History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 174

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1464

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 174

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The substitution of wire for wood as a fencing material was generally recommended on the ground that it takes up no room, exhansts no soil, shades no vegetation, is proof against high winds, makes no snow-drifts, and is both durable and cheap.

As the necessity for a cheap fencing material in- creased, efforts to supply the need also increased. Up to 1881 twelve hundred and twenty-nine patents had been issued relating to fencing, and more than two-thirds of that number since 1865.

The first patent was in 1801, and up to 1857 about one hundred had been issued, while in 1866, '67 and '68 three hundred and sixty-eight fence patents were issued.

In examining the patents issued it is found that of the twelve hundred and twenty nine issued up to 1881 forty were to inventors in the New England States; three hundred and seventy-two to the Middle States; one hundred and eight to the Southern States ; and six hundred and ninety-six to the West- ern States ; eight to the District of Columbia and five to Canada.

Of the States, Ohio had the greatest number, two hundred and forty-one ; followed by New York, two hundred and thirty-one; Illinois, one hundred and forty-two; Iowa, ninety-six.

Up to 1873 plain No. 9 round wire was largely nsed in the West as a fencing material and thousands of tons of it were in use, but it was not satisfactory. It stretched in warm and contracted in cold weather, which was the cause of constant breakages; further- more, cattle conld rub against it with impunity, and this constant pressure loosened the posts and broke the wire.

In the fall of 1873 the manufacture of barbed-wire was begun in a small way at DeKalb, Ill., by Mr. J. F. Glidden, who was a farmer in that town. He first made a few rods of fencing and put it up on his own farm in November, 1873. The process was very crude when compared with the present method of manufac- ture.

The barbs were first formed by bending around a mandril and then slipped upon one wire of the fence; the second wire was then intertwisted with the first ; this locked the barbs in place and prevented lateral as well as rotary motion. The fencing was made in six- teen-foot lengths, and as there was no means for coil- ing it on spools for transportation, it was carried to the point where it was to be put up, and then enough of these sixteen-foot lengths were spliced together to give a fence of the desired length. The first piece actually sold for use was in the spring of 1874. Three boys and two men were able to make fifty pounds per day. In June, 1874, it was arranged to do the twisting by horse-power, and this increased the product of three boys and two men to one hundred and fifty pounds per day.

In the latter part of 1874 a rude hand-machine was devised for twisting the barb upon the main wire and spooling the product, which was subsequently un- wound and twisted with a second wire and then spooled again. By the use of the latest machinery, one man will now produce two thousand pounds, or over five and a half miles, in ten hours.

In the spring of 1876 the attention of the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company having been called to this new article of manufacture and impressed with its value, automatic machinery was constructed and patented, and the control of the underlying barbed- wire patents was acquired. These patents were,- one to L. B. Smith, of Ohio (June 25, 1867), in which the barb consists of four radially projecting points from a hub, which is prevented from moving laterally by a bend in the main wire. Patent granted to W. D. Hunt, of New York, in which a single fence wire is armed with spur-wheels which can revolve upon the main wire. Patent to Michael Kelly, of New York, dated February 11, 1868; this is the first patent to show two wires twisted together. The barb was made of a lozenge-shaped piece of sheet metal and was strung upon the main wire, while for strength, a second wire was intertwisted with the first. This in- ventor showed a most intelligent conception of the subject matter of his invention, as appears from the following quotation taken from his specifications :

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I can, by this invention, make an officient fence front unconnected wires, six inches apart, fixing the artificial thorns on the wires four inches apart. This fence takes only one-fourth as much wire as in ordinary wire fences, yet it is more efficient, This fence will weigh about one-eighth as much as ordinary connected wire fence, by which I mean those woven or twisted together. It can be wound on a reel, like telegraph wire, and a farmer can transport as much in a single wagoo- loud as will serve to build fences for a lurge farm.

The next patent in point of date, and chief in im- portance, is the patent to Glidden, dated November 24, 1874, in which is for the first time found a barb, made of wire wrapped about a fence wire, and locked in place by a fellow wire intertwisted with the first. Meantime, barbed wire was growing in popularity ; at first, strong prejudices had to be overcome. Many hardware dealers would not have it in their stores. The public, too, had to be educated. A length of barbed wire, with two barbs upon it, was shown to two men in Texas ; one guessed it was a model of a fence, the barbs being the posts, and another thought it was a bit for a horse.

