USA > Michigan > Saginaw County > History of Saginaw County, Michigan; historical, commercial, biographical, Volume II > Part 60
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At the present time Mitts & Merrill in their different departments give steady employment to an increasing number of mechanics, moulders and workmen ; and the annual production of the company shows a substantial gain.
Valley Grey Iron Foundry Company
One of Saginaw's busy institutions, which began operations about ten years ago, but of which little is known by the people of this city, is the Valley Grey Iron Foundry Company, whose model foundry is located at Bristol and Water Streets. This is historie ground, for away back in the eighteen-fifties the site was occupied by the Buena Vista House, kept by John Jeffers, and burned in the great fire of May 20, 1893.
The incorporators of the foundry company, which was organized April 12, 1907. were Alexander G. Finlay, John C. Luetjohan, Peter J. Redmond. William P. Powell and Edward C. Mershon, all residents of this city. The organization was effected without publicity, the blare of trumpets, or even public subscriptions or assistance from the local trade associations ; and from the beginning the company has met with singular success.
The company is partly co-operative in its industrial structure, and from its inception ten or a dozen of its skilled moulders have been owners and holders of a good portion of its capital stock, which is twenty thousand dollars, paid in. This feature has had no small influence in shaping the success of the compary, as labor troubles or disagreements are unknown ; and when other foundries in this city have been shut down at times by strikes or other labor troubles the Valley Grey Iron Foundry never lost a day's operations from this cause. Three of the incorporators and nearly all of the original moulders in the employ of the company, were formerly employees of one of the leading foundry companies of this city, men who were familiar with the work and needs of iron and machinery manufacturers in this valley. Among these are George W. Ilesse, James Cabot, James Hellmus, Carl Gabel, Robert Young, Robert Arndt, George Scott, R. W. Wruck and T. H. Ford.
The Valley Grey Iron Foundry is strictly a jobbing shop, having large contracts for grey iron castings of all sizes with such large manufacturers
E
VALLEY GREY IRON FOUNDRY
COMPANY,
FOUNDRY AND GROUP OF MOULDERS AT THE VALLEY GREY IRON FOUNDRY COMPANY
547
DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRIES
as William B. Mershon & Company, Saginaw Manufacturing Company, Lufkin Rule Company, National Engineering Company, Erd Motor Com- pany, Bransfield-Billings Piano Action Company, the Columbia-Western Mills, the Stork Motor Company and many others. William B. Mershon & Company alone use more than six hundred tons of grey iron castings from this foundry, valued at twenty-five to thirty thousand dollars, annually. The total yearly production is nearly fifteen hundred tons of castings, having a market value ( 1917 ) of about seventy-five thousand dollars.
The main foundry building is a one-story brick structure with paving brick front, one hundred and twenty-six feet by eighty feet in dimensions : and the storage house for raw materials and the office is a two-story brick building at the corner of Bristol and Water Streets. There is also a fire- proof pattern storage room, for the safe keeping of customers' patterns. The whole plant is equipped with the most modern appliances, employing skilled moulders and mechanics, and turning out a high grade of castings. About forty men are employed in the foundry during busiest portions of the year.
Alexander G. Finlay, president of the company, is an old and experienced moulder by trade, and knows every detail and requirement of the large machinery manufacturing concerns of Saginaw Valley, and gives his un- divided attention to the operations of the foundry. lle came to East Saginaw in 1877 and entered the employ of Bartlett & Spindler, founders and mill machinery house, afterward A. F. Bartlett & Company. For thirty years he was closely connected with this large and prosperous business, the last twenty-one years as foreman of the foundry. With the intimate knowledge thus gained of the demands of the machinery trade, he was well qualified to open up and conduct a successful foundry.
John C. Luetjohan, the capable assistant to Mr. Finlay in foundry opera- tions, is also an old Bartlett employee, and came to the new concern with experience and skill at his command. qualities which are constantly mani- fested in the successful operation of the model foundry.
Peter J. Redmond, secretary of the company, is a well known business man of Saginaw, and has charge of all financial and office affairs of the foundry. In his active life he has been connected with some of the large successful institutions of this city, and was deputy postmaster under the postmastership of Abram G. Wall, from 1894 to 1898.
