USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Waltham > History of the American Waltham Watch Company of Waltham, Mass., 1904 > Part 4
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When Mr. Church took the position of superintendent of toolmakers at the Waltham factory, the theory of step-by- step production was in force. There were roughing cuts and finishing cuts on the same piece, made in different machines and involving separate handlings. Mr. Church had become fully convinced that the cheapest and best method of ina- chine-part finishing was formulated in Gridley's admonition, "Never leave a piece of work until the best possible effect
has been gained"-that is to say, once a piece is in the grasp of an automatic machine it should not be released until fully completed. In the ten years during which he has been in charge of the Waltham tool-making he has succeeded in carrying out this conception of complete production with only one handling in the making of many of the watch parts, the plate-drilling machines being the most impressive of all of his creations, because they are the largest, and the super- iative accuracy of their transfer movements is plainly ob- servable. When he took the plate-drilling in hand it was
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done through jigs handled by girls, each girl having a drill- ing machine with three vertical spindles carried in one head, each spindle rotating a different tool, and having an inde- pendent feed motion. Each girl drilled in a watch plate all the holes of the sizes produced by the three drill spindles of her machine; then the plate was taken out of the jig and passed on to the next operator, who placed it in another jig and went on to drill the holes of the sizes produced on the machine under her charge. In spite of the utmost care possible this step-by-step production produced imperfect plate drilling and made trouble without end.
Mr. Church had a clear conviction that there should be no jig work, which means that all holes must be located by the axis of rotation of the drill spindle, the drill itself having no surrounding exterior guiding surface, and hence that, for each hole, the plate must be brought to exact position in relation to the drill-spindle axis; if the plate could be held, say, horizontally over a rising drill spindle or cutter spindle, then the desired operation could be properly located in the plate. There are about one hundred and sixty different operations to be performed on a full plate; each vertical spindle head could conveniently carry as many as six spin- dles and it was clearly possible to place as many heads, each carrying six tool spindles, as were needful, on one long frame, and provide each of the six-spindle vertical heads with overhead plate holders, and to transfer the watch plates from one plate holder to another, successively, each plate holder correctly locating the plate over some spindle carried in one of the revolving spindle heads. It was also clearly possible to begin operations on the watch plates by supply- ing them in filled delivery magazines to the drilling ma- chines, so that the transfer arm and hand could take a plate from the magazine and place it in the first horizontal plate holder, and from this first plate holder another transfer arm and hand could take the partly completed plate and deliver it to the next plate holder in sequence, until, at last, the
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final delivery arm and hand should place the completely drilled plate in a receiving magazine, located at the end of the machine farthest from the delivery magazine through which the plates are given to the machine.
Here, then, was a clear, clean-cut, general scheme of plate drilling-which was, however, wholly impossible of con- struction with any details then known in tool-making. The horizontal plate holder could be mounted on two of Mauds- ley's slides, one carried by the other, and these slides could be so moved as to bring any point in the plate over the axis of the tool carrying spindle below-but how ?
The answer Mr. Church made to this apparently unan- swerable question was wonderfully simple and wonderfully suitable.
It was wholly impossible to produce the double motion of the plate carriers by means of cams and levers, for two reasons : first, want of possible accuracy, and, second, want of room. It was impossible to place the required number of cams and levers in their proper relation to the plate holders and spindles, and cams and levers being the only means known for operating automatic tool members, it was clearly impossible to construct this ideally perfect plate-drilling machine. The requirement was some device which would move two comparatively heavy slides, quickly and certainly, to positions absolutely certain with relation to a fixed point, which employed no mechanism, and was not subject to wear of any description. Could absurdity of mechanical demand go farther ?
Yet these impossible conditions were met in the easiest manner possible by the use of compressed-air pistons and cylinders. applied directly to the moving parts, so that, whenever air pressure was admitted to a cylinder, the pis- ten instantly drove the connected member to a flat contact stop of hardened steel. the rapidity of traverse and inten- sity of the contact blow being perfectly controlled by the air-admission cocks, which are cam-operated. With this
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beautifully simple and perfect machinery Mr. Church moves his plate-holding slides with positive accuracy, revolving heads of har 1-steel stop pins giving each hole location in the plate an adjustable definition which can be individually regulated to any degree of precision desirable, with the prac- tical result of producing watch plates with no measurable or discoverable variation in the location of the holes.
