USA > Connecticut > History of Connecticut, Volume III > Part 6
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The first Mossberg rifle was brought out in 1922. This was the Model "K" .22 caliber, trombone-action hammerless repeater. The Mossbergs then introduced the Model "L", a unique rifle of the lever action variety, and a version of the famous Martini falling block type. The early years were difficult ones, the sons worked in an or- chestra twice a week to earn their spending money, and friends in- vested small sums and took promissory notes in exchange. Those friends who did invest were subsequently repaid many times for their confidence in the Mossbergs.
The company continued to introduce new types of .22 caliber rifles and bolt action shotguns in the .410 and .20 gauge. As the firm grew, a factory was purchased at 201 Greene Street in New Haven, and later another plant was purchased at 131 St. John Street. Both plants are now being operated to capacity. In 1926, the partnership of the father and two sons was dissolved and the firm was incorpora- ted under the name of O. F. Mossberg and Sons, Incorporated. The company entered the optical field in 1935 with telescope sights, spot- ting scopes and accessories, and today the company is one of the largest producers of low-priced telescope sights.
O. F. Mossberg died in 1937, and his design work was taken over by his son Harold, who had already developed several new guns
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of his own. Administration, production and other work were handled by his other son, Iver.
O. F. Mossberg was one of the world's great gun designers, con- tinually designing, rebuilding and checking manufacturing methods. His experimental shop in the factory saw the birth of many new ideas, improved parts and other developments which were incorpora- ted in Mossberg guns and which played a large part in making the company's guns famous around the world.
The firm has many "firsts" to its credit, and it is conceded that the Mossberg's have done more to streamline guns and to give shooters more conveniences for money spent than any other company in the industry.
At the beginning of World War II, the company was handicapped by a shortage of thread gauges and hobs from regular suppliers, but they overcame this problem by setting up their own thread gauge department. Within a few months, they not only met their own re- quirements but were able to supply other war producers. During the war, Mossberg concentrated on .50 caliber machine gun parts, parts for the Lee-Enfield rifle, and they also supplied the Government with a .22 caliber bolt action rifle, their Model 44US, which was used by the Army for training and was later adapted by the Navy for exclu- sive use in training. The company did much to help small firms in engineering problems and to get started as sub-contractors, and where these companies could not meet Government requirements on close tolerances, the Mossberg Company set up machines and delivered them to the subcontractors ready for operation.
The company did no institutional advertising during the War, but when it was learned that few inductees knew anything about rifled arms, a booklet was prepared for the company by the National Rifle Association, "The Guidebook to Rifle Marksmanship," and hun- dreds of thousands of the books were distributed to prospective in- ductees, rifle clubs, plant guards and throughout various branches of the armed services. A classic in its field, the book is still available today, free for the asking.
The company is today running to capacity, making a line of .22 caliber rifles, shotguns, telescopes and spotting scopes. The firm was headed by Harold F. Mossberg as president from 1945 to 1959. In 1959 there was a change in officers. Harold F. Mossberg became chairman of the board and Raymond R. Sawin who was vice presi- dent and who had been secretary since 1938 became its president. Walter L. Pierson has been executive vice president and treasurer
THE NEW BRITAIN MACHINE COMPANY 1895
THE NEW BRITAIN MACHINE COMPANY TODAY
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since 1940. Paul A. Jacobson, who has been with the firm since 1933, is now secretary.
Iver O. Mossberg, president of the firm from the time of his father's death in 1937, died in 1945. He had contributed much to the advancement of pleasure shooting in the United States.
THE NEW BRITAIN MACHINE COMPANY
On August 12, 1887 a manufacturing firm was incorporated in the city of New Britain. Its name was the J. T. Case Engine Company- its purpose, the manufacturing of a new and improved type of steam engine. In the few years left to steam engines as a prime source of power before the new gasoline engine and the improved electric motor replaced it, the Case Engine became famous throughout the world. A fast, light engine, the Case was admirably suited to portable installa- tion. Case Engines supplied the lights and power for the Barnum and Baily Circus of the day, and for the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. A Case Engine, aboard a tender, supplied the light for the deep sea diver who investigated the sinking of the battleship Maine, proved the ship's plates were blown in from the outside, and caused the entire country to "remember the Maine."
