USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut, Volume I > Part 29
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The Platt Brothers & Company factory was destroyed by fire in 1893, but was rebuilt in 1896 and 1897 and contains about twenty thousand square feet. It uses both water and electric power and the factory is equipped with both individual and group motors. There are five turbine water wheels, furnishing 400 horse power from the river. Clark M. Platt continued as president to the time of his death in 1900, when Lewis A. Platt became president, with J. H. Hart as treasurer and Wallace H. Camp as secretary.
THE NOVELTY MANUFACTURING COMPANY
The Novelty Manufacturing Company was organized in June, 1872, and William Bake was president; Edwin H. Putnam, treasurer; Thomas Fitzsimons, secretary, and John Cushbaum, with the three officers, constituted the board of directors. The business was begun at 125 Maple Street in a small way. In 1886 Mr. Blake died and Mr. Putnam became president. On his death in 1889, Mr. Fitzsimons, who had been treasurer from 1886 to 1889 became president and treasurer, purchasing the Putnam interest, with Mr. William E. Blake as secre- tary. The latter withdrew in February, 1892, and in July Louis E. Fitzsimons became secretary. Thomas Fitzsimons died in 1911, and Oscar Fitzsimons served as president from 1910 until October, 1912, with Louis E. Fitzsimons as secretary and treasurer. On October 2, 1912, C. L. Holmes bought out Oscar Fitzsimons and on the 23d of January, 1913, became vice president, with Louis E. Fitzsimons as president and treasurer. O. S. Gage became secretary October 2, 1912, and the three officers remained in their respective positions until August, 1917, when Louis E. Fitzsimons died.
In 1894 the company built a factory, 36 by 88, four stories, of mill con- struction. In 1900 it built a large addition in two parts, four stories. In 1902 it bought more ground, the building on it was remodeled and in 1906 a new building was added. The company now has 50,000 square feet in all.
On July 13, 1910, the capital stock was increased from $12,500 to $200,000.
The company manufactures metal goods, including bathroom fittings and accessories. It is the largest manufacturer in the United States of pipe ferrules, table cutlery, trimmings, lawn sprays, cabinet hardware, and curtain fasteners for automobiles. It makes all kinds of metal specialties, manufacturing several thousand different lines. It sells to other manufacturers and to the retail trade. It has a tool making department. It employs over two hundred and fifty people.
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TIIE BERBECKER & ROWLAND MANUFACTURING COMPANY
The Berbecker & Rowland Manufacturing Company was organized in 1894, capital $150,000, when Herbert S. Rowland purchased an interest in the Tucker Manufacturing Company, which had been incorporated July 31, 1886. Its capital today is $350,000.
The officers in 1895 were: Julius Berbecker, president ; C. W. H. Berbecker, secretary, and H. S. Rowland, treasurer.
In 1917 the officers are: E. N. Berbecker, president ; Herbert S. Rowland, secretary and treasurer ; and Robert S. Booth, assistant treasurer. Its capital is unchanged.
The growth of the business is indicated by the fact that the plant has doubled its capacity several times by the building of various additions to the factory. Since 1900 it has erected thirteen factory buildings in its twenty acres of ground at Waterville.
It now employs 275 people. The company manufactures cabinet, upholstery and drapery hardware, which is sold all over the United States and abroad.
Its buildings are nearly all of mill construction.
TIIE MATTATUCK MANUFACTURING COMPANY
The Mattatuck Manufacturing Company was organized October 15, 1896, with Henry L. Wade as president, George E. Judd as treasurer, and George Tucker as secretary. On the death of Mr. Wade, Mr. Judd succeeded him as president, while continuing in the office of treasurer, and Mr. Tucker has been succeeded by William E. Fielding, who is now secretary and general manager. Its capital is $225,000.
The factory at No. 1987 East Main Street has a frontage of 200 feet. The property of the company covers several acres of land, with seven model houses for employes.
There are two factory buildings, each 150 by 44 feet, four stories high, and of mill construction, with the sprinkler system.
The company manufactures brass and wire goods, furniture nails, upholstery nails, spring bed fabrics, screw machine products, handcuffs, wire forms and shapes and novelties. The company employs 500 people, 60 per cent skilled, 15 per cent girls.
THE WATERBURY BUCKLE COMPANY
The Waterbury Buckle Company was organized April 7, 1853. Its capital was increased in 1912 to $400,000. Its present officers are Archer J. Smith, president and treasurer, and Julius Maltby, secretary.
The company now has 400 employes, mostly skilled. Its main factory is 600 by 400 feet, the old building three stories high and the new building five stories.
