USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Torrington > History of Torrington, Connecticut, from its first settlement in 1737, with biographies and genealogies > Part 10
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Mr. Tuttle came from Woodbury in 1858, and was employed as finisher of cloth, in which relation he still continues. He became stock owner in 1865. Mr. Iredale, formerly from England came from Massachusetts, in 1865, and became overseer in the "gig- room," or one department of cloth dressing. He became stock owner in 1867.
This company commenced with a stock capital of ten thousand dollars, which was increased to fifty thousand, where it has remained. The sales of the company amount to two hundred thousand dollars annually, which indicates prosperity even in moderate times. The capacity of the mill is much greater than that usually attained. The main building is one hundred and twenty-two feet by thirty-five, six stories high, and has an ell part thirty-five by forty feet, three stories high. There is also a wing attached to the main building that is eighty-five by thirty feet, one story. The second building is one hundred by thirty-eight, two stories and a basement and is used for a drying house. The third building is eighty by thirty-five feet, three stories high, and is used for office and storage rooms. And besides the large water power they have three steam boilers with an engine of one hundred horse power.
At first this company manufactured only plain black doeskin cloths, and from this they have varied but little until later years. They now make black doeskins, ribbed, and diagonal goods ; all single breadth. Seventy-five persons are regularly employed in the mill, producing on an average about five hundred yards of cloth per day.
The skill and ingenuity now brought into service in this manu- factory, as well as others of the same kind, are varied and extensive, and can be only intimated by the fact that the wool goes through thirty-four distinct processes before it becomes finished cloth.
MILLS OF THE COL BRASS MFG CO.
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The contrast between the method of making woolen cloth one hundred years ago and what is seen in this mill, is quite impressive. Instead of a woman passing backward and forward eight feet, twice, for one thread of that length a man performing the same journey, attends two sets of spindles, and produces six hundred and forty threads, all done within the time the woman would occupy, and the man having some leisure time to spare.
The present officers of the company are : Jesse B. Rose, president, George D. Workman, secretary, treasurer and agent. The directors are; Jesse B. Rose, Samuel Workman, George D. Workman, Albert Tuttle and James Iredale.
THE COE BRASS MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
The first effort to make brass kettles in America, by the battery process, was commenced in Wolcottville in 1834. The old Wilson mill privilege and property was purchased, and other lands on the south and west side of the river for a dam and a raceway, and for the location of buildings. The business was conducted in the name of Israel Coe, then of Waterbury, but who removed to Wolcottville. An- son G. Phelps of New York city and John Hungerford were associated with Mr. Coe, each owning one-third of the stock. The late Israel Holmes of Waterbury, had an interest in the business and removed to this village, and was the principal manager of the manufacturing part of the business. The enterprise included the rolling of brass in connection with the making of brass kettles. Christopher Pope, an Englishman, was the prime mover in regard to the making of brass kettles although he was of no benefit in the end to the business as introduced here.
Mr. Holmes went to England for the purpose of procuring ma- chinery and workmen. His efforts in this respect were hindered by every possible ingenuity and power of those interested in the same kind of manufacturing in that country, but after a time he sent two battery-men to Philadelphia, one of whom died the next day after his arrival. Subsequently he procured others, and thirty-eight men, women and children, in one vessel, arrived in New York. Con- siderable trouble was experienced in transporting them, without a rail road to Wolcottville. When they were landed here, the mill was not ready for operatives, and thereby the troubles were multiplied. The men received their pay, and having nothing to do, most of them gave themselves to dissipation and disquietude of disposition. In the
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mean time Mr. Pope bargained with other parties for a rival concern and took three of the men with him. This was, at first, thought to be an injury but eventuated in advantage as these men proved to be worthless in this business. However, some of the workmen remained and the quick eye and ready hand of Wolcottville Yankees soon secured experts in the making of brass kettles.
