USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > Biographical and genealogical history of the city of Newark and Essex County, New Jersey, V. 2 > Part 53
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Mr. Weston has made many other im- provements and quite important discover- ies in electro-desposition, but we cannot deal with them in this brief general review of his work. Let it suffice to add that he soon became recognized in this country as an authority in everything pertaining to the art of electro-plating and electro-metal- lurgy in general, and that to him more than to any other man is due the honor of found- ing the vast nickel-plating industry of this country and the world.
If at that period of his life he had recog- nized the importance of patenting his in- ventions and discoveries he would have re- ceived a princely income from them.
After having brought the nickel-plating art to such a condition that it became merely a matter of routine working accord- ing to his plans in order to secure perfect results, he began, in the year 1872, a rigid study and experimental investigation of the dynamo-electric machine, primarily with the intention of producing a moderately ef- ficient, simple and low-cost machine, adapted to replace the initially cheap but costly to maintain, and quite irregular source of electricity, primary batteries.
In December, 1872, he formed a copart- nership with a Mr. Harris, of New York, for the purpose of carrying on a general electro-plating business in the city of New York, and he continued in this business un- til about July, 1875. During these years he still pursued his studies on dynamo-elec- tric machines, and built and put into prac- tical use quite a number of such machines. In one of the very first of these machines, which was put to practical use quite early in 1873, he employed the method of field regu- lation which is now so generally used; name- ly, a variable, manually controllable resist-
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ance coil in the field circuit of the machine.
In1873 he made a number of experiments in electric arc lighting with currents ob- tained from dynamo-electric machines of his own designand construction, and it was then that he prepared the first copper-coated car- bons for arc-lighting purposes; which form of carbons has since been so extensively used throughout the world. He devoted much time to a most careful study and ex- perimental investigation of the elements af- fecting the efficiency of dynamo-electric machines and carefully investigated the various sources and causes of loss in said machines. In regard to the sources of loss, he arrived at the conclusion that the most serious one of all was the production of cur- rents in the masses of metal not included in the working inductive circuit. In other words Mr. Weston's investigations led him to fully recognize the fact that all types of magneto-electric and dynamo-electric ma- chines had two major electrical circuits. One of these circuits may be called the "use- ful circuit" and it includes the inductive conductor, which is the seat of transforma- tion of the whole of that portion of the mechanical energy delivered to the ma- chine, of which more or less is finally avail- able for useful work, the other circuit being constituted of the masses of iron and other metals composing the armature, pole pieces, and other parts of the machine subject to changes of condition of mag- netic flux. The latter named circuit, or more properly group of circuits, consti- tuted in most machines a series of short completely closed conductors, in which comparatively small potential differences were set up; but, since the resistance of these circuits was necessarily very low, the strength of current flowing in them was
simply enormous, and the energy value of such currents was consequently very large.
It is manifest therefore, that the total me- chanical energy delivered to such machines was also divided into two major portions, corresponding to these two major electrical circuits; one portion of the mechanical en- ergy being transformed into electrical en- ergy by the inductive conductor, available for useful work in the circuit exterior to the machine to a greater or lesser extent, ac- cording to the conditions of demand. The other portion of the mechanical energy de- livered to the machine was also transformed into electrical energy, but only in such places as to render it unavailable for useful work. This latter named portion of the electrical energy, was directly transformed into heat in the various parts of the ma- chine in which the useless currents were in- duced.
Mr. Weston found by quite careful inves- tigations that, other things being alike, the efficiency of a machine, as a transformer of mechanical into electrical energy, was quite accurately expressed by the ratio of the electrical energy represented in these two major electrical circuits. The circuit includ- ing the inductive conductor may very prop- erly be called the "working" or the "useful circuit" and the other circuit or circuits may be called the "dissipating" or "waste- ful circuit;" since all the energy appearing in such circuit or circuits is dissipated or wasted as heat.