The company manufactures all kinds of buckles and brass and steel specialties, selling extensively to other manufacturers.
Its early success was due largely to the work of its former president, Earl Smith, who joined the company first as secretary and manager in 1865 and later as president. He died July 22, 1906, having been with the company over thirty years. At his death he was president of the American Mills Company, the Smith & Griggs Company, the Narrow Fabric Company of New Haven, the Waterbury
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Buckle Company, and a director in the Waterbury National Bank. In 1890 he was one of the committee appointed to revise Waterbury's charter. He was prominent not alone in industrial lines, but took a deep interest in the civic development of the city.
THE L. C. WHITE COMPANY
The L. C. White Company was incorporated July, 1888, for $15,000, at which it remains today. In 1893 George L. White became president and served until his death, December 1, 1914. Frank J. Ludington continued as vice president until his death October 1I, 1909, when Frederick W. Ludington succeeded him and is still in office. In 1903 George L. White, Jr., became secretary and in 1914 became president and treasurer, with W. H. White as secretary.
The company manufactures buttons, upholstering nails and button part nov- elties, and employs 100 people, mostly men. It developed a line of automatic machinery for the manufacture of its product, which is sold all over the United States and abroad to jobbers and manufacturers.
THE NOERA MANUFACTURING COMPANY
The Noera Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1905, although it had been in business as the Noera Company for many years. Its president and treasurer is Frank P. Noera, and its secretary is George W. Seeton.
The capital is today $75,000, the amount given in the original incorporation papers.
The Noera Company employs 275 hands, making all kinds of hardware spe- cialties, bicycle and auto sundries, but particularly oil cans, of which its output is very heavy.
Its new factories were erected in 1911 and 1912 and the larger brick building was put up in 1915 and 1916. In 1917 storage buildings have been added to the plant.
THE GENERAL MANUFACTURING COMPANY
The General Manufacturing Company was organized in 1909 with a capital of $10,000 and the following officers in charge: President, John Draher ; secre- tary, Charles F. Probst ; treasurer, Max Kiessling.
In 1915 the capital was increased to $40,000 and Charles H. Swenson suc- ceeded to the position of secretary.
In 1917 the officers remain as above, with Miller P. Dayton as vice president.
The General Manufacturing Company employs about seventy-five people, and its specialty is the manufacture of rivets, screws, and steel balls.
The company began business in 1907, two years before its incorporation, and erected its first buildings on Brown Street in 1911 and 1912. Its plant was greatly extended in 1913 and 1914.
THE AMERICAN FASTENER COMPANY
The American Fastener Company was organized in November, 1915, with a capital of $24,000, and with Charles Josephson, of New York, as president ; Jolin Draher, of the General Manufacturing Company, as treasurer, and Max Kiessling, also of the General Manufacturing Company, as secretary.
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This company manufactures press buttons and Mr. Kiessling is the inventor of the machine used in manufacturing them. The concern employs twelve people and Mr. Kiessling has done much toward developing the automatic machines used by this company, as well as those used by the General Company. Its factory was erected in 1915.
THE SIMONSVILLE MANUFACTURING COMPANY
The Simonsville Manufacturing Company, located on Pearl Lake Road near Tracy Avenue, was incorporated in July, 1916, for $25,000. It has leased its present site and has increased its capacity by adding a 40 by 20 addition to the older 60 by 20 building. Its president is Charles W. Roller; secretary, George Carney ; treasurer, Roderick Perrault. The business was begun by these officers in 1915 as a partnership to manufacture Diamond brass paper fasteners. These are much like the old McGill fasteners, except that they have the diamond point. The company also manufactures tools and does much other novelty work.
THE WATERBURY METAL WARES COMPANY
The Waterbury Metal Wares Company was incorporated October 23, 1915, for $50,000, and in November opened its factory on Jackson Street for the manu- facture of specialties in brass and other metals, its main output being lighting fixtures. The president of the company is L. W. Andersen; secretary, E. W. Andersen. The position of treasurer is at present vacant.
THE SOMERS COMPANY, INC.
The Somers Company, Incorporated, was established in 1915 and incorporated in 1916 with a capital of $50,000. It manufactures thin gauges of sheet brass in its factory at 94 Baldwin Street. The officers are: Robert D. Somers, president, who is also vice president and general manager of the Waterbury Rolling Mills ; Louis J. Somers, secretary ; Joseph E. Somers, treasurer.
