the colonists in iron manufactures were more successful in that section of the country. The valuable water privileges of the Naugatuck Valley, with its accessi- bility to the New York market, attracted the capitalists of that metropolis, which was instrumental in promoting the progress of the work; but these advantages were secondary in the ultimate success of these enterprises. It is to the inven- tive genius of her citizens that Connecticut is indebted for the accumulated wealth which she has derived from these indus- tries.
The manufacture of tinware at Berlin before the Revolu- tionary War was the forerunner of the production of Yankee notions, with which the name of Connecticut is so closely associated. The first tin pail thus produced, formed the basis of a development in metal manufacturing that has placed the productions of the State in the markets of all foreign nations. The lack of coal among her mineral resources impaired the value of Connecticut's iron mines; this resulted in the industry becoming most prominent in those localities where these two important factors in its production were accessible to each other. The manufacture of pig iron and steel was however, never abandoned. In 1900 Connecticut was the eighteenth State in the Union in the amount of her iron products, which amounted to 54,365 tons annually, showing an increase of 31,771 tons over that of 1870. Though she takes so low a rank in productions of the manufactured raw material, she ranks fifth in forging, fourth in nails and spikes, and eighth in architectural and ornamental work.
The manufacture of clocks was the source of those various
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adjuncts and derivations that have become a part of the vital interests of the State. When Eli Terry came from Windsor to what is now Thomaston, he had been thoroughly educated by the best of English clockmakers; the improvements and inventions made by him in this wonderful piece of mechanism, also the introduction in 1821 of the small mantel clock, cre- ated such a demand that other artificers were stimulated. This resulted in 1841 in the perfecting of the one-day brass clock by Chauncey Jerome, which completely revolutionized clock- making.
The application of machinery in the cutting from brass of interchangeable parts, also the division of labor so that one workman could produce each part, made it possible for three men to take the brass in sheets, press it out, level it under the drop, cut the teeth, and make all the wheels, for five hun- dred clocks a day. This so cheapened the manufacturing that clocks were brought within the reach of the masses, and from being luxuries became articles of necessity. The demand in this country being supplied, in 1842 Mr. Jerome shipped a consignment to England. On their arrival in that country they were promptly confiscated at their invoice prices by the authorities, who suspected a case of undervaluation. On receipt of this agreeable information, which supplied them with a cash buyer on the spot at full price, the exporters shipped another cargo, which shared the same fate; but on the arrival of a third consignment, the English authorities decided to retire from the clock business.
The exports soon extended to the European Continent, Asia, South America, Australia, and China; in fact, Connec- ticut supplies the world with clocks. She manufactured in 1900 nearly three-fifths of the entire production of the United States, which gave employment to nearly four thou-
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sand of her people. The Jerome Clock Company was absorbed in 1856 by the New Haven Clock Company, which dates its existence from. 1853. The pioneer of this industry in Connecticut had three sons; in 1809 Seth Thomas became asociated with one of the younger Terrys, and in 1853 the Seth Thomas Clock Company of Thomaston was organized, They manufacture annually about four hundred thousand clocks, furnishing employment for nearly one thousand per- sons. Other notable industries in this line are the Water- bury Clock Company, located in the city of that name, which dates its incorporation from 1857, and the Parker Clock Company of Meriden, organized in 1893.
The old high-pattern wooden clock was manufactured in the latter part of the eighteenth century at Waterbury. But the initiatory enterprise which has culminated in her being the centre of the brass industries of the country, and earned for her the title of "The Brass City," was laid about 1800. At this time Henry, Samuel, and Silas Grilley began to make buttons from block tin or pewter, casting them in iron moulds. Even previous to this, about 1760, a silversmith named Joseph Hopkins had covered iron buttons with silver. An improvement having been made in attaching the shanks and eyes of the metal button, a company was organized in 1802, under the firm name of Abel Porter & Co. Eighteen months were consumed in preliminary efforts, and employ- ment was finally given to thirteen men. The copper was obtained by melting old stills, tea-kettles, etc., into ingots, which were rolled into sheets on a pair of two-inch rollers operated by horse power.
The capital of the concern becoming exhausted by experi- ments, it was not until 1820 that any impetus was given to the business. Then James Croft, an Englishman with a thor-
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ough knowledge of button-making, was engaged. But it could not be considered as on a substantial basis until about 1830, when Joel Hayden perfected a machine for covering buttons. Though since its earliest days Waterbury has not been with- out a button factory, there has been only one, the Waterbury Button Company, that has been engaged distinctly in this line of manufacture.
One of the largest button companies in the United States is located at Shelton. The firm was established in 1846 at Botsford, by John Griffin, the father of the present members of the firm, and the inventor of the first cam machine for turning horn buttons. The manufacture of paper buttons was carried on for over forty years at Wallingford. In the value of her productions in this industry in 1900, Connec- ticut was only exceeded by New York.