By a series of neat but quite simple ex- periments he determined, with sufficient ac- curacy for all practical work, the loss in the several parts of different forms of machines, and fully established the fact that the place where the principal loss took place was (in most machines) in the iron core of the ar-
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mature and other masses of metal attached thereto, but not including the inductivecon- ductor. He also found that there was considerable loss in the field-magnet pole- pieces. These investigations also brought out the important fact that the capacity of a given machine to transform mechanical energy into electrical energy available for useful work was seriously restricted by the production of these wasteful currents in the masses of metal in the armature or other parts of the machine. The effect of this serious restriction of the capacity of trans- formation was to greatly limit the electrical output of the machine per pound of metal employed, and therefore to add greatly to the first cost of the machines.
The cost of electrical energy, per unit, was greatly affected by this large loss of energy in the form of useless currents pro- duced in the various masses of metal in the machine, and also by the enhanced first cost of the machines, owing to this resulting very limited capacity per unit of weight.
To eliminate these losses, Mr. Weston made those parts of the machines which were subject to change in condition of mag- netic flux discontinuous in the direction in which the currents tended to flow. In other words, he split up the masses of iron and other metals in the armature and other parts of the machine in such a manner as to make it impossible for currents to be in- duced in such parts; and he thereby en- tirely prevented the enormous waste of en- ergy in these parts, and consequently greatly increased the efficiency and also the transforming and useful output capacity of the dynamo-electric machine.
The splitting up of the iron masses was made in a direction such as not to sensibly interfere with the magnetic flux; the iron
being continuous in the direction of flux but discontinuous in a direction at right angles thereto. The splitting up of the iron core of the armature for the purpose named was done by Mr. Weston in the early part of 1873, but he was too poor and too much occupied in making a living to attempt to carry it out on a large scale until some years later. He built quite a large machine embodying this feature, which machine was put into successful operation in July, 1874. The result of Mr. Weston's early studies and investigations on dynamo-electric ma- chines led him to the following general conclusions: First: To secure the most ef- ficient possible dynamo-electric machine, it is absolutely essential to design and con- struct the machine so as to completely avoid closed conducting circuits in any part of the machine which is subject to a change in the condition of magnetic flux, or which moves in the magnetic field, except the cir- cuit constituting the inductive conductor. Second: Other things being equal, that machine will be the most efficient in which the electro-motive force is greatest per unit length of inductive conductor. Third: That the electro-motive force per unit length of inductive conductor is dependent upon and is proportional to its velocity. Fourth: That the electro-motive force per unit length of inductive conductor is also dependent upon and is directly proportional to the strength of the magnetic field in which said inductive conductor is moved. Fifth: That by rigidly complying with the conditions named in the first clause, and either increasing the velocity of the induc- tive conductor or increasing the strength of the magnetic field in which the conductor is moved, or both, the efficiency of the ma- chine could be increased, and its capacity of
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transformation also increased. Sixth: That within quite wide limits, the efficiency of dynamo-electric machines is independent of the relative amounts of iron and copper used in them, but if light portable machines are required, it is necessary to use a rela- tively large proportion of copper to iron, whereas, if weight is no objection, less cop- per and more iron can be used with marked advantage as to first cost.
It is unquestionable that Mr. Weston was the first man to make a careful study not only of the sources of loss in such ma- chines, but he was also the first to get a clear conception of the relative amount of loss in different parts of the machines and to devise means of avoiding such loss, and that he was also the first one to build ma- chines having an efficiency of conversion of ninety-five per cent., and a working or net commercial efficiency very closely ap- proaching that.
To Mr. Weston is therefore due the honor of having made the dynamo-electric machine by far the most efficient of all known machines for the transformation of one form of energy into another.