National Engineering Company
Like many other of Saginaw's successful industries the National En- gineering Company, which started in a small way more than twenty years ago, has gradually built up a large business giving employment to a con- siderable number of skilled mechanics and other workmen. In May. 1895. a few business men organized the Walcott Windmill Company, for the purpose of manufacturing windmills of an improved type. The factory was on South Niagara Street, and for eight years the company carried on a more or less successful business with a somewhat doubtful future.
At length the windmill business was discontinued, and in May. 1003, the company was reorganized under the present title with a paid-in capital of thirty thousand dollars. The officers of the new company were: Aaron P. Bliss, president ; Willis G. Van Auken, vice-president and treasurer; and E. C. Loomis, secretary.
At this time the new company began the manufacture of wood tanks and gasoline engines of various sizes for general farm use. This business gave great promise of success, and an improved motor for pumping water. known as No. 2 Pumping Engine, was introduced. By reason of its being
548
HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
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1
ATIONAL ENGINEERING CO.
MACHINE SHOPS OF NATIONAL ENGINEERING COMPANY
directly connected to the pump, without the use of a pump-jack, this engine at once met with great favor ; and a large contract was entered into with the Kewanee Water and Supply Company, of Kewanee, Illinois, for such motors. This contract continued in force for four or five years with varying degrees of success, though without much profit to the engine builders.
About 1907, when the automobile business was beginning to expand to such proportions as to tax the production capacity of the leading manufac- turers, the company decided to take up crank-shaft finishing. The plant was moved into the larger machine shops of the Moffett Vehicle Bearing Com- pany, whose patents, good will and business had recently been sold by Messrs. Bliss & Van Auken, its principal stockholders, to New York City parties and the business removed there. In the better equipped shops the company undertook the machining and finishing of all crank shafts used in the two-cylinder Reo car and other automobiles. Later, when the larger vertical cylinder engine was introduced for automobiles, the company finished crank shafts for the four-throw Reo motors, a business which continued on a profitable basis for five years.
Since 1912 the National Engineering Company has operated very successfully in the same line, having large contracts with the Buick, Chev- Tolet, Olds Motor and other companies, and has attained a high reputation for the general excellence of its work.
On February 19, 1916, the prosperous business, including plant, machine shops and good will, was sold to Lansing capitalists. The reorganized company, which retains the old name, has a capital of two hundred thousand dollars; and the manufacturing operations are carried on on a larger scale than before. The officers of the company are: C. P. Downey, president ; J. W. Wilford, vice-president and treasurer: E. C. Shields, secretary, all of Lansing; T. M. Carpenter, general manager, and Alexander Liddle, Junior. superintendent.
549
DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRIES
At about this time the company entered into a contract with the North- way Motor & Manufacturing Company, of Detroit, for finishing fifty-six thousand crank shafts for automobile motors, of which they are large pro- ducers. Recently a contract for finishing ten thousand crank shafts for the Republic Motor Truck Company, of Alma, was taken. The shop equipment was increased in 1917 by the addition of six automatic grinders and other machinery, and the production capacity raised from two hundred and seventy-five to four hundred crankshafts a day, or about one hundred and twenty thousand a year, with a contract value approaching half a million dollars.
Under the increased schedule more than one hundred and fifty machinists and workmen are given steady employment at good wages. A premium system of computing earnings is employed, whereby a day's pay is deter- mined by the number of single operations performed by the workman. Each mechanic is paid a certain amount per hour for a regular quota of operations per day, and a further allowance is paid for all operations performed in excess of his quota. Under this system the workmen have a constant incentive to speed up their work, and the more skilled often double their quota of operations. The production is thus greatly increased and labor troubles reduced to a minimum.
It is such progressive concerns as this which are building up the indus- trial structure of Saginaw, and are advancing the prosperity of the city more than is generally realized. Without local publicity or advertising they are extending their business, adding to plant and equipment, and employing more workmen. The distribution of larger pay rolls increases the amount of money in circulation, which finds its way into every mercantile trade, and is reflected in the constantly increasing bank deposits.