Here, then, we have the highest known development of the possibilities of the tool-maker's art, due to the addition, by Mr. Church, of compressed-air actuating devices to Maudsley's slides and Stone's turret.
The compressed-air movement makes accuracy possible, as it never before was. Compressed air gives movements with any degree of force, within any space limitations im- posed by the exigencies of tool construction, and-impos- sibility of impossibilities-without wear.
The largest plate-drilling machines have a delivering and receiving magazine, six plate holders, six spindle heads car- rying six spindles each, making thirty-six live spindles in all, and seven transfer arms and hands.
Within certain size limits, this compressed-air actuation in combination with these transfer elements, which are cap- able of taking a piece of work of any form and accurately locating it in the work-holder of any description, show the road to completely finishing any metal piece without direct manual intervention. That is to say, the methods and means now in operation at Waltham can be so modified as to pro- duce any machine part without direct labor.
As to diameter-limit of work produced by this system, Mr. Church said that he thought his devices might be suc- cessfully and economically applied to pieces up to 10-in. or 12-in. diameter, and, in many forms of pieces, the length would be no bar to automatic finishing.
E. A. Marsh.
CHAPTER IX.
E. A. Marsh, the present general superintendent of the American Waltham watch factory, is a native of Massachu- setts, having been born in 1837 in the modest little town of Sunderland on the Connecticut river. Being left an orphan before he was six years of age, he was deprived of the educational advantages which he might otherwise have re- ceived, but when thirteen years of age he went to live with a relative in Springfield, Mass., where he attended school for two years, then spent three years as clerk in a store. Then after a season of waiting he found an opportunity to enter a machine shop as an apprentice, but in less than two years a financial crisis closed the shop. Later he ob- tained a situation in the machine department of Colts Arm- ory in Hartford, Conn. From there he went to Chicopee, Mass., and worked on gun-making machinery, which was being built for the English government. From Chicopee he was called to the Cheney Brothers silk mills of Man- chester, Conn. While there he became associated with Mr. C. M. Spencer, the inventor of the Spencer repeating rifle, which became prominent in the Civil War. When a factory for the production of those rifles was established in Boston, Mr. Marsh became connected with it and moved to Boston in 1862.
When Mr. Marsh commenced his apprenticeship in Springfield his first job of work was given him by Mr. Ambrose Webster, at that time employed as a journey- man. Shortly thereafter Mr. Webster went to Waltham and entered the watch factory as a machinist and tool
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A. S.M.
maker. Later, on learning that Mr. Marsh was in Boston, he repeatedly endeavored to induce him to come to Waltli- am. But not until the spring of 1865 did he decide to do so. He had been at the watch factory but a few weeks when he was called away, but returned after an absence of a year, commencing work in the machine shop tool room. After about two years he was transferred to the draughting room, and in connection with the drawings and designs for new machinery he had the direction of their construc- tion. When Mr. Webster, whose duties had been enlarged with the growth of the factory, became master mechanic, Mr. Marsh succeeded him as foreman of the machine de- partment, which position he continued to hold during the administration of Mr. Van der Woerd as mechanical and general superintendent. On the retirement of Mr. Woerd in 1883 Mr. Marsh was appointed to the position of master mechanic, and served in that capacity until 1893, when he succeeded Mr. G. H. Shirley as assistant superintendent of the factory. The continued enlargement of the factory and the increasing cares of Mr. Fitch, the president, who had for eighteen years been superintendent, also subsequently led to the appointment of Mr. Marsh as general superin- tendent, with Mr. J. W. Burckes as assistant superintend- ent. When connected with the mechanical department, Mr. Marsh designed and built quite a number of new machines, but when he became assistant superintendent, Mr. D. H. Church was made mechanical superintendent, and since then has produced new machines in various lines and of marvel- ous performance.