The next difficulty which arose was the proportioning or mixing of the metal so as to form a compound that could be subjected to the hammering and annealing without cracking, and for some years the company were under the necessity of importing the metal, ready cast, for this purpose. In 1842, Mr. Coe went to England and obtained the right materials and mixture, and thereafter this difficulty was over- come. From this time the business in this form would have been a great success but for the invention by Hiram Hayden of Water- bury, of a new process, called the rolling or spinning process, by which a smoother surface, and uniform thickness of the kettle was secured. This new method soon superseded the battery business, and hence this part of the Wolcottville enterprise was not very pro- fitable thereafter.
The rolling mill part of the business was a success until 1837, when by the general suspension of business throughout the country many who were indebted to the concern being unable to pay, the company were in a strait place, and for a time nearly suspended work in the mill. But finally all claims were paid in full and business re- sumed and continued with success.
On the nineteenth of May, 1841, the special copartnership of Israel Coe was dissolved and a joint stock company formed under the name of the Wolcottville Brass Company, with a capital of fifty-six thou- sand dollars, of which Israel Coe, Anson G. Phelps and John Hun- gerford were the stockholders, each owning one-third. Israel Coe was appointed president, and Lyman W. Coe, secretary and trea- surer, and Israel Holmes the general manufacturing manager. In 1842, Mr. Coe went to Europe and Mr. Hungerford was appointed president. In 1843, Mr. Holmes retired from the company. In February, 1844, Israel Coe and L. W. Coe sold their interest in the company to Anson G. Phelps, and Mr. I. Coe then retired from the brass business. L. W. Coe remained as secretary and treasurer until 1845, when he resigned, and subsequently was elected secretary and treasurer of the Waterbury Brass Company, of which Israel Holmes was president. Mr. L. W. Coe then removed to Waterbury where
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he resided until 1863, when he purchased the property of the Wol- cottville Brass Company, and formed a new company under the name of the Coe Brass Company.
While Mr. Coe was at Waterbury, in March 1848, Mr. Phelps sold his interest in this mill to Mr. Hungerford, and Mr. Hunger- ford, at different times, transferred portions of the stock to C. P. Marks, John Davol, J. H. Bartholomew and Albert A. Mason, and others. About 1853, Marks and Davol, being large owners, sold their entire interest in this property to J. Hungerford, and he and his fam- ily became the owners of nearly all the stock.
Until 1852, the company had been moderately successful, but from that period to 1863, the property steadily declined in value. This decline was owing in part to the decline of the battery pro- cess in making kettles, and the great commercial panic, of 1857, in which the company were large losers by the failure of their cus- tomers, from which they never fully recovered.
In April 1863, L. W. Coe purchased the entire capital stock, paying forty thousand dollars, and thereby became possessed of all its franchise and liable for all its debts. The Coe Brass Company was formed with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, and the mill property and real estate of the old company transferred to the new.
The new company immediately took its position in the front ranks of the brass wire and German silver business, and has steadily increased its business, until at the present time it is producing more pounds of metal than any mill of the kind. It has attained its former reputation as a water mill of about one hundred and fifty horse power, but has now in addition, four steam engines with a capacity of four hundred horse power. Their buildings cover an area of about three acres ; the whole mill property includes nineteen acres.
For the past five years it has made a specialty of brass for small arms, cartridges, and has had extensive dealings with foreign govern- ments for such metal. The aggregate of this foreign trade has con- stituted two-thirds of the productions of the mills.
The annual aggregate of the business of the company now ex- ceeds one and a quarter million dollars. Its present capital is three hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars. It employs directly from two hundred to two hundred and fifty men, and indirectly sus- tains a large proportion of the population of the town. During the
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last three years of financial depression in the country, this mill has been under full operation, and some of the time working over time ; which fact has not only kept Wolcottville alive, but growing at the rate of nearly fifty dwelling houses per year.
The annual consumption of wood at this mill is two thousand cords, and of charcoal fifteen thousand bushels, and of anthracite coal two thousand tons. The present officers are L. W. Coe, presi- dent ; Edward Turner, vice president ; Charles F. Brooker, secre- tary ; Edward F. Coe, treasurer.
