USA > Michigan > Saginaw County > History of Saginaw County, Michigan; historical, commercial, biographical, Volume II > Part 59
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They also manufacture a horizontal return tubular boiler of the very Inghest grade material and workmanship, specializing in the larger sizes, as illustrated below.
TYPE OF FIRE TUBE BOILER
A. F. Bartlett & Company
The oldest machinery house in Saginaw Valley is the .A. F. Bartlett & Company, which traces its beginning to a small machine shop established in 1854 by Warner & Eastman. At that time East Saginaw was only a struggling lumber town of less than three thousand inhabitants, but the vast forests of Michigan were being penetrated by the saw-men and axman, and the river was becoming dotted with rafts of logs to supply the numerous saw and shingle mills along its banks.
A few years after the business was purchased by A. F. Bartlett, a prac- tical machinist and mechanical engineer, who soon after became associated with Mr. Morris, the firm name being Bartlett & Morris. Later Henry Spindler was identified with the business under the name of Bartlett & Spind- ler, and it became known as the Pioneer Iron Works. In the sixties the firm manufactured steam engines, gang, circular and mulay saws and mill machinery of approved types, and tools and fixtures for salt blocks, steam- boats and manufactories in general. All kinds of iron and brass castings were made to order, and wrought iron forging, jobbing and repairing was done in the best manner of the time. The firm was agent for Judson's celebrated patent governors and patent graduating governor valves. The works were then located at the corner of Water and Emerson Streets.
Upon the death of Mr. Bartlett, which occurred in 1879. Mlrs. Bartlett purchased the interest of Mr. Spindler, and continued the business under the
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THE PIONEER IRON WORKS OF A. F. BARTLETT & COMPANY
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GROUP OF MECHANICS AND MOULDERS AT THE BARTLETT PLANT, 1879
Left to right-Top row, Henry Steel, Mike Nivens, John Stillwell, James Perkins. John Murray, John Erd, Mike Riley, Paul Lang. Fred Beam, Charles Keyser, H. G. Wirtz. Second row, Hamilton Bogardus, Henry Mendell. John Nelson. John L. Jackson, John Warnamundy, Mike Spindler, Jow> Loucia, Louie Doe, John Summers, August Arndt, William Twaits. Third row. Hardcastle, William Kingsbury, Alex. G. Finlay, Andrew Murray, unidentified (2), Joseph Summers.
Thomas Steel, unidentified, Joe Koehler, Mike Tobin, Harry Lower row, George Perkins, Thomas McGowan, unidentified, Robert Morrison, unidentified, Richard Green, Owen Cunningham, John Findlater, John Hinkle, Abner Cresswell, unidentified, the "Kid."
DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRIES
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name of A. F. Bartlett & Company, as it is known today. For a number of vears Mrs. Bartlett attended to the financial affairs of the company, while Alexander M. Lemke, a capable and experienced machinery man, had charge of the management of the works.
The plant at that time comprised a foundry, blacksmith shop, machine shop, warehouse,etc., covering more than half a square. The machine shop was a white brick bulding, two stories in height, and sixty by one hundred and fifty feet in dimensions. On the main floor was a large boring mill that swung and turned a ten-foot pulley, twenty lathes of all sizes, with a capacity for turning an eight-foot diameter down to the smallest sizes, five drill presses, four planers, one shaper, one slotting machine, two pipe machines, a bolt cutter and other machinery driven by a thirty-five horse power engine. On the second floor was a pattern shop well stocked, and having a full outfit of light machines, fine tools and other equipment.
In the blacksmith shop was a powerful steam hammer for heavy forgings, punches, shears, and all tools and equipment. Large as the facilities were, even in the formative period of the development of manufacturing in Sagi- naw, the expansion of the business was such that a new foundry and galvanizing shop were built in the eighties and the machine shop enlarged. A large business was carried on in the manufacture of galvanized iron pipe for salt wells and blocks, and about five hundred thousand feet of pipe were galvanized annually. There was also a steady demand for mammoth and medium sized steam feeds, salt well machinery, etc. Saw mill engines were sent as far west as Denver and the Northwest lumbering districts, their reputation for slide-valve engines being unsurpassed. The works also turned out castings, such as frogs, switches, frog plates, etc., for street railways.
