USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Picturesque Hampden : 1500 illustrations > Part 21
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INTERIOR OF A ROOM IN THE WORKS OF THE FOSTER MACHINE COMPANY, WESTFIELD.
152
1XL
FOUNDED. 1822. ORGANIZED. 1.55.
-
AMERICAN WW
1891
AMERICAN WHIP CO.
WORKS OF THE AMERICAN WHIP COMPANY, WESTFIELD, MASS.
PICTURESQUE
HAMPDEN.
153
WESTFIELD, THE "WHIP CITY." *
WHY WESTFIELD IS SO NAMED. -SOME ACCOUNT OF THE INGENUITY YOU BUY WHEN YOU BUY A WHIP .- AN EN- TERTAINING HISTORY OF THE RISE OF THE BUSINESS AND WHAT HAS LED TO ITS PRESENT DEVELOPMENT.
In the beginning you will be inclined to exclaim: "Few things are so simple as a whip !" Not many articles of com- merce have so ancient a lineage, though, that can be directly traced.
Of the thousands who buy whips to sell again, of the millions who buy whips to use, few are there among them who have the simplest comprehension of the processes involved in their manufacture.
A whip looks so simple when made that it is dismissed from further thought, as merely a whip !
If wego backward along the lines of the
HISTORY OF THE RACE,
the record of Babylonian cylinders, Assyrian monuments, Egyptian tombs, Grecian bas-reliefs, Roman Parthenon friezes, and middle age art, all bear evi- dence to the use and importance of the whip in the unfolding of the life of the people of various countries.
But of whips, as of so many other things, it was left to American genius to evolve a rude, simple thing into a highly organized product, requiring capital, ma- chinery and skilled labor to bring about the perfection of seeming simplicity of the American whip.
I say American whip advisedly, be- cause the result of this evolution of inge- nuity has been the production of a type that is purely national. What is technically known as the " bow " whip is
A RESULT OF YANKEE THOUGHT
and it is pre-eminently the whip of this country.
An Englishman, German, Spaniard, indeed, any foreigner, requires a shrub, a bit of rawhide, a knife and patience and he can produce a goad of one sort or another to suit his fancy or needs. The more highly organized mechanical faculty of the American, to pro- duce a whip to his liking, demands a whale, a ship and sailors to hunt it, the gut of the cat, a rattan jungle in India, a hickory grove in his native country, a cotton plantation, mulberry trees and silk worms, a forest of rubber trees, the hide of the buck, fossil gum from Africa, linseed oil, iron, paint, the art of the turner and designer in metal, the tusks of the elephant, gold, silver and various alloys, the hoofs of animals, the pro- duct of the flax field, precious stones, the genius of the mechanic in the invention of strange and novel ma- chinery,
THE ACUTEST BUSINESS AND EXECUTIVE ABILITY ;
then he goes to work to produce that simple article of trade - a whip!
When put upon the market it can be bought for twenty-five cents, or you can run to the extremes of luxury that are represented by hundreds of dollars, but the essential principle of manufacture is the same in either case.
Burns wrote his immortal verse on a plain deal table; Seneca extolled the blessings of poverty, pre- paring his argument on a solid gold table. The means used to produce the expression did not modify the genius in either case. The whip costing a dollar will last as long, produce as stinging a blow, and be as use-
* Adapted from "Harness " (trade magazine), New York. Engrav- ings made expressly for this work.
PICTURESQUE HAMPDEN.
ful an instrument in conveying your sentiments to the cuticle of the animal, as one costing a hundred times as much.
It would appear, then, that the manufacture of a whip is a very interesting process, well worthy of in- vestigation. Let us look into it.
To do this thoroughly and understandingly it is necessary to journey to a small town in western Mas- sachusetts, Westfield by name, that is
THE CRADLE OF THE INDUSTRY,
and to-day stands forth without a rival in all the world as the whip center.