THE COE FURNITURE COMPANY.
Furniture was first manufactured in Wolcottville by Luther Bissell, begining previous to 1840. All work was then made to order, and without machinery of any kind except a circular saw and a turning lathe.
About 1840, a company, consisting of Henry P. Coe, Henry P. Ostrum and Benjamin Smith, engaged in this line of business in a shop about forty rods east of Main street bridge on the north side of the river. After a short time Mr. Smith sold his share to the two others. About 1850 Mr. Ostrum sold to his partner Henry P. Coe who continued the business with success several years. When his sons A. W. Coe and Brothers took the enterprise, before 1860, they took possession of larger buildings on the south side of the river, and began to add the improvements in machinery by which their products and sales were greatly increased. This prosperity con- tinued until 1870, when the Coe Furniture Company was formed, with a capital of twenty thousand dollars, for the purpose of making household furniture to be sold mostly at wholesale. The leading articles are chamber sets, tables, bureaus, chairs, bedsteads and sofas. They make a specialty of walnut, chestnut and ash extension tables. They occupy five buildings and a part of the old spoon shop, for work shop, storage rooms and sales room. Their sales amount to between thirty and forty thousand dollars a year, having exceeded this amount in prosperous years. Their goods are shipped to many of the principal cities of the eastern and middle states.
THE CARRIAGE SHOP.
The Alvord Carriage Manufactory, built on the east branch of the Naugatuck, in 1831, was an enterprise of much importance in the place, for ten years or more. It employed one hundred men and
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did probably the largest business of any company in the town at the time. The officers were : Nelson Alvord, president, and Henry Hopkins, A. G. Bradford, Charles B. Smith, B. R. Agard, a majority of the directors. Thousands of carriages and carrying wagons were made, and sold in the southern states. When the war of the rebellion came, the end of making of carriages came to this company as well as many others in the land. Their spacious shop was afterwards oc- cupied by the Redfield and Price spoon company and the manufacture of spoons, and German silver and plated ware was continued a number of years.
The building is now unoccupied except as a storage room for the Coe Furniture Company.
WOLCOTTVILLE HARDWARE MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
This company was organized in 1851, for the purpose of " manu- facturing, selling and dealing in any and all kinds of wares, goods and articles composed of iron, steel, wood, brass, or any articles of which these are component parts," and the company, in their work, occupied a part of the Alvord Carriage shop.
The stock owners were; Wolcottville Brass Company, Norman Cady, Gordon W. Quinby, Elezur D. Harrington, Nelson Alvord, Geo. D. Wadhams, Henry Hopkins, Charles G. Pond, George N. Pond, Virgil C. Goodwin, N. B. Lathrop, Darius Wilson, Edwin W. Mosely, and George P. Bissell.
C. HOTCHKISS AND SONS.
The owners of the Wilson's mill property entered into an agree- ment in May 1794, to build a new grist mill below the saw mill, on the west side on the site of the old carding mill, but for some reason it was not placed there, but was located adjoining the old saw mill. The carding mill referred to was built about 1760, probably, and in it Joseph Blake did carding of wool and cloth dressing many years, and then removed his mill to the rock on the south side of the river opposite the present union woolen mill. The owners of the new grist mill, which was property now separate from the saw mill, were Noah Wilson, Amos Wilson, Joseph Taylor, Martha Wilson, widow of William, Roswell Wilson, Joseph Phelps and Joseph Allyn. The next year Joseph Allyn bought more of this property,
" For the earlier history of the property, see chapter on Wolcottville.
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and in 1802 Noah Allyn bought Noah Wilson's part. The Wilsons continued to own the larger part of the saw mill some time after the new grist mill was built. The owners of the grist mill received their income from the mill by using, or running the mill a proportionate length of time. The man that owned one-fourth run the mill eight days, the one who owned one-eighth run it four days, and thus each had his turn, and doubtless made the most of his opportunity. When the woolen mill was started and other buildings in the village as a consequence, then the old saw mill became of more demand than ever, and was kept pretty thoroughly at work, although changing owners quite frequently until the brass company purchased the whole property, so as to obtain command of the water power and privileges. After this Albert Leach bought the property and continued the saw mill some few years. About 1850 Clark B. Downs bought the property, took down the old grist mill, built another mill for a plaster mill, and run it for this purpose a few years, then used it to grind soap stone from the quarry in the southwest part of the town.
