History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 175

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 175

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Mr. Tolman retired from the firm in 1879. The business is now conducted by H. J. & J. E. Russell.

Uuder the old apprentice system in this business, boys were taken from fifteen to twenty-one years of age, and were paid from thirty to fifty dollars a year and their board. They bought their own clothes, and the last year of their apprenticeship were paid seven- ty-five dollars, which included a "freedom suit."

About 1830 the working day averaged from twelve to thirteen hours, and all the work was hand-work, down to the rivets and bolts. The average wages of a good workman, $1.25 per day.

As late as 1866 a good many carriages were made by O. Blood & Sons, Tolman & Russell and Geo. T. Atchison, but most of the carriages used in this city and county were bought in Boston.

The best carriages sold to-day in Worcester are made in Merrimac and Amesbury, Mass. Cheaper carriages come from the western part of New York and the Western States. These are kept in stock by the different carriage depositaries, and probably a thousand sold yearly to supply the demand in the city and county,

George C. Dewhurst who established the first reg- ular depositary in Worcester, manufactures sleighs. The business of Geo. T. Atchison is largely in the manufacture of water-carts.

WOOD-WORKING MACHINERY .- The automatic wood-planing machine was invented by William Woodworth in 1828.

Previous to 1836 the manufacture of wood-working machinery was not carried on as a separate industry in any part of the United States. In that year the firm of J. A. Fay & Co., composed of J. A. Fay and Edward Josslyn, commenced the business in Keene, N. H., and a few years later united with the firm of C. B. Rogers & Co., at Norwich, Conn.

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

In April, 1839, Thomas E. Daniels was located at Court Mills, manufacturing his patent planing- machines, " which are useful in squaring out timber for machinery, planing floor and other boards, door, bed-stead and table stuff; also for hollowing circles for water-wheel roundings and drum locks ; he also builds machines for matching boards, grooving floor plank, and under floor plank, where it is desirable to put mortar between floors in factories to prevent fire ; recommended by Davis & Howe ; Ruggles, Nourse & Mason ; White & Boyden; Henry Goulding & Co .; Horatio Phelps." He sold out his business to Deacon Richard Ball and Thomas Rice, who were succeeded by Ball & Ballard.

In 1843, Goddard, Rice & Co., put in the first plan- ing-machine that went by power in Worcester County. In October, 1846, Arad Woodworth, New Worcester, showed a machine for planing window blind shades ; and in 1847, Charles Price, successor to Price & Hartwell, was engaged in building planing-machines at No. 2 Central Street.

In 1849 Howe, Cheney & Co., at Court Mills, had made arrangements to build the Daniels Planing, Machine, to plane all wood from eight to ten inches wide, and from four to fifty feet in length.

At the Mechanics' Exhibition in 1851, Ephraim C. Tainter exhibited a Daniels Planer embodying many improvements. His factory was at the Junction shop, and he was soon after joined by Mr. Gardner Childs, who, in 1853, sold his interest to the Keene and Norwich companies already referred to, and the business was conducted as a brauch under the name of J. A. Fay & Co., who also manufactured plows, power and foot mortising machinery, tenoning and sash-moulding and matching-machines. The machines of their manufacture became known throughout this country and in Enrope. In December, 1858, they were build- ing a fifty-foot planer and other machinery for the Don Pedro Railroad in Brazil.

In 1858, and prior to that time. Ball & Williams (Richard Ball and Warren Williams), successors to Ball & Ballard, were engaged in School Street, in the manufacture of planing-machines for wood-working and of improved sash and moulding-machines. They had just sent an improved Woodworth planer to R. Hoe & Co., of New York. Warren Williams re- tired in 1865. Mr. Ball, with his son-in-law, built the factory in Salisbury Street, now occupied by Witherby, Rugg & Richardson.

In 1859 J. A. Fay & Co. occupied one hundred feet of the second floor of Col. Estabrook's shop at the Junction, and employed thirty hands in making wood- working machinery, and had then recently sent a saw- mill to Rio Janeiro.

In 1859 Mr. Fay died, but the business was carried on by his widow and the remaining partners.

In 1864 they opened a warehouse at 107 Liberty Street, New York, for the sale of their products, and were the pioneers there in this line of business.