Alexander M. Lemke, who assumed the general management of the company in 1887, is a mechanical engineer of ability and extensive experience.
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PIT LATHE IN BARTLETT PLANT FINISHING OFF "DECK" FOR SAGINAW PLATE GLASS COMPANY
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
formerly having been connected with E. 1. Allis & Company, of Milwaukee, builders of Corliss engines. One of his first productions after coming to Saginaw was a fine Corliss engine for the Feige-Silsby Furniture Company, whose factory was located on Holland Avenue. Arrangements were scon made for the manufacture of lleme's patent tubing ciamp for salt works.
Upon the decline of lumbering in Michigan the Bartlett Company entered a new field of practical operations in the machinery world, namely, the purchasing and dismantling of lumber mills and salt works, the machinery being rebuilt and sold to the trade throughout the United States and Canada. This was a large and important department of the business for a number of years, but it too, following the almost entire depletion of saw mills in this State, finally was supplanted by other profitable lines of business.
About fifteen years ago the large warehouse on the water front and north portion of the machine shop, were entirely destroyed by fire, which also swept away property along the river as far as Emerson Street. Although a heavy loss was suffered by the company. the structures were rebuilt with cement block and steel construction, rendering them fire-proof. A new power plant was soon after erected on Water Street and other needed buildings added. and equipped with modern machinery, making the plant one of the most com- plete of its kind in Saginaw Valley. The products of the company are distributed throughout the United States and Canada, and the operations of the plant are steadily expanding. The company is one of the strong supports of labor in this city, giving employment to more than one hundred and fifty skilled mechanics and workmen.
The present officers of the company are: Alexander M. Lemke, presi- dent ; R. Perry Shorts, vice-president; Hanford F. Willis, secretary and treasurer.
Jackson & Church Company
Among the older and substantial industries of the West Side is the Jack- son & Church Company, which was founded in 1880, by John L. Jackson. The lumber and salt business of the Saginaw Valley was then approaching the height of production, and the steady demand for saw mill and drill house and salt-well machinery led him to start a machine shop and foundry business. At first the shop was located in a two-story brick building at Water and Jefferson Streets, now known as Niagara and Cleveland Streets ; and turned out steam engines for driving circular and gang saws and other mill ma- chinery, pumping equipment and general repair work. From the beginning the business was successful and has been developed into one of the largest machinery industries in Saginaw.
By 1894 the business had increased to such an extent that a division of responsibility seemed desirable, and Edgar D. Church was admitted to part- nership, the name of Jackson & Church then being adopted. Mr. Church assumed charge of the financial and office affairs of the new firm, an arrange- ment which left Mr. Jackson free to devote all his attention to the manage- ment and superintendence of the machine and boiler shop operations. Meanwhile the lumber business at Saginaw had declined, due to the exhaus- tion of the pine timber in this section, and the old business of mill machinery fell off. To replace the old lines the firm began the manufacture of stave, hoop and heading machinery, which for a time was in demand in Michigan. Later the manufacture of dock and deck hoisting and dredging machinery was undertaken and proved so successful that at the present time this line is a large part of the production of the company.
The business thus established on a solid and enduring foundation was incorporated in 1898 as the Jackson & Church Company, with John L. Jack- son, president, A. G. Roeser, vice-president, and Edgar D. Church, secretary
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THE NEW MODERN PLANT OF JACKSON & CHURCH COMPANY
and treasurer. In 1899 E. D. Church purchased of James McGregor, his interest in the boiler works of MeGregor & Jackson, and the manufacture of boilers, heaters, tanks, burners, plate and structural iron added to their line. Since that time the business has experienced a remarkable expansion. The company has developed the "Saginaw" system of sand-lime brick machinery. which is manufactured for brick companies established from one end of the country to the other, setting up and making the machinery ready for success- ful operation. It also builds steam shovels and dredges, dredging, hoisting and car-pulling engines, automatic safety jointer feeders, and boilers, heaters, tanks, burners, plate and structural work.