THE CONNECTICUT MANUFACTURING COMPANY
The Connecticut Manufacturing Company was incorporated December 29, 1909, with C. H. Swenson, president and treasurer, and John Swenson as secre- tary. It established a plating plant which was, however, discontinued when Mr. Swenson went with the General Manufacturing Company, of which he is now one of the principal officials.
CHAPTER XVIII
CLOCKS, WATCHES, PINS, NEEDLES, HOOKS AND EYES
THE WATERBURY CLOCK COMPANY-THE BEGINNINGS OF THE "INGERSOLL" WATCH -- FROM THE "JUMBO" TO THE SMALL "DOLLAR" WATCH-MAKING ITS OWN CRYSTALS-R. H. INGERSOLL & BROTHER BUY THE NEW ENGLAND WATCH COM- PANY PLANT-THE STORY OF THE "LONG WIND" WATERBURY WATCH-TIIE LUX CLOCK MANUFACTURING COMPANY-THE AMERICAN PIN COMPANY-ITS PLANT -ITS NEW BUILDINGS SINCE 1900-THE OAKVILLE COMPANY AND ITS EXTEN- SIONS-OFFICIALS OF THE BIG PIN COMPANIES.
Clock-making on a large scale in Waterbury was formerly a branch of the business of the Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing Company. On March 27, 1857, this was made a separate concern under the title of the Waterbury Clock Company, with a capital of $60,000.
It grew rapidly and secured larger quarters on North Elm Street in 1873. Arad W. Welton, the first president, was succeeded by Charles Benedict, at whose death in 1881 G. W. Burnham became president. He died in 1885 and Henry L. Wade, who had been secretary from 1871, was elected president, withi Irving H. Chase as secretary. Both continued in the business until 1912, when Mr. Wade died and Mr. Chase became president, with William J. Larkin as secretary. The factory has been vastly enlarged and the number of employes greatly increased. The company manufactures every kind of clock, and in many designs. The output of its glass factory is now 21/2 tons of glass per day and this department alone employs 300 people. The total employes in 1887 were 300; in 1917 they are over three thousand. The capacity is now 23,000 timepieces daily.
The buildings are all of mill construction. The company manufactures its own electricity and uses electric power group drive for motors. It has established a large experimental department in which men are continuously employed. The company now manufactures about seven hundred different styles of clocks, watches, and special features of timepieces. It has recently erected a new factory, 70 by 110 feet, six stories and basement, made of reinforced concrete, and equipped with sprinkler system. The work benches of the company, placed end to end, would extend over seven miles.
The Ingersoll "dollar" watch has much to do with the great success of the Waterbury Clock Company. In 1899, the officers of the company conceived the idea of putting upon the market a watchcase with a clock movement and small enough to be carried in an overcoat pocket. It was sold for $1.50, was an inch and a half in thickness, and nearly three inches in diameter. It wound up like an alarm clock. It was called the "Jumbo" and a considerable sale was worked up on it. In 1893 Robert H. Ingersoll was running a small store on Fulton Street, New York, which he had opened in 1877 for the sale of rubber stamps and novelties. He happened to see a "Jumbo" in a jeweler's window, realized almost immediately what publicity could accomplish in the sale of what now
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seems a cumbersome timepiece, but then had all the earmarks of a successful invention.
Mr. Ingersoll came to Waterbury, and after a thorough investigation placed an order for 188,000 improved Jumbos. He sold all of them, and in the following year his order was for 300,000. By this time the idea of a smaller watch had taken possession of his inventive mind, and improvements followed so quickly that by 1910 the Waterbury Clock Company was delivering to R. H. Ingersoll & Bro. 3,500,000 of the "dollar watches" every year. The output today in the Waterbury Clock Company of these watches runs over 12,000 a day. This means that there are always 168,000 of these watches in the timing racks, for no watch is turned out until it has had at least a two weeks' "timing" test. Robert H. Ingersoll in 1901 sold 1,000,000 of the watches to Symonds' London stores. This started the present world-circling sale of the "dollar" watch.
As a result of the constantly expanding sale of this cheap, practical timepiece, the Waterbury Clock Company has had its most phenomenal growth since 1900. In that year it built two five-story brick factory additions, one 34 by 88 feet, the other 40 by 114 feet. In 1901 it added three additional factories, each five stories and respectively 34 by 88, 40 by 114, and 44 by 70. In 1904 and 1905 it added five buildings to the plant. One of these was the brick boiler house, another the engine house. One of the new factory buildings, of brick and heavy mill construction, measures 43 by 116. The other five story brick measures 43 by 104. Approxi- mately $125,000 was expended for new buildings in this period.