A skeptical farmer said he didn't believe it amounted to much; that he had a bull (Old Jim) who would go through anything, and be guessed he wouldn't stop for barbed wire. His field was fenced ; "Old Jim " shook his head, elevated his tail, and went for it. The farmer was converted, and so was " Jim."

Barbed wire, once introduced, grew rapidly in favor. In fact, it became a necessity ; strong, durable, cheap, easily transported, and an absolute barrier against man and beast, it became at once the best fencing material known, and the demand for it rapidly in- creased. Meantime, infringers began to spring up, and litigation followed. No stronger or more per- sistent efforts were ever made to break down a patent property than were directed against the barbed wire patents.

Thousands of pages of testimony were taken upon alleged cases of prior use all over the West and in Texas. The greatest interest was taken in the cases involving, as they did, the control of what even then bade fair to be a most important industry.

The defence relied upon establishing the alleged cases of prior use, and also insisted strongly that there was no invention in arming a wire with pricking spurs. The United States Circuit Court for the Northern District of Illinois, in December, 1880, sustained the patents, and this gave the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company, and their associate, Isaac L. Ellwood, of DeKalb, Ill., the control of this business. Licenses were issued to most of the parties lately infringing, and the business has been conducted upon that basis up to the present time, and will be during the life of the patents, some of which do not expire for several years.

To protect themselves and their licensees, the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company has purchased upwards of two hundred and fifty patents upon barbed wire and barbed wire machinery.

The amount of barbed wire consumed in this country has increased from five tons, in 1874, to a probable ontput of one hundred and fifty thousand tons, over eight hundred and fifty thousand miles, in 1888. Of this amount, the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company makes about eighteen thou sand tons (over one hundred thousand miles), while the capacity of their works is seventy-five tons per day of ten hours, or four hundred and twenty- six miles. The cost to the consumer has during this time been reduced from eighteen cents per pound to less than five cents. This has resulted from the reduced price of wire and the introduction of automatic machinery.

BALE TIES. - Abont the time that barbed wire be- gan to be manufactured the company became the owners of patents upon bale ties, a wire substitute for the wood and rope previously used. There are probably to-day ten thousand tons used annually for binding hay in the United States.

Each ton of wire will wind three hundred and thirty tons of hay or straw, and the whole ten thousand tons of wire will bind three million three hundred thousand tons of hay and straw.

It formerly cost on an average to press this amount, when bound with rope, two dollars per ton. Wire is applied to the bales with so much greater ease than wood or rope, that a saving of fifty cents per ton, at a low estimate, is effected in pressing hay when wire ties are used. But the greatest saving made to the public by the introduction of wire for binding pur- poses is in the increased security against loss by fire. When hay, straw or tow are bound with rope or wood, each is easily set on fire, tbe binding materal burns, and thus allows the compressed mass to become loose and add fuel to the flames. This, of course, is not the case when wire is used. For this reason, rope and wood were discarded many years ago in pressing cotton. .

Altogether, millions of dollars are saved annually to the public by the introduction of wire ties, all of which has been effected in the last twelve or fourteen years.

COPPER WIRE .- Since 1884 copper wire has taken *a prominent place among the products of this com- pany, as it has been and is being largely substituted for iron, particularly in long-distance telephoning and electric lighting.

Copper has always been preferred to iron for elec- tric purposes by reason of its greater conductivity, but previous to the introduction of hard-drawn cop- per wire it did not possess the requisite strength. By present processes a copper wire of sufficient strength can be produced much lighter than iron, and of largely increased conductivity, as is apparent when the fact is stated that for a given length of wire an equal degree of conductivity will require five times as much weight in a mile of iron as of copper wire. In January 1884, there were probably not more

Charles F. Washburn

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WORCESTER.

than one hundred or two hundred miles of hard- drawn copper wire in use in this country. To-day there are, it is estimated, at least fifty thousand miles, representing about four thousand two hundred tons of metal, now in operation by the various telegraph and telephone companies, the average weight per mile being about one hundred and seventy pounds.1

The larger sizes of copper wire are used in connec- tion with electric railways.

