USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > The story of Essex County, Volume I > Part 37
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In spite of the success of the Lynn company, all was not well in the electrical industry. Several companies controlled essential patents, without any one of which a complete and efficient line of electrical supplies was impossible. This situation led to numerous patent infringements by concerns that attempted to supplement their prod- ucts with devices controlled by others. Naturally, expensive and damaging litigation was inevitable, and the products of the industry, generally, were necessarily below the standards possible. An alter- native to copying the inventions of competitors was a complicated system of cross-licensing, an arrangement very burdensome to the industry.
An example of the difficulties encountered at the time was the situation in regard to the production of electric street cars. The Van Depoele interests controlled the patents on the overhead trolley sys- tem, while Thomson-Houston owned the magnetic blowout device. Both were essential to the production of efficient street cars. This particular problem was solved only by the purchase of the Van Depoele interests by the Thomson-Houston Electric Company.
A similar situation existed between the Thomson-Houston and the Edison General Electric Company. The incandescent lamp was, in the late 'eighties, beginning to replace the arc light, and the patents on incandescent lighting were in the possession of the Edison firm. At the same time, Edison was greatly hampered by being unable to
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use the superior transformer patent held by Thomson-Houston. The latter company put on the market an incandescent lamp, known as the Sawyer-Man lamp, which, according to the Edison interests, infringed upon their patents. The courts upheld that contention in 1891.
Such a situation was intolerable in a rapidly expanding industry, and, in 1891, before the patent infringement suit had been completed, Charles A. Coffin, of Thomson-Houston, resolved to effect the con- solidation of the two concerns. During the autumn of 1891 negotia- tions went on, but because of the long standing antagonism between the two companies, it was difficult to reach any final conclusion. At last, in February, 1892, representatives of the two concerns arrived at an agreement. A meeting was held in Boston. Henry Villard, of Edison, and his associates met with Coffin, Rice, and Walter H. Knight, of the Lynn company, and the bargain was concluded. Hamil- ton N. Twombly, a Boston financier, made the financial arrangements.
At the time of consolidation the two concerns were very well matched for size and strength. The Edison Company was more heavily capitalized and did a slightly larger business, whereas Thomson-Houston showed a larger annual net profit. Edison had capital of $15,000,000, did a business of $10,940,000 annually, and showed profits of $2,098,000. Thomson-Houston had capital of $10,400,000, did a business of $10,304,500, and showed profits of $2,700,000. In the organization of the new company, Thomson- Houston men predominated, Charles A. Coffin becoming the first president.
The General Electric Company, the product of the consolida- tion, was favored with tremendous advantages. It combined the wisdom and experience of the two leading electrical companies, and controlled an incomparable group of inventions, the Edison, Thom- son, Brush, Van Depoele, Knight, Bently, Sprague, and Rice patents. Its growth and success have been in keeping with the auspices under which it started. Today the Lynn plants of the General Electric Company alone employ some 13,000 men and occupy over 4,000,000 square feet of floor space. Every conceivable type of electrical appli- ance is manufactured in the various plants of the company through- out the country, and its products are known the world over. In 1929, a banner year, the General Electric Company did a business of $415,338,000.
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The manufacture of electrical appliances in Essex County is not, however, confined to Lynn. The Hygrade Lamp Company, of Salem, now capitalized for $2,390,400, employs some five hundred hands in production of electric incandescent lamps. In 1901 Frank A. Poor began the manufacture of lamps, and in 1917 the business was incor- porated as the Hygrade Lamp Company. Since that time this com- pany has absorbed five others, and now is able to produce 50,000 lamps of all descriptions each day. A subsidiary, the Neptron Cor- poration, manufactures radio tubes. E. J. Poor is president; J. A. Poor, treasurer; and W. E. Poor is secretary. Other manufacturers of electrical goods are the Consolidated Electric Lamp Company, of Danvers, which manufactures incandescent lamps, radio tubes, and heating elements in its Danvers and Lynn plants, and the Chase- Shawmut Company, of Newburyport, which makes a variety of elec- trical appliances.