Labor conditions in Saginaw Valley, especially in the factories, have been very satisfactory for a number of years. The diversity of our industries tends to stabilize the labor market, and encourage steady employment and permanent residence. The wage scale is generally fair to the mechanics and workmen, considering the living conditions here, and strikes or serious labor difficulties are almost unknown.
GRINDING CRANK SHAFTS, NATIONAL ENGINEERING COMPANY
550
HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
Werner & Pfleiderer Company
Institutions, like individuals, have prestige and prominence based upon their intrinsic value and the merit of their work and products. Among the leading industries of Saginaw, to which this maxim applies with peculiar force, is the Werner & Pfleiderer Company, patentees and manufacturers of mixing and kneading machines of various sizes and types and for specific purposes, everywhere used in some of the leading trades.
The products of this highly successful concern. all made in this city, are a complete line of machinery and appliances used in the manufacture of bread, biscuits, cakes, macaroni, vermicelli, noodles and other flour products, and mixers for the chemical, pharmaceutical and rubber-working trades. So essential are these machines that they are regarded as universal, and a neces- sary economic equipment of all modern plants. The extensive line of ma- chinery consists of sifters, elevators, blenders, conveyors, bins, mixers. dividers, rounders, proofers, moulders, troughs, racks, presses (hydraulic and screw ), kneaders, dough brakes. etc. A special feature of the business, which has grown to be the largest of its kind in this country, is the equipping of entire bakeries and macaroni plants ; and the company furnishes, through its efficient engineering department, blue-print suggestions for new plants or alterations of old ones.
The manufacturing plant in Saginaw is the outgrowth of an extensive business, which was founded in Germany more than half a century ago. Like many other industries its development was slow and attended with difficulties. Old bakers who clung to the primitive practices of their fore- fathers, had to be educated to the advantages of scientific, sanitary and expe- ditions methods now quite generally followed, and the public had to be convinced that the bakers' loaf was wholesome, appetizing and economical. Eventually the business became thoroughly established in Europe, and its founder, the late Herrn Commerzienrat llermann Werner, of Cannstatt, began to look about for markets in other countries and especially in America.
It was a fortunate circumstance for Saginaw and, indeed, the State of Michigan, that Herr Werner chose this city for the location of its American business. In 1897 the first steps were taken to establish a permanent trade in this country, and by an arrangement with the Saginaw Board of Trade about two acres of land was purchased at the west end of the Bristol Street Bridge, and the original factory building erected. From a small beginning the business has increased year by year to the mammoth proportions it has now attained, making it one of the largest institutions of its kind in the world. The factory structure has undergone constant additions and the working force steadily increased. At length the original site was deemed inadequate to accommodate the prospective buildings which the future busi- uess would demand, and a new site on Hess venue, near South Jefferson Avenue, was selected. In 1913 a new and completely equipped foundry and pattern shop was erected thereon, the first units of a huge modern plant which should be a distinctive model of its kind. The cost of these first units approximated one hundred thousand dollars, and several times this amount will be expended before the big plant is completed in its entirety.
The dimensions of the foundry, in which all the castings used by the company are made, are one hundred by one hundred and forty feet ; and the foundry equipment is the best known to the trade. Close by is the pattern shop and experimental bakery, fifty by one hundred feet in size. The entire upper floor of the new building is used for the pattern shop and for the storage of patterns, while the lower floor is intended for the practical working display of the full equipment for a modern bakery. In this exhibit are shown all the machinery used in the making of bread, biscuits, cake, etc ..
HERMANN WERNER Founder of The Werner & Pfleiderer Company
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
1
MACHINE SHOPS OF WERNER & PFLEIDERER
including a traveling chain oven having a capacity of twenty-five thousand loaves in ten hours. An oven of this kind costs a bakery almost twenty thousand dollars.
The main building of the plant, which will be a perfectly equipped machine shop, will have dimensions of three hundred by one hundred and eighty fcet. and, with the units already erected, cover a considerable portion of the seventeen acres comprising the factory site. Of the most approved construction lending abundant light and ventilation, the new machine shop will provide every facility for high efficiency of its skilled mechanics, and will be equipped with the best automatic machinery. When completed the capacity of the plant will be more than doubled, and the working force materially increased. In 1917, when the machine shop still occupied the original plant with enlargements, the total number of mechanics and work- men exceeded two hundred.
