USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Clinton > History of the origin of the town of Clinton, Massachusetts, 1653-1865 > Part 17
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201
THE INVENTION PROCESS.
whole. Each position must be thus examined and re- examined, modified and re-modified, until harmony and unity are fully established. From the severity of this labor many inventors shrink, and this is the main reason why some very ingenious men fail to obtain satisfactory results. In my own case, the labor has not ended with the perfection of my looms; other machines, preparatory and auxiliary, were necessary to give full effect to the inventions.
* * * *
*
"I find no difficulty in effecting that concentration of thought which is so necessary in pursuits like mine. Indeed, it is not easy for me to withdraw my mind from any subject in which it has once become interested, until its general bearings, at least, are fully ascertained.
"I always mature in my mind the general plan of an in- vention before attempting to execute it, resorting occasion- ally to sketches on paper for the more intricate parts. A draughtsman prepares the working drawings from sketches furnished by me, which indicates in figures the proportion of the parts. I never make anything with my own hands. I do not like even drawing to a scale."
The loom for weaving coachlace by power having been invented, the next thing was to put it into successful operation. E. B. Bigelow turned to his brother, H. N. Bigelow, who at that time, as has been noted, was acting as superintendent of a mill in Shirley. The two brothers were lacking in capital, but they knew that would be forthcoming as soon as the capabilities of the loom had been demon- strated.
Where should they begin business, in other words, where could they get the best prepared facilities for manufacturing at the lowest prices ? Fortunately for the "Factory Village" of Lancaster, the hard times had destroyed the confidence of the cotton manufacturers, and Nathaniel Rand and Samuel Damon were glad to lease the upper or "Yellow"
202
THE COMING OF THE BIGELOWS.
mill,* on the site of the present Worsted mill, for a small rental. This was just the chance that the Bigelows wanted, and they seized it at once. The older brother furnished what capital they had, but this was so small that we are told that two machinists, named Dryden, worked for them several months before receiving any pay, simply from their faith in the final success of the loom. Their father, Ephraim Bigelow, helped them put up the first loom, but the enter- prise was saddened by his death before it was at work.
The value of the loom was soon evident and a company was formed for the special purpose of manufacturing coach- lace under an act of incorporation, which passed the House of Representatives, March 7, 1838.+
The name of the company was given by E. B. Bigelow. . He derived it from the name of the Clinton House, in New York, where he had stopped while in the city, and with the name of which he was especially pleased. Of course the name of the hotel came from that of DeWitt Clinton. The "Factory Village" soon became known as Clintonville, and finally grew into the town of Clinton.
* This mill is still in existence on the grounds of the Bigelow Carpet Co., and is used as a store-house.
+COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
IN THE YEAR ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND THIRTY-EIGHT.
An Act to incorporate the Clinton Company :
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by authority of the same, as follows :
SECTION I. John Wright, Horatio N. Bigelow, Israel Longley, their associates and successors, are hereby made a manufacturing corporation by the name of the Clinton Company, for the purpose of manufacturing cotton, woolen and silk goods and machinery, in the town of Lancaster, in the county of Worcester.
SECTION II. The said corporation may hold for the purpose afore- said real estate to the amount of thirty thousand dollars, and the whole capital stock of the corporation shall not exceed one hundred thousand dollars.
203
THE CLINTON COMPANY.
The capital stock was first made twenty thousand dollars. Israel Longley of Shirley was chosen the first president. In the second year, Stephen Fairbanks of Boston was presi- dent, and Longley, treasurer. Fairbanks, Loring & Co., were dealers in hardware and carriage furnishings and took an interest in coachlace as an article of sale. It is here that the connection of three generations of the Fairbanks family with our mills began. To them, the mills, and therefore the town, owe much, both for their financial and active business relations. In 1841, Fairbanks was re-elected president and John Wright of Lowell became treasurer, and upon his resignation, H. N. Bigelow was chosen. These four, with E. B. Bigelow, were directors. In 1842, Longley sold out his stock to H. N. Bigelow, and Wright sold his to E. B. Bigelow, so that the interest of these two parties in the corporation ceased at this time. Henry P. Fairbanks, the son of Stephen, soon became a stockholder, so that the in- ventor and manufacturer, together with the buying and selling agents, were for years the chief owners of the stock. In 1845, some shares were held by David R. Green, William C. Upham and Charles T. Appleton. In 1844, the stock was made fifty thousand, and in 1845, one hundred and fifty thousand. Twenty-five thousand of this came from the issuc of stock certificates, the stock being watered to that amount, and the remaining seventy-five thousand from the issue of new stock. The names of Robert Appleton, William Amory, J. S. Amory and S. G. Snelling appear prominently in the affairs of the company at a later date.
