USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Gardner > History of the town of Gardner, Worcester County, Mass., from the incorporation, June 27, 1785, to the present time > Part 16
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The site where now stands the shop of L. H. Sawin & Co., was originally occupied by Deacon Noah Fairbanks, for a grist mill. Mr. Fairbanks began business at this place about the year 1800, and remained here for thirty years, using the mill for the above purpose ; he afterward sold to Mr. Ezra Baker, who enlarged the building, and added the business of manufac- turing chair stock. Mr. Baker sold to Mr. Elijah Putnam, who began the work of chair making, but in 1839 the shop was burned. Subsequently a new building was erected, which was purchased in 1851 by Mr. L. H. Sawin, who having enlarged the same, carried on the chair business alone till 1861, when he admitted as partner Mr. Mason Osgood, who continued in the business under the firm name of Sawin & Osgood till 1869, when Mr. Osgood retired. After Mr. Osgood's retirement, Mr. Edward H. Sawin, son, and Mr. Reuben H. Twichell, son-in-law of Mr. L. H. Sawin, entered the firm, which has since been known, as the firm of L. H. Sawin & Co. This com- pany use both water and steam power.
Having given as accurately as we are able to obtain it, a brief history of all the chair firms in town, from their inception, we present in the following tabular form, a statistical statement of the average amount of business done, by each firm, for the last ten years, the unmber of hands employed, number of chairs made annually, average value per chair at the shop, amount of capital invested and amount of horse power used.
174
HISTORY OF GARDNER.
NAMES OF FIRMS.
Annual
ness.
made
Annually.
Average value
of Chair
at the Shop.
Amount of cap-
ital required.
No. of Opera-
tives employed
Horse P'w'r
used.
*Heywood Brothers & Co.,.
$700,000 450.000 $1.25 8500,000 467
125
10
Philander Derby,.
150,000,150,000
1.00
50,000
65
70
15
S. K. Pierce, ..
135,000
135,000
1.00
41,000
75
50
40
J. A. & I. J. Dunn,.
103,760 100,738
1.03
30,000
60
100
. 10
A. & II. C. Knowlton,
59,438
49,532
1.20
12.000
20
15
15
Conant, Ball & Co.,
58,280
31,000
1.88
40,000
35
25
25
C. S. Greenwood's Sons,.
50,000
50,000
1.00
35,000
30
25
E. Wright & Co.,
50,400
70,000
72
25,000
20
15
20
S. Bent & Bros.,
50.250
75,000
67
30,000
20
25
L. 1I. Sawin & Co.
50,000
40,000
1.25
19,400
35
35
10
Wright & Read ...
45.000
52,325
86
25,000
35
12
35
Thos. Greenwood.
19,906
13.271
1.50
8,000
7
35
*Including Cane.
It will be seen from the above statistics, that the chair busi- ness in this town, has grown to very large dimensions; its average annual amount for the last ten years being one million four hundred and seventy-two thousand and thirty-four dollars ; the capital required about a million of dollars, while the chairs manufactured annually, number nearly two millions.
In justice to the enterprise of the above named gentlemen, it should be stated that, in addition to their business interests here in Gardner, several of them have opened houses in Boston, Providence, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago and San Francisco, where is carried on an extensive business, in- volving a large amount of capital not named in the above schedule.
For the information of those who have little, or no knowl- edge of the manufacture of chairs, from actual observation, it may be regarded as not amiss to give, in this place, some ac- count of the different processes and machines employed in their manufacture. For this purpose we select the shops of Hey- wood Bros. & Co., who make a variety of chairs peculiar to themselves.
Entering the chair shops of these gentlemen and giving ourselves up, with that docility of mind, needful to secure
No. of
Steamn.
