History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 216

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1576

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 216

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For twenty years or more the work of getting out cane was done by hand. It was a slow, difficult, laborious process, requiring care, skill and quickness of motion for its successful prosecution. Numerous steps intervened between the taking of the material in hand by the worker and the leaving it ready for the hand of the seater. It was received, as it is now, just as it was shipped from its native shores, just as it was taken from its native forests, indeed, except that the leaves crowning its top and the spines grown at its several joints had been removed, after which it had been put into bundles of one hundred stalks each, about sixteen feet long, doubled in the middle and compactly tied together. The first thing done with it was to straighten it, so that it could be easily handled and conveniently worked. Each stalk was then passed through the hand from end to end and every joint was taken off or pared down with a common knife, so as not to interfere with the further working of it, or with the drawing in of the strands when woven by the usual method into a seat. This was termed cleaning the cane. When this was accom- plished the act of splitting or slabbing took place, which consisted, in the case of the smaller rods or stalks, in quartering them from end to end, and when they were larger, in taking off from the several sides enough to make two strands, with the exception of the last one, perhaps, which would sometimes make but one. This was also 'done with a common knife and required special care and skill to prevent waste. Each strip thus produced was afterwards ploughed or passed under a sharp-edged tool, shaped like the letter V, being held in place by proper appliances,

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

which would cut away most of the core or woody portion of the strip, and at the same time so nearly split it into two equal parts as that they could be readily separated. Each of these parts was then drawn between two properly adjusted cutters, which reduced it to a uniform width and was termed gauging the cane. It was afterward planed or brought to a uniform thickness by passing it over another cutter set into a block of wood, likening it to the carpenter's tool from which this step of the process derived its name. This concluded the mechanical part of the work. . The cane thus prepared was then parceled ont into lots of one thousand feet in length in the aggregate, neatly tied in bunches of convenient size, and after being sufficiently bleached, was deemed ready for use. In this, the original method of getting out cane, each part of the work was distinct and' separate from all others, and the power employed was that resident in the bones and sinews of the work- men, small pincers being used for holding the strands in the drawing processes and whenever the fingers could not conveniently and successfully serve the end desired.

But this slow method was destined to be superseded. The invention of machinery and the use of water or other power for the purpose of preparing rattan for the various kinds of service to which it was applied, was only a question of time, and the time came many years ago. In the year 1849, Mr. Sullivan Sawyer, then of Templeton, but now of Fitchburg, secured letters patent on a machine "for splitting and dress- · ing rattan," and also on one for cutting rattan, in 1851. These are the first inventions connected with the business mentioned in the reports of the Patent Office of the United States, but for ten years from the date of the first of these they averaged one annually. A third patent was issued to Mr. Sawyer for a cane- working machine in 1854, and a fourth in 1855. In 1852 one was granted to Joseph Sawyer, of Royal- ston, and another in 1854, as also one in the same year to Mr. A. M. Sawyer, Templeton. In 1855 Mr. C. C. Reed, of Philadelphia, was similarly honored ; also Mr. C. C. Hull, of Charlestown. In 1858, George S. Colburn, then of South Reading, but for many years a resident of Gardner, and the manager of the cane department of the Heywood Manufactory until a recent date, took out his first patent for a rattan- machine, as he has also received several since that period. Some of these machines were of only exper- imental service, not standing the test of practical use ; but they were helps to that more perfect system of mechanisms and devices by which cane is now prepared for the multiform uses to which it is applied. As a matter of fact, out of these several inventions there were evolved two or three machines, differing from each other in some respects, which were put to effectual use, and for a time supplied very largely the needs of the cane-seat chair-making public. At what date these went into successful operation it is