As might be expected in a highly industrialized section, the manu- facture of machinery has long been important among the industries of Essex County. The heritage of skilled workmanship received from the shipyards and small industries of earlier days, the inventive genius of our native mechanics, and the demand for improved machinery occasioned by the rapid growth of manufacturing, all con- tributed to the development of the new industry.
Although textile machinery had been made to order by early mechanics on practically every mill site in the county since the early eighteen hundreds, its manufacture on any considerable scale was unknown here previous to the late 'forties, when the Davis & Furber Machine Company, of North Andover, and the machine shop of the Essex Company in the new town of Lawrence, began to specialize in this line.
The Essex Company built and operated an extensive machine shop in Lawrence, starting in 1846. The products were many and varied, ranging from textile machinery for the new mills to locomotives. In 1852 the shops were conveyed to a new company, known as the Law- rence Machine Shop, and capitalized at $750,000. That company was, perhaps, more famous for its locomotives and steam fire engines than its textile machinery, although the latter was produced on a large scale. The depression of 1857 spelled ruin for this concern, since neither the mills nor the railroads were in any condition to buy new
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equipment. The great stone buildings of the Lawrence Machine Shop were finally sold to the Everett Mills.
The efforts of the Davis & Furber Machine Company, of North Andover, however, have met with almost uninterrupted success. Although the firm of Davis & Furber was launched in 1851, it was but the continuation of a business that had been in successful opera- tion since 1832, when Jonathan Sawyer and Russell Phelps had
LAWRENCE-VIEW OF CITY FROM RESERVOIR ON TOWER HILL Courtesy of the Lawren.e Chamber of Commerce
started a machine shop in the South Parish of Andover, the location being changed to North Andover in 1836. The business passed through various hands until, in 1848, Charles Furber entered the firm of Gleason and Davis, Mr. Gleason retiring in 1851. In 1883 the Davis and Furber Machine Company was incorporated with capi-
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tal of $400,000. The firm was early a leader in the textile machin- ery field, by 1875 making every description of cotton and woolen equipment.
In 1859 Joseph M. Stone entered the business. His great inven- tive and mechanical ability was, more than any other factor, respon- sible for the remarkable progress of the company. The design and construction of the machinery was constantly perfected under his guidance.
In 1930 the Davis & Furber Machine Company occupied ten large shops and foundries on the site of the old plant, with floor space of almost fifteen acres. In recent years woolen and worsted machin- ery have been concentrated upon, the concern being at present the largest manufacturers of such equipment in the United States. In busy seasons, over 1,000 men are employed in the company's North Andover shops.
Another branch of the machine industry in which Essex County reigns supreme is that of the manufacture of papermaking machinery. This industry originated in the 'eighties, when Lawrence was one of the country's most important centers of papermaking. Eight con- cerns, with a total capitalization of $3,000,000, are engaged in the manufacture of papermaking machinery in Lawrence, employing five hundred men among them. Machines for practically every process known in the manufacture of paper are built here. John W. Bolton & Sons, Inc., J. H. Horne & Sons Company, the Hamblet Machine Company, the Dillon Machine Company, the Lawrence Machine Company, and the Mills Machine Company are all outstanding in this field.
The manufacture of shoe machinery, however, has for many years been the greatest machine industry of Essex County. With the rapid development of the boot and shoe industry from 1860 on, the manufacture of shoe machinery became steadily more important. Hundreds of inventions were made, most of them in Massachusetts. Scores of concerns engaged in manufacturing the various devices throughout the State. This sudden wave of invention and marketing inevitably resulted in many patent infringements, simultaneous inven- tions, and conflicting methods of manufacture. The law courts hummed with controversy, and cut-throat competition ruled the shoe machinery market. Even the shoe manufacturers suffered, since no
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one manufacturer of machinery was able to combine the best features of the many inventions in a single, complete line.
The formation of the Goodyear and Mckay Association was the first important step in bringing order out of the chaos of the shoe machinery manufacture. The Goodyear and Mckay interests con- trolled jointly the two most general methods of attaching the sole to the upper. The unification became complete in 1895, when the Good- year stockholders purchased the Mckay interests. But still a great number of essential inventions, such as Jans Matzeliger's lasting device, that most human of all shoemaking machines, were in the possession of independent concerns.