Mr. Marsh's lengthy connection with the Waltham fac- tory has rendered him quite familiar with its history and growth, and that fact doubtless led the late treasurer, Mr. R. E. Robbins to assign to him the work of making an historical sketch of the American Waltham Watch Co., which was embodied with other matter relating to the city of Waltham in the "History of Middlesex County."
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Although not a practical watch maker Mr. Marsh has had occasion to write a number of articles on watches and watch' manufacturing for publication in several encyclo- pedias as well as in trade journals.
N. B. Sherwood.
CHAPTER X.
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE SHERWOOD.
Mr. Sherwood was born in 1823, was educated in Albany Academy, under Prof. Peck, and graduated with high hon- ors. From a boy he was passionately fond of mathematics, astronomy and chemistry and was a born mechanical genius." After graduating from Albany Academy he decided to prac- tice medicine, but so great was his love of mechanics that the medical profession had but little charms for him, and he gradually drifted into a knowledge of horology. In 1852, he was engaged in watchmaking in Jefferson, Ohio, and from there he moved to New York city and engaged in jeweling watches and chronometers for the trade.
He became acquainted with Mr. E. Howard, at that time connected with the Waltham factory, and was employed by the company shortly after. Mr. G. B. Miller, in speaking of Mr. Sherwood recently, said: "He was a wonderful man; a thorough mechanic, gifted with a highly retentive memory and perceptive powers that seemed almost intuitive. He had the happy faculty of being able to grasp any sub- ject of mechanics which was brought to his notice, and his fertile brain and faculty for imparting information, made him an interesting companion and valuable writer and in- structor. Unlike other mechanics and inventors, he seemed to grasp the whole idea and work out his problem almost instantaneously."
His connection with the Waltham factory gave him. abundant opportunity to bring his inventive genius into play in originating new tools to do work hitherto done by hand.
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He was placed in charge of the jeweling department. He not only conceived new ideas, but being an excellent draughtsman, he placed them on paper, and then entering the machine shop, he, with his own hands, made and put them together.
Under his charge the jeweling department soon made a complete revolution. New systems and methods of doing work were introduced, automatic machines made and the amount of work turned out was doubled. Many of the tools used to-day in our watch factories were invented and first built by Mr. Sherwood. A list and description of the various tools invented by this remarkable man would fill a good- sized volume, and we will confine our remarks to but a few of them. He invented what is known as the "Counter- sinker or screw head tool," for jewel screws; "the end- shake tools," "the opener" and "the truing-up tools."
In speaking of "the end-shake tools," Mr. Miller says : "They were truly wonderful tools, being self-measuring and so constructed that no matter to what depth the shoulder was cut in the upper plates, by putting the plate against one end of one of the tools, and the jewel with its setting in a spring chuck, the tool would cut a shoulder on the setting that would bring the face of each and every jewel exactly flush with the under side of the plate when setting was put in. The jewels were then reversed and put into another chuck and the top of the setting cut down by this magic tool until it would come exactly flush with the top of the plate, or rather leave just enough projecting above to allow for polishing. After the jewel settings were 'stripped' and polished, they were put into the plates where they belonged never to be removed again. As the plate was already gilded, next the holes for the screws were tapped out and the holes bored for each screw-head on the screw-head tool, that would leave the head of the screw exactly flush with the top of the plate and not raise any burr. The end-shake tool was certainly the perfection of self-measuring tools. By it the
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shoulder was cut on the setting of the lower holes (the holes in the plate being first bored out with a shoulder), so as to, give each pinion and staff the exact amount of end- shake required. With these tools one man could do nicer work and more of it than any five men could do in the ordinary way."
The so-called "opener" was another ingenious tool. Mr. Sherwood found that it was impossible to open a jewel hole by hand so that the hole would be absolutely round, and accordingly he produced a tool which would do the work not only perfectly but rapidly. He never patented any of his inventions, and many of them can be found in daily use in the watch factories of the United States to-day. Some of the minor details of these machines have been improved on, but in many cases no improvements have been made in the machines, as originally built by him, as far back as 1860.
Mr. Sherwood died of consumption at his residence in New York city, in October, 1872, in his 49th year. In his death the horological firmament lost one of its brightest stars.
Patten Sargeant Bartlett.