WIRE ROPE .- Among the more recent specialties introduced by the company is wire rope, of which is manufactured : galvanized steel wire cable for suspen- sion bridges; phosphor-bronze and copper wire rope; transmission and standing rope; galvanized wire seizing; hoisting rope; tiller rope; switch rope; copper, iron and tinned sash cord wire; clothes-lines and picture-cords ; galvanized iron wire rope for ships' rigging; galvanized crucible cast-steel wire rope for yachts' rigging.

The rapid introduction of cable railways has created another demand for wire rope.

WIRE NAILS .- The manufacture of wire nails is another branch of business conducted by the company. The wire nail, as an article of manufacture, was scarcely known in this country ten years ago. Since that time it has come into general use, and it is esti- mated upon good authority that more wire nails are used to-day than cut nails. The variety is very large, running from three-sixteenths of an inch, made from No. 22 iron, to a length of fourteen inches, made from No. 000 wire.

It is a little remarkable that the introduction of two articles of manufacture-barbed wire and wire nails-should within the last fifteen years have created a new demand for wire, amounting to at least two hundred and seventy-five thousand tons per annum, which has been made possible by the use of Bessemer steel.

While the process of drawing wire is, in principle, the same as practiced fifty years ago, many improve- ments have been made leading to a largely increased relative product. Great advances have been made in certain of the mechanical processes, particularly in the rolling of wire rods. In 1846 the first rolling-mill at Quinsigamond produced about five tons of No. 4 rods in ten hours ; at the present time the output is from forty to fifty tons in the same time.

The demand for wire and the purposes for which it is used have largely increased, as indicated by the present output of two hundred and forty-five tons daily, and the manufacture of four hundred and eighteen different kinds of wire.

The increase in the business of the corporation has been most rapid since the introduction of barbed wire. In 1875 the number of hands employed was seven hundred ; in 1880 two thousand one hundred, and at

the present time, 1889, there are three thousand names on the pay-roll of the company, for the most part heads of families, supporting directly not less than thirteen thousand persons, and indirectly, a much larger number.

Of the operatives, one thousand are Irish; nine hundred Swedes; five hundred Americans; two hun- dred and thirty-six Armenians ; forty-five Germans : other nationalities, three hundred and nineteen.

The buildings of the corporation cover twenty-five acres of ground, and the machinery is driven by engines of seven thousand two hundred horse-power. The present officers of the corporation are : Philip L. Moeu, president and treasurer ; Charles F. Washburn, vice-president and secretary ; Philip W. Moen, assist- ant treasurer and general superintendent; Charles G. Washburn, assistant secretary and counsel. The above, with George T. Dewey, Esq., constitute the board of directors.

The Worcester Wire Company, William E. Rice, president and treasurer, is located on the Old South Worcester privilege, utilized for manufacturing pur- poses from the earliest times. Here is manufactured a variety of wire, including tedder, rake teeth, wire for hay bales, and barbed fencing, bridge rope and general wire ; bottling, baling wire; tinned mattress, tinned broom wire, harvesting wire on spools; wire for the manufacture of screws, bolts, rivets, nails, buckles, staples, rings, hooks and eyes, pin, hair-pin, reed, harness, heddle, bonnet, brush, broom, hat, clock and umbrella wire; also telegraph and tele- phone wire.

Wire-working as an industry in Worcester was con- temporaneous with wire-making.

In April, 1831, Jabez Bigelow manufactured, in Rutland, "wire sieves, such as meal sieves, sand rid- dles, etc., also manufactures all kinds of safes for meat and provisions."

In 1834 he was located at the Stone building, Front Street, on the canal, where he manufactured " meat, milk, cheese and provision safes, wire sieves, grain, coal, sand, sugar and bakers' riddles. Fire fenders, sand screens, hatters' hurls, dusters for paper-mills, cellar and window guards, netting, wire lace, bird cages, plate covers and brass screens."

In the following vear Mr. Bigelow advertised for two girls who could take a loom to their dwelling.

In 1845, Mr. Samnel Ayres began to weave wire for Mr. Bigelow in a shop in Norwich Street. Mr. Bigelow then had three looms-one large and two small ones-and the business employed in all six hands, among whom were Mr. Bigelow's sons.

The business of wire-working was subsequently conducted by several firms, and finally consolidated in the National Manufacturing Company, of which Mr. Jonah H. Bigelow, a son of Jabez Bigelow, is president. This company has conducted a prosper- ons business for many years, manufacturing a very large variety of wire goods.