In an effort to bring to a close, once and for all, the wasteful duplication and litigation which kept the industry in a state of con- fusion, Sidney W. Winslow, the last remaining of the pioneer shoe machinery experts, set out to bring about the consolidation of the three largest competitors, the Goodyear Shoe Machinery Company, the Consolidated & Mckay Lasting Machine Company, and the Mckay Shoe Machinery Company. A conference was called among representatives of the three concerns, and in February, 1899, a con- solidation was achieved. The United Shoe Machinery Corporation, the result of this merger, was destined to become the dictator of the shoe and shoe machinery industries both here and abroad. The authorized capital of the new concern was $75,000,000, and Mr. Winslow became its first president.
The rise of the United Shoe Machinery Corporation was rapid. Small concerns which controlled essential patents were bought up in large numbers, while competitors were rapidly run out of business. The famous clause in the lease signed by all users of United machines, which forbade the lessee to use the machines of any other company, quickly ruined most competitors, and left the new concern in a com- manding position. Even though the Supreme Court finally found the lease illegal under the Clayton Act, the corporation has been able to maintain its position because of the high efficiency of its machines and the excellent service offered. No other company can display any- where near so complete a line of shoe machinery.
Beverly was chosen as the site of the United Shoe Machinery plant, which was erected in 1905. This location was desirable for several reasons. Most important of all, of course, was its proximity
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to the great shoe manufacturing centers of Massachusetts. Essex County, where more boots and shoes are produced than in any other similar political division in the country, is an advantageous location for the leading machinery concern. Furthermore, a large number of skilled workmen and mechanics were readily available in the highly industrialized cities and towns nearby.
The United Shoe Machinery Corporation at the present time has approximately a ninety-five per cent. monopoly of the shoe machinery business in the country, and has factories abroad which hold a similar position in the countries where they are located. The net income averages about $8,000,000 yearly, reaching $9,600,000 in the boom year of 1929, and declining to about $6,000,000 in the depression year of 1932. The income is derived both from royalties on the leased machinery, which average only five cents for each pair of shoes, and the manufacture of shoe findings.
The manufacture of horsedrawn vehicles was for nearly one hun- dred years a thriving industry in the towns of the lower Merrimac Valley. Merrimac, Salisbury, and particularly Amesbury became nationally known centers of the manufacture of fine carriages. The workmanship, finish, and advanced style of Amesbury carriages were models for the other carriage centers, notably New Haven and Cin- cinnati. The smart landaus, cabriolets, speed wagons, victorias, and six-horse breaks made here carried the reputation of the carriage makers of this section to all parts of the civilized world.
After the introduction of carriage manufacture in West Ames- bury, now Merrimac, by Michael Emery, a West Newbury mechanic, the industry became firmly rooted in this region. By 1834 five hun- dred carriages, mainly chaises, valued at $30,000, were being pro- duced yearly in West Amesbury, giving employment to about one hundred and fifty men. In 1854 Jacob R. Huntington introduced the manufacture of carriages into the villages of Amesbury and Salisbury Mills, two localities very closely connected in their industrial life, the latter being annexed to Amesbury in 1886.
Mr. Huntington was a man of rare foresight, and specialized in the manufacture of less expensive carriages, on the theory that in this manner a hitherto unexploited market might be tapped. His efforts met with success, and his business expanded rapidly. Soon numerous others undertook carriage manufacture in Amesbury and Salisbury,
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until there were, in 1865, six firms engaged in this business, producing yearly four hundred carriages, which were valued at $50,000. By 1875 the business had increased to $393,200, and the reputation of Amesbury vehicles had become nationally known. Meanwhile, West Amesbury, which became Merrimac in 1876, was keeping pace with the more recent seat of the industry, supporting thirteen carriage concerns, which employed three hundred and sixty-four men and did a business of $800,000 during the year 1877.
By 18So the carriage business in Amesbury and Salisbury had grown to truly large proportions, the twenty-five firms employing seven hundred men, and producing 12,347 vehicles valued at $1,465,- 000. R. J. Briggs & Company was the largest, building 1, 800 car- riages and employing one hundred and twenty-five men. James Hume employed fifty-two men in the construction of 1,200 vehicles, and W. E. Biddle & Company, makers of carriage parts, employed sixty. The value of the products of these three leading concerns was $495,000 that year.