During the year 1838, the manufacturing account shows the consignments of coachlace to Fairbanks, Loring & Co., to have amounted to about nine thousand dollars. In the sixteen months next following, the consignments were about twelve thousand. The company had not, as yet, made ready for work and the machinery account shows that the construction of looms was the main business of these two years. The first nine months of 1840-41 give a manufactur-
204
THE COMING OF THE BIGELOWS.
ing product of coachlace of about twenty-six thousand dollars. During the following years, the increase in product, with slight fluctuations, kept pace with the increase in stock. The average annual gain from 1838 to 1845 was over twenty per cent. During the period of enlargement from 1845 to 1848 the average profits were twelve and one-half per cent. annually .* No wonder such a profit encouraged increase of business.
On the 17th of August, 1842, the Clinton Company, which had formerly leased the mill property of Rand & Damon at the rate of four hundred and fifty dollars per year, received a deed of the whole upper mill privilege, with all the buildings that had been previously connected with it. On the 26th of January, 1845, by an additional act of incorporation, the Clinton Company were allowed to increase their capital stock to three hundred thousand dollars and hold real estate to the value of one hundred thousand in Boylston as well as Lancaster. Sawyer's Mills were taken for spinning, this branch of the business being
* The statement of the financial affairs of the Company August 1, 1845, was as follows :
Original purchase of real estate (and new house). $10,611 25
Cost of machine shop, dye house, mills, tenements, etc. 17,037 77
Spinning mill (Sawyer's Mills).
19,741 52
Interest, incidentals, etc. 2,316 22
$49,706 76
Cost of machinery on hand.
$35,097 37
Coachlace loom patent.
20,000 00
Merchandise and cash. 26,626 56
Notes and accounts due. 2,530 66
Amount paid on unfinished contract
12,743 23-96,997 82
$146,704 58
The Company's liabilities are
76,704 58
Present capital. $70,000 00
Capital August 1, 1844. $54,293 23
Earnings for the year ending July 31, 1845. $15,706 77
205
THE CLINTON COMPANY.
opened in November, 1846. From 1845 to 1848, the real estate and machinery of the company increased several fold by building and construction. The wooden mill now in use on the grounds of the Bigelow Carpet Co.'s Worsted Mill, was, in part, built for a machine shop in anticipation of en- largement ; the brick mill, now used as a store-house, was built for a weaving mill, and some of the tenement houses date from this period .*
In view of this increase of property, the company asked from the legislature an act allowing the capital stock to be increased to five hundred thousand dollars. This was granted March 9, 1848. This rapid development at a time when the money market was straightened and the profits were decreasing, frightened the more conservative stock- holders, and there was comparatively little building for some time after this.
We have thus far considered the stock, manufacturing account, profits and real estate of the company, but it is in the pay-roll that a corporation influences most directly the history of the community in which it manufactures. In
* A report on the condition of the company November 10, 1847, states the company has :
92 lace looms, with an estimated annual product .. . $90,000 00 20 web looms,
20,000 00 80 check looms, 100,000 00
Machine shop 40,000 00
$250,000 00
The property of the company is given as follows :
Mill, machinery, real estate, and power in Boylston .. $97,903 66
" = " Clintonville, 189,530 35
Machine shop, tools and fixtures 34,261 38 The patents. 25,333 59
$347,028 98
To which if we add-Railroad stock
6,666 67
And Hotel stock 5,000 00
$358,695 55
206
THE COMING OF THE BIGELOWS.
May, 1841, the pay-roll in the machine shop was one hundred and seventy dollars and seventy-six cents ; for coachlace manufacture, four hundred dollars and ninety-one cents. This probably represents the work of fifteen men and twenty-five women. The number employed before 1841 was not more than half as large. From 1841 to 1843, the pay-roll averaged between five and six hundred dollars per month. In 1844, it was from eight to ten hundred ; in 1845, from fourteen to fifteen hundred ; in 1846, it went up in some months to over two thousand, the machine shop receiving more than half. In 1847, it reached, at times, three thou- sand. In April, 1848, after the new part, devoted to the manufacture of checks or pantaloon cloth, was fully at work, the items were as follows : coachlace, about eight hundred; checks, 'about sixteen hundred ; coloring, about two hun- dred ; work in machine shop, about twenty-four hundred ; spinning at Sawyer's Mills, about six hundred. This should not be received as the usual proportion between the pay-roll of the lace and check departments, for the former, generally, at least equalled the latter.