Water.
amount of busi-
No. of Chairs
175
HISTORY OF GARDNER.
the requisite information, let us follow our friendly guide for a few hours, as he leads us from step to step, in the process of constructing a chair, which is of a pattern common, to all these shops, called Grecian. We shall find that the woods, of different sorts, enter these shops, in two conditions. They are sometimes brought in the log. If so, they are first taken into the saw mill, where, with a large, rapidly revolving saw, they are cut into planks of required dimensions. These planks are immediately sawed by a cutting off saw, into pieces of deisred length. These pieces are then taken, and marked out, with a pencil, according to different patterns, laid upon them, and are sawed into strips, for the different parts of a chair, after which, they are carried to the dry-house, or " stuck up" in the yards, to be seasoned for future use. A large portion, however, of the materials for a chair, are now partially prepared at a saw mill, near the place where the timber grows, in the several states from which it is obtained. Prepared in this way, it comes to the shops, of these manufacturers, in a rough state, where it is subjected to various processes of preparation, need- ful for a finished chair. For instance, in the Grecian chair, already named, we have, first, the posts, which come to the shop sawed out, but left in a rough condition. These posts are first planed, rounded and finished on the sides and edges, by what is called a seraper. The backs and centers also come to the shops sawed in convex shape on the back and concave on the front sides. These are marked, by peneil, according to the desired pattern, for the edges, then" jigged," and rounded on the top edge ; after this, the back and front sides are smoothed with a scraper. The last process, is that of sanding.
The seats, also, come sawed in four pieces. These pieces are all exactly fitted to each other, in a machine for that pur- pose, so that all similar pieces are of precisely the same dimen- sions. They are then glued and driven together with dowels, after which, they are planed and rounded, then scraped, sanded and bored, ready for receiving the cane, at the hands of the seaters. The posts are mortised, preparatory to receiving
176
HISTORY OF GARDNER.
the backs and centres, which are themselves prepared with tenons for insertion, in the mortises, into which they are driven with glue, after which process, they are held in clamps till dry. .The front posts and rounds of the chair, we are now describing, are sawed from the log into square pieces, of the required length and size. These are then put into a gauge lathe of the Whit- ney pattern, capable, with its variety of knives, of producing any desired shape. The stretchers are then inserted in the posts, bored for that purpose, their ends having been fitted in a tenoning machine. The chair is then said to be "finished in the wood."
Having now observed the various processes, through which the different parts of this chair have passed, let us recall the variety of machines which have been used, having in mind, at the same time, the foot lathe and tools of a primitive chair shop.
We have first, the large circular saw, passing through a log with a rapidity fitted to astonish the minds of our fathers, with their grunting, spasmodic, upright saw. Then follows the Whitney lathe, the belt saw, the boring, tenoning, planing, rounding, scraping, mortising machines, the planing machine, adapted to the back of the chair, small jig saw, sandpaper wheel, jointing saw and boring machine, for fitting frames, rounding machine, for rounding and surface planer, for smooth- ing frames, and a machine for rounding inside edge of frames, to prevent them from cutting the strands of cane, after the chair has been seated. We shall find that seventeen different ma- chines have been employed, in fitting the wood, of which the chair is composed, aside from the process of caning.
We have been hitherto, speaking of the different sorts of machines used in making a Grecian chair, manufactured by all the chair makers, in order to show the great advance made in chair making, since the business first began.
Leaving now this chair, let us walk about one of these shops and examine other machines used for the manufacture of differ- ent patterns of chairs. Our attention will be arrested by the
177
HISTORY OF GARDNER.
various kinds of bending machines, and the variety of the princi- ple employed in the bending process. We have, for instance, a machine of immense power, capable of bending, by one oper- ation, three pieces of timber, each two and one-fourth by one and seven-eighths inches, and fifty-seven inches in length. These sticks, having first been dried, are placed in a steam box, where they are allowed to remain, from one to three hours, after which, they are taken out and placed in a strap, with cast iron ends, formed in a box like shape, for receiving the ends of the pieces and holding them secure. They are then placed in position, in the bending machine, in front of which, is a block of wood, whose convex side is of the shape required to form the bow of the chair, of which it is to be a part. Thus placed, the machine is put in motion, carrying the block rapidly back against the middle of these pieces, by a tremendous pressure, while at the same time, their ends are brought around against the front part of the block, where they are confined by clasps. These pieces are then carried to the dry house, from which, after a few days, they are ready to be removed. They are then sawed lengthwise, into two pieces each, after which, they are again bent, in two other directions, before being made into a chair. It requires three men to work the machine.