CHAPTER XI.
Patten Sargent Bartlett, whose name is familiar to every watchmaker and jeweler in America, and we might say the world, was born in Amesbury, Mass., Dec. 3, 1834, of one of the oldest and most famous puritan families, his great uncle, Josiah Bartlett, being one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He had a common school education and learned the machinist trade in Lowell. His first connection with watchmaking was in December, 1855, when he went to work at 21 years of age for the Boston Watch Co. just after its removal to Waltham and before the organization of the Waltham company. In 1858 he became foreman of the plate and screw department of that factory and continued with them in that capacity until 1864. In 1859 the American Watch Company put upon the market a new 18-size movement, which they engraved P. S. Bart- lett, and in 1861 they manufactured their first lady's watch (10 size), which they also designated as the P. S. Bartlett.
He brought J. K. Bigelow from Lowell to assist him, but Mr. Bigelow was not long afterwards given a department to manage and Leonard Green became Mr. Bartlett's as- sistant until he went to Elgin.
In 1864, Mr. Bartlett and Ira G. Blake came west from Waltham on a visit, and becoming acquainted with John C. Adams, whose brother George B. Adams was a jeweler in Elgin, he was induced to assist in organizing the National Watch Company of Elgin, and undertook to provide it with skilled labor. He was one of the half-dozen who was paid
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a bonus of $5,000 and $5,000 a year for five years to go to Elgin and start a factory, his position being foreman of the plate department for five years, the same position which he had held in Waltham. He worked in the machine shop at Elgin until the factory had begun to produce watches.
In 1869 Mr. Bartlett commenced traveling for the Elgin company, and was the first watch missionary in the trade, although not then designated as a missionary. He was general traveling agent for the company for the next seven years, and in that time he introduced the Elgin watch in Europe, selling them in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities. Returning to this country he was assistant superin- tendent at the factory in Elgin until 1878, leaving to take a position traveling for the Waltham company, with whom he remained for three years.
At the conclusion of his connection with the Waltham company, he established himself in the wholesale and retail jewelry business in Elgin, which he continued until he died, Dec. 14, 1902, at the home of his daughter in Chicago.
CHAPTER XII.
There are probably few men in this or any other country who have had a more intimate connection with the machine watchmaking than had Ambrose Webster of Waltham, Mass. For over thirty years his sole time and attention was devoted to this industry. From one of the most lowly positions he rose, through diligent work and study, to one of the highest which the largest watch factory in the world had bestowed upon a faithful and efficient employe.
Mr. Webster was born in Southbridge, Mass., July 16, 1832, and he attended the common schools of his native town until his fifteenth year, when he went to Springfield, Mass., attending the school there until 1849. In this year he commenced a four years' apprenticeship in the Spring- field Armory, being the first apprentice taken after the Armory was under military rule, i. e., under the superin- tendency of the ordinance department. This armory was, even in those days, famous for labor-saving machinery and its method of manufacturing fire-arms with interchange- able parts. It was in this same factory that Mr. Dennison conceived his ideas about interchangeable watches, and in which he spent many hours in examining the various tools and processes, and the writer has but little doubt that here also Mr. Webster acquired the foundation of what he after- wards carried out so successfully in watch machinery. In those days, however, Messrs. Webster and Dennison were not acquainted, although in after years they became fast friends. After finishing his apprenticeship in this factory he went to work for Messrs. Blanchard & Kimball, loco-
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Ambrose Webster.
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motive manufacturers. During the years 1853 and 1854 he was in the employ of the Richmond & Danville railroad as machinist and engineer.
In. 1855 he went to work for the Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, and was engaged in manufacturing the gun-stocking machinery, built by that company for the Enfield, Eng., arsenal, and later he worked for the Spring- field Tool Co. in the manufacture of engine lathes. In 1857 he was engaged by Appleton, Tracy & Co., being the first machinist hired by them. He was appointed foreman of the machine shop of the American Watch Co. in De- cember, 1859, and master mechanic in 1862. In the spring of 1857 he was the only machinist regularly employed ten hours per day at his trade, as machinist and tool-maker, in any watch or watch-case factory in existence. In 1872 he was promoted to the position of assistant superintendent of the Waltham factory, which position he held until his resigna- tion in the spring of 1876, when he left the employment of the company and spent the following six months in visit- ing the various watch and clock companies of the country and making a thorough study of their methods.