difficult to determine. Indeed, they were being ex- perimented with and improved for several years, and turned out much imperfect work before they gave reasonable satisfaction, a result which was achieved about the year 1858 or, it may be, a little earlier ; but it was not far from that time that the problem of getting out cane by machinery was regarded as solved, and that a new era had opened to that branch of business. For some years succeeding that period but little cane was worked in Gardner, that which was consumed in the town being prepared for the most part at Boston or Fitchburg, where large com- panies, organized for the purpose, had control of that department of the chair-making industry, and supplied the demand existing in this vicinity. Later on, however, arrangements were entered into by the parties concerned, under which the business of getting out cane was resumed in this place about the year 1875, where it has been continued under different and varying auspices to the present time. Numerous improvements have been made in cane-working machinery as the business has gone on, and many new inventions have been brought forward, some of which have proved valueless, while others have been of great service. Of these (produced mostly in the shops where the work is carried on) but few have been protected by United States patents, and so do not appear in any public record. One of the most important of these later machines, however, it may be stated, was the fruit of the practical sagacity of Mr. George S. Colburn, for which he received letters in recognition of its originality and merit from the United States Patent Office, bearing date November 18, 1879. It is substantially the machine now in operation in the only cane-producing establishment in Gardner, one of the largest in the world, and one from which all the cane used in the vicinity is now received, though it has been subjected since it was first started to sundry modifications and improve ments, whereby its work is rendered more perfect and satisfactory.

But not only have there been great improvements in the methods of getting out cane or of preparing it for use, but also in the ways and means of working it after it is so prepared, as well as in the styles or forms it is made to assume, when it is finally adjusted and finished for the market. Originally the only seat produced was what has been called the Chinese pattern, whether because it was devised in China and brought thence to this country or not is not known, but probably for that reason. It consisted in arrang- ing the strands of cane passing from one side to the other of the frame and from front to back, in pairs, crossing each other at right angles; each strand so interwoven with the others as that it passed first above and then below one running transversely, in regular order, all being attached to the frame by putting them in their proper place through holes made for the purpose. These pairs were adjusted according to the

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distance between the holes, usually about half an inch apart, causing square openings of a corresponding measurement to be made. Through these openings other strands were interwoven diagonally in two directions, thus cutting off their corners and making them octagonal in form. This produced a firm, substantial piece of work, which when well executed was strong, durable and pleasing to the eye. A bind- ing around the edge covering the holes in the frame gave it proper finish. This style of seat was the only one made for many years, and the same pattern of weaving was put into backs when cane-back chairs came into vogue. The work in it was always per- formed by hand, an adroit use of the fingers being necessary to a rapid execution of the different inter- lacing processes. This is the kind of seating substan- tially which was distributed far and wide throughout the community and furnished remunerative employ- ment to a multitude of families for a long series of years. After a time some variations from it were introduced, gratifying to the popular taste, but not changing materially the character or method of the work.

It can be at once seen that seating according to this method was at best but a slow process, and so one not likely to satisfy the demands of this hurrying, fast-driving age. Seats must be made at a more rapid rate than was possible under the old, long-pre- vailing system. To meet the exigencies of the trade and of the times, a loom for weaving cane into a continuous web by the use of power was invented- the production of the mechanical skill of Mr. Gard- ner A. Watkins, formerly of Proctorsville, Vt., but at the time and since a resident of Gardner, whose ingenuity in this department of mannfacture was re- peatedly recognized and honored by the United States Patent Office during the years 1867-69. Other looms have been invented by other parties since that period, and numerous improvements have been made upon the original designs. The product of the looms first brought into use and run to much profit was what may be termed the solid web, similar to that of the simpler kinds of woolen and cotton cloth. It made a strong, durable seat, but had no artistic merits, and hence, was not suited to the higher, nicer grades of goods. Changes have been going on. New appli- ances have been added and different patterns of web- bing have been devised, but everything thus far brought out as the result of the introduction of the loom has been open to the same objection. No inven- tion for weaving cane, so far as is known, has yet heen able to make the Chinese seat pattern or anything nearly equal to it in artistic excellence and attractive- ness. Yet a loom, or a device, has been invented by the use of which the production of that precise pattern has been greatly facilitated. It admits of such an arrangement of certain parts of its mechanism as that the several pairs of transverse strands which enter into the constru tion of the ordinary seat, constitu-