The heyday of the carriage business was in the early 'nineties, the Amesbury builders reaching a peak of prosperity not to be attained again. The production of carriages had reached a yearly figure of 20,000, and the industry employed some 1,200 men. The largest manufacturer at this time was W. E. Biddle & Company, building annually 4,000 vehicles valued at $750,000. Every night a train of flat cars loaded with carriages would leave town. It was known as the "Ghost Train," as each carriage had a protective covering of white cloth, giving the train an eerie appearance as it chugged out of town in the dusk. At this time the reputation of Amesbury carriages was at its height, orders coming to local manufacturers from all over the world. Merrimac, as well, shared in this prosperity, there being five hundred men employed in nineteen firms which produced 3,395 carriages in IS88.
The invention of the automobile, however, brought an end to one industrial era in Amesbury and Merrimac, and initiated another. With the declining demand for carriages in the early nineteen hun- dreds, most of the carriage manufacturers retired from business, many of them, by this time, having acquired a considerable personal fortune. A few concerns, however, grasped at the opportunity offered by the rising automobile industry. Samuel R. Bailey, formerly a car-
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riage manufacturer, met the new situation with an electric automobile of his own invention known as the Bailey electric. As it happened, the gasoline driven motor car, not the electric, was to become the standard of the industry, and the Bailey electric has long since disap- peared from the highways. Other carriage men sought to utilize their knowledge of fine coachwork and turned to the manufacture of automobile bodies.
The first automobile body to be built in Amesbury was made in 1897 by the Hume Carriage Company, for the Grout Bros., auto- mobile manufacturers. In 1899 two carriage firms had added auto- mobile bodies to their line, and the next year three concerns were making twenty bodies each day among them. From this time for- ward, Amesbury and Merrimac became to an increasing extent dependent upon the automobile industry. In 1906 the Walker Car- riage Company of Merrimac built the first enclosed body for Cadillac. The first metal covered bodies were constructed in Amesbury in 1910. In the next ten years several successful body-building firms grew up. Hollander and Morrill were noted for fine workmanship, building principally for Cadillac. Currier and Cameron did considerable coachwork for Stanley Steamer and Locomobile, while the Shields Carriage Company did the trimming and finishing. The Bryant Body Company was engaged in the manufacture of Jordan bodies.
The most spectacularly successful of the Amesbury body concerns was the Biddle & Smart Company, a continuation of the old W. E. Biddle & Company, prominent carriage builders. This firm special- ized in the construction of Hudson bodies. In the early 'twenties Biddle & Smart bought out most of the other concerns, until by 1925 Bryant and Walker were the only other ones remaining, the former being purchased shortly after. By this time the Biddle & Smart Com- pany had grown to be a large concern, producing 40,000 bodies valued at $21,000,000 in 1925. In busy seasons as many as 2,500 men were employed, many of whom came daily from Newburyport, Salisbury, Haverhill, and the nearby towns of southern New Hampshire. By this time, however, the advantage of superior craftsmanship that had helped the industry get its foothold had been lost, as body building technique had been acquired in other parts of the country. The remoteness of Amesbury from the sources of supplies and from the center of the automobile industry was a disadvantage. At all events
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the volume of business fell off, and the operations of the Biddle & Smart Company were suspended in 1929, the concern being liquidated shortly after.
The Walker Body Company, which operated successfully in Amesbury and Merrimac for many years, was organized in 1912. The concern employed several hundred men in its Amesbury and Mer- rimac plants, especially in the construction of bodies for the H. H. Franklin Manufacturing Company, and, in 1925, was building daily thirty-five bodies of high quality. The Walker Body Company suc- cumbed to the force of depression, however, and suspended opera- tions in 1931, the last Amesbury concern to engage in body building.
The one remaining body company in the district is the J. B. Judkins Co., of Merrimac, long famous for exceptionally fine work. Custom built bodies for many makes of high grade cars have been built here, Lincoln bodies being the principal product at this time. While at one time over 4,000 men were working in the body shops of Amesbury and Merrimac, now only a handful are employed by the one remaining builder. Over 3,000 men were employed in the Ames- bury body shops alone. Bodies valued at $26,000,000, accounting for 5,000 carloads, were shipped annually from Amesbury.