JOHN J. TUCKER,
of New York city, who has a summer residence in Belleville, is one of the most prominent representatives of the building interests in the metropolis. His place in the business world has been attained by un- abating energy, close application, keen dis- crimination and the ability to note and utilize opportunities. For many years he has been engaged in general contracting and masonry work in New York, where he now has offices located at No. 37 West Twelfth street.
The Tucker family is one whose connec- tion with New Jersey covers an extended period, for at an early day in the develop- ment of the state John Tucker, a native of England and a member of the Society of Friends or Quakers, came to America and located in Monmouth county, New Jersey. The West family, from whom our subject is descended on the maternal side, is also mentioned among the pioneer families of that county. Curtis Tucker, father of our subject, was a native of Brooklyn and be- came a leading contractor and builder in New York. He died in 1853.
John J. Tucker has always been inter- ested in business in New York, and, follow- ing in the line along which his father di- rected his energies, he has met with grati- fying success. Many of the fine build- ings of the metropolis stand as monu- ments to his skill and enterprise, and his patronage has been and is very ex- tensive, which fact renders him one of the wealthy contractors of New York. He is also identified with many of the lead- ing business institutions, is a director in several banks and insurance companies, and is a practical and progressive man of affairs who carries forward to successful comple- tion whatever he undertakes. His business methods are in strict conformity to the ethics of commercial life, and the qualities which insure advancement and leadership in a chosen calling are his.
About 1850 Mr. Tucker became ac- quainted in the neighborhood of Belleville, and in 1856 was united in marriage to Miss Mary A. Spear, daughter of James T. Spear. They have two sons, Edwin and Walter C., who are associated with their father in business. They have a beautiful summer residence in Belleville, situated on
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the old Spear homestead. In Monmouth county they also own the old Tucker home- stead. Mr. Tucker has taken a deep inter- est in improving the town wherein he passes the summer months, and has done much to beautify it through landscape gar- dening and other modern methods of im- provement.
In politics he is a stalwart Republican and is well known in political circles in New York city, having great influence in the councils of his party. In 1888 he was ap- pointed by Mayor Hewitt, of New York, to the position of aqueduct commissioner, in which capacity he has since served, but his efforts in political affairs have not been along the line of office-seeking, his time be- ing too much preoccupied by his business interests to permit of such a thing. Cour- teous, genial, well informed, alert and en- terprising, he stands to-day among the lead- ing representative business men of New York and New Jersey,-a man who is a power in his community.
ANDREW KIRKPATRICK.
Among the distinguished jurists who have conferred honor upon the judicial history of New Jersey is Andrew Kirkpat- rick, who figured most prominently in many of the most important events that went to form the annals of the state through the closing years of the eighteenth and the opening years of the nineteenth century. He resided in New Brunswick, and was a native of Somerset county, New Jersey, born February 17, 1756. His par- ents were David and Mary (McEwan) Kirkpatrick. On emigrating to America the father located at Mine Brook, New Jersey. The grandfather was a native of
Scotland, whence he removed to Belfast, Ireland, and after a few years he came with his family to America, locating in Somerset county, New Jersey, near Basking Ridge, where he died, in 1758. His second son, David Kirkpatrick, like his father, was a rigid Presbyterian, and of plain, unassum- ing habits, highly respected for his unswerv- ing integrity and great perseverance. He died in 1814, when more than ninety years of age.
Judge Kirkpatrick acquired his early ed- ucation in the schools near his home, and in 1775 was graduated in Princeton Col- lege. It was his father's hope that he would enter the ministry, and after his graduation he began studying to that end, under the direction of the Rev. Mr. Kennedy, a dis- tinguished divine of Basking Ridge, but after a short time he expressed his deter- mination to become a member of the bar. Disappointed in his expectations concern- ing his son, the father refused to give him . any assistance in the new field of labor he had chosen, and Andrew Kirkpatrick was thus thrown upon his own resources. With his mother's blessing and some gold pieces which she gave him-the savings of years -he left home and went to Virginia, be- coming a tutor in the family of Colonel Tal- iaferro, near Fredericksburg, King George county. After a brief period he went to Esopus, now Kingston, Ulster county, New York, and later, returning to his na- tive state, accepted a position as teacher of the classics in Rutgers College Grammar School, at New Brunswick.