In June of 1895, the officials of the J. T. Case Engine Company, formed a new organization to succeed the older company and to enter into new and wider manufacturing fields. They named the new com- pany with conscious pride, after the city of its origin, The New Brit- ain Machine Company. The first new product of the new company was a chain saw mortising machine. This wood working tool, at first capable of cutting one mortise at a time, was developed and redesigned into a multiple machine, capable of cutting eight and ten mortises at a time. In this principle of multiplying the operations performed auto- matically by a single machine, the company established a precedent to be followed through the years, and which guides it today.
During 1902 and 1903, a line of cast iron shop furniture was developed and sold. With the later addition of pressed steel products, developed in connection with this department, New Britain Shop Furniture came into use wherever heavy metal products were fabri- cated. There are still, today, in many shops throughout the world, bench legs, tool racks, steel storage racks, vise stands, and lathe stands, with the word, "New Britain" cast, or pressed into them.
Their success with their automatic mortising machines and with shop furniture led the company into new fields in 1911 when the
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business of the George Prentice Company was purchased, giving the company one of the main products for which it is famous today, a line of automatic chucking machines. Two years later, in 1913, the company added automatic bar machines (then known as screw ma- chines ) to its line through the purchase of the machine department of the Universal Machine Company of Hartford.
These machines had been designed by Christopher Miner Spencer, inventor of the famous Spencer Repeating Rifle. Mr. Spencer con- tinued as mechanical engineer for the New Britain Machine Com- pany until his death in 1922.
Now the company was involved in the production of the two main types of automatic metal turning machines: the chucking auto- matics, and the automatic bar machines, and their New Britain de- signers and engineers altered and improved the basic models through the years until today's machines are hardly recognizable as the same fundamental type of machines manufactured then.
From a series of demonstrations, set up to show how much work New Britain Automatic Screw Machines could do, there developed in 1919 the Screw Products Division which did contract work for other manufacturers. As this division grew and expanded, eventually the word "Screw" was dropped from the divisional name and the Pro- ducts Division became a completely separate division of the company, utilizing many types of machines for contract first and second opera- tion machining work.
One of the most famous names in the history of the development of the automatic bar and chucking machines is that of George Gridley, whose name has been associated with many of the major developments in this field through the years. In 1929, the Gridley Machine Com- pany of Hartford was purchased by The New Britain Machine Com- pany and from that time to the time of his death in 1958, Mr. Gridley was an executive of The New Britain Machine Company. It was during this time that New Britain machines took on many of the characteristics for which they are famous today.
In 1920, development started on the manufacture of a line of socket wrenches. Originally designed to meet the need for compact tools for the "do-it-yourself" automobile repair and service market, this line expanded to meet the needs of the automobile service indus- try, and today the New Britain Hand Tools Division makes a wide and varied line of products, including socket, open-end, and box wrenches, and many special types of tools for servicing today's modern automobiles.
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Thus, by the early 1930's, The New Britain Machine Company had developed its three main lines of products, manufacturing them in the three main divisions of the company: the New Britain-Gridley Machine Division, the New Brtain Hand Tools Divsion, and the Precision Products Division.
With each of the divisions expandng its manufacturing facilities and its line of products, the company continued its growth and its de- velopment. During the '30's, in addition to its basic line of automatic chucking machines and automatic bar machines, the New Britain- Gridley Machine Division developed its reputation for manufacturing special machines of all types. During the First World War, the com- pany had gone into production of a line of 75 mm. antiaircraft guns. During the Second World War, the company, and all its divisions, in- creased its production and its facilities to contribute its share to the production effort. Machine tools were turned out at a tremendous rate to be placed in plants all over the free world to turn out the tools and armaments necessary to modern combat.