1 " Pocket Hand-Book of Copper and Iron Wire," published by W. & M. Manufacturing Company, 1888.

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

The business now conducted by the Wire Goods Company was commenced by Charles G. Washburn in the fall of 1880, on the top floor of the building then and now occupied by C. H. Hutchins & Com- pany, in Allen's Court. The articles manufactured were wire goods for cotton and woolen machinery.

September 12, 1882, it was incorporated under the name of The Wire Goods Company, and was con- tinued for a time in Allen Court, but was subse- quently moved into the brick factory in Union Street, the present situation. Meantime, the business has very much enlarged, employing at the present time one hundred and twenty hands. In 1888 the busi- ness of the Ayres Manufacturing Company was pur- chased and merged in that of the Wire Goods Com- pany. Among the articles manufactured are bright iron and brass gimlet-pointed wire goods of all kinds. Belt hooks, hitching rings, hand-rail screws, ham- mock hooks, double-pointed tacks, a large variety of wire goods and a number of patented specialties ; in fact, "everything in wire." Mr. A. W. Parmelee is president and treasurer of the company.

Hamblin & Russell, in Front Street, are also en- gaged in the manufacture of a variety of wire goods similar to those made by the National Manufacturing Company.

Henry E. Dean, Austin St., manufactures a special line of general hardware and house goods, elevator and window guards, also all kinds of steel wire brushes.

Another use to which wire is put in Worcester is the manufacture of rivets and burrs, which is con- dneted by Reed & Prince, 42 Gardner Street, in the basement of the pistol factory. This industry was established in 1886.

It would be difficult to enumerate the variety of articles and machinery, manufactured in Worcester, into which wire enters in one form or another.

COPPERAS. - An interesting illustration of the utilization of waste products is found in the manu- facture of sulphate of iron or green vitriol-commonly known as copperas, and popularly, but erroneously, supposed to be a salt of copper-from the waste sul- phuric acid used in cleaning wire. This waste acid, heavily charged as it is with iron, is taken to the works of W. E. Cutter & Co., where, after being evaporated in lead-lined tanks in which iron in the form of waste wire has been placed to further nen- tralize the acid, is drawn off into large cooling-tanks, and the copperas is deposited in green crystals upon sticks suspended in the liquid. Copperas is used in dyeing as a disinfectant, and in the manufacture of ink, and largely in the manufacture of Venetian red, also made by W. E. Cutter & Co. 7,000,000 pounds of copperas are manufactured by this company an- nually, representing about 700 short tons of metallic iron ; about one-third of the copperas is converted into Venetian red, of which the annual product is 2000 tons. This is an oxide of iron paint, and is very extensively used.

Copperas can also be obtained by the oxidation of iron pyrites-sulphate of iron. In 1830 a bed of iron pyrites was discovered in Hubbardston, and Mr. Bennett, of that place, with Messrs. John Green, Benjamin F. Heywood and James Green, of Worces- ter, formed a company for the manufacture of cop- peras, and began operations ; but the enterprise did not prove successful. In December, 1828, the canal boat "Worcester," Captain Green, among other things, brought one ton of copperas from Provi- dence.

CHAPTER CXCVI. WORCESTER-(Continued.)

MANUFACTURING AND MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES.

Carriages and Cars-Wood-working Machinery - Musical Instruments- Envelopes.

CARRIAGES AND CARS .- The business of carriage- making was conducted in Worcester at a very early day. Curtis & Goddard were in business in 1808.

In 1822 Osgood Bradley came to Worcester, and started the stage and carriage business in a small shop in the rear of what is now Parker Block in Main Street, and the same year moved into what is now known as Atchison's carriage-shop in School Street, where he manufactured and kept on hand mail-coaches, chaises, gigs, wagons, sleighs, cutters, etc. Associated with Mr. Bradley was John Man- ning, harness-maker, who afterwards, in 1825, went into business with Edward M. Burr, in the manufac- ture to order of coaches, chaises, saddles and harness, opposite Stiles & Butman's store, a few rods north of the brick hotel.

Osgood Bradley & Co. continued in the manufac- ture of coaches, chaises and harnesses in School Street, near Captain Thomas' coffee-house, and were succeeded by Solon Fay, September 2, 1829.

