History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 176

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 176

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Thus encouraged, Mr. Allen returned to New England Village and began to make the pistols. Soon after he invented the self-cocking revolver, which was widely known at that period, and subsequently during the Mexican War and the California gold discoveries, during which time the business was most prosperous and profitable. As a gold-miner, Mark Twain "Roughing It," gives an amusing description of his experience with this self-cocking revolver, and the degree of skill in marksmanship which he had acquired by constant practice. "There was," he says, " no safe place in all the region round about." On one occasion he brought down a cow fifty yards to the left of the target, when an interested spectator persuaded him to purchase the carcass.

About 1837 Mr. Allen took into partnership his brother-in-law, Mr. Charles Thurber, who remained in business with him until 1856, when the firm was dissolved, Mr. Thurber retiring,

Early in the fifties he associated with himself another brother-in-law, Mr. T. P. Wheelock, who died in 1863, the firm being Allen & Wheelock. In 1842 the company moved to Norwich, Conn., where they carried on the manufacture of fire-arms. In 1847 they came to Worcester and located in Merrifield's building, where they remained until the great fire of 1854. Immediately after, they erected a shop at the Junction, now occupied by the L. D. Thayer Manu- facturing Company and the Worcester Elevator Com- pany, where the business was for some years prose- cuted by them and their successors.

The removal from Norwich was the practical be- ginning of the fire-arms business in Worcester ; since which time it has been a most important industry. Previous to that date there was nothing that could properly be called a manufactory ; there were a few small shops, but nothing more.

In 1865, subsequent to the death of Mr. Wheelock, Mr. Allen took into partnership his two sons-in-law, Messrs. S. Forehand and H. C. Wadsworth, under the name of Ethan Allen & Company, and so continued until the death of Mr. Allen, January, 1871; after that, the business was continued by the surviving partners, under the firm name of Forehand & Wads- worth. Since 1883 the business has been prosecuted by Mr. Forehand aloue, and since 1876 has been located in the Stone shop at the Junction, known as the Old Tainter Mill.

Mr. Allen was a mechanic and inventor of superior capacity. He invented a doubled-barreled breech- loading sporting gun, and was probably the first to use steel shells in connection with such an arm ; these shells can be re-loaded indefinitely. He was the pioneer, in this country, in the manufacture of double barreled shot guns and fowling pieces.

Between 1855 and 1858 a change was made from the system of muzzle-loading to breech-loading fire- arms, although the breech-loading system had been adopted in Europe before that date, and, at the same time, the change was made from loose to fixed ammunition.

Allen & Wheelock were among the first to adopt the breech-loading system and to introduce the metallic cartridge.

Neither in this country nor in Europe had metallic cartridges been made except by hand-a slow and most tedious process. Mr. Allen recognized the ne- cessity of making the metallic cartridges by machin- ery, and invented and patented the first set of ma- chinery that was ever built for that purpose. The heading-machine, which is used by every manufac- turer of metallic cartridges in the world, was his in- vention, and has stood the test of litigation. Prior to this, no one, so far as is known, had conceived of any process of forming the head except by spin- ning it up in a lathe.

At the Centennial Exhibition in 1876 the Govern- ment exhibited a set of this machinery, and there was nothing in the Mechanical Exhibition which at- tracted more attention. The whole process, from be- ginng to end, was the product of Mr. Allen's brain.

Probably no fire-arms manufacturer in the country made so great a variety of arms as he: from the whale bomb-lance to the cheap Fourth of July pistol, and every variety of fowling-piece.

Formerly all work was done with the file, cold chisel and anvil, but methods have greatly improved, until now there is no finer work done than what is popularly spoken of as "gun work." The parts are all interchangeable and made with the greatest nicety.

Charles Thurber, at one time associated with Mr. Allen, was a successful teacher in Worcester, and is credited with having iuvented the first type-writing machine, which is said to be still in existence.

Franklin Wesson, after his return from California,

Iver Johanvon,

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1859, began to manufacture fire-arms in Merrifield's building in Exchange Street. The first arm he man- ufactured was a single-shot breech-loading pocket pis- tol using a cartridge.

Mr. Wesson during the war manufactured twenty thousand stand of arms for the Government. At present he manufactures long range, short range, sporting rifles and pocket pistols.