After the War, in 1946, the company added a new line of ma- chine tools to its established lines, a precision boring machine which brought new accuracy to the contour turning and boring field. In 1949, the Lucas Company of Cleveland became a division of The New Britain Machine Company. This company, famous since 1901 for their horizontal boring, drilling and milling machines, brought to The New Britain Machine Company an additional line of tools to add to the company's growing coverage of the metal cutting field.
This trend was continued in 1950, when the company began the manufacture, under special license, of a highly modern line of copy- ing lathes originally designed and built by George Fischer Limited of Schaffhausen, Switzerland.
In 1948 the Storms Drop Forging Company of Springfield, Massa- chusetts became a subsidiary of the company, thus adding to the roster of the company's activities, one of the most highly respected names in precision drop forging.
To further diversify the products of the company, in 1955 three new acquisitions were made; the Koehler Aircraft Products Company of Dayton, Ohio, makers of aircraft and missile valves and filters; the Hoern & Dilts Company of Saginaw, Michigan, makers of a line of Vertical Precision Boring Machines; and the famous Black Hawk line of hand tools which were added to the lines already being manu- factured by the Hand Tools Division.
A company's progress can be traced in the physical appearance of
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the plants and locations it has occupied. Typically, The New Britain Machine Company began in a small, wooden office and factory build- ing, shown in the accompanying photo. Land was bought adjacent to this original location on Chestnut Street in New Britain, and event- ually, in 1902, the original wooden buildings were torn down to make way for a five-story brick building. Through the years, additional buildings were built at this site, until the company occupied an entire complex of buildings in downtown New Britain. Foreseeing the day when the company growth might outrun the available space for ex- pansion, the company had, in 1917, purchased an area of land on the southern outskirts of New Britain. The first building was built on this site in 1918, but it was in the period after World War II that the decision was made to move all operations of the company to the South Street location. Here, today, a series of modern, all-on-one-level manufacturing buildings cluster around a three story office building. Here can be found the most up-to-date facilities for machine tool building, together with all facilities necessary to conduct the sales, the engineering, the production, the assembly, the testing, and the research and development, necessary to a modern, growing, forward looking company.
THE NEW HAVEN BOARD & CARTON COMPANY
In an industry in which competition is keen, and affords a real test of quality production and of sound management, The New Haven Board and Carton Company has achieved a long history of growth and continues to improve its record of productivity and volume of sales.
The firm started operations in January, 1901 with a staff of thirty-five employees. The number on the payroll has now grown to over fifteen hundred. An important step in the Company's growth occurred on January 1, 1938, when its Carton Division went into operation, thus bringing the firm into an active role in a growing industry.
The Company purchased a majority of the stock of The Bartgis Brothers Company of Ilchester, Maryland, in 1945. On July 1, 1957, The Bartgis Brothers Company was merged into The New Haven Board and Carton Company, providing the Company with two of the really large carton plants in the country. There are two paper- board machines at each plant which supply the greater portion of their paperboard requirements. The Company also supplies paper-
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board to other carton plants and industrial users. Further expansion resulted from the purchase of the bulk of the assets of the Fish Pier Box Company of Boston, Massachusetts, on August 1, 1949, a new company being formed and operated under the name of Fish Pier Box Co., Inc.
At a stockholders' meeting on July 22, 1959 approval was given a proposal to acquire the bulk of the assets and business of William W. Fitzhugh, Inc., of New York. This was accomplished by August I, 1959, and the latter firm's executives, William W. Fitzhugh, Sr., William W. Fitzhugh, Jr., and James J. Wilson, joined the board of directors of The New Haven Board and Carton Company. Mr. Fitz- hugh, Sr., became vice chairman of the board, and Wyvill Fitzhugh, his son, executive vice president. In this move the Company added the Fitzhugh Corrugated Box Plant in West Hempstead, Long Island, and the Fitzhugh Folding Carton and Label Plant in Brooklyn, New York, to its manufacturing facilities. This latest expansion further diversified the Company's operations and made available gravure print- ing presses in addition to flat bed and rotary multi-color letter press equipment. The Company now operates plants at Ilchester, Maryland; Brooklyn and Long Island, New York; New Haven, Connecticut; and Boston, Massachusetts. Central Sales Offices are maintained in New York City.