Here we see a flourishing town, whose chief and practically whose only industry is the making of whips. It has no parallel that we know of in this or any country in the civilized world.
THE AUTOMATIC ROUNDER.
And this great business has all been evolved in so short a time as that which elapsed between the year 1808 and the present! In this connection we quote from a trade periodical a little of the history of the early years. It reads :
"At this time (1808) there lived in Westfield a man named
JOSEPH JOKES,
who happened to become the owner of a choice lot of hickory. His many friends frequently called on him to be obliged with a piece of this wood for whip- stocks, whips being then home made. Finally Jokes made some of these stocks and offered them for sale. A little later he conceived the idea of putting a lash on the stock. The lash consisted of a heavy strip of horsehide, which was made fast to the stock by a ' keeper,' and thus we have the first whip made in Westfield.
Jokes did quite a business, and OTHER MEN BEGAN IMPROVING ON THE STOCK
by boiling the wood in a preparation of oil and color- ing. The recipes for making these preparations were secrets among those who made whips, so each one had a preparation of his own ; but some were much better than others.
Five years later lashes were made, by narrow strips of raw, horse or cow hide, and plaited into cords, very much the same as at present. A piece of leather, rolled round and beveled, to make the swell, was in- closed in the center. The lash was rolled between blocks, and then varnished. In 1820 the experiment of plaiting a covering of cotton thread over the stocks was tried, but was only partially successful, as it was done entirely by hand, holding the stock on the knees.
At this time different materials began to be used for stocks; rattan, and the best of all for the purpose, whalebone.
WHEN WHALEBONE WAS FIRST BROUGHT INTO USE the entire stock was made of it, a thing rarely afforded at the present time. Whalebone is now used in manufac- turing the drop, on account of its tenacity. After some degree of completeness had been acquired in plaiting over the stock, an attempt, with success, was made to bring into use the drop whip, which, of course, was only a combination of stock and lash, and covered the entire length, thus dispensing with the 'keeper.' This was a decided improvement, and many whips, in a small way and slow process, were made and offered for sale.
About 1822 an invention was brought into use for whip plaiting by Hiram Hull, father of an ex-presi- dent of the American Whip Company at Westfield. Mr. Hull was the first man to start what could well be called a factory, when this invention was used. It re- sembled a barrel in appearance from its shape, and was also called a barrel. The whip to be covered was suspended by the top, and hung down in the center of the barrel. A number of threads were at- tached to the top of the whip, and hung over the edge of the barrel, with weights to keep them in position. These weights were worked by the hand, throwing them in opposite directions, thus
PLAITING THE WHIP
almost as perfectly as at the present time, though the process was a very slow one. This invention was in use through a num- ber of years, and an expert at working it was looked upon as a good tradesman. Women are said to have attained quite a speed in working the threads with their nimble fingers. The process is shown in the engraving entitled 'The old-fashioned plaiting machine.'
The plaiting of to day is made on the same principle as the one just described. The drop whip passed through quite a number of years unmolested; then the drop began to decrease, and finally a whip was made perfectly straight, and took the name of the bow, or the trotting whip ; thus the three kinds of whips were in use that are now, viz .: Whips with lash and keeper, drop whips, and bow or trotters' whips.
In 1855, a self-plaiting machine turned by a crank, came into use by American design and ingenuity. This improvement tended to increase the whip indus- try about a third in five years, and during the next
THE OLD-FASHIONED PLAITING MACHINE.
154
PICTURESQUE HAMPDEN.
THE ROLLING MACHINE.
semi-decade this invention was largely improved upon, and in 1865 West- field produced about one-half a million dollars' worth of whips. Trade in whips largely increased, companies were formed, and a year later statistics showed that
WESTFIELD LED THE WORLD
in the extent of her whip industry."
So great has been the advance in the value of the product that what stood for the sum of it in 1865, does not now serve to represent the sales of more than one factory !