About 1908, when the utilization of the great waste of beet pulp in beet-sugar factories of this country was still a problem of economic manage- ment of this great industry, the Jackson & Church Company began the manufacture of beet-pulp drying machinery of improved type. The company has since done a considerable business in this line, the machinery and equip- ment furnished for this purpose being recognized as standard; and the installation of such plants as adjuncts to sugar factories proving a source of direct revenue to the companies from the extensive sale of the dried pulp tor stock feeding.
The machinery and boiler plant, meanwhile, has grown and expanded with the addition of various machinery products, and is now one of the important industrial establishments of the city. From a small shop on Water Street, employing a few mechanics in building engines and mill machinery, the plant has spread out to cover practically a square between Hamilton, Cleveland, Niagara and Madison Streets and nearly another city block lying adjacent thereto. Steady employment is now given to one hundred and seventy-five machinists, moulders and boiler makers, and the pay rolls are constantly growing.
The modern and well equipped machine shop fronting on Niagara Street. during working hours, is a scene of well directed activity, and the boiler works in the new steel and concrete building along Cleveland Street, from
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
MACHINE SHOP OF JACKSON & CHURCH COMPANY
Niagara to Hamilton Street, is likewise a busy place. North and west of these buildings are the foundry, power house, and material and stock rooms. all arranged for the most economical handling of supplies and finished pro- duct. The plant is served by the Michigan Central Railroad whose tracks enter the property, and by the Saginaw & Flint Railway ( electric line) from its Hamilton Street tracks.
Jackson-Church-Wilcox Company Division of General Motors Company
In the new, modern plant of the Jackson-Church-Wilcox Company. division of the General Motors Company, Saginaw has a valuable acquisition to its manufactures, and it places the iron, steel and machinery interests in the front rank of the city's industries. The original company was incorpor- ated on April 21, 1906, by John L. Jackson, Edgar D. Church and Melvin L. Wilcox, with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars. Though starting in a small way for the manufacture of light automobile parts, the advancement of the company was rapid, the prestige of Messrs. Jackson and Church in the machinery trade and the genius of M. L. Wilcox, combining to promote success.
The machine shop was first located in a two-story brick building at llamilton and Madison Streets, formerly occupied by the Saginaw Street
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JACKSON-CHURCH-WILCOX CO. · SAG NAW · MICHIGAN .
ORIGINAL SHOPS OF THE JACKSON-CHURCH-WILCOX COMPANY, AND THE NEW MODERN PLANT COMPLETED IN 1917
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
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VIEW IN JACKSON - CHURCH - WILCOX PLANT
Railway, but which was then a part of the Jackson & Church plant. A part of the new machine shop of this company, which had recently been built on Niagara Street, was also utilized by the Jackson-Church-Wilcox Company, whose office was at 321 Hamilton Street. In these somewhat limited quarters the foundation of an extensive and growing business was well laid, though the possibilities of expansion were not then fully realized.
Not long after the shop was running smoothly, making essential parts for some of the leading automobiles, the attention of the company was directed to a radical improvement in steering gears, a patented device by which the ideal condition of driving was obtained. The company began making the new gears on a small scale, and soon proved the practical utility of the device. Afterward, when manufacture was largely increased. the company purchased the patent rights and gave to the improved gear the trade name of Jaco.r. derived from the names of the incorporators. This was a master move, and the progress of the company from that time was rapid.
In 1909 the capital stock was increased from twenty-five thousand dollars to sixty thousand dollars, and a site for new shops was purchased at Hamilton, Monroe and Niagara Streets. A new plant of the most modern construction was here erected and equipped with new automatic machinery, the most part for the manufacture of Jacor gears. Their largest customer was the Buick Motor Company, of Flint, whose requirements were constantly increasing and assuming mammoth proportions. In order to control the entire output of the new plant, and expand the business to meet its future needs, the Buick Company bought the entire property of the Jackson-Church-Wilcox Company, including its patents and good ill. The transfer was duly made, and on January 20, 1910, was held the first meeting of directors of the controlling interests-the General Motors Company.