Besides the head office of the company at Saginaw, branch offices are maintained at New York City. Philadelphia and San Francisco; and there are European houses at Cannstatt, Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg. Moscow, Vienna, Milano, Paris, London, Buenos Aires, Argentine, under the direct management of the general offices at Cannstatt.
In the manufacture of the diversified machinery products of Werner & Pfleiderer, at its Saginaw plant, about five thousand tons of raw material are annually consumed, and the amount is constantly increasing. The popu- larity of "Universal" kneading and mixing machines is due to the fact that it is the only apparatus which combines in itself a perfect mixer and a thoroughly efficient kneader. It is entirely distinct from all others, and the great success it has attained in all parts of the globe proves that it possesses unsurpassed qualities and is of first class construction. As to speed, blades and other details of operation, the concern builds special machines to suit the numerous and peculiar requirements of various trades. There are now about fifty thousand "Universal" kneading and mixing machines at work in all parts of the world.
Another important product of the company is a steam pipe, draw plate oven, which built and set up in batteries of one to ten, provide modern bakeries with facilities, of the most sanitary and economic nature, for pro- ducing from ten to one hundred thousand loaves of bread in ten hours. A
553
DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRIES
large number of such batteries have been installed by leading baking com- panies in the largest cities, and the ovens have become a standard product in the baking trade.
The "Improved" loaf dough divider, introduced to the trade in 1905. is a product of the mechanical and inventive genius of the concern, and is entirely automatic in its action. It divides with absolute accuracy all kinds of dough, especially straight doughs, without the least injury. By means of a newly devised conveyor arrangement the loaves can be delivered singly and without further handling direct to the moulding machine. This ma- chine pays for itself in a short time through the cconomies it effects. Its output varies from one thousand to forty-two hundred loaves per hour, and it divides loaves from twelve to thirty-six ounces in weight.
There are also rounders, dough moulders, blenders, wrapping machines, sifters, flour and water scales and other equipment in the long list of products of this enterprising firm. The macaroni and vermicelli making machinery. and mixers for the exacting uses of the chemical and pharmaceutical trades, as well as in making gunpowder, celluloid, artificial silk, etc., are standard of their kind.
In the rubber-working trade the washers and mixers built by Werner & Pfleiderer have advantages over all others of the kind. The old way of washing crude rubber was to pass the rubber between adjustable rollers that forced it out into a thin sheet, and then, by means of a flow of water. wash away the impurities. The action of the rollers being rather severe, tended to impair or damage the life and nerve of the rubber, and the capacity of the rollers was limited. The "Universal" rubber washer was designed to bring every particle of rubber into contact with water, and by allowing the water to escape, carry away all impurities with it. By causing the two cor- rugated washing rolls to revolve towards one another at slightly different speeds, so as to lacerate and mix the material effectively. every particle is brought to the surface and exposed to the water sprayed from above. Eighty pounds of Para and similar grades can be thoroughly washed in from ten to twenty minutes, and other grades according to the condition of the gum and the degree of purity desired. The "Masticator" and mixers for making rubber solution, or cement, are also machines of standard type used in work- ing rubber into useful products.
THE NEW FOUNDRY AND PATTERN SHOP
INTERIOR OF NEW FOUNDRY OF WERNER & PFLEIDERER COMPANY
Paper Pulper
Rapid Dissolver
Type V Mixer
Type X Mixer
Type IX Mixer
Vacuum Mixer
Masticator
Rubber Washer
UNIVERSAL KNEADING AND MIXING MACHINES
A.
Loaf Rounder Brake
Dough Mixer Draw Plate Ovens Macaroni Press
Dough Divider Kneader
MACHINERY AND OVENS USED IN BAKING AND MACARONI INDUSTRIES
557
DIVERSIFIED INDUSTRIES
EMIL STAEHLE
The "Universal" paper pulper is another practical machine which dis- integrates all kinds and grades of paper, such as dry or wet broken, shav- ings, trimming, coated paper, ledger, bond, writing, old papers, news, box board cuttings, scrap, etc., in fact all classes of paper stock having no canvas or linen lining. While not taking the place of the "beater" in common use in paper mills, the pulping machine does dissolve the paper stock and facilitates the mill operations. In some cases paper disintegrated in the "Universal" can be passed directly to the stuff chests, and no "broken" will show up in the new sheet of paper. Working up the loose broken and storing it in bins in its wet state, eliminates the constant danger of fire, and enables the mill to use a larger percentage in the beaters. The capacity of the machine is four hundred pounds per hour.