In 1877 William B. McIver and his brother, J. C., purchased the tools, stock and good-will of the old firm and continued the business under the name of McIver Bros. & Co. They engaged in the general manufacture of wood-working machinery on a more extensive scale than had been done in the former com- panics. MeIver Bros. & Co. now occupy the shop below the Junction, built by Wood, Light & Co., and in addition to their other business are largely engaged in the manufacture of coffee machinery for Central America and other coffee-growing countries.

Witherby, Rugg & Richardson began business in 1864, in the Armsby building, with twenty men, and employ at this time, at their location in Grove Street, seventy-five men. They make a large variety of wood- working machinery, which goes to all parts of the country.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS .- The principle of produc- ing music by the vibratory motion of a reed is most simply illustrated in the jewsharp, and the develop- ment of this principle through the successive stages of harmonium, accordion, elbow melodeon, with foot- pedal for working the wind-chest, has resulted finally in the cabinet organ of to-day. This development has taken place within the present century.

The business of organ-building has been conducted in Worcester for more than forty years. In 1847 Mr. N. B. Jewett was engaged here in making me- lodeons, and in 1849 Mr. Milton M. Morse, who came from Concord, N. H., manufactured seraphines, me- lodeons and eolians for church and parlor use. The first melodeon was copied from the accordion. Mr. Abraham Prescott, of Concord, N. H., manufacturer of bass viols and violoncellos, made an accordion for Mr. James A. Bazen, of Canton, who thereupon had an enlarged one made by Mr. Morse, then in his employ.

In 1847 the firm of Farley, Pierson & Co., con- sisting of John A. Farley, John G. Pierson and M. M. Morse, began business, which was conducted in the old Burnside Building, in Main Street. The first cases for this company were made by Partridge & Taber. The first melodeon made was a four-octave melodeon, held in the lap, with two rows of keys, sharps and flats. The round keys were pushed in like the keys upon the small concertinas which are made now. The sharp keys had black rings painted on the ivory. The melodeon was held in the lap, and, while the keys were operated by the hands, the elbows worked the bellows. These instruments were greatly enlarged until they were put upon legs and called seraphines, the bellows still being worked with the elbows.

The cabinet organ is the melodeon on a large scale. Modern instruments have the exhaust bellows, while the old instruments have the pressure bellows. At the beginning this company had six hands; Mr. Morse did the tuning, Mr. Farley made the reeds, and Mr. Pierson the wood-work. Subsequently, in 1852, Pierson & Loring succeeded to the business.

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WORCESTER.

One of the first melodeon-tors made by this com- pany was twenty-two inches long, twelve inches wide, with four octaves. The bellows were made in two folds ; when the wind went out of one fold it came in and filled the other. At the last New England Fair one of these instruments, made forty years ago, was shown and operated.

Taylor & Farley were manufacturing melodeons in 1855, and in 1862 harmoniums for parlors, churches and schools. In 1865 their factory in Hermon Street was erected.

In 1856, the Steam Music Company was formed to manufacture the calliope, an instrument designed to produce music by steam-the invention of a Mr. J. C. Stoddard.

In June, 1858, E. Harrington & Co., at the Junction shop, manufactured melodeon reeds, succeeded by A. Davis & Co.

In 1859 the American Steam Music Company was located in Estabrook's building and employed twelve hands in the manufacture of calliopes and terpsi- choreans.

"The latter is an entirely new thing, and this com- pany has just completed the first one as an experi- ment. Its notes are agreeable and pleasant to the ear. The music for these instruments is arranged by M. Arbuckle, leader of Fisk's Cornet Band, on the same floor."

In 1860 the calliope was introduced into England.

The Loring & Blake Organ Company, located in Union Street, was incorporated in 1868. Messrs. Loring & Blake, the founders, were at one time with Taylor & Farley Organ Company, and first engaged in business in Southbridge Street, in French's building, and afterwards moved to the building in Hammond Street, which was later burned down and never re- built. From there they moved to the Adams Block, between Main and Southbridge Streets, the site of the new Post-Office, and also hired some rooms of E. S. Stone, their mill-work being done in Cypress Street. They now occupy the large five-story brick factory in Union Street.