Hiram Hull, spoken of in the quotation above, is practically the inventor of scientific whip making, as he was the founder of the American Whip Com- pany, which under his guidance pioneered the industry and later, through the energy and tact of Ira Miller, its present chief officer, has assumed a lead- ing position, with the enormous output of over two million five hundred thousand whips per annum !
As the experiments, trials and successes of Mr. Hull were actually a part of the history of the American Whip Company, under the various firm and corporate names, it is fitting that we take this great factory as typical of the growth of whip making, and in de- tailing its progress and methods of manufacture we shall really be
GOING TO THE FOUNTAIN HEAD FOR FACTS.
The process I shall describe will be confined to the "bow " or straight whip, because it is typical, although the American Whip Company makes a great variety of all mer- chantable styles of whips.
The bow whip is simplicity itself. It is composed of what is techni- cally known as the "stock " and a "snap," but the processes that are gone through to produce this sim- plicity are really quite intricate.
Entering the office of the Ameri- can Whip Company, I first note that the clerical force in the office department does not seem to be numerous. Here is the first evi- dence of a carefully evolved system that grows on one as he proceeds. No superfluous persons hold down office stools ; no unnecessary employes stand around to block progress.
For convenience I will suppose 1 am
AN ORDER FOR ONE HUNDRED DOZEN
of whips, and will go through the factory, much as such an order would go, skipping now and then some details, for the sake of brevity and continuity of narrative. The order tag never skips, as you may judge when I tell you that this tag is handled some one hundred and fifty times before it is filled on the completion of the order.
When the tag is duly filled in with the particulars of the order, the first step is in the direction of the rattan house. This is a storage building situated
to one side of the main factory, in which is stored thousands of dollars' worth of Singapore rattan. It is unassorted just as it has arrived from the vessel that landed it in New York.
It is one man's duty to select it, grade it and pass it on into the works. This seems simple, but it is a work of nice discrimination, perfection in it only being acquired by long practice in handling the bundles.
Meantime, in a large room, that is the basement of the front building of the works, are men employed selecting the whalebone, which is here stored in bundles in racks that look like nothing so much as the pigeonhole contrivance they have in hotel coat rooms for stowing away one's baggage. The contents of these racks, however, mount to thousands of dollars in value.
A POUND OF WHALEBONE
does not amount to much in bulk ; neither does a ten-dollar bill, which is its equivalent. The bone, as it is called, is not as straight as the narrow path, at first, but it must be made so before it can become fitted to its use. This is where you come into con- tact with the first expert. Men take the slender wands, and by careful manipulation, using heat, sandpaper and patience, finally square, round, taper and point the bone, until its condition is per- fect for whip purposes.
Some of the whips in my order call for hide "centers." The raw hide is twisted into long, thin sticks that in form resemble the bone. When dry it is sandpapered and polished and pointed with the same care and accuracy as the bone.
The center, } should perhaps explain, is that part of the stock that extends upward, making the tip end. It gives the flexibility and snap that a good whip possesses. The depth of these centers varies. A "full bone" whip has a whale- bone center extending nearly or quite to the butt end, or handle. A quarter bone, of course, does not go down so deep;
THE PRICE GOVERNS THAT.
THE WHALEBONE RACK.
BRAIDING LEATHER LASHES.
While they are working away at these "centers," the rattan, in another section of the works, has gotten into trouble. The man who selected it and passed it on from the storehouse, merely took off the rough edge, so to speak, in his work, careful as it was. Passing into other expert hands, it is re- assorted as to size, length and quality, and then for the first time gets really down to business. It is put through machines that split it accurately into triangular pieces that are called "wedges," and into other pieces named "sidings." A stick of rattan is not of large diameter, as you know, but these machines cut it as perfectly as if it were as large as a saw log.