These varied resources under unified management have placed The New Haven Board and Carton Company in a strong competitive position in the merchandising of paperboard, printed folding cartons, labels and corrugated containers. It has proved itself equal to up- holding this position, not only because of the capable handling of the business and commercial phases of operations, but also because of the vision and creative talent to be found in its executive ranks. To- day, the appearance of packaged products is of prime importance as a sales stimulant. The Company has the skill and experience to utilize this potential to the full.
The officers of the Company, are Joseph S. Miller, president and chairman of the board; William W. Fitzhugh, Sr., vice chairman of the board; William W. Fitzhugh, Jr., executive vice president; Fran- cis S. Wakeman, senior vice president; Julian H. Morgan, vice presi- dent and treasurer; Harry M. Bull, vice president; Ellsworth W. Cowles, vice president; Edgar D. Gates, vice president ; Donald J. Schile, vice president; John A. Seib, vice president; James J. Wilson, vice president; William R. Tittel, secretary and assistant treasurer ; Harold A. Wilson, assistant secretary; Thomas M. Donovan, assistant
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treasurer. Members of the board of directors are Joseph S. Miller, William W. Fitzhugh, Sr., William W. Fitzhugh, Jr., James J. Wil- son, Harry M. Bull, Sterling R. Chatfield, Ellsworth W. Cowles, Wil- liam B. Gumbart, Julian H. Morgan, Albert S. Redway and William R. Tittel.
THE NEW HAVEN GAS LIGHT COMPANY
The New Haven Gas Light Company, founded in 1847, was one of the first such organizations established to serve a city of this size. Gas lighting was still practically in its infancy. Industries grew slowly in the early decades of the century; and although Baltimore had had gas lights since 1816, Boston and New York since the 1820s, and Philadelphia since 1836, it was considered a risky venture to try to bring these benefits to a community the size of New Haven-even though at that time, with its twenty thousand inhabitants, it was the largest city in Connecticut. It shared alternately with Hartford the honor of serving as state capital, and was the center of a thriving shipping industry.
The only street lighting, arranged on a very piecemeal basis, was provided by an occasional oil lantern, hung out by a householder for the benefit of those on his street. Indoors, tallow candles and whale oil provided the illumination. Since the latter commodity retailed at two dollars and a half a gallon, it was used sparingly, and a mixture of turpentine and alchohol was frequently a substitute.
It was largely through the faith and efforts of Professor Benja- min Silliman, Jr., that the convenience of gas lighting was brought to New Haven. On June 14, 1847, Governor Bissell signed a General Assembly resolution granting a charter to the New Haven City Gas Light Company. Quite naturally, support for the project was not unanimous. A conservative view held that it was against nature turn- ing night into day, and an unusual argument was advanced that it would actually increase crime. However, enough support was rallied so that when the new company's stock was offered for sale, four thon- sand shares were bought within ten days, giving the company its re- quired one hundred thousand dollars of capitalization.
The company's first officers were William W. Boardman, presi- dent; Frank Turner, secretary; John W. Fitch, treasurer; Thomas R. Dutton, superintendent. The original board of directors included Mr. Boardman, Eli W. Blake, Professor Silliman, Henry Peck, Na- than B. Ives, John S. Graves, Joseph Battin, Charles B. Dungan and Lucius G. Peck.
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A site on Grand Avenue was purchased for the construction of the state's first gas plant, but within a few months this land was sold and a property on St. John Street acquired. There, the plant was erected by the Philadelphia firm of Battin, Dungan and Company. This company contracted to build a gas plant with a capacity of forty thousand cubic feet per day of carbureted hydrogen gas from biti- minous coal, and also to install four miles of mains, twenty feet of service pipe per customer, as many meters as necessary, and one hun- dred cast-iron posts for street lamps. The mains, installed throughout the business section, went up St. John Street and Fleet (now State) Street to Chapel, Temple, George, Crown, and College streets.