In 1857 Dea. Charles Hotchkiss and his son Edward C., purchased this property and fitted it for their work as builders, under the name of C. Hotchkiss and Son. This name was changed afterwards to C. Hotchkiss and Sons in which form it still stands. Mr. Hotchkiss had been engaged in building, previous to this, in Wolcottville and the country around, more than ten years, but his mill was two miles north of Torrington hollow and inconvenient, now he secured this mill property and arranged it for all the various parts of a complete business of building dwellings, meeting-houses, mills, and the like throughout the region. During the twenty years this firm have been engaged in this business, with what Mr. Hotchkiss had done pre- vicusly, they have put up a large proportion of the buildings in the village, besides doing much work at distances from five to twenty miles. They have been middling successful, by unremitting, persever- ing toil, and in the late hard times have been nearly as busy as ever in their line of work. And although Dea. Hotchkiss, in religious doctrines, is a little old fashioned yet he can build a dwelling after the most approved new style of freewill.
But what changes have taken place since the first saw mill was erected on this site. The changes in the appearance of the pine swamp, and in the manners and customs of the people and the in- troduction of the rail road and telegraph, are not more than the difference between the machinery of that first saw mill and the one that now
EXCELSIOR NEEDLE Co.
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occupies its site. In the late centennial exhibition, nothing was so wonderful to all nations as machinery hall ; so it is every where in our land, nothing is more wonderful than the machinery, and of that which is peculiar, very ingenious and surprising, Wolcottville has a large portion.
THE EXCELSIOR NEEDLE COMPANY.
An invention for reducing steel wire into sewing machine needles was exhibited in Wolcottville by Orrin L. Hopson and Heman P. Brooks, in the presence of several agents of sewing machine com- panies, and upon this exhibition, and further investigation, certain men became convinced of the practicability of the patent, and there- fore while the agents, for whose special benefit the exhibition was made, did not see fit to recommend their companies to purchase the patent, on account of the great changes which would be required in machinery, the investigation led to the determination of certain par- ties in Wolcottville, in connection with the owners of the patent, to organize a company for the purpose of making needles by this new process, called the cold swaging process, in distinction from the old, so called milling process. In reaching this determination, the com- pany were aware of the risks they took in the matter, but having confidence in the principle contained in the patent, and being willing to exercise great perseverance and patience to secure the object de- sired, made the venture.
Accordingly, the company was organized March 2, 1866, with twenty thousand dollars capital, and the following persons as direct- ors : Achille F. Migeon, president ; Charles Alvord, secretary ; and Elisha Turner, James Wooding, George M. Isbell. The superin- tendency of the work devolved upon Mr. Isbell until 1869, since which time that position has been filled by James Alldis.
It required great patience and much inventive genius and mechani- cal skill to develop and make practical the principle in this patent ; and this has not been attained to perfection, but only so far as to produce a needle superior to any other process or company in the world. This company have already secured several patents on differ- ent parts of machinery, invented for the purpose of making needles under this patent, and there is a constant study by the mechanics of the company, for new applications and constructions to facilitate and render perfect the use of the patent.
To this patent the company owe their success and prosperity as
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manufacturers of needles, for it has been the principal element in enabling them to gain their reputation for producing the best needles manufactured in this or any country.
In 1869, finding the building they occupied in Daytonville, much too small for their increasing business, they put up the present building, and removed their machinery into it in January 1871, hav- ing increased their capital stock to twenty-five thousand dollars. It stands a little north of the rail road depot, in the western part of the village, and is one hundred feet long, twenty-eight feet wide, two stories high, having two ells, one for the engine and boiler, the other for office and inspecting room. They have a machine shop and make and repair all their machinery, which is an item of great importance to the company as they are constantly improving the construction of their machinery.