At this initial stage of the pro- ceedings the "stock" begins to evolve. It is a sort of natural selection process. These wedges and sidings are assembled in a particular manner so as to form a long stick with a merely nominal taper at one end. They form this stick in a manner that gives it strength. An iron spike is inserted in the hickory "butt," a part that be- comes the handle of the whip. This spike stays just where it is placed, dur- ing the whole performance, and is the weight producer, without which there would be no balance or proper "feel" to the whip. There is
NO PARTICULAR MAGNETIC ATTRACTION
that will keep iron and rattan together without something to make them stick. This brings us to the "stocking" process. Large troughs full of real nice glue, looking like pea soup, are near by, and in it the bundle of sticks and iron are soused. As they emerge, men on both sides the trough get at them with pieces of rope and, aided by some revolving machinery, itself most
155
PICTURESQUE HAMPDEN.
interesting on account of its ingenuity, around whizz the sticks and on coils the rope with a tightness of grip that would give points to a boa constrictor. In this rope they remain until dry. A little matter of a barrel of glue a day is required for this work, while two hundred and fifty tons of rope a year is alone sufficient for the winding act. But, then, five thousand pounds of rattan a day are served up to feed the maw of this voracious glue tank! Great, isn't it?
These "stocks" are a very rough, gummy looking lot of sticks when the rope is unwound and it is now requisite that they be smoothed. This is done in a turn- ing lathe. They emerge looking quite fine, but they have got to be woven about, later on, with threads of many colors, so the surface must be nearer like polished metal. In they go the second time, into a "rounder." It would make the whip cost too much to have a nurse follow it through all the stages of its infancy, so a whip genius invented for the American Whip Company an automatic "rounder." An armful of these sticks are stood up within reach of the "rounder," a belt is shifted on, the man goes away and
THE "ROUNDER " DOES THE REST.
The "stock " is now ready to go up stairs. It is smoothed, it has its ap- pointed quantity of whalebone or raw- hide, and it now requires a suitable covering.
This is given it by the plaiting ma- chine. It would be as useless to at- tempt description of this intricate mechanism as to try to skate in July. Moreover, any one attempting to ex- plain the machine room would rupture the larynx. It is as noisy as a political primary in a tough ward. But the work is beautiful !
Again the whip gets a rounding and a polishing until the thread cover- ing becomes as smooth as glass and
AS HARD AS THE WESTMINISTER CATECHISM.
trouble it formerly gave the whip maker. After he learned the trick of weaving it, it had to be learned to put it on so that it would stay put. Tie it, you say. Cer- tainly, and that is what they did. But it had an unpleasant habit of coming untied and dropping off. Here again the ingenious mind got in its fine work. An old employe studied the problem, and by a simple little turn and twist of the snap or lash made a peculiar knot that will wear out a whip in durability.
An interesting circumstance about this great factory is called to mind by the snap incident. It is the fact that whole families have, in some instances, to the second and third generation, been employed in this one factory, and thus
LONG AND INTELLIGENT FAMILIARITY
with whip making has led to the overcoming of obstacles, the invention of devices and machinery that could hardly otherwise have seen the light. Who can say how far we would have been from the twenty-five-cent whip, but for this intelli- gent Yankee thought that is never content unless "improving " something ?
The whips on my order are now beginning to come into the reservation down stairs in dozens, and are being ac- counted for by their tags and a per- fect record that appears in a book in the shipping room. They have been labeled with fancy names, meantime ; some even have the name of the dealer to whom they are going woven in by the deft fingers of those young ladies who are so expert at " buttoning," and now, by quarter dozens, they are wrapped in manilla papers, assembled, FRANCISCO marked, boxed and shipped.
I return to the office with the tag I started out with, the tag now looking like Jacob's coat of many colors, and I rest myself by asking a few simple questions. I want to know, for instance,
HOW MANY DIFFERENT STYLES OF WHIPS
It passes through a number of manipulations to secure these qualities. But it is not glossy and pretty as you see it in the store. This finish is had by varnishing. But before this it has a "button" woven on it if it should demand that style of finish.