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The plans of expansion at that time evolved were laid on a large scale. In perfect accord with the policy of this great corporation, this involved the purchase of the entire block bounded by Hamilton, Clinton, Niagara and Monroe Streets. It was realized that here was to arise a great manufacturing plant, and in order to make it a homogeneous unit the common council of Saginaw granted a petition for closing of Monroe Street, between Hamilton and Niagara Streets, for the purposes of the corporation. This having been done the new site was cleared of buildings of various kinds and the ground made ready for the erection of the big plant. The first large addition was built in 1915, quickly followed by other extensions ; and about January 1, 1917. the expansion reached a stage which nearly approached completion.
The Jackson-Church-Wilcox shops for the exclusive manufacture of Jaco.r gears comprises the largest plant in the world devoted to the manufacture of steering gears, and are, indeed, the most extensive making any automobile unit. This is one of the most complete and mechanically efficient plants in the United States. It is of single floor, saw-tooth roof construction of steel, concrete and brick, affording perfect light and ventilation, and is nearly fire-proof. The entire plant covers an area of four hundred and forty by two hundred and forty feet, or, including the two-story sections, more than three acres.
THE "JACOX" STEERING GEAR
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
The plant is equipped with the most advanced automatic machinery, thereby greatly increasing production and reducing operating costs. "Chuck- ing" is done almost exclusively by compressed air, an improvement which reduces labor and tends to increase efficiency and production. The lay-out of machinery, stock rooms and shop operations is such that waste effort in moving the various parts, which number about one hundred, through the various operations, is entirely eliminated; and the burden, or overhead charges, are reduced to a minimum.
From the receiving room, in which all material is unloaded from railway cars and trucks, the raw material passes directly to stock bins arranged in order close to the machines through which it is to pass in the processes of manufacture. The machines are so arranged that the parts in course of manu- facture pass from one to another in the regular course of factory operations, and at last reach the storage bins, without causing the least confusion or loss of effort. From there they go to the unit assembly room, or to the assembly shop. as required in the order of manufacture. The finished and inspected gears then pass to the stock room and are shipped to various automobile manufacturers.
George H. Hannum, the general manager, who was recently elected president of the Saginaw Board of Trade, came to the plant in 1912 in the capacity of factory manager. It was largely by his untiring efforts to increase efficiency that the scientific scheme of factory operations was evolved, and the lay-out of the new, modern plant, as it now stands, was adopted. The com fort and convenience of the mechanics have also had his earnest consideration ; and for their comfort and health a modern water distilling and cooling plant was installed at a cost of ten thousand dollars. This feature, which is indica- tive of the progressive policy of the General Motors Company, provides cold running water of absolute purity to workmen and office workers.
The capacity of this model manufacturing plant has increased from twenty-seven thousand gears in 1910. and forty thousand in 1912, to six hundred thousand in the present year. This is the normal capacity of the existing plant. employing a single shift numbering six hundred workmen on a ten hour working schedule. The daily output on this basis is about two thousand finished gears, about half of which are used in Buick and other automobiles of the General Motors Company, and the remainder is distributed to various manufacturers of high-grade automobiles.
The high reputation of Jacor gears is due very largely to easy steering qualities, and to positive action which obviates the tendency of the car to slew when steering at an angle too short for its wheel base. The gears are designed so that when the proper linkage connection between the rocker arm and the road wheel is chosen, a car equipped with these gears will follow an ordinary crooked rut, and at the same time the gear locks itself against any sudden shock, so that a slight gripping of the driver's hand holds it at any time. The driver can follow or feel his way over rough roads, or even follow the gradual turn of a street car track, and striking a large object in the road does not deflect the wheels or transmit a shock to the handwheel.
Mitts & Merrill
This old representative concern, which for sixty-three years has been well known in the machinery trade, is one of the substantial industries of Saginaw, and a steady supporter of labor and civic progress. It was founded in 1854 by the late George W. Merrill, a young machinist and moulder, who was born at Gaines, New York, March 4, 1826, and came to Oakland County. Michigan, with his father's family in 1828. The beginning was on a small scale, the foundry being one of the first established in Saginaw Valley; and
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PLANT OF MITTS & MERRILL, A BUSINESS ESTABLISHED IN 1854
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
the original building, at 1009 South Water Street, still stands. occupied for many years by the office of the concern. Mr. Merrill was a very energetic and practical mechanic, a man of strong character, will and determination.