This company has for its customers, all sewing machine compan- ies except those who make their own needles. The Wheeler and Wilson company of Bridgeport purchase their needles here ; the con- tract with them for several years having been 150,000 needles per month.
The company have at the inventory of every year between four and five millions of needles, or in other words, they carry about forty thousand dollars worth of stock the year through. The capa- city of the shop is twenty-five thousand per day. The amount of sales per year is, one hundred thousand dollars.
THE COLD SWAGING PROCESS.
The first sewing machine needle was made by Elias Howe 1 by filing a piece of steel wire to the required size and point, and then with a small round file, worked in the groove, and by this slow pro- cess produced a needle that answered his purpose, as he thought, quite well ; but consumers of needles soon became critical and de- manded a needle approaching perfection, and that could be produced at a low price.
The next process was to drill a hole in a piece of iron wire of the size and length required for the shank, and then drive a steel wire into this shank piece, for the blade of the needle. This was a slow process and produced a very imperfect needle.
A third method of making such needles was to grind the wire to the proper size of the blade, on grindstones or emery wheels, which
' The maker of the first practical sewing machine
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MANUFACTURING COMPANIES.
WOLCOTTVILLE
was no improvement on the other methods. A fourth method was the turning or milling process. This consisted in passing the wire, after being cut to its proper length, through a die, and as it came through, revolving rapidly, it came in contact with a tool or knife, which removed a necessary amount of material to reduce the wire to the size of the blade of the needle. This is the method commonly in use, except the new method by the Excelsior company.
The objection to this last method is that it wastes fifty per cent of the material, and by far the most superior part of the material. Another objection is, that the knife used, is a delicate instrument, and is constantly wearing on the edge, and as it wears, the needles increase, or are left larger in size ; and beside this want of uniformity the needles are left very rough, and to remedy this, resort is had to grinding which also destroys the uniformity.
The want of uniformity, from whatever cause, results in the im- possibility of making the grooves at the eye of the needle exactly op- posite, the want of which causes the machine to skip stitches when in operation, which is fatal to good work.
The cold swaging process, reduces the wire without heating, an- nealing or grinding or any preparation whatever. The wire being cut the proper length, so that there shall be no waste, is introduced between two revolving dies, which are brought together, by steam power, four thousand times in a minute. The wire may be intro- duced fast or slow, at pleasure, but it will be reduced every time to the same size, and cannot by any possibility be made less than the desired size ; and the needle is left perfectly round and with a smooth surface. The needle is made in a very short space of time, and the wire is more thoroughly condensed and its strength greatly increased.
It may be seen at a glance what a saving and perfection are at- tained by this simple invention, so simple that it seems a wonder it was not adopted a thousand years ago, for other things even, if they had no sewing machines.
There are other machines in this shop, which are of great im- portance, and which have been greatly improved by this company.
The pointing machine is one, and has been greatly improved and thus now supersedes hand work entirely ; one man with a machine producing five times the work he could have done before.
The eye finishing machine is another labor saving improvement, worked out by this company, doing the same work at one-fourth of the old cost.
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The grooving machine has also been wonderfully improved, and patents of these improvements, as well as on all new principles in- volved in the machines in use by this company, have been secured.
In the use of this machine and its accompaniments the company have devoted every energy to the one single business of making sewing machine needles.
Much credit is due Mr. Burr Lyon, the inspector of the needles of this company, who has occupied this position nearly from the first of their work, for the very thorough and successful manner he has performed the work of his department.
CONTRACTOR AND BUILDER.
Henry F. Patterson, a contractor and builder, commenced building in Wolcottville in 1872. He erected in 1875 an appropriate three story building and established a lumber yard, to which he has added two other buildings since. The yard is located in the south- west part of the village, near the rail road, and the appearances are that he is ready to build the village in that direction until it should reach Litchfield. He is brother to Burton C. Patterson, farmer, and a native of Cornwall, Ct.
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