The time not devoted to the duties of the schoolroom was given to the study of law, and later he was a student in the law office of William Paterson afterward gov- ernor of New Jersey. In 1785 he was li-
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censed as an attorney, and, locating in Mor- ristown, soon won a prominent place among leading practitioners there. Two years later he had all his effects, including his law li- brary, destroyed by fire, and then returncd to New Brunswick, where he also acquired an extensive clientage. In 1797 he was elected to represent Middlesex county in the state legislature, and after a short time was appointed by the joint meeting of the two houses an associate justice of the su- preme court to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Chetwood. In 1803 he was elected chief justice, and was easily twice re-elected, remaining on the bench for twenty-seven years. With one excep- tion, this is the longest judicial service in connection with the history of the supreme bench of New Jersey. In 1820 he was again elected to the state legislature. In 1824 his term of judicial service expired and he re- tired to private life, giving his counsel oc- casionally to old clients, but otherwise lay- ing aside all professional cares. He was celebrated for his profound knowledge of the old English common law, especially re- lating to real estate, and his opinions in va- rious cases are regarded as models of deep learning, sound reasoning and polished lan- guage. "Judge Kirkpatrick was the beau ideal," says Aaron Ogden Dayton, "of a minister of justice. His enunciation was slow and distinct, his voice full and musical; his opinions, when not previously prepared, were delivered with fluency and clearness; when written, the language in which they were clothed was marked by great purity and precision. His opinions exhibited a depth of research which entitled him to rank among the first American jurists." In 1809 Judge Kirkpatrick became a trustee of Princeton College, and seldom failed in
his attendance upon the meetings of the board.
In 1792 the Judge married Miss Jane Bayard, daughter of Colonel John Bay- ard, formerly of Pennsylvania, and a distin- guished officer in the Continental army. The Judge died in 1831. His wife, who was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 12, 1772, died in New Brunswick, New Jer- sey, February 16, 1851. She was widely known for her accomplishments, benevo- lence and beautiful Christian character, and was the author of "The Light of Other Days," edited by her daughter, Mrs. Jane E. Cogswell. Their second son, Littleton, was born in New Brunswick, October 19, 1797, and died at Saratoga Springs, New York, August 15, 1859. He was gradu- ated at Princeton in 1815, became a promi- nent member of the New Jersey bar, and was a member of congress from the New Brunswick district in 1843-5, elected on the Democratic ticket. Two of the grandsons of Judge and Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Andrew K. Cogswell and Andrew Kirkpatrick, served on the bench of New Jersey. Of the latter an individual sketch appears in the first vol- ume of this work.
JOSEPH A. MINOTT.