In 1907 and 1908 it had again outgrown its capacity and added a five story factory, size 40 by 176. In 1909 and 1910 it expended approximately $100,000 on further additions.
The Waterbury Clock Company is probably the only concern of its kind that has a factory for making its own watch crystals.
In 1914 after the outbreak of the war the Waterbury Clock Company found itself shut off from its German and Swiss glass crystal sources. It was typical American enterprise that started a factory to meet this need and had it in full blast by May, 1915. The company is making about five hundred gross, or 72,000 crystals daily now. A new seven story factory now being erected is for use in the making of watch crystals, and this means that the supply will be greatly increased in 1918.
The entire watch output of the Waterbury Clock Company is sold to Robert H. Ingersoll & Brother. This is the world-famous Ingersoll watch.
Its capital stock is today $4,000,000.
ROBERT H. INGERSOLL AND BROTHER
Like the Waterbury Clock Company, the Waterbury Watch Company, later the New England Watch Company and now an integral part of the Robert H. Ingersoll & Brother organization, was a department of the Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing Company. It soon outgrew its quarters in the parent plant, in which it had done business for two years, and in 1880 was organized as a new corporation, the Waterbury Watch Company, with a capital of $400,000. The factory completed in May, 1881, is the present site on Dover Street. Among its first directors were Charles Benedict, Gordon W. Burnham, Charles Dickinson. George Merritt, Edwin A. Locke and D. A. A. Buck.
It was through the ingenuity of D. A. A. Buck that the watch long known to the country as the "long-wind Waterbury" was placed on the market. This was finally withdrawn in 1891 and a perfected short-wind watch was introduced.
Vol. I-15
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In 1888 Augustus S. Chase succeeded Charles Dickinson as president and remained in this office until his death in 1896. In this year, 1896, Arthur O. Jennings was secretary and Edward L. Frisbie treasurer. At this period it employed 400 hands.
In 1898 the Waterbury Watch Company became the New England Watch Company with a capital of $600,000. Its president was E. L. Frisbie, and its sec- retary and general manager was A. O. Jennings. It was then making a special drive on the " Elfin" watch, the smallest time piece made in America, and on the "Hyde," which was in competition with the dollar watch.
By 1906 it had increased its capital to $750,000 and its president was George L. White, its vice president E. L. Frisbie, Jr., its secretary William H. White and its treasurer A. O. Jennings.
Competition now became so keen that the company was having a hard time to make ends meet. Its cheap watch, successful for a time, could not stand up under the long, hard struggle for permanent trade.
The capital had been increased to $1,000,000, but the sale of stock failed to help the project and application for a receiver was made on July 17, 1912. Harris Whittemore and John P. Elton were named as receivers.
In November, 1914, when the building and plant, which had been inventoried at $325,000, were to be sold by court order, R. H. Ingersoll & Brother, who had their main plant at Trenton, N. J., announced that they were ready to bid for it.
The city entered the combat, thinking to use the building as a Technical High School. The belief was general that the plant was to be dismantled and the machinery moved to Trenton. Charles H. Ingersoll, secretary and treasurer of this company, then announced that the Ingersolls would at once put the plant into condition for operation and would be turning out from 1,000 to 2,000 watches daily within a year.
The Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Aldermen both received this pledge, on the strength of which the Ingersoll bid of $76,000 was accepted on November 25, 1914.
This company has more than kept its promise. In 1917 it is employing 700 people. has a weekly pay roll of over ten thousand dollars, and the output of watches is reaching 1,500 a day. The company is now making what it terms the "Ingersoll-Waterbury" watch, thus reviving the old name with a perfected time- piece.
The receivership of the old company was finally ended on January 7, 1916.
The Bannatyne Watch Company was incorporated for $100,000 in Novem- ber, 1905, with Franklin Farrel, Jr., of Ansonia, president ; George E. Bryant, treasurer; Archibald Bannatyne, secretary. Mr. Bannatyne had been long in the employ of the Waterbury Clock Company and was the practical man in the new concern. Its factory was located at 31 to 37 Canal Street. The company discontinued the business in 1911. It manufactured principally a watch retailing at $1.50 and smaller and neater than the original dollar watch, being more like the improved lines selling at $1.50 and $2.00. Mr. Bannatyne has long been regarded as the inventor of the original dollar watch by many people. He was master mechanic of the Waterbury Clock Company when the "Jumbo" watch was put out, and thinking along this line, decided that if it were manufactured in large enough quantities, a small watch in a nickel case with a stem-wind could be made at a price which would make it possible to retail it at $1.00. At that time he estimated that on an order of 500,000 the manufacturing cost would be 29 cents each. The preliminary investment required for tools staggered the direc- tors, however, and before anything was decided upon, Mr. Ingersoll visited the
FORMERLY NEW ENGLAND WATCH COMPANY; NOW OCCUPIED BY THE INGERSOLL- WATERBURY PLANT, OWNED BY R. H. INGERSOLL & BROTHER
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factory with a promise of a market for such a watch. In placing his original orders, he insisted that his name should go on the dial, where it has remained to this day.