Albert Tolman was born in Lincoln, Mass., and came from Concord to Worcester in 1833. At this time, it must be remembered, manufacturing in Worcester was in a very primitive condition ; the shops were all very small, and the proprietor, with one or two workmen and an apprentice, usually did the work.

In 1833, Mr. Tolman formed a co-partnership with Mr. Samuel L. Hunstable, and advertised to do chaise and harness-making in the yard of the Central Hotel. At this time a Mr. Goddard had a harness shop north of the Bay State House, near where the Waldo Block now is. Benjamin Goddard was a carriage maker, and had a shop on the corner of Waldo and Exchange Streets, where Walker's ice office now is.

A Mr. William Leggett was at that time an old har- ness-maker here, and was afterwards one of the first conductors on the Nashua Railroad. The firm of Tol- man & Hunstable continued until 1837, when the firm

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WORCESTER.

of A. Tolman & Co., was formed, composed of A. Tol- man and G. W. Russell, which continued forty years. Their work for many years was the manufacture of first-class family carriages, which they sent all over the world, some of them going to California, and even to Africa and Australia. Mr. Tolman once built a carriage for Mrs. Governor Duncan, of Ohio, before the days of railroad communication ; it was shipped to New Orleans, and from there went up the Ohio River to its destination. Now hundreds of carriages come from Ohio to the East by rail.

Meantime Mr. Bradley had again gone into business, and in 1838, Osgood Bradley sold out his business to Rice, Breck & Brown, and prior to 1842, Bradley & Rice engaged in the manufacture of railroad cars, near the Western depot. This factory, which was one hundred and thirty feet by forty feet, was destroyed by fire, May 12, 1842. Mr. Bradley resumed business alone in 1849, and in 1850 had in his employ about one hundred men. His work was done in half a dozen buildings scattered over two and a half acres of ground, and at this time he had in process of construction from sixteen to eighteen passenger cars at an average price of three thousand dollars, besides a large num- ber of freight cars.

Mr. Bradley continued in business alone until Jan- uary 1, 1883, when he took into partnership his sons, Henry O. and Osgood Bradley, Jr., the firm being Osgood Bradley & Sons. Mr. Bradley remained in the firm until his death, in 1884, the firm-name con- tinued and his sons carrying on the business.

Mr. Bradley built the first railroad cars in this country at his shop in School Street. He built four cars for the Boston & Worcester Railroad, one of which was drawn to Boston over the old turnpike road by four horses.

In 1847 Abraham Flagg, at his shop, 22 Exchange Street, manufactured I. Woodcock's patent " Wor- cesteree," a two-wheeled vehicle. Woodcock, Jones & Co. also manufactured them.

In 1851 the carriage business in Worcester sup- ported about fifty families. The largest factory was that of Tolman & Russell ; it embraced some half- dozen buildings and gave employment to twenty-five hands. Most of their carriages were of the more ex- pensive kind. At this time they were finishing three, one for the Adams House, Boston ; one for a New Bed- ford merchant, and one for Mr. White, of Worcester, " the attentive and obliging hackman, whom every- body knows and everybody employs." Besides these heavier carriages, Tolman & Russell manufactured a great many lighter vehicles of various patterns and prices, such as chaises, phaetons, rockaways and buggies. It is said that this firm at one time refused to take a large contract from the Government for the supply of army wagons for the use of the army during the Mexican War, solely on the ground that they be- lieved the war to be unjust and did not wish to parti- cipate in the profits of such injustice.

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The average number of vehicles manufactured by Tolman & Russell at this time was about one hundred per year.

The establishment of Breck & Wilder was situated in School Steeet, employing somewhat fewer hands than Tolman & Russell. Their shop occupied the site formerly occupied by Osgood Bradley, and their business was confined especially to omnibuses and stage-coaches. They built some of the largest omni- buses running between Boston and the adjacent towus, and had, in April, 1851, just finished an omni- bus of immense proportions, named the "Jared Sparks," intended to run on the line between Cam- bridge and Boston.

George W. Wilder built a new light carriage known as the "York wagon." William C. Whiting's car- riage factory, in Mechanic Street, employed ten hands on light carriages of all descriptions.

More recently, Tolman & Russell have confined themselves almost entirely to the manufacture of hearses, which find a market in all parts of the United States.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 174

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1464

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1464