Turning the pay-roll of April, 1845, for closer analysis, we find the following nine men were employed in the lace manufacturing department : Wm. Eaton,* Stillman Hough- ton,* J. F. Houghton, J. H. Bancroft, Reuben Holbrook, Alfred Houghton, Charles H. Morgan, Hiram Morgan,* Warren Fales. The women employed, as is evident from their names, belonged, in many cases, to the old families of the town. We find these names: Sawyer, Hemenway, Whitney, Hatch, Eaton, Houghton, Eaton, Hapgood, Pow- ers, Rand, Whitney, Baker, Sawyer, Nichols, Damon, Whit- comb, Whitcomb, Howard, Thomas, Fletcher, Taylor, Nich- ols, Barnard, Barnard, Wilder, Harris, Prouty, Whitcomb, Tyler, Ward and Hapgood, thirty-one in all, which number, added to that of the men, makes forty. The average wages
* See elsewhere by aid of index for further account of these men,
207
PAY-ROLL.
of the women was a little over twelve dollars per month, or about fifty cents per day of twelve hours.
In the machine shop, during the same month, there were twenty-eight hands. A few extra names are added which were found on the books later during the year : R. S. Free- man,* Abijah Nichols, J. B. Parker,* W. S. Sanderson, R. B. Goodale, Theodore Jewett,* Ezra Sawyer,* Hiram Morgan,* Jonas Hunt,* Sanborn Worthen, E. W. Goodale,* Washing- ton Harris, R. H. Brown, David Sanderson, Joseph Rice, Jr.,* David Smith, Nath. Whitcomb, Gilbert L. Ball, Galen L. Stevenson, A. H. Plympton, J. C. Parnell, A. H. Smith, Michael Smithey, Oliver Sawyer, Daniel Jewett, Jabez L. Wright, Horace Loomis, James Hamblet, Obadiah Goodale, Clark Hopkins, Emory Farnsworth, James H. Stone,* Samuel Beaven,* Samuel Osgood,* A. F. Houghton, James C. Par- sons,* B. R. Cotton .* The names of A. C. Dakin* and D. B. Ingalls* appear upon the books at a subsequent date. It is here in this machine shop that we find, more than anywhere else, the promise of the Clinton that was to be, for some of the men who were working here afterwards became most substantial citizens. Moreover, the later improvements made in the machinery of the mills is due in no small degree to these men who, under the charge of J. B. Parker, prepared many of the original looms. The office work was conducted by A. S. Carleton,* to whose careful records we are indebted for so many of the particulars here given. Thus we see that, including Mr. Bigelow's, there were seventy names on the pay-roll of the company.
In the summer of 1845, the outside work of the mill also gave employment to between forty and fifty persons. IlI- deed, we are told, that, during this period, nearly every farmer in the village became a teamster for the corporation. In the list of those working on the wheel-pit and canal, we find for the first time, in any numbers, the names of Irish
* See elsewhere by aid of index for further account of these men.
208
THE COMING OF THE BIGELOWS.
immigrants-a class destined to take so important a part in the after development of the community. Barry, Fahey, Durkin, Cummings, Moran, Cain, Finerty, Donahoe, Burke and McDermot, are among the names given.
In January, 1846, the coloring department of the mill started ; James R. Stewart and Timothy Moran, were, at first, the only dyers.
To a person of imaginative tendencies, these dry old books of a defunct company are full of food for sentiment and thought. To the owners of the stock, their great success might have given means for hoarding up money and delighting in its accumulation, but it actually did give an enlarged horizon of life and an increased power of doing good. If one could follow the product of the looms, he would have spread out before him all the romance of those early days before steam cars took the place of coaches. In an old settler of Clintonville, this coachlace would bring up memories of Stiles, starting out in the early morning for Worcester with a jolly coach-load of his patrons, or he would think of the rides he had taken across the country in his own private carriage, trimmed with this same lace. But it is in the pay-roll that the imagination would most delight to revel. For what purpose and in what spirit was the money earned? In what way was it spent? Were there boys here, who were seeking, as E. B. Bigelow had done, funds for further education? Were there girls who were earning money to buy their wedding garments? Were there young people, who were working to support parents, helpless through age or vice? Were there husbands and fathers here, whose sole ambition was to provide happy homes for their families? Were there those whose highest thoughts were on food and shelter and dress for themselves and who thus plodded on month after month through a tread-mill exist- ence, unconscious of the heavens above and around them? Were there those to whom their monthly wages meant only opportunity for debauch? Were there mothers working in
BIGELOW CARPET COMPANY'S WOOLEN MILLS.