Aside from this machine, marvellous for its power, we shall find a machine for bending the rails of a chair, one piece, when bent, forming the whole rail ; another for bending the backs of chairs ; another for bending the arms of rocking chairs, in the form of a seroll, till the different sorts of bent work, amount in all to about one hundred.
The wood when bent, is subjected to the process of drying, in a room whose temperature ranges from one hundred and fifty to one hundred and eighty degrees, where it remains from one to three weeks, after which, it is placed upon cars, in the build- ing, and run to the elevator, in the main shop, upon which it is, like all other prepared stock, carried to the upper story where, in an assorted condition, it is packed away, in different
23
178
HISTORY OF GARDNER.
stalls, ready for the future use of the workmen, when called upon " to fill an order."
Continuing our observations upon different machines, we shall find those, which are still more curious and complicated. Here in a certain room, is a dovetailing machine, of strange de- vice, fitted to do its work rapidly and well; again a cutting and a molding machine, making five thousand revolutions in a minute, with its several knives revolving so rapidly as not to be seen, making its beautiful beads, bevels, and grooves, upon the wood that comes in contact with it; also a machine for rounding the bottoms of wood seat chairs, revolving with such rapidity and power, that its strong knives hurl their chips with tremendous force and noise against the planks, with which it is surrounded, for the safety of the workmen ; besides many other kinds of machinery, which we cannot now mention in detail.
There is one machine, however, deserving of special mention, as showing at present, the highest advancement, in the rapid construction of cane seated chairs. The name of this machine is the Automatic Channeling Machine, and is the invention of Mr. G. A. Watkins, whose genius, as an inventor, will engage our attention, in a succeeding chapter of this work.
The object of this machine, is to channel the seat frame of a chair, for the reception of the woven seat. It will be seen, that, while a machine might be invented for channeling one par- ticular kind of frame, provided that frame were a complete circle, the difficulty must be greatly enhanced, when the inven- tor should seek to adapt his machine, to the work of channeling frames of different sizes and of irregular patterns. After long and patient study, this obstacle, was finally overcome, by Mr. Watkins, so that now, we have a machine that is automatic, and capable of doing its work, with entire success, upon any kind of seat, that may be desired.
In the first place the frame, to be channeled, is placed upon a metallic form, of the exact shape of the wood seat frame, and secured by a thumb screw. The periphery of this metallic form is grooved transversely, for gearing to a cog-wheel, revolv-
179
HISTORY OF GARDNER.
ing horizontally upon a perpendicular spindle of the machine. The under side of this form has a beveled groove, for the pur- pose of adapting it, to the centre pin upon the table. The crown of this pin is about one-fourth of an inch in thickness, and has a greater diameter than the pin itself. By the head of this pin so adjusted, that it revolves within the beveled groove of the metallic form, for the prevention of friction, the form, is held firmly in its place, while performing its revolutions, with the chair frame fastened upon it.
In addition to this invention, for holding and revolving the seat frame, there is a revolving bit, of such peculiar construc- tion, that it not only channels the frame, but at the same time throws the chips almost entirely out of the channel which it makes, thus preventing clogging. There is, moreover, a com- pound lever by which, with the motion of a cam, the bit is sunk still deeper, in the wood, at the precise moment, the rapidly re- volving frame completes one revolution, and begins another, until four revolutions are completed, three of which are for making the channel, while the fourth is for clearing it of any remaining chips or dust. When these four revolutions are ac- complished, the machine throws itself out of gear automatically, its work being done. It requires only about one minute and a third with this machine, to channel a frame for the reception of the woven seat, and so perfect and reliable is it in the accom- plishment of its work, that boys are able to operate it.
The distinguishing peculiarity of this machine is found, in that arrangement, whereby the pin, that holds the revolving form firmly in its position, is placed exactly under the bit, thus, securing the identical sort of a channel, in each frame, since, if this could not be done, the die, that presses the woven seat into the channel, would crush the wood, and spoil the seat frame. In other words the channel and the die, must be in every in- stance of perfect identity in pattern. This essential feature is secured by fixing the pin, holding the form, exactly under the bit that makes the channel.