When Mr. Webster took charge of the machine shop of the Waltham factory it was as crude as could well be imagined. There was absolutely no system, no appreciation of the fact that the machine shop was the foundation of the manufactory. The proprietors had not learned that to successfully run a factory they must build up a machine shop large enough, and under a competent head, to build and repair all the tools and machines needed in the busi- ness Anything approaching an automatic machine was frowned upon. In spite of this fact, Mr. Webster may be credited with forcing automatic machinery to the front, as he constructed a machine to run half-automatically against the positive orders of the management. He also reduced the unsystematic method of measurement, then in the fac- tory, to a system, having found that there were no less
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than nine classes of measuring units or gauges, which he changed to one. He designed, and Mr. George Hunter (consulting superintendent of the Elgin Co.) built the first watch factory lathe with hard spindles and bearings, of the two-taper variety. He also made the first inter- changeable standard for parts of lathes. Under his man- agement the machine shop developed into a force of seventy men, and the daily product of the company was increased from five watches per day to three hundred and fifty.
He invented many machines now in use in the Waltham factory, conspicuous among them being an automatic pinion cutter, invented in 1865. Shortly after leaving the Amer- ican Watch Company, which he did in the Spring of 1876, Mr. Webster received a very flattering letter of commen- dation from Mr. R. E. Robbins.
In the Fall of 1876 Mr. Webster entered into partnership with H. N. Fisher and John E. Whitcomb, under the title of the American Watch Tool Company, taking its gen- eral management. At that time they were making about fifty lathes per year. They immediately commenced the erection of a factory building, and when completed. in- creased their force from six men to eighty, taking a large contract to equip an English watch factory, and in 1878 they made a contract to equip the Waterbury watch fac- tory. This establishment was planned, erected and equipped. to make one thousand watches per day, by Mr. Webster and the American Watch Tool Co. The company put into this factory machinery to the value of $56,609.91.
While in Waterbury, Mr. Webster formed the acquaint- ance of Mr. Woodruff, of the Seth Thomas Clock Com- pany, and used his influence in inducing that company to commence the manufacture of watches, and subsequently built a large amount of machinery for them.
When Mr. Doolittle organized the New Haven Watch Company, he used Mr. Webster's experience in building of machinery, and subsequently assisted in the planning of the
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Trenton factory and the equipment of the same. The Cheshire Watch Co. also called upon him for assistance in the same line, as did also the Columbus and Aurora Watch Companies, and the same is true of the Hampden Co. in the erection of their last building in Springfield.
In the Spring of 1894, Mr. Webster made a trip to the watch factory towns of France and Switzerland in the in- terest of his company. He took with him Paul Simon, an employe of the company, who acted as interpreter. While in France he contracted a heavy cold, which turned to pneumonia, and on May 16 a cablegram was received by his relatives, from Beaucourt, France, stating that Mr. Web- ster was seriously ill and shortly after another was received announcing his death. He left a widow, four daughters and one son and his father, who was ninety years of age, was living in Southbridge at the time of his son's death.
1852 - Nashua 1859 - 6 ligin 1864
Waltham Split chuck Hollow live spinale Path watchmakero lathe
CHAPTER XIII.
Charles S. Moseley, whose name has been intimately con- nected with the history of nearly every watch factory in this country, was born in Westfield, Mass., Feb. 28, 1828. In 1836 he accompanied his father to Princeton, Ill., but soon returned to Massachusetts. At the age of eighteen he entered a machine shop in Westfield and some time after- wards went to Boston where he worked for George H. Fox, as a machinist, and remained there for some years. His first connection with a watch factory was in 1852, when he entered the employ of Dennison, Howard & Davis, who were then beginning the manufacture of watches in Roxbury, Mass. Mr. Moseley went with them when the factory was removed to Waltham and remained with the com- pany, serving in the capacity of foreman of the machine shop and later as master mechanic
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