ting what is often termed warping and checking, can be woven together in proper form to receive the oblique or diagonal strands. Moreover, an ingen- ious contrivance has been devised, by the use of which these diagonal strand, can he interwoven with wonderful ease and dispatch. It consists of a large needle, long enough to reach in an oblique direction from one side to the other of a web of cane prepared as just stated, having a revolving point which works its way through the proper openings by the turning of a small crank on the part of the operator, carry- ing with it as it advances a single strand of cane which it leaves in its rightful place, when it is it-elf withdrawn. By the use of these two inventions in connection with each other, the work of making seats of the origina! Chinese pattern at an immense saving of both time and labor is accomplished, and their introduction is likely to affect very seriously the old practice of hand-seating, even if it does not eventually bring it to an end. Moreover, that prac- tice is threatened in another direction. There is a machine in process of construction, passing through its experimental stages, and promising success, which, while it may not produce the Chinese pattern exactly, will fabricate something so much like it that the casual observer would scarcely notice the differ- ence, and hence can readily be substituted for it in many if not in all the nicer kinds of cane-chair mannfacture. And, besides, this machine, when per- fected according to the plan of those engaged in de- veloping it, as it is quite likely to be, will do not one style of weaving alone, but an indefinite variety of styles in form and figure, by simply changing some of its constituent parts relatively to each other, or some of its multiform and intricate movements. In view of what has already been accomplished and .will probably soon be accomplished, the whole mat- ter of making even the better classes of cane-seats is very likely to undergo entire reconstruction at an early day.

The invention of the loom, whereby a continuous web of the woven cane was rendered possible, neces- sitated the designing of some method of splicing the strands in some sure and effectual way. This neces- sity was met by Mr. Watkins, in the evolution of a machine or series of machines, about the year 1870, by the operation of which, in proper order, the ends of strands proposed to be united could be scarfed so as to exactly match each other, and then, the cor- responding scarfed parts being duly charged with ce- ment, be brought together and subjected to pressure in such a way as to cause them to adhere firmly with- out perceptibly enlarging the size of the strand at the point of juncture. The several devices by which this result is secured are exceedingly ingenious, and re- flect much credit upon the inventor. The work is done so thoroughly and neatly that an inexpert eye will scarcely detect the place where the splicing is done, even in the strand, and much less when in the

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

finished articles of production. Another method of splicing, evincing considerable inventive skill, which has been widely employed, is that of bringing the squared ends of the strands to be united together in line, and then bending about the two a little band or clasp of thin metal with serrated edges, which, when pressed closely into the substance of the cane, bolds the parts securely together. This, though much used, does not make so neat a piece of work as the other method, and is not likely to be so durable or satisfactory to the chair-using public.

The use of the loom-woven seat, or of a seat made independently of the frame to which it was to be fi- nally attached, also made it necessary to originate some plan of effecting that attachment, instead of the old one of passing the strands through holes bored for the purpose, which had to he abandoned. Two new ones have been employed with fairly satisfactory results. One of these is to turn the edges of the seat, cut to a proper size, down inside the frame and fastening them by a thin strip of wood on each side, firmly kept in place by screws. When carefully ad- justed, these strips would hold the seat securely, as in a vise, and being underneath, would not be seen to disadvantage. Another plan is that of making a groove or channel continuously on the four sides of the frame, then cutting the web or seat exactly large enough to have its edges pressed into this groove without protruding on the onter side, and made se- cure hy a strip of wood or spline prepared for the purpose, and forced into place after a suitable appli- cation of glue, to render everything firm and sure. A contrivance for beading the spline, and also for embossing the frame around it, operating in connec- tion with the other processes, gives the whole a neat finish when completed. Every part of this work is done by machinery, the fruit of the inventive faculty. of different persons, some of it being very inge- nious, complex and heavy and of immense power. It is capable of being worked with such rapidity that, operating in connection with the loom continuously, only four minutes are required to make an entire seat, reckoning from the time when the cane is in the strand ready to be woven, to the time when the work is completed ready to be put into the chair for the market.