180
HISTORY OF GARDNER.
The frame, thus prepared, is passed on for the reception of its woven seat. This seat is cut, by dies, into the shape required by different kinds of frames, from a web woven in another part of this shop, in the short space of two minutes. When this is cut, it is dipped into a tank of water, made hot, by passing steam through it. The object of wetting the cane, is to secure its greater tension when dried, after being inserted, in the frame.
To insert a woven seat in a frame, requires three different processes. In the first place, one man fills the channel of the frames, in part, with glue, which he does, by means of a metallic nozzle, with a valve so contrived, that when this nozzle touches the bottom of the channel, it causes this valve to open, and the hot glue to pour out, through a hose connected with a copper glue tank, suspended over the tank for hot water. When this nozzle has been thus rapidly passed around in the channel, the required amount of glue has been supplied.
This process, of gluing the channel, completed, the seat frame is passed along to another workman, to receive its woven seat, under the pressure of the Crimping Press. This is a simple press, with a sliding table, guide pins and web guide. Upon the follower or movable part of the press, is fastened a thin piece of brass, shaped so as to correspond to and enter the channel of the seat frame, when forced downward by the action of a treadle. The woven seat is placed upon the seat frame, in such a manner, as to allow it to extend three-quarters of an inch over and beyond the groove, on all sides. The seat frame is then placed upon pins, which spring from the surface of the table, the web guide being swung down upon the frame, the web of cane is placed within the guide, over the channel, and the whole is slid under the press, the crimping ring forced on to the web and into the bottom of the channel, the table slid out, the seat guide swung back and the seat is then ready to be passed to the next workman, for the reception of the spline, which is pressed into the channel by a machine called the Spline and Embossing Press.
1
1
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181
HISTORY OF GARDNER.
This is a double geared machine, of great strength, weighing five thousand four hundred pounds, and capable of exerting great power. The dic, which it operates, does a five fold duty. It is made of the best gun metal, of proper size and form, to correspond to the seat frame, to be caned. It consists of a sliding table, guide pins, type, hinge and main part, or spline driver, and an outer and inner ring. The object of the table is to receive the patent stamp, type and guide pins. All the other parts are also attached to this, and slid under the jaws of the press, when ready for operating. The inner ring rests on four coiled springs, and when coming in contact with the web and frame, yields back, into the main part of the die, doing the double duty of holding the inner side of the spline, in its posi- tion, and of preventing the die from shearing the cane, while being forced home.
The outer ring, rests on springs, the same as the other, doing the double duty of supporting the outer side of the spline, while being forced in, and at the same time embossing the face of the seat, all around the outer edge of the spline, thus mak- ing a perfect joint and forming a beautiful bead. The main part, to which all the other parts are attached, sends the spline to the bottom of the channel, stretches the web, giving uniform tension to each strand of cane, by cansing it to turn three right angles, one over the edge of the channel and two at the bottom of the spline, sunk to the lower surface of the channel. To pre- pare the machine to do its work, the spline is first placed within the rings of the die, the seat frame is placed on guide pins, as before, and the die folded down on the frame, then all are slid under the jaws of the great press, whose power is now instantly brought to bear, driving in the spline, stretching the web, em- bossing the seat, stamping the dates of the different patents, in the wood on the under side of the seat frame, thus bringing cane, glue, spline and frame into one solid mass, and com- pleting the operation.
The three processes now described, occupy only about forty seconds of time. Allowing two minutes to weave a seat, one
182
HISTORY OF GARDNER.
minute and one-third to channel the seat frame and forty seconds to insert the woven seat, as above described, we have about four minutes for completing a chair seat, after the seat frame has been made.
Having completed our observations of the different kinds of machinery used in the construction of chairs, we are not only greatly impressed, with the fact of the wonderful advance, that has been made, in complicated and intricate mechanical inven- tions, but also with the rapidity with which the work upon the different parts of a chair is done. For instance, here is a ma- chine for fitting the front part of the seat frame of a Grecian chair, which is so constructed that, when this particular part of the frame is placed upon a carriage, it is carried by the work- man along past a circular saw, by which both ends of the piece are ent off, at precisely the same angle ; this done, four revolving bits, are by means of a treadle, brought up against the parts of the piece thus sawed, by which four holes, are made for dowels. This whole process of sawing and boring, occupies less than four seconds of time. How different, from the old process by which Mr. Comee did his work with auger, saw and bit. Yet this is only one instance in many, of the rapidity with which machinery is doing the work of making chairs in all these shops.