209
WORK OF H. N. BIGELOW.
the midst of failing health, that their children might have advantages such as they themselves had never known? All such there doubtless were. Many of the older citizens can tell their stories. In presenting these money accounts, we have given only the weft threads, but the fabric when woven presented figures many hued with base longing and lofty aspiration, with dark selfishness and glowing love. We must think of these workers as for the most part young people with futures before them. In 1838, H. N. Bigelow was only twenty-six and E. B. Bigelow only twenty-four. Their fel- low-workers were as young as they.
The agent was the soul of the whole undertaking. He gathered around him from all quarters the best men that could be found, but, among them all, there was no such worker as he. He was always in the mill before it started and he was the last to leave it. He was everywhere; he saw everything. Having once laid his plans, he never let go of them for a moment until they were executed. Under such management, the failure of such an invention was impossible. H. N. Bigelow, like his brother, was a man over whom ideas possessed a certain influence. When absorbed in any scheme for the good of the company, he was sometimes impatient of interference and moody, but as soon as the idea was worked out, his whole nature overflowed with geniality.
In the spring of 1848, H. N. Bigelow, finding his time fully occupied with other and larger enterprises, resigned his position as the agent of the Clinton Company. On this occasion, the clerks and overseers gave him "a testimonial of their gratitude for (his) uniform courtesy, generosity and kindness," and A. S. Carleton, in their behalf, said among other things : "You have set before us daily an unusual ex- ample of diligence, perseverance and activity; and although, as our leader, you have often given us a hard chase, we have pressed on with that courage which such examples always inspire in the hearts of those whose duty it is to follow. * * You have led us with a skillful hand and we have had confi- dence in our chief."
15
210
THE COMING OF THE BIGELOWS.
E. B. Bigelow, having become convinced that his life- work lay in the direction of invention rather than a profes- sion, relinquished at this time all idea of devoting himself to general culture. We have already spoken of the invention of a loom for weaving knotted counterpanes. The firm, which had taken this loom in hand and had failed on account of the hard times, had recovered itself once more, and one of the members made a favorable contract with E. B. Bige- low for renewing operations. He meanwhile had seen a form of counterpane superior, in his judgment, to the knotted, and advised that the contract be given up, as it would not be possible to compete with this cheaper and more marketable quilt. He set about inventing a power-loom for weaving the new form of counterpane, and met with perfect success in his study of the problem .*
* The following is the specification of the patentee :
In throwing the shuttles, I ensure the two picker-staves to operate simultaneously, so that the shuttle may be thrown from which ever of the boxes is presented to their action. This I effect by the use of one picker-treadle only, which is acted upon by a cam-ball, in the usual way of working such treadles. From the treadle two bands are extended, and press around the two picker-pulleys in such a manner that, when the treadle is depressed, both the picker-staves will be set in action at the same moment. By this arrangement two or more shuttles may be successively thrown from the same end of the loom by the action of one treadle.
The shuttle boxes are raised and lowered in the following manner : A shaft extends along the race-beam from one shuttle-box to the other, and carries pinions, which take into racks attached to the shuttle-boxes; it will be manifest, therefore, that by causing this shaft to revolve, the shuttle-boxes may be raised. The revolving of this shaft is effected by the action of a spiral or other spring, one end of which is attached to the frame of the loom at its back, and said spring extends forward towards the lathe ; from this forward end a band attached to it presses round guide-pulleys, and also round a pulley upon the above-named shaft, to which latter said band is attached. The action of the spring, by its drawing upon the band will cause the pinion shaft to revolve, and will consequently raise the shuttle-boxes. Should this spring be thrown out of action, and the band by which the shuttle boxes are raised be re-
2II
THE COUNTERPANE MILL.