Mr. Frank Copeland, 17 Hermon Street, established a manufactory for fire-arms in 1863 ; he was for- merly in the employ of Allen & Wheelock, at their old shop at the Junction. He first manufactured re- volvers, and in 1876 devised a single-shot breech- loading sporting gun, called "The Champion."

Mr. Copeland's second gun is a single-barreled sporting gun, called the "F. Copeland Gun," which is more strongly constructed, better in action and capable of standing heavier charges, and altogether more durable.

Harrington & Richardson Arms Company .- This business was established in 1871 by F. Wesson and G. H. Harrington, under the firm-name of Wesson & Harrington, for the purpose of manufacturing a shell- ejecting revolver, invented and patented by Mr. Har- rington, and the business was located at 18 Manches- ter Street, in the building owned and used by Mr. Wesson as a rifle factory, a business in which he had been engaged for many years. This firm continued until 1874, when Mr. Wesson's interest was purchased by Mr. Harrington, who soon afterward formed a co- partnership with William A. Richardsou, under the firm-name of Harrington & Richardson, and the manufacture of the same style of revolver was con- tinued. This revolver, which was the starting-point of the present business, was an improvement in con- venience over any other then made, it being so con- structed as to load and have the exploded shells removed by the sliding ejector, without detaching the cylinder or removing any portion of the arm; and it is believed to have been the first successful shell- ejector used on a metallic cartridge revolver. It had a large sale for a number of years. Various other styles of revolvers have been added, improve- ments made and patented from time to time. In the fall of 1876 the business was removed from Manches- ter Street to the more commodious quarters 31 Her- mon Street. Here new and improved machinery and appliances were brought into operation, and have been constantly increased from year to year, and ad- ditional room occupied.

In 1880 Messrs. Harrington & Richardson became the sole licensees in the United States for the manu- facture of the celebrated Anson & Deeley hammerless gun, an English invention. This was a high cost arm, ranging in price from eighty-five to three hun- dred dollars, The manufacture of this gun was con- tinued for about five years. In January, 1888, Har- rington & Richardson dissolved their copartnership, and reorganized as a stock company, with the follow-

ing officers : Gilbert H. Harrington, president ; Wil- liam A. Richardson, treasurer; George F. Brooks, secretary.

The business of the company is the manufacture of revolving fire-arms exclusively, which are produced of various styles and of different prices, from the plain, substantial, solid frame arm, from which the cylinder is removed by the withdrawal of the centre- pin upon which it revolves, to the more elaborate hinge-frame revolver, employing the automatic shell- ejecting system, by which all the exploded shells are thrown out automatically by the act of opening the arm for reloading.

All the arms manufactured by the company have a high reputation for quality, beauty of appearance and reliability. Very few persons not practically ac- quainted with this business have any idea of the amount and nicety of machinery and special tools and appliances required, and, where revolvers are produced in large numbers, of the care and close inspection necessary to maintain a high standard. If one would undertake to manufacture a new revol- ver of good quality and the average intricate con- struction, and were already provided with all the machinery that can be purchased of machine tool builders, adapted to this business, it would require a year to construct one small revolver, and make the tools and appliances necessary to produce the arm in quantities and of good quality.

Iver Johnson & Company, established in 1871, are located at 44 Central Street, and employ two hundred hands. Their products are air pistols, guns, revolvers and other arms; ice and roller skates.

January 30, 1856, notice is found of a new rifle invented by B. F. Joslyn, the manufacture of which was controlled by Mr. Eli Thayer. It was claimed to be superior to the Sharpe's rifle, both on account of the rapidity of its loading and the simplicity, safety and cheapness of its construction.

In March, 1859, the Spy said that Mr. Joslyn and Mr. Freeman, of New York, had purchased the large stone shop at South Worcester, where they expected to commence the manufacture of pistols under Jos- lyn's patent at an early day; and, in 1860, the War Department ordered from Mr. Joslyn one thousand of his rifles, which up to that time was the largest single order for fire-arms ever given to one contractor in the country. The Navy Department had previ- ously ordered five hundred.

In April, 1861, they were busy day and night at the Lower Junction shop manufacturing Joslyn's breech-loading carbines for the War Department. Fort Sumter had then been fired upon and the de- mand for arms became pressing. All the iron-working establishments in the city were busy furnishing the Government with ordnance. Nathan Washburn was making five tons of rifle-barrel iron per day for the Springfield Armory, and was under contract to fur- nish one hundred thousand musket barrels.