By 1859, when experiments were actively undertaken for the discovery of salt brine of commercial strength in this valley, Mr. Merrill interested himself in the first operations, and was one of a committee, consisting of Stephen R. Kirby and himself, appointed by the directors of the East Sagi- naw Salt Manufacturing Company, to go to Syracuse, New York, and investi- gate the methods there employed in drilling salt wells. Having given the matter thorough study and consideration, some tools and supplies were pur- chased there and shipped to Saginaw. Much of the machinery and equip- ment for drilling the first salt well, were made in the Merrill shop, and set up and operated by Sanford Keeler. A full account of these operations, and portraits of Mr. Merrill and others directly connected with the work, will be found on pages 430-32. Later, equipment for drilling salt wells for the Sagi- naw City Salt Company, the Bay City Salt Company and others, was fur- nished by Mr. Merrill from his shop.
In the eighteen sixties and until 1871, the business was conducted by George W. Merrill & Company, under the trade name of the "East Saginaw Foundry and Machine shop." Associated in the company were George W. Merrill, George C. Merrill. Robert B. McKnight, James S. Cornwell and Andrew W. Merrill. The lines of manufacture had been extended from steam engines, mill gearing and machinery, salt work machinery, salt kettles, stoves and general iron castings, to include brass and composition castings, machinery blacksmithing and forging: and particular attention was given to jobbing and repairing mill, salt block and steamboat machinery. In an announcement of 1867 they said: "Our prices will be uniformly low, and we will spare no pains to please our customers." This has become a motto of the company in its extensive dealings with customers throughout the world.
It was during the expansion of the business that William Merrill, eldest son of George W. Merrill, who was born at Birmingham, Michigan, January 13, 1851, was admitted to the firm; and through other changes in the organ- ization it was conducted under the name of Merrill. Eastwood & Company. This company continued the business until 1876, when on September 16, the business was sold to Mitts & Merrill, a co-partnership under which title the extensive business has since been conducted.
William Merrill died February 16, 1907, while on a visit to his sister in Boston; and on January 11. 1908, George W. Merrill, the founder of the business, died in Saginaw. The present officers of the company are: Sylvanus S. Mitts, president, and Herbert W. Merrill, secretary and treasurer.
Herbert W. Merrill. eldest son of William Merrill. entered the employ of the firm in 1896, starting as an apprentice in the shops and working his way up through various stages to a leading position in the development of the business. He possesses a fine mechanical mind and enterprising spirit, to which the successful expansion of the company's business in the last decade is very largely due.
Within the last thirty years the lines of manufacture. like nearly all the machinery concerns in Saginaw, have undergone radical changes. From steam engines and mill machinery the business gradually developed the manu- facture of a patented "hog," a machine for grinding of all kinds of wood into chips, and which has become a celebrated product sold in every civilized country on the globe.
This business began in a comparatively small way, in making grinders for cutting up slabs and other refuse of saw mills and wood-working factories.
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The uses of such machines were gradually increased to include other lines of business, in which a careful study of the economic needs of each particular use was made by Herbert Merrill, and special "hogs" designed and produced to meet the special requirements of each. This progressive policy has greatly increased the reputation and prestige of the company in making special and dependable machines which effect a considerable saving in operation.
This feature is appreciated to the extent that manufacturers of dyes which before the world war were imported from Europe, have turned to Vitts & Merrill to produce grinders for their special uses, and today a con- siderable number of such machines, made only in Saginaw. are being used in the preparation of logwood, chestnut, quebaccio, sumack and other woods in the manufacture of dye stuffs. A grinder has also been perfected for grinding up old rubber, in the form of scrapped automobile tires and refuse in general, preparatory to its use in making various articles in the rubber trade.
An important development of this company, aside from the lines already mentioned, is the patented keyseater which is recognized as a tool of superior utility, and is everywhere known by the machinery trade. This also started in a small way, but with the introduction of many improvements over the original design, the keyseater has become known in foreign countries as well as in the United States and Canada, and the name of Saginaw is carried to remote places of the world.
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