Here the young ladies come to the front, and by their deftness of finger weave on what is called a button, but which we should say was linen thread glued into strips that look like nothing so much as shavings of whalebone. These buttons are what you admire as ornaments near the butt of the whip, and further up the stock so placed as to define the handle.
At this point the order for that hundred dozen has become scattered all over the works, because the finish and ornaments called for are various.
While the buttoning is going on some others require metal "caps " and " ferules." Off in one corner is a little factory that is doing business on its own account. Here the metal, precious and common, is spun up, impressed by steel dies carrying a multiplicity of patterns, and made into ferules and caps.
There are thousands of dollars' worth of property in expensive dies, and the precious metals here worked up, and
ALL IN THE SOLE INTEREST OF OR- NAMENTS.
Sometimes it is expensive to please the eye in whips as in other things.
These ornaments are applied and again this simple whip is treated to waterproofing and varnishing, and hung up by its neck for a long dry.
I forgot to say that damp is the kind of grippe that is fatal to whips. And somewhat ahead of the processes last described, it is treated for damp by practitioners of experience.
No fond mother could rear up its child any more carefully than is this whip encased in buckskin, or rawhide, or metal foil to keep the damp away from the interior. No lead filling, waterproofing, varnishing, is omitted that will stand between "its little in- sides " and the cold, cold world.
It is truly wonderful, when you think of it, what you buy in a dollar whip !
Finally it is ready for the snap. A snap is a simple thing -to look at. It would astonish you to know the
CHICAGO
OFFICES OF THE AMERICAN WHIP COMPANY.
the American Whip Company make. I am told upward of one thousand. I also want to know the greatest number of whips finished in one day ; that is, how many come out of the factory, ready to ship. The answer is 1,226 dozen, that 4,200 dozen come out in a week, and 15,000 dozen in a month.
I thought 1 had enough of statistics, the figures were getting too bewildering; but I feel sure all who read of what I saw, when next they see, buy, handle or sell a whip, will have a higher regard for the genius that could make its existence possible. C. H. E. R.
In closing the pages devoted to this most remarkable corporation, it may be of interest to many to know the names of men not already mentioned, who assist in directing its affairs. The New York store is under the management of W. J. Cas- sard, also a director of the company, with N. J. Davis, T. J. Horan and J. H. B. Dawson on the road, assisted in the office by George Wright as bookkeeper.
The Chicago store is presided over by W. C. Pease, also director (a veteran salesman), with L. W. Jones whose headquarters are at St. Paul, Mich .; Chas. F. Clark of Belvidere, Ill .; W. F. Baker, Greenville, Ohio; J. A. St. Clair, Kansas City, Mo .; W. E. Hall, Evanston, Ills .; F. S. Clements, Jack- son, Mich., with C. W. Cleveland in charge of the office.
The San Francisco house is man- aged ably by the Keystone Brothers, who were formerly in the employ of the company in their boyhood, at Westfield.
The traveling salesmen are Curtis Nelson (over forty years a traveler and stockholder of the company); D. F. Dunham, Boston, Mass., F. A. Nelson, Buffalo, N. Y., D. R. Putnam of Brandon, Vt.
For the past five years the officers and directors of the company have been: L. R. Norton, Hon. E. B. Gil- lett, D. L. Gillett, Horace W. Avery, C. F. Shepard, D. C. Hull, L. M. Osden, R. T. Sherman, Lewis Parker, Ira Miller, all of Westfield, Mass .; W. Pease, Chicago, Ills .; C. W. Darling and W. J. Cassard of New York.
IRA MILLER, Pres.
D. L. GILLETT, Vice-Pres.
LEWIS PARKER, Treas.
OFFICERS OF THE AMERICAN WHIP COMPANY.
156
PICTURESQUE HAMPDEN
FIRST NATIONAL BANK, WESTFIELD.