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Osgood Bradley was at work on gun-carriages and forges. Wood & Light were busy making machinery for the government at Springfield Armory. Novem- ber, 1861, Shepard, Lathe & Co. were under contract for Colt, the Burnside factory and Springfield Ar- mory. Allen & Wheelock had two hundred hands at work for the government and private parties. L. W. Pond was building twenty light rifle-cannon of his invention, called the "Ellsworth Gun," at the shop of Goddard, Rice & Co. This was a "breech- loading rifle-gun, four feet long, six inches in diam- eter at the breech and 3} at the muzzle, with a 1} inch bore, carrying a chilled conical hall weighing 18 ounces, which it will throw three miles. The gun weighs, carriages and all, 450 lbs. Cost, $350."

July 11, 1862, a patent was granted to Theodore R. Timby, of Worcester, for improvements in a re- volving battery-tower and improvements for dischar- ging guns by electricity. Joslyn's breech-loading carbines were in high favor at this time with the government.

In 1862 Ball & Williams (in School Street) em- ployed one hundred men in the manufacture of the Ballard rifle,-a cavalry rifle which they continued to make until the close of the war. This was a breech loading arm, using a .42 metallic cartridge, and the invention of Mr. Ballard, who had been a foreman for Ball & Williams.

December 29, 1862, the invention of Stevens' Pla- toon-gun, invented by W. X. Stevens, of Worcester, is noticed.

In April, 1863, Charles S. Coleman invents a breech-loading gun.

September 6, 1865, the Green Rifle Works was at the Junction shop.

January 15th, Ethan Allen & Co. were making from 20,000 to 50,000 cartridges per day.

IRON AND STEEL BUSINESS .- Nathan Washburn, at one time, worked for William A. Wheeler as a journeyman founder, and while in his employ in- vented a car-wheel, which he patented in 1852. In company with Mr. Converse, of his native town of Tolland, Conn., Mr. Washburn began the manufac- ture of these wheels in Franklin Street, next to Bradley's car-shop, and continued there until 1857, when the new building was erected near the freight depot of the Western Railroad, since occupied by Washburn Iron Company, and later by the Worces- ter Steel Works. The building, as designed, was to be occupied in part by Nathan Washburn as an iron- foundry for the manufacture of car-wheels; the main building was to contain machinery for re-rolling iron rails and for making locomotive tires, while the western end was to be occupied by Henry S. Wash- burn for a rolling-mill and a wire-factory. Mean- time Mr. George W. Gill became associated with Nathan Washburn in the rail and tire business, and very likely suggested engaging in it; for he had been employed as foreman and contractor in charge

of the iron work upon the cars built in Mr. Bradley's shop, where Mr. Gill must have become more or less familiar with the railroad business. Previous to the introduction of the wrought-iron rail, rails were made of wood, with flat bar-iron on the upper sur- face ; when the rails were loosened, the ends, called "snakes' heads," were often forced up through the car-bottoms, to the great discomfort and danger of the passengers. Mr. Gill was born in West Boyls- ton, and learned the blacksmith trade in this city.

June 1, 1858, he retired from the partnership, but continued with Mr. Washburn as manager of the bus- iness.

In 1859 this business had reached considerable proportions, employing from one hundred and seventy to one hundred and ninety hands, and turning out forty tons of iron per day.

At this time, Mr. Washburn, in company with Canadian capitalists, established a rolling-mill at Toronto for re-rolling rails for the Grand Trunk Rail- way; he attended to the equipment of the mill, and three large steam-hammers were made for it by Wood, Light & Company.

In 1860 there was but one establishment in New England doing railroad work of this character, and that was located at South Boston. The Washburn car-wheel was very popular, and there was a good demand for re-rolling rails and for locomotive tires. Five hundred thousand dollars capital was employed in the business, and from two hundred and twenty to two hundred and forty men with a pay-roll amounting to seven thousand dollars per month. The works extended over four acres of ground. In the foundry, one hundred and seventy-five feet by sixty feet, forty car-wheels were cast each day and eight tons of machinery. In the rolling-mill, two hundred and fifty rails weighing forty tons were rolled daily, and also four tons of tire for driving-wheels, while seven puddling furnaces produced twenty tons daily of bar or puddled iron.