The manufacture of wool felt hats is another industry in which the towns of the lower Merrimac Valley early took the lead. For many years Haverhill, Amesbury, Salisbury, and Newburyport sup- ported hat factories, but at present the wool hat industry of Essex County is centralized in Amesbury, where the Merrimac Hat Corpo- ration has been doing business since 1856. The manufacture of hats in Amesbury has increased steadily. and is now the leading industry in the town.
The manufacture of felt hats is one of the oldest industries of Amesbury, being started in 1767 by Moses Chase at the Ferry. The most rapid growth of the business, however, has occurred since 1853, when Abner L. Bailey undertook the manufacture of hats at Salis- bury Point, now a part of Amesbury. The business was successful from the start, and in 1855 an expansion was undertaken under the name of the Merrimac Hat Company, with Joseph Merrill, president, and Abner L. Bailey, treasurer. Hiram Lowell became president in 1860. The prosperity of the new concern was so great that several new companies were launched in the next few years. The Amesbury
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Hat Company was organized in 1863 and commenced business at the Amesbury Ferry, near the Salisbury Point factory of the Merrimac Hat Company. The older concern, however, soon absorbed the Amesbury Hat Company. The Horton Hat Company, organized by Alfred Bailey and others in 1864, was consolidated with the Merri- mac Hat Company in 1866 under the latter name. In 1875 the Merrimac Hat Company did a business of $141,500, and two years later a new factory was built, the nucleus of the present plant.
After entering the new factory the business of the Merrimac Hat Company grew apace. In 1880 51,000 dozen hats, valued at $400,- 000, were produced, giving employment to two hundred and thirty men. By 1903 the capacity of the plant had been increased to 150,000 dozen, yearly, and nearly four hundred men were employed. In 1907 the firm became the Merrimac Hat Corporation, substantial addi- tions were made to the plant, and the William Knowlton & Sons Company, of West Upton, Massachusetts, was purchased. In 1933 the Bradford Hat Company, of Haverhill, established in 1902, was purchased and closed down, the business being taken care of in the Amesbury and West Upton plants. The Haverhill company had capital of $212,800 and employed five hundred men.
At the present time the Merrimac Hat Corporation is the largest producer of wool felt hats and hat bodies in the United States. The company has capital of $1,000,000, does a yearly business of $4,000,- 000, and employs over 1,200 in its Amesbury plants during the busier seasons. Fur felt hats, as well as wool, are produced. The business is principally in hat bodies, finished and trimmed elsewhere, but a large number are completed on the premises. Both men's and women's hats are made here. The company has two plants in Ames- bury, and one in West Upton, all of which have been operated con- sistently during the depression years since 1929. B. F. Sargent, Jr., is president, and Stephen Terry is vice-president.
The making of silverware has long been practiced in Essex County, but Newburyport has been particularly successful in this field. Since William Moulton first set himself up as a silversmith in 1690, in the part of Newbury that has since become Newburyport, the names of Moulton, Stickney, Bradbury, Titcomb, Foster and others have been closely connected with the growth of the craft. Seven generations of Moultons made silverware in Newbury and Newburyport during the
-
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seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and it was with the traditions of this family behind them that Anthony F. Towle and Wil- liam P. Jones, apprentices of Joseph Moulton, set up for themselves under the name of Towle & Jones in a little shop on Merrimac Street. The firm prospered, and Edward B. Towle was admitted to partner- ship in 1870, the name becoming Towle, Jones & Company. In 1873 the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Jones continuing by himself at the old shop, while the others formed the firm of A. F. Towle & Son, and commenced the manufacture of silverware on a larger scale than had been previously attempted in Newburyport. In ISSo the con- cern became the Towle Manufacturing Company, and occupied the large factory on Merrimac Street formerly used by Merrimac Arms and Manufacturing Company.
The Towle Manufacturing Company, since its foundation, has been a highly successful concern. Among the pioneers in large scale silver manufacturing, it still holds a respected position in that field, specializing in sterling silverware of the highest quality.
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