It is a noteworthy fact in this matter of the use of rattan as an element of chair and other manufacture, that a much larger portion of it is now made service- ahle than was formerly the case. For a long time after it was introduced it was believed that only the external parts were of any practical value, which must be put into the goods in such a way as that the wear would come altogether upon the smooth, silicated gurface. It has been found, however, that what remained after the outer portions are removed may be utilized in a great variety of ways. And much of the reed and rattan work of the present day, so pleas- ing to the taste and so deservedly popular in the form

of chairs and other furniture, children's carriages, baskets, etc., is composed of these portions once deemed of no account and consigned to the flames. These same portions are also split into strands and, after being properly dressed and made smooth, are put into seats and other parts of the chair, just as those strands are which have the silicated surface. Goods thus fabricated have a presentable appearance, are durable and acceptable to the trade. In the ways indicated, almost the entire substance of the rattan is now turned to some profitable account, the actual waste being exceedingly small.

Before proceeding to give an account of the several chair manufacturing establishments of Gardner, the history of which will present further details touching the development of this interesting and important industry, it seems desirable to offer a few general observations upon the business uuder notice. And it may be remarked, to begin with, that the practice of using labor-saving machinery, which was first resorted to fifty-five or sixty years ago, and which was one of the principal features of the change from the old to the new methods of production, has become essentially universal. Invention has kept pace with the ever- growing demand for goods and with the multiplication of styles, supplying every department of manufacture with mechanical devices suited to the ends it was designed to secure. Space will not admit of a descrip- tion of any of these devices, even of the most wonder- ful and valuable of them, nor yet of the simplest statement of the special use to which they are respec- tively put. It must suffice to say that they are multi- tudinous in variety, ingenious in design, thorough and complete in construction, wonderful in operation and in the execution of their appropriate work, many of them seemingly gifted with almost human instinct and practical sagacity. So completely do they supply the needs of the chair manufacturer, that nearly all of what is termed hand-work-that is, work done by human strength-is that of feeding the machines and of putting the different parts together after they have been prepared as indicated.

It seems needful also to state that much of the work of getting out stock, by which is meant cutting it from the original stick or log, and making it ready for the machine which shall put it into its final shape, is done in or near the lumber regions of New Hampshire, Vermont and Canada, or of more west- ern localities, what is thus prepared being sent in bulk to the factories for further manipulation and use. Tracts of wood-land are sometimes owned by the manufacturers themselves, as are also the mills employed in connection with them, so that the entire process, or series of processes, required in the pro- duction of chairs, from the time of the felling of the tree whence comes the material that enters into their construction to the time when they are finally put upon the market, is under one and the same gen- eral management. But usually the stock is brought

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to the factories "in the rough," having been pur- chased of parties who make a distinct business of preparing it and supplying the demand which exists for it in that form.

Manufacturers usually finish their own goods,-that is, they not only put them into proper shape as com- plete articles of furniture, but they paint and var- Dish them and make them ready for final nse in the dwelling of the consumer. It is not unfrequently the case, however, that in putting chairs together, they are left nnglued, so that, after they have been fin- ished, they may be taken to pieces and closely boxed for convenience of transportation to distant places, where they may be "set up" and made ready for sale. Sometimes, too, they are shipped "in the wood," without having been put together or painted at all, to be completed and put upon the market at the place to which they may be consigned. All the larger chair establishments at this day have a repair department, well equipped with the fixtures and appurtenances of a machine-shop, in which not only is the necessary repairing done, but new machines, or parts of machines, constructed, and where any new invention brought out in any establishment may be put into proper form, tested, experimented with and, if proved to be of practical value, made ready for service.