The trip-hammers for working over and welding together the worn-out rails were of large size, made by Wood, Light & Company, at their shop at the Junction, by whom the first set of gun-barrel rolls were made in 1860 for Mr. Washburn; these were modeled after an English set in the armory at Spring- field.

In 1864 the Washburn Iron Company was formed, with Nathan Washburn, president, George W. Gill, manager, and Edward L. Davis, treasurer.

In 1864 Mr. Washburn went to Europe, and when he returned, brought with him an equipment for a small Bessemer plant of about one ton capacity, which he partially built but never completed. This must have been one of the earliest attempts in this country to erect a plant for the manufacture of Bessemer steel, as the first steel actually made was at Wyandotte, Mich., in the fall of 1864.

In 1865, Mr. Washburn sold out his interest to his

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associates and built the works in Grafton Street, now occupied by the Washburn Car Wheel Company, where he continued the business of manufacturing car wheels until about 1866, when he sold out his wheel business to the Washburn Iron Company, and engaged in the manufacture of steel tire car wheels, and later started a foundry in Hartford to be run in connection with the Worcester shop. Mr. Washburn sold out his interest the same year altogether, but the business continued under the name of the Washburn Car Wheel Company, the product being locomotive truck and tender wheels.

Mr. Washburn then went to Allston, and remained until within two years, and is now engaged at South Boston perfecting a new solid cast Bessemer wheel. After leaving Allston, his plant was leased by Jonas S. Hart & Co .; it was burned down, later re-built, and is now occupied for the manufacture of wheels by Samuel D. Nye, under the firm-name of Jonas S. Hart & Co.

Mr. Nye has been connected with this business since 1859, having been associated with Mr. Wash- burn at that time and was with his successors in the business until the spring of 1888, when he resigned his position as manager of the Worcester Steel busi- ness and removed to Allston.

The Washburn Iron Company continued the busi- ness of re-rolling iron rails until 1881, when the demand almost entirely ceased by reason of the gen- eral adoption of the Bessemer steel rails, which re- sulted in a great saving in railroad construction. Iron rails were delivered in Boston in the summer of 1868 at eighty-eight dollars per ton of two thousand two hundred and forty pounds, while steel rails were de- livered in Boston, November, 1888, at thirty dollars per gross ton.

In the winter of 1881 they began the importation of steel blooms, and in the spring of 1882 began rolling steel rails. Mr. Gill died April 13, 1882, and Mr. George M. Rice then acquired an interest in the busi- ness, which was managed by the Gill estate until October, 1883, when the entire property passed into the hands of Mr. Rice and his associates, who organ - ized the Worcester Steel Works. The work of rolling steel blooms into rails continued until the fall of 1883, when work was begun upon the Bessemer steel plant, and the first steel was made in June, 1884. Later, an open hearth furnace was put in, and during the year 1888 two new trains of rolls have been added, modern heating furnaces, etc., for the mannfacture of mer- chant bars.

About four hundred men are employed in these works, producing two hundred and thirty tons daily, made up of rails for steam and horse railroads, blooms, billets and shapes, merchant bars and castings. For over thirty years this business has had a prominent place among the industries of Worcester, being at one time the largest single industry in the city. It has followed the complete revolution of the rail business

consequent upon the introduction of Bessemer steel, and to-day stands equipped with all the modern appliances for the production of iron and steel. All this has followed from the invention of a car-wheel in 1852 by Nathan Washburn in the Wheeler foun- dry in Thomas Street.

SCREWS .- July 19, 1809, a patent was granted to Abel Stowell for cutting wood screws, but no screws appear to have been made in Worcester until 1831, when C. Read & Co. commenced the manufacture of wood screws at Northville, as has been stated in con- nection with the early history of the wire business. In April, 1836, mention is made of made of a machine for making wood screws, invented by C. Read & Co., "which will cut thirty gross of screws per day with one pair of dies, and one boy can attend from two to four machines, according to the length of the screw." The business is then spoken of as growing and flour- ishing, but the parties in interest became discouraged and the business was moved to Providence, and con- tinued there for a time under the name of C. Read & Co., but finally came under the control of the com- pany now and for many years known as the American Screw Company. Since that time no wood screws have been made in Worcester.