The lumber used by this company comes compar- tively dry, but they have two large dry-houses with a capacity of fifty thousand feet. From the dry-houses the lumber passes to the mill-room, is cut up into the proper sizes and glued; it then goes through the scraping and smoothing-machines. This company uses a machine for carving which does many parts of the work formerly done by hand, although some of the work can still be done cheaper by hand than by machinery. From the mill-room, with its multipli- city of saws and wood-working machinery the work goes to the case-room, adjoining which is the tuning- room ; here the tuner has a set of reeds pitched, from which the reeds are fitted for the organ. Formerly the reeds were left perfectly straight, but now are bent somewhat, which is supposed to give a superior tone. This is a return to the earlier practice, as the reeds of

the first melodeons were made in this way. This com- pany uses a patent stop motion of its own on its organs, The work of the factory is all divided into depart- ments; the reeds and reed-boards are purchased ont- side, and put into cases in the factory. The bellows stock is also purchased.

The Taber Organ Company in Hermon Street-N. H. Ingraham, president, William B. Baker, treasurer, -was established in 1872 as the Worcester Organ Company. Shortly afterwards, Mr. William B. Taber, who had been with Loring & Blake Organ Company, bought the business, and later, in 1877, the Taber Organ Company was formed, starting with fifteen hands. The company now employ forty. Their pro- duct goes all over the world. The changes and im- provements made in organ-building, have, for the most part, been in the styles of cases, in couplers and tremolos-the change in the latter being from the valve to the fan tremolo.

The company now known as the Worcester Organ Company is a continuation of the business formerly conducted by E. P. Carpenter, and has now com- menced the manufacture of pianos. The manufac- ture of organ-reeds, while closely connected with the manufacture of organs, is a distinct business. Pre- vious to 1846 reeds were made by hand. About that time Jeremiah Carhart, of New York, devised ma- chinery for making the organ-reed to be used with exhaust bellows, which he had invented and patented. Redding & Harrington, of Worcester, also devised a machine for making the reeds. Mr. A. H. Ham- mond bought a one-third interest in this business and, finally, all of it. The Hammond shop, in May Street, now does a large domestic and foreign busi- ness, and employs two hundred hands.

George W. Ingalls & Co., Hermon Street, manufac- ture organ-reeds and reed-boards, Parker tremolos and octave couplers and fan tremolos.

The Munroe Organ Reed Company was established in 1860. It was incorporated in 1869 with a capital of $13,300, and employed ten men. In 1875 the capital was increased to $60,000, and in 1878 they added to the manufacture of reeds that of automatic instruments; since then they have employed some- thing like 250 men at one time. In 1879 they moved to their present location in Union Street, where they have the most complete facilities and most ingenious machinery for the prosecution of their business. They use from 150,000 to 200,000 pounds of sheet brass per year, from which the rough frame-work of the reed is punched; it is then planed and milled ; the reed grooved and the tongue securely fastened in place by machinery ; another machine letters the reeds, of which 15,000 are manufactured daily. The reed-boards are made of the best Michigan quartered pine. The places for the reeds are cut in the reed- boards by machinery. The product of this company goes all over the world. The export business amounts to $100,000 per year.

1636

HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

ENVELOPES .- Envelopes were first used in England between 1830 and 1839, but only in a very limited way, as the use of an envelope called for double post- age, the law then being that postage should be charged for the number of pieces of paper. This explains the custom, then prevailing, of folding the letter-sheet to make it answer the purpose of an envelope.

The Penny Post was established in 1840 by Sir Rowland Hill, and a demand for envelopes was at once created.

Up to this time, and for several years after, all the envelopes used were cut by hand; each stationer had blank patterns of several sizes of envelopes, and with the aid of a sharp penknife cut the blanks three or four at a time. On rainy days these blanks were folded and stuck together in the form of envelopes. There are to-day, in this country, stationers in busi- ness who in early life made in this way all the envel- opes sold in their stores.

The first machine for making envelopes was in- vented in 1845 by Edwin Hill, a brother of Sir Row- land Hill, the father of penny postage.

Worcester has taken a foremost place in the devel- opment of the manufacture of machine-made envel- opes. The third United States patent on a machine for making envelopes was issued to Dr. Russell L. Hawes, of this city, in 1853; the two preceding pat- ents were upon machines of no practical value, so that it may fairly be said that the first successful ma- chine in the United States for making envelopes was invented and patented by a Worcester man and built in the city of Worcester.

Dr. Hawes was then agent for Goddard & Rice, and saw in New York some hand-made envelopes, very likely made by a Pole named Karcheski, who is said to have made the first hand-made envelopes in this country.