In all the activities of this progressive firm, so far as the extensive American trade is concerned, Emil Staehle is the governing and managing head. Fle has been connected with this part of the business since it was established in this country, and is thoroughly familiar with every detail of manufacturing and distribution of the machinery products. To him is largely due the remarkable expansion of the trade in America, and the bright future of the firm in this department of its international business. Mr. Staehle is a man of extensive travel and broad education, and is an honored citizen of Saginaw, having filled position of trust and responsibility in commercial life, for several years being vice-president of the Saginaw Board of Trade, to which he devoted much earnest attention. He is of that all too small class of business men who accomplish much without the blare of trumpets or the acclaim of citizens, but whose influence is nevertheless felt in the community in which his interests are centered.
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HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUNTY
S. Fair & Son, Inc.
To what extent a prosperous business may be built up from a small beginning is well exemplified by the successful career of S. Fair & Son, Inc. The business was started in 1898 by the late Samuel Fair, Sr., as a plow factory, and was located on North Hamilton Street, between Madison and Monroe, the site of the present modern foundry. By degrees a profitable trade was worked up, and the prospect of rapid expansion was very bright. In 1905 the demand for grey iron castings for sewer work and special uses led Mr. Fair to start a grey iron foundry. He was a thoroughly practical moulder and founder, and in this departure made a distinct success. After a life of activity in trade and business he died October 21, 1916, at the age of seventy-one years.
At the beginning of the grey iron foundry Louis Fair, now president of the company, entered his father's employ. He applied himself diligently to the various duties of the office, and at length acquired a full knowledge of the business. Meanwhile Samuel Fair, Junior, was foreman of the foundry. in the practical operation of which he showed efficiency, and the Fair foundry earned a high reputation for the general excellence of its castings.
So rapid was the expansion of the foundry trade that in 1909 the con- cern was incorporated under the above title, with a capital stock of twenty thousand dollars, and new responsibilities were assumed by the younger men. The foundry was newly equipped for the making of crucible steel castings of high grade, mostly for outside trade, and, inasmuch as this was the second foundry of the kind to be established in Michigan, there was a steady demand for its products. These consisted principally of small steel castings for some of the largest automobile builders in Detroit. Flint, Lansing and Pontiac. This business proved very successful, and helped to bring to the attention of motor car makers the superior advantages of Saginaw as a manufacturing center for automobile parts and units.
In 1914 the steady growth of the business demanded further facilities in the way of foundry extensions, and the capital stock was increased to seventy-five thousand dollars. The officers elected at this partial reorgan- ization were: Samuel Fair, Sr., president ; Lonis G. Fair, vice-president, and Mae M. Fair, secretary and treasurer. Miss Fair, who was a young woman of unusual business ability, had entire charge of the financial affairs of the company and attended to the general office work. She died May 11, 1916. Soon after the reorganization was effected, the construction of a new foundry was begun, and on the site of the old plow factory and adjoin- ing land there soon arose a large modern foundry, equipped with all essential machinery, furnaces and tools.
Meanwhile the European War had demoralized the iron and steel trade of this country, and interfered with importations of many essential mate- rials and supplies from Germany. Among the very necessary supplies were German crucibles, made from a particular clay obtained only in that country. These crucibles were required for the crucible steel furnaces, and when the supply was exhausted the old furnaces were displaced by an entirely new type.
Early in 1915 a Snyder electric steel melting furnace of large capacity was installed in the foundry at a cost of fourteen thousand dollars. This was a decided innovation in the foundry trade of Saginaw and, indeed, of Michigan. The new furnace not only increased the output one hundred per cent but effected surprising economies of operation. It was one of only seven furnaces of the kind in the United States, and its installation in the steel foundry here emphasizes the progressive policy of S. Fair & Son. Inc.
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