Aside from constructing a chair in the shop, there is another part of the work, that of seating or caning the bottoms and backs, which is done by women and children, in the homes of the citizens of this and other towns, while the firm of Heywood Brothers & Co., as some others, employ the labor of reform schools in this and other states.
The seats, backs and cane, with which to fill these, are car- ried out to different places, by an agent of the company, whose duty it is to deliver the materials and keep an accurate account of what each one receives. 3 When seated, these frames and backs are gathered up and returned to the shop, where they are packed away ready for future use. Thus employment is fur- nished to a large number of our population, which is quite re- munerative. When the required work has been done to the
183
HISTORY OF GARDNER.
chairs in the shop devoted to their construction, they are then loaded upon a hand-car, which is drawn up by the elevator to the different rooms. This car, having received its freight, is lowered and run out of the shop, and across the street to the extensive paint shop, where the chairs are painted and var- nished ; after which they are " knocked down " and placed in boxes, ready for shipping to their destination.
If the chairs are to be shipped " in the wood," as it is called, they are knocked down without being painted, and packed in such an orderly manner in boxes, that when they have reached the customer, they may, without difficulty, be " set up " again, ready for painting and varnishing at the paint shop of the dis- tant purchaser.
Since the construction of the Boston, Barre and Gardner Railroad, the cars, of this company, can be placed for lading at the platform of this paint shop and loaded with the utmost con- venience, furnishing a most striking contrast, to the old method of transporting chairs to Boston and other places, by horse teams, with enormous wagons.
An important branch of the business of this firm, is its cane department, introduced within a few years. The cane is im- ported by an agent of the company residing in New York, directly from Singapore. Having been brought, upon the cars, directly to the shops of the company, it passes through several different processes of preparation, before it is fitted for the use of seating chairs. Coming in bundles, it is first unbound, sorted and then straightened upon a wheel attached to an up- right piece of wood, over which, it is passed. The joints of the cane are then scraped, by passing it, through a ma- chine, designed expressly for that purpose. When this has been done, the cane is placed in long, square, revolving boxes, filled with water in which it is allowed to remain for half an hour or more. It is then ready for splitting.
This process is accomplished by passing the cane rod through a machine, its knives so constructed, that they split the stock into from five to nine strands. When thus split, the pith of
184
HISTORY OF GARDNER.
the cane passes on through a central aperture, surrounded by the knives, while the strands are thrown off, and removed by a boy in attendance. After this the strands are gauged and shaved in another machine. They are then counted out into bunches of a thousand each, while these bunches are tied up in bundles of ten, and placed in the bleaching room, where by the action of burning brimstone they are whitened for their proper place in the cane seat or cane back chair.
Much of this cane, is used by the Heywood Brothers & Co., while almost all the chair shops, in this region receive their sup- ply of cane from this source. The Heywood Brothers & Co. are also engaged in the manufacture of a great variety of rattan chairs of tasteful and beautiful construction. The frames of these chairs are made at the wood shop, of light and delicate patterns. They are then taken, to the upper room of the large paint shop, where men, women and boys are engaged in clothing them, in the beautiful garb, with which they are adorned. Grass work of delicate finish, is also made in this room, and many fancy articles of household furnishing. This branch of industry is a necessary out-growth of the cane busi- ness already described, the object of it, being, in part to work up and utilize some portions of the cane not required in cane seated chairs.
There is also another shop of this company, where the weav- ing of the web for the woven seat chair is done. Also a machine shop in which most of the machinery used in the other shops is made. There is also a varnish shop for the manufac- ture of the varnish used in painting the chairs of the company. There are in all, connected with the business of this company, twenty-two buildings scattered over about nine acres of land and actually covering an aggregate area of four and one-half acres.
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