Worcester Machine Screw Company .- Mr. A. W. Gifford, who, when a boy, was apprenticed to parties in Providence, in 1853-54 engaged in making wood screws, and later was employed in Worcester by Allen & Wheelock in their fire-arms business, and by Ball & Williams in making the Ballard rifle for the Gov- ernment, in 1866 received from the Worcester Me- chanics' Association a testimonial for a case of milled machine screws, which were the first made for the market in the city or county, and probably in the State. The Worcester Machine Screw Company started in a very small way, with a few machines of their own manufacture, made after some of Mr. Gif- ford's design". Originally, it was a co-partnership between A. W. Gifford and E. A. Bagley, but later Mr. Gifford became and has continued to be the sole proprietor. The business has grown, many changes have been made in the machinery, and important pro- cesses introduced, so that this company is to-day able to compete with any concern in the country in this line of business, in which everything depends upon accuracy and efficiency in the tools, machines and fixtures.

The machine used in the screw business prior to 1866 was what was known as the turret-head machine, used by gunsmiths, sewing-machine makers, and at the Springfield Armory. This was not well adapted to the class of work required of it. Mr. Gifford was the inventor of the machine used by himself and others which superseded it, and which has remained in use till the introduction of newer machinery. The old turret-head machine consisted of a revolving traverse spindle, with a dial for holding a series of tools. That, in turn, was succeeded by a machine in-

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

vented and patented by Mr. Gifford September 28, 1875, and improved December 26, 1876, in which the blanks are cut automatically to the length required for the screw and fed into the machine, which is so arranged that they are simultaneously milled, threaded and pointed.

The product of this factory now goes to all parts of the country. From eighty to one hundred hands are employed, and some four hundred tons of iron and steel used per annum ; the factory is located at 75 Beacon Street, a brick building, two hundred and fifty by thirty-six, two stories high, with a basement under the main building, with a wing forty by thirty-six for office and packing room. The steam-power is fur- nished by a one hundred horse-power boiler, and an eighty horse-power Corliss engine. Besides his in- provements and patents on screw machinery, Mr. Gifford has taken out patents on small hardware articles, such as tweezers, cutlery, etc.

McCloud, Crane & Minter, manufacturers of ma- chine screws, are located at 57 Union Street. The business was purchased in 1872 of James H. Gray, who in 1870 had bought a patent of Bagley's. Mean- time, in March, 1869, Mr. Minter started the same business and continued up to 1884, when he consoli- dated with McClond & Crane, and the firm became McCloud, Crane & Minter. Their business is milled machine work, standard and machine screws, studs for steam-engines, pumps, etc., and machinists' taps, to which they have recently added finished and case- hardened nuts. Improvements have been made from time to time in the machinery, and their capacity has been increased, but the advance has been for the most part in the direction of turning out an increased quantity from a given number of machines, and in the department of thread-cutting. Beginning with twelve hands, they now employ forty-four. Their iron is purchased in the square, round and hexagon, and also in the shape of wire drawn to size.

A. A. Bedard & Co., 89 Exchange Street, are also engaged in this business.

STEAM-ENGINES .- The mills in Worcester de- pended almost exclusively on water or horse-power until 1840. Mr. Wm. A. Wheeler is said to have had a steam-engine of some sort to run a fan in his foundry prior to his removal to Brookfield, and upon his return to Worcester, in 1831 or 1832, he abandoned this engine and substituted horse-power, which he used until 1840, when he put in another engine.

Howe & Goddard, at the Red Mills, had an engine of some kind in 1836.

Mr. Wheeler is credited in Bishop's "History of American Manufactures," with having the first steam- engine employed in the State west of Boston.

In 1840 Mr. Merrifield put in an engine of from four to six horse-power, opposite the location of his present office ; and probably the first efficient steam- engines iu Worcester were put in at this time by both Mr. Merrifield and Mr. Wheeler.

The demand for power at this time was larger than the supply, so that an engine purchased one year was discarded the next for a larger one. Between 1840 and 1850 Mr. Merrifield put in five engines. The last one, put in in 1854, is still running,

Steam-engines were not manufactured in Worcester to any extent until 1864. Mr. Wm. A. Wheeler made an engine in 1842 for Win. T. Merrifield.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 176

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