The old "long wind" Waterbury watch, on which D. A. A. Buck took out twelve patents from 1879 to 1885, was the pioneer cheap watch. It had what was at that time a tremendous sale, although its retail price was $3.50. It was not only the favorite boy's watch but the rough-and-tumble watch of hundreds of thousands of men. Its tick was heard round the world and had made Waterbury famous. Why was it not the Waterbury watch that developed into a dollar watch? Why did the Waterbury Clock company seize the idea which would have saved the Waterbury Watch Company from liquidation ?
The Waterbury watch ceased to be an attractive novelty because of its long wind, which was a favorite joke of vaudeville performers and newspaper humor- ists, and the company came to the conclusion in 1891 that cheap watches were only a passing novelty. It was decided to manufacture medium grade watches and for fear the cheapness of the Waterbury watch would cling to the new product, the name of the corporation was changed to The New England Watch Company. Thus the factory entered upon the experiment of starting in new fields, already well occupied, without an established reputation. It is easy to assert that the Waterbury watch could have been at that time both improved in quality and reduced in price and made a commercial success. All we know is that eight years later the Waterbury Clock Company made the attempt and won.
It has often been thought that the company's change of name was unfor- tunate. In 1913 the receivers considered the question of re-assuming it on the theory that after the lapse of more than twenty years it would be an asset as a trademark. The same idea was suggested to Charles H. Ingersoll after his purchase of the factory and resulted in one of the new products being christened the Ingersoll-Waterbury.
THE LUX CLOCK MANUFACTURING COMPANY
Paul Lux started the Lux Clock Company in a small shop on East Farms Street in March, 1914. In 1915 it had outgrown its quarters and moved into a large loft in Printers' Court. In January, 1917, it was incorporated as The Lux Clock Manufacturing Company with a capital of $50,000 and took larger quarters at 21 Harrison Street. Its officers are: President, Paul Lux; vice president, Michael Keeley ; secretary, A. H. Hauser; assistant secretary, Herman Lux ; assistant treasurer, Frederick Lux. The company manufactures clock move- ments.
THE PIN COMPANIES
It was in what may be called the segregation of its industries and in the development as separate organizations of what were to begin with branches of parent branches, that much of the great success of Waterbury manufactures lies.
The pin industry is the earliest and most striking illustration of this. This began in Waterbury originally as a branch of the Benedict & Burnham Manu- facturing Company, and became a distinct organization in 1846, as the Ameri- can Pin Company. The invention by Chauncey O. Crosby of a machine for stick- ing pins on paper led to the formation in 1852 of the Oakville Company. The contest over the Crosby patent, which was claimed to be an infringement of the American Pin Company's "goose neck" patent device for sticking pins, was the
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foundation of the Oakville Company's success. In this the courts upheld the Oakville Company. After this controversy, the two companies developed along thoroughly harmonious lines.
The American Pin Company was incorporated in November, 1846, and the incorporators were Adam Benedict, G. W. Burnham, Henry Bronson, J. S. Mitchell, Jr., Bennett Bronson, Charles Benedict, Benjamin DeForest, John DeForest, J. C. Booth, A. W. Welton, D. F. Maltby, Philo Brown, J. P. Elton, Ambrose Ives, James Brown, P. W. Carter and S. B. Minor. The American Pin Company was organized with a capital stock of $50,000. The business was a feeder for the wire mills.
Nelson Hall became the secretary, treasurer and manager of the business in January, 1847, and continued as manager until Theodore I. Briggs became treasurer on the 24th of January, 1865. On the 24th of December, 1866, he was made secretary and treasurer and was made president and treasurer on January 24, 1888, while George A. Driggs succeeded to the position of secretary. Theodore I. Driggs continued in the presidency until June 28, 1893, when A. M. Blakesley was elected his successor and continued from January 30, 1894, until his death in October, 1908, when George A. Driggs became president and treasurer. He had previously been secretary and treasurer for fifteen years and upon his elec- tion to the presidency W. R. Willetts was elected secretary, continuing until February 6, 1913, when he in turn was succeeded by W. W. Bowers.
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