One of the early pioneers in the button industry was Aaron Benedict, who started in 1812 to manufacture horn and ivory buttons. Eleven years later gilt buttons were made, but it was not until 1829 that any attempt was made to roll the brass consumed. Then Benedict & Coe, an outgrowth of the pioneer establishment, manufactured their own brass, and a few years later german-silver, which has become the great- est industry of Waterbury.
The aggregate capital invested in the brass industry in 1830 was less than $100,000; the growth has been so phe- nomenal, that in 1900 Connecticut ranked first in the United States in her annual products. In brass rolling she manufac- tures three-fourths, in castings one-third, and in brassware one-half, of the total products of the country. These com- bined interests employ about twelve hundred of her citizens, and represent a capital of over $20,000,000.
The oldest joint-stock corporation in Waterbury, the Ben-
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edict & Burnham Manufacturing Company, was organized in 1843. There were other incorporated companies in existence at this locality previous to that date, among which was the Waterbury Manufacturing Company, which by a special act of Legislature in 1814 was made a corporation for the manu- facture of wool and cotton fabrics. In 1833, by special char- ter the Naugatuck Manufacturing Company was created for the production of fine broadcloths. The members of the Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing Company have been the originators of other concerns, which have materially benefited the city. Their productions consist of copper and all its alloys, and german-silver; they also make seamless tubings, lamp burners and trimmings, safety pins, and wire of all descriptions.
Among other prominent brass industries in Waterbury is the Scovill Manufacturing Company, an outgrowth of one of the early metal button enterprises. In 1842 they began the manufacture of plated metal for daguerreotype plates, and subsequently engaged in the manufacturing of cameras and other materials for daguerreotyping. In 1889 they formed an independent corporation for their photographic business, and removed the industry to New Haven and New York.
Brown & Eaton were also pioneers; they were organized in 1830 by Israel Holmes, an employee of the Scovills. After various changes the firm was dissolved in 1856, the business being divided equally between Brown Brothers, who became financially embarrassed, and Holmes, Booth & Hayden. The latter formed a corporation in 1853, and are among the largest producers of brass, german-silver, and copper in sheets, from which they manufacture a diversified line of use- ful articles. From the former concern sprung the firm of
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Randolph & Clowes. The Plume & Atwood Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1869; the Waterbury Brass Company was established in 1845 by Timothy Porter.
The first attempt to make brass kettles by battery process in the United States was in 1834, when Israel Coe, Anson G. Phelps, and John Hungerford established this industry in Wolcottville, now Torrington. The panic of 1837 caused a suspension of the business. It was revived in 1841, however, in connection with a rolling mill, and the Wolcottville Brass Company was organized. For a decade the business prospered, but then went into a decline until 1863, when the Coe Brass Company was formed. Brass wire and german- silver were manufactured. About 1873 brass for small arms, cartridges, etc., was made; this specialty resulted in the com- pany securing a large foreign trade. About this time they purchased the plant of Wallace & Sons at Ansonia, where braziers, copper sheathings, cornices, wire, etc., were manu- factured.
The foundation of the city of Ansonia was laid by Anson G. Phelps in 1844, in the establishment of the Ansonia Manu- facturing Company. This pioneer copper industry, through the efforts of its founder, consolidated with the Birmingham Copper Mills; a reorganization took place in 1869, when the name of the Ansonia Brass and Copper Company was adopted. The plant covers over sixteen acres, and is divided into four sections, which are known as the copper, wire, brass and lamp fixtures, and insulating mills.
The New Haven Copper Company of Seymour was first established under the title of the Humphreysville Manufac- turing Company; it operates a branch mill at East New Haven, and braziers, sheeting copper, polished copper, etc., are among its productions. The Birmingham Brass Com-
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pany, of Shelton borough, is an outgrowth of the Osborne & Cheeseman Company, which for half a century was one of the best known concerns in the brass trade.
The firm of James Graham was organized in New Haven in 1861; their output consists of all kinds of brass and com- position castings and all grades of Babbitt metal. The Andrew B. Hendrix Company of the same city manufacture ยท nearly three-fifths of the bird cages made in the United States, their capacity being one hundred and fifty dozen a day. They are also large producers of fishing-reels, chains, and picture wire, for which a market is found in every part of the world.
One of the most important industries of Bridgeport is the Bridgeport Brass Company, founded in 1865, manufacturing brass and copper goods of every description. They employ about eight hundred workmen, and in every country on the globe where illuminating oil is used, this concern is known. The Bridgeport Copper Company produces electrotypic cop- per, in the shape of wire bars, cakes, and ingots.