Dr. Hawes thought he could make envelopes by machinery, and, returning to Worcester, built a ma- chine in the shop of Goddard & Rice, which was sub- sequently patented. The blank for the envelope was first cut out by a die, then the sealing flap was gummed, the envelope blanks being spread out, one overlapping the other, and the gum applied with an ordinary brush. When the gum was dry the blanks were in- troduced into the folding-machine, which was a self- feeder, and in this Dr. Hawes applied the principle which is used on every successful envelope-machine in existence.

Up to this time all attempts at making envelopes by machinery had dealt only with the folding of the envelope, the blanks being fed to the machine by hand. Dr. Hawes went a step farther, and attached a feeding device to his folding-machine.

The blanks, having been cut and gummed on one edge, were fed to the machine in bunches of five hundred; gum was applied to the under side of the picker, which descended on top of the pile of blanks; the top blank adhered to the picker and by it was

lifted to the carriage, which conveyed it under the plunger by which the blank was forced into the fold- ing.box. Small wings then folded over the flaps of the envelope and the gum by which the blank had been elevated to the carriage now performed a second office, that is, sticking the envelope together. The envelopes thus made by Dr. Hawes were sold to Jonathan Grout.

It required the services of one girl to attend the machine, while it took half the time of another girl to spread the gum on the sealing-flaps, so that three girls could produce a finished product of about twenty- five thousand envelopes in ten hours.

Thinking the machine had reached its maximum product, Dr. Hawes, who meantime had moved to the factory of T. K. Earle Manufacturing Company in Grafton Street, sold out, in 1857, to Hartshorn & Trumbull (Charles W. and George F. Hartshorn and Joseph Trumbull), who were succeeded in 1861 by Trumbull, Waters & Co. (Joseph Trumbull and Lucius Waters). In 1866 Hill, Devoe & Co. succeeded to the business. Mr. W. H. Hill is the present proprietor.

The principal improvements made in machinery have been in increasing the capacity, and with that, improving the quality of the manufacture, as the en- velopes made on the old machines would not now be considered saleable.

At the present time one girl attending two ma- chines can produce seventy thousand envelopes in ten hours. Mr. Hill owns the patent on his machines, they having been assigned to him by the inventor, in his employ, Mr. Abraham A. Rheutan, who has done much to contribute to improvements in envelope machinery.

The Reay machine is also used in this establish- ment. This is the invention of George H. Reay, of New York, and was patented in 1863. From one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty hands are employed in this factory.

The next Worcester man to make valuable improve- ments in envelope machinery was Mr. James G. Arnold, who, in 1858, devised a machine cutting the material for an envelope from a roll of paper, and also gummed and folded the envelope complete in one operation. He introduced into this machine the drying chain. By this invention, the gum, which theretofore had been applied to the sealing-flap with a brush, was applied to the envelope by the machine, and after the machine had folded the envelopes they were deposited in this drying chain, or endless belt with fingers, the envelopes being kept separate while the gum on the envelopes was drying.

This principle is a feature in nearly all envelope machinery of the present day, excepting the machines invented by D. W. & H. D. Swift.

While Mr. Arnold's machine was not a practical success, it had in it the foundation principles upon which the success of the self-gumming envelope- machine depends.

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WORCESTER.

In 1864 G. Henry Whitcomb came into possession of the Arnold machines, and began the business of envelope-making in a small building in School Street, where the engine-house now stands. In 1865 he removed to the north corner of Main and Walnut Streets, where he remained till January, 1866, when he removed to Bigelow Court; he was then making one hundred thousand envelopes per day. This fac- tory was the first building in the United States used exclusively for the manufacture of envelopes.

At that time Mr. David Whitcomb sold out his in- terest in the hardware store of Calvin Foster, and joined his son, the firm being G. Henry Whitcomb & Co.

In 1873 the business was moved into the present factory in Salisbury Street, additions to which were built in 1878 and in 1886. In 1884 the firm became a corporation, known as the Whitcomb Envelope Company. The machines used have been built on their own premises, and the patents upon them are owned by the company. The machines are the in- vention of Messrs. D. W. & H. D. Swift, who, in 1871, built one upon an entirely new principle, capa- ble of making thirty-five thousand envelopes in ten hours.

In 1876 the Messrs. Swift invented their first self- gumming machine. A girl could run two of these machines, making seventy thousand envelopes in ten hours. The product was automatically registered, these being the only machines in the world with a clock attachment.