The first New Haven business establishment to be lighted by gas was Durrier and Peck's Bookstore on Chapel Street. The first home, reasonably enough, was that of Professor Silliman. At his residence on Hillhouse Avenue, illumination was turned on on Thanksgiving Day, 1848, and this was observed as a festive occasion by city resi- dents. The following year, the city's first street lamp went into serv- ice, and soon merchants were advertising by installing gas lights in front of their stores.
A few statistics recorded in the early days are revealing. The first rate established for the gas was four dollars per thousand cubic feet. Although this was high by modern standards, it represented only one-third of the cost of comparable illumination by oil, and one-tenth the cost if sperm candles had been used. The company's first superin- tendent was hired at a salary of twenty-five dollars per month, but within a few months' time, this figure was increased to six hundred dollars per year. In 1850, the New Haven City Gas Light Com- pany sold a total of five million cubic feet of gas. Its current volume of sales is twice this amount in a single day-this despite the fact that the city and its residents have converted to electricity for light- ing purposes.
It was in 1854 that the organization dropped the word "City" from its title and assumed the name by which it has been known ever since : New Haven Gas Light Company. During the next seven years it outgrew the St. John Street plant and in 1861 opened a new coal gas plant with a daily capacity of five hundred thousand cubic feet at Chapel and East streets, the site of the present plant. New plant facilities were added in 1902-1903, in 1921, and in 1934; and now once again the company is engaged in an extensive replacement and ex- pansion program. The company's offices were originally on Chapel Street between Orange and Church, but in 1872 construction was Conn.III-6
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started on the present office building in Crown Street. The directors held their first meeting there on October 13, 1873.
Like gas utilities elsewhere, the company can lay claim to an unusual achievement : although it came into existence to provide light- ing, it not only survived but went on to ever-greater prosperity when it lost the lighting market to electricity. This began to happen in the 1890s. The adaptable organization explored new uses for its product. A market for gas for cooking, heating water, and ultimately for refrigeration and house heating developed rapidly, and provide the much greater demands for gas which the company must keep up with today.
Despite all the plant and office changes which have taken place since 1848, when the first gas was produced, the fires in the company's retort houses have never gone out. They were transferred as live coals from the original gas works on St. John Street to manually stoked retorts at the Chapel Street plant and later were similarly transferred to mechanically stoked retorts at the same location. In 1928, when the Connecticut Coke Company became the source of coal gas, the first were transferred as live coals to its new plant. Thus the New Haven Gas Light Company is not to be outdone by any corps of vestal virgins of the past in the matter of keeping its fires perpetually burning.
From the original four miles of mains, the distribution system has expanded into a huge web extending from Branford to the Housa- tonic River at Devon, covering twenty-eight miles of shore front and extending about ten miles inland. There are now six hundred and eighty-three miles of mains, nearly sixty thousand service pipes and over seventy-five thousand meters. The company now serves an area in which approximately three hundred and twenty-five thousand people live, and enjoy the automatic services of gas cooking, water heating, refrigeration and house heating supplied by the New Haven Gas Light Company. The president of the organization at the present time is R. E. Ramsay.
THE NEW HAVEN WATER COMPANY
The original charter of the New Haven Water Company was granted by the General Assembly of the State of Connecticut in 1849; and the original incorporators were Henry Peck, Ezra C. Read, Henry Hotchkiss, James Brewster and Wooster Hotchkiss. The population of New Haven at that time was about twenty-two thousand and many felt that some kind of a public water system was imperative.
Gli Whitney
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In 1852 a meeting of the citizens was called to consider the ad- visability of a municipal rather than a private plant. A committee of nine, of whom two were also incorporators of the private plant, was chosen to investigate the subject. Following their report in March, 1853, the citizens voted in favor of a petition to the General Assembly for an amendment to the charter of the city authorizing an issue of bonds to build up the water works. In August of that same year a Board of Water Commissioners was organized, and a contract made with Mr. Eli Whitney for the sale of the clock factory privilege with water rights and land where the present first bridge across Whitney Lake is located. But antagonism to the municipal plant developed during the year of 1854, and on a revote on the project, July 17, 1854, the municipal plant was defeated by more than six hundred votes.
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