The manufacture of metals in their primitive state engen- dered kindred industries, and iron and steel were made into a variety of articles. In the production of machine screws, Con- necticut ranks first in the United States; her four establish- ments engaged in the work have an annual output of over $2,000,000. Prominent among these is the Hartford Ma- chine Screw Company, organized in 1876. They manufac- ture all sizes of screws, from those for the heaviest engine to the kind that enter into the construction of the smallest part of a watch. They receive royalties on their patents from many of the largest manufacturers in this country and Europe. They have established a branch at Elyria, Ohio, for the accommodation of their Western trade.
In metal-working machinery, Connecticut is third in the
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amount of her products. Her forty-eight establishments, from a total aggregate of three hundred and ninety-seven in the United States, have an invested capital of $8,000,000, and employ over 4,000 persons.
The Farrell Foundry and Machine Company plant is the second largest in Ansonia, covering several acres of ground; heavy castings, for iron, brass, copper, and india-rubber machinery, are made. This industry was established in 1848 by Almon Farrell, and Sylvester and Sullivan M. Colburn, twin brothers. In 1836 they inaugurated large works at Derby, with a branch at Shelton; they had previously carried on a small foundry at Westville. This concern was incor- porated in 1850, under the name of the Birmingham Iron Foundry; in addition to rubber and rolling-mill machinery, all kinds of iron and brass castings were produced. The Wa- terbury branch of the Farrell Foundry and Machine Com- pany was purchased in 1880 by E. C. Lewis, who organized a joint-stock company; power presses, lathes, rolling-mill machinery, shafting, etc., are produced.
The Peck, Stow & Wilcox Company of Southington is a consolidation of three companies into a joint-stock company. All in their early careers were engaged in the manufacture of tinners' machinery and tools; they now rank among the largest producers of mechanics' tools, housekeeping imple- ments, and shelf hardware. The Meriden Machine Com- pany, incorporated in 1889, are manufacturers of forming lathes, for turning ornamental shapes in metals and wood.
The Bridgeport Malleable Iron Company, established in 1878, occupy a plant covering five acres, and employ over five hundred hands; malleable and gray iron castings of the lar- gest kind are made. The Bridgeport Forge Company, incor-
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porated in 1883, make a specialty of wrought and steel forg- ings for marine work.
Hartford produces engines, boilers, textile machinery, tools of various kinds and descriptions, chucks, horseshoe nails, returning steam traps, swaying check valves, and drop forging. The latter from its first introduction has so advanced that bars of iron, steel, or copper, can be trans- formed by the use of dies into any required shape and size with rapidity and precision.
New Haven has manufactures of brass faucets and plumb- ers' materials; the Bigelow steam boilers; the firm of Sar- gent & Company, who undoubtedly rank at the head of the manufacturing hardware line in the country, employing about two thousand operatives; and the Star brand of scis- sors and shears.
Derby has a razor factory, also one of the largest metallic bedstead works in the Union. Torrington's skate manufac- turing establishment has an output of 750,000 pairs of skates a year.
New Britain is the centre of the hardware manufacturing of New England; her pioneer being James North, a black- smith, who made brass buckles, andirons, etc., for home con- sumption. His five sons were taught different mechanical trades; the eldest, his namesake, became proficient in the manufacture of bells, andirons, clocks, spoons, harness and shoe buckles. Such quantities were produced that a market was sought at Albany and other points, the goods being trans- ported in saddle-bags. These industries were the forerunners of the drawing of silver-plated copper wire into hooks and rings for men's overcoats, hooks and eyes for women's use, aud curb chains for bridles; they laid the foundation of the present extensive manufactures in the city.
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There are scattered throughout the State various establish- ments that have aided in making Connecticut in 1900 the first State in the Union, in the hardware manufacturing line; pro- ducing nearly one-half of the total products of the United States. She is, however, exceeded in metal house-furnishing goods by New York. In saddlery hardware she again ranks first; her eight establishments in this line, employing over seven hundred hands, manufacture one-fourth of the total amount produced in the country. This industry was founded at Hartford in 1794 by Norman Smith, and for over a cen- tury his descendants have been engaged in the same enter- prise. The cutlery and edge-tool industry gives employment to over four thousand wage-earners, and its productions equal one-third of the aggregate output of the country, mak- ing the State rank first in the Union.
Bell making in Connecticut began late in the eighteenth century ; a notion prevailed that their silvery tones were due to the generous contributions of silver in the composition of bell metal, hence a Spanish fourpence halfpenny was dropped into the molten mass. It has become an important industry in the State, furnishing more than two-thirds of the total production of the United States in 1900. There are seven establishments engaged in the manufacture of bells, principally located in the towns of Chatham and East Haddam. In the former the industry dates back to an early date, when sleigh, hand, house, cow, sheep, door, and ship bells were made in limited quantities. One of the special features of the Centen- nial Exhibition was the exhibit of the Gong Bell Manufac- turing Company of East Haddam. Bicycle bells are made at Bristol and Middletown, and clock bells at Thomaston.
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