Besides the invention of four distinct envelope- machines, the Messrs. Swift have patented an auto- matic printing-press, for printing envelopes. The blanks are fed to the machines in three or four thousand lots, picked up singly by the air-feed, and carried into the press, where they receive the im- pression. They are then discharged on the opposite side of the machine and piled up, ready for the envelope folding-machine.

The construction of this press is very simple. It has a stop-motion attachment, and is so delicately adjusted that a single hair stretched across the attach- ment will spring the let-off motion and the press will stop. Seven presses, each capable of producing 30,000 impressions in ten hours, can be run by a man and girl, making a total of 200,000 impressions with only two operatives. The great efficiency of this ma- chine will be appreciated when it is considered that 11,000 to 12,000 impressions is a large day's work for an operative on an ordinary job press.

One hundred and fifty hands are employed in the Whitcomb Envelope Factory. Their daily product is one million envelopes, with a capacity of double that amount.

To illustrate the efficiency of the Swift machine, owned by the Whitcomb Envelope Company, it can be said that Herman Schott, the largest envelope- maker in Germany; Alexander Pirie & Son, Aber-

deen, Scotland, the largest envelope-makers in the world; and Fenner & Appleton, of London, one of the largest envelope-makers in England, several years ago equipped their factories with the Swift machine.

The Logan, Swift & Brigham Envelope Company was incorporated February 1, 1884. Messrs. Logan, Swift & Brigham were for a long time associated with the Whitcomb Envelope Company. Their machinery is the invention of Messrs. D. W. & H. D. Swift, who have been mentioned in connection with the Whit- comh Company. Logan, Swift & Brigham employ one hundred hands.

Upon reviewing the history of these three compa- nies, it is apparent that Worcester has been most prominently identified with the inception and devel- opment of machine-made envelopes. The most im- portant contributions that have been made to this art have come from Dr. Hawes, Mr. Arnold, Mr. Rheutan and the Messrs. Swift, who have taken out upwards of twenty pateuts. The production of a single oper- ative has been increased from less than 10,000 staple envelopes per day to 70,000.

In 1864 six males and sixty females were employed in the envelope business in Worcester. The capital invested was $30,000.

To-day three millions of staple envelopes are made daily, which is between one-fourth and one-third of the entire product of the United States, and constant employment is given to four hundred operatives.

CHAPTER CXCVII.

WORCESTER-(Continued.)

MANUFACTURING AND MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES.

Fire-Arms-Iron and Steel Business-Screws-Steam-Engines-Boilers.

FIRE-ARMS .- Harding Slocomb, December 6, 1820, notifies his friends that he has established his business as gunsmith in Worcester, opposite Jeremiah Robin- son's drug store, a few rods south of the Court-House, where he manufactures twist and straight rifles, fowl- ing-pieces, and has musket-guns and pistol-flints for sale. These fire-arms were, of course, all made with the old flint-lock.

At this time Asa Waters (2d) had a gun-factory in Millbury, where he made government arms. Ware & Wheelock, at the top of Front Street, opposite the City Hall, in 1825, manufactured guns, and in 1833 Joseph S. Ware and John R. Morse were established in Main Street, where guns, rifles, fowling-pieces and muskets were made to order.

Ethan Allen is identified with this business from an early day up to the time of his death, and contributed very largely to improvements in methods and ma- chinery. Mr. Allen was born in Bellingham, Mass., in 1810, where he received a common-school education,

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

His first mechanical employment was in a machine- shop in the town of Franklin.

In 1831 he was engaged in manufacturing shoe cutlery in Milford, and in 1832 moved to what was then known as New England Village, in the town of Grafton, where he commenced the manufacture of the Lambert Cane gun, in connection with shoe cutlery. This was the beginning of the fire-arms business which he prosecuted so successfully thereafter.

In 1838 he built a shop, which he occupied for some time for the manufacture of fire-arms and shoe-kit; this is still standing and used for manufacturing pur- poses. In 1834 Mr. Allen manufactured the saw-handle target rifle-pistol, and it is said that in 1835 he took one of these pistols to New York, and showed it to a Mr. Speis, who was engaged in selling fire-arms, and asked if there would be any demand for such an article. Mr. Speis looked at the pistol, and said : "Do you make these?" Mr. Allen replied " Yes." " What is your price ?" Mr. Allen named it. "Why don't you ask twice as much ?" was the reply ; " I will take all you can make."

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 175

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