Westfield's First National Bank dates its establishment back to the old State bank times, when it had the name of the Westfield Bank. It was chartered under the new order of things in 1864 and a year later the consolidation was consummated with a combined capital of $250,000. It has been a flourishing institution from the start, having the quarters shown in the accompanying engraving, located on Elm street, in the heart of the business part of the town. Many of the flourishing industries of Westfield owe no small part of their success to the liberality and public spirit of the First Nation- al's officers, whose very act, while tempered with sound conserva- tism, has ever been characterized with a high regard for the general welfare and a desire to encourage in a substantial manner the establishment and prosecution of legitimate business enterprise. The first president of the Westfield Bank was William G. Bates, still remembered for his many acts of generosity and lofty personal character, while Cutler Laflin was the first president and G. L. Laflin the first cashier of the First National. The original capital of the first was $100,000, of the latter $150,000.
HENRY H. HOOKER.
The directors of the bank now are : M. B. Whitney, C. N. Yeamans, F. S. Egleston, Merritt Van Deusen Henry G. Taylor, F. F. Van Deusen, S. A. Allen. The officers are: President, W. B. Whitney ; vice- president, C. N. Yeamans ; cashier, Henry Hooker, who succeeded G. L. Laflin, making thus but two cashiers since the organization of the present bank.
FIRST NATIONAL BANK
FIRST NATIONAL AND WESTFIELD SAVINGS BANK.
v. W. CROWSON.
THE WESTFIELD SAVINGS BANK.
The Westfield Savings Bank is located over the First National Bank. It received its first deposit July 1, 1853, and the account of that deposit was open at the time of writing, September 30, 1892. Deposits to the usual limit are received at any time, and are put on interest quarterly from January 10. The bank has earned and payed two per cent. interest semi-annually (four per cent. per year) for many years. The officers are :
President, Merritt Van Deusen, vice-presidents, Henry Hooker, John W. Colton, Reuben Loomis, Clinton K. Lambson. Trustees : Milton B. Whitney. Henry Holland, Merwin Loomis, Robert H. Kneil, Lucius F. Thayer, Alfred F. Lilley, Charles H. Snow, Alvan L. Sprague, Henry M. Miller, Anson C. Barnes. Auditors : Robert H. Kneil, Alfred F. Lilley. Finance Committee : Merritt Van Deusen, Reuben Loomis, Robert H. Kneil. Secretary and Treas- urer, V. W. Crowson.
The deposits now amount to $1, 134,939-57.
HAMPDEN NATIONAL BANK.
The old Hampden Bank was the pioneer financial institution of Westfield, or- ganized under the State banking law, August 29, 1825, when James Fowler was chosen president. The board itself was composed of James Fowler, Simeon Col- lins, Thomas Sheldon, Ira Yeamans, Thomas Ashley, Abner Post, and Augustus Collins, not one of whom survives. From the first the Hampden Bank was a useful and successful institution and conferred many substantial benefits upon the com- munity. The capital stock was $100,000, and the management was such that in the various monetary crises that occurred during its history the Hampden always came forth unscathed and stronger than ever. In 1865 the concern was reorgnised and chartered as a National bank, with paid-up capital stock to the amount of $150,000. As reorganized E. B. Gillett was the first president and Royal Weller the first cashier. Reuben Noble succeeded to the presidency and filled the position ably and well until 1882, when L. R. Norton was elected. The board of directors is ex- ceptionally strong, comprising such influential names as L. R. Norton, James Noble, jr., O. R. Noble, D. L. Gillett, E. B. Gillett and E. L. Sanford. The presi- dent is L. R. Norton, vice-president, Jas. Noble, jr .; cashier, Chas. L. Weller ; assistant cashier, Fred H. Sackett. President Norton was postmaster of Westfield un- der the Cleveland administration, and has held many offices of trust and honor locally and upon State appointed commissions. The Hampden National Bank building is a substantial structure on Main street and shows in the engraving.
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