It is now in order to present as briefly as may be a sketch of the several establishments which are in successful operation in the town, and which, with their antecedents, to be incidentally noticed, may be regarded as fairly representing the industry under con- sideration during the more memorable part of its ex- istence. They will be introduced substantially in the order of their historic and commercial importance.

HEYWOOD BROS. & Co .- The history of this firm and of the business which it represents runs back more than half a century, to the early days of chair- making, and of those other activities in the commu- nity which have been closely related to it. During all this period the family name has been identified with this industry, and has occupied a prominent place in everything pertaining to its expansion and prosperity. As early as 1826 Walter Heywood, third son of Benjamin Heywood, whose father was one of the first residents of the town, having then but re- cently attained his majority, began the work of making chairs in a little shop standing in the yard attached to his father's house, which occupied the site of the present Town Hall building. At this date his older brothers, Levi and Benjamin Franklin, were engaged in running an old-fashioned country store near by, al- though it is probable that both of them worked more or less at chairs in the way of learning the trade. Not long after, a new shop was erected by Walter on the spot where now stands the dwelling of Asher Shattuck, at the corner of Central Street and Woodland Avenue, in which the business was carried on till 1834, when it was burned. Meanwhile, Mr. Heywood associated

with himself his brothers B. F. and William, younger than himself, also Moses Wood, of Gardner, and James WV. Gates, of Boston, and in May, 1831, bought the privilege and shop of Merrick Wallace, where the principal factory of the present firm stands, and at once enlarged the facilities so as to accommodate them to their plans of increasing business. About the same time Levi Heywood, who, with his brother Benjamin F., had previously given up the store, went to Boston, where he opened a warehouse for the sale of chairs on his own account. In 1835 he returned to town and entered the firm just referred to, which was operating under the name of B. F. Heywood & Co. In 1837 the partnership was dissolved, the business being as- snmed by the Heywood Brothers, residing in town. A few years later Levi Heywood, who seemed to be more enterprising and progressive than his associates, especially in regard to the introduction of machinery, honght ont their interest and went on for a while sole owner and manager of the concern. Subsequently, about the year 1844, he formed a co-partnership with Moses Wood, then of Providence, a member of the original firm, and his youngest brother, Seth, the firm name being Heywood & Wood. This arrangement went on till 1847, when Mr. Wood retired and Calvin Heywood, son of Levi, and Henry C. Hill, for some years manager of the painting department of the es- tablishment, came in to fill the vacant place; the style of the new partnership being Levi Heywood & Co. Four years after this the firm resolved itself into a joint stock association, to which employés were ad- mitted upon subscription to the invested capital, con- stituting what was known as the Heywood Chair Manufacturing Company. This new plan continued in operation for about ten years. In 1861 the shops of the company were consumed by fire, when the joint stock experiment was abandoned.

As a result of the burning of the shops and the consequent relinquishment of the joint stock experi- ment, a new firm was formed the following year, con- sisting of Levi and Seth Heywood, Charles Hey- wood, son of Levi, and Henry C. Hill, assuming the style of Heywood Brothers & Co., which has been retained to the present time. Early in 1868 Charles Heywood and Henry C. Hill withdrew from the con- cern, and Henry and George Heywood, sons of Seth, entered it. Subsequently, Alvin M. Greenwood, son- in-law of Levi Heywood, was admitted, and still later, Amos Morrill, who married the daughter of Benjamin F. Heywood, long before deceased. In 1876 Charles Heywood re-entered the partnership, and remained in it till his death, in June, 1882. Before the year expired, his father, Levi Heywood, who had been connected with the establishment half a cen- tury, and to whose insight, energy, business ability and untiring persistency its success was chiefly due, as was in large degree the industrial prosperity of the whole town, also passed away. Seth soon retired, disposing of his interest to his sons, while Mr. Mor-

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 216

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1576

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1576