These counterpanes which are still commonly seen in Clinton were made of coarse cotton yarn closely woven with raised figures' of various design. The counterpane, woven in later years, was loose in texture and inferior in quality. In 1841, the manufacture of quilts was begun by Hugh R. Ken- dall in the "lower" mill. This mill had passed through many hands since it was owned by the Lancaster Cotton Company in 1836. It was sold, in July of that year, to Nathaniel Rand, Samuel Damon, E. A. Raymond and John Hughes. March 22, 1837, Raymond and Hughes sold out to Rand and Damon. October 1, 1838, Damon sold to Rand his half of the mill property, which was then transferred to E. G. Roberts for six thousand dollars for a half share, and then Rand and Roberts
leased, they will then descend by their own gravity. To take off the tension of the spring, there is a cam upon which the main shaft of the loom, which cam, as the shaft revolves, depresses a treadle, to the end of which a band is attached, which operates in such a way, as to relieve the shuttle-boxes from the action of the spring, and they then descend.
In relieving the picker from the point of the shuttle, I make use of the protection-rod constituting a part of the apparatus employed in the ordinary power-loom, for stopping the loom when the shuttle does not arrive home in the shuttle-box. From the protection-rod, which extends along below the shuttle-boxes, I allow a small arm or finger to descend, which finger, as the latter comes up toward the breast-beam, strikes upon a stop or pin, attached, for that purpose, to the frame of the loom, causing the protection-rod to rock or revolve to a short distance. This gives motion to two arms which extend out from the extreme ends of the protection-rod, opposite to the outer ends of each of the shuttle-boxes ; from these arms motion is communicated to a lever which works on a fulcrum over the outer ends of each of the shuttle-boxes, said arms being connected to the lever by rods of wires. By depressing the outer ends of these levers their inner ends are raised, and to these ends arc appended rods which carry pieces of wood or metal, which, when down, rest on and embrace the picker-rod, and in that position they serve to hold the picker at a short distance from the end of the shuttle-box, and to stop the shuttle ; the picker is then removed from the point of the shuttle by the raising of the lever, and the picker being made to pass home to the end of the box, thus leaving the shuttle and the shuttle-box free to be raised or lowered without obstruction, the picker being also ready again to act on the shuttle.
212
THE COMING OF THE BIGELOWS.
sold to William and Robert Kelley. The Kelleys sold, Sep- tember 12, 1839, to Thomas Kendall for twenty-five thousand dollars. March 9, 1842, Thomas Kendall sold to Hugh R. Kendall for thirty thousand dollars. Here Mr. Kendall, pay- ing a royalty to E. B. Bigelow for the use of patent, success- fully conducted the manufacture of quilts with H. N. Bigelow as agent at a salary of five hundred dollars. February 27, 1845, the mill was sold to John Lamson for forty thousand dollars. The business was then conducted by Hugh R. Ken- dall & Co. until the Lancaster Quilt Company was formed in 1848. This company was incorporated with the right to hold capital to the amount of two hundred thousand dollars. Among the men holding prominent positions in the mill were Caleb Sawyer, in charge of the spinning room, Thomas Saw- yer, overseer of weaving room, and A. H. Parker, who looked after the bleachery. William N. Peirce, who was afterwards in charge of the bleachery, was in these early days learning his trade here. The mills were so enlarged and the property so increased in value between 1845 and 1851, that the Lan- caster Quilt Company, on October Ist of that year, paid one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars for it. The amount of business done previous to 1846 must have been very small, reckoned by present standards, but, in later times, one hundred hands were employed and a hundred thousand quilts worth one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, were produced annually. H. N. Bigelow resigned his position as agent of the company in 1848, after seven years of successful management.
E. B. Bigelow said in 1860: "From the early part of 1839 to nearly the close of 1849, my mind and my time were largely occupied with the invention and perfecting of my said (in- grain carpet ) loom." This invention does not directly affect Clinton as much as many others, but yet it demands our attention as one of a series, which are inseparably connected together and interdependent upon each other. Mr. Bigelow's
213
THE INGRAIN CARPET LOOM.
name, too, has been more prominently associated with this invention than with any other, if, possibly, we except the Brussels carpet loom, with which it is so often confused. Moreover, the experience gained by Mr. Bigelow during these years spent in connection with the great manufacturing interests of Lowell and other places, led him to form plans for his later enterprises in Clintonville on a larger scale than he would otherwise have done.
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