He who takes no pride in the record and achievements of his ancestors will scarcely impress upon his time an individuality to which his descendants may revert with pride and satisfaction. The subjective per- sonality is so much the result of inherent tendencies that the essence of individuality cannot be determined save by scanning the lines which denote the characters of those who have preceded in the genealogical line, and thus in his accomplishment, his success
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and his position as a man among men each individual may well turn the past years into an hour glass and give due heed to the honor which he should pay to those through whom his lineage traces. From the time when eastern New Jersey was opened to settlement in the remote past the Puritan element from New England has been a dominating factor, and among the old and representative families of that beautiful sec- tion designated the Oranges, the majori- ty, perhaps, trace their origin to sturdy ancestors who laid the foundations of our great republic on the rock-bound coast of the old Bay state. The name Minott is re- corded as representing one of the earliest of the New England settlers, the original American ancestor having been Elder George Minott, son of Thomas Minott, Esq., of Saffron, Walden, in the county of Essex, England. The name is traced to said Thomas, who was secretary to the Abbott of Walden, through whom he be- came seized of great possessions. George Minott, who was among the first Pilgrim emigrants to the Massachusetts colony and one of the first settlers of Dorchester, was born on the 4th of August, 1594. His place of abode was near Neponset bridge, and he became owner of the land which has since become known as Squantum. He was made a freeman in 1634, and represented the town during the succeeding two years. He held a position of unmistakable promi- nence and honor in the community, was one of the first to place his signature upon the church covenant and was a ruling elder in the church for a period of thirty years, be- ing a contemporary of Elder Humphrey. His death occurred December 24, 1671, and according to records extant, "was much la- mented by the town." A quaint epitaph
appearing on a gravestone in the historical old burying-ground of Dorchester, reads as follows: "Here lies the body of Unite Humphrey and Shining Minot; such names as these they never die out." By his wife, Martha, who died December 23, 1657, he became the father of four sons. whose names, with dates of birth, are here given : John, 1626; James, 1628; Stephen, 1631, and Samuel, 1635.
James Minott was born December 31, 1628. He married Hannah, daughter of Colonel Israel Stoughton, who was ensign of the Dorchester Band, commanded by Captain Mason. In 1637 he was chosen assistant or lieutenant governor. He com- manded the Massachusetts expedition against the Pequods, arriving after the bat- tle of Mystic Fort, and nearly completing the extirpation of the hostile tribe. He went to England in 1643 and there served in the Revolution, as a lieutenant colonel, under Rainsford. His elder brother, John, was a physician, captain, colonel and justice of the peace, having been a military officer for thirty years and having also served as a member of the king's council. The child- ren of James and Hannah (Stoughton) Mi- nott were: James (2) and others whose names are not definitely recorded.
James Minott (2) was born in Dorches- ter, Massachusetts, on the 2d of April, 1659. He eventually removed to Concord, where he married Rebecca, daughter of John Jones, and by her had a son, Jonathan. Jonathan Minott was born in 1714, proba- bly at Concord, where he married Elizabeth Stratton, by whom he had six children, the fourth of whom was Jonathan (2). The family eventually removed to Westford, Middlesex county, Massachusetts.
Jonathan Minott (2) was born June 19,
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1723, retaining his residence in Westford. Soon after the issuing of the Boston pamphlet, in 1773, the people of Westford made a public declaration of their sympa- thy with the "Boston brethren," and au- thorized the appointment of a committee "to correspond with Boston or any other town, as occasion may require." The com- mittee thus selected comprised Samuel Gardner, Captain Jonathan Minott, Dea- con John Abbott, Dr. Asaph Fletcher and Nathaniel Boynton. Captain Jonathan Minott presumably secured his military title by reason of service in the French and Indian war. He served with marked dis- tinction as a soldier in the Colonial army during the war of the Revolution, having been chosen second major in the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, on February 7, 1776, while on the 14th of the same month he was advanced to the office of first major of the same regiment. He married Esther Proctor, of Chelmsford, and of their nine children the one who figures in the direct ancestral line of the immediate subject of this review was Jesse.
Jesse Minott was born at Westford, Mas- sachusetts, November 5, 1759. He mar- ried, Betsey Adams, probably a descendant of Henry Adams, of Braintree, and she bore to him six sons,-Jesse, Jonathan, Joseph, Otis, Thomas and Isaac. Joseph Minott was born at Westford, and upon attaining maturity took unto himself a wife, in the person of Fanny, the daughter of Jeremiah Hildreth. He settled in Albany, New Jork, where he remained until 1850, when he re- moved to New York city, which continued to be his home until his death, four years later. His children were Joseph Albert, the immediate subject of this sketch, and George Rufus, who died in infancy.
Joseph A. Minott, elder son of Joseph and Fanny (Hildreth) Minott, is a native son of the old Empire state, having been born in Albany, New York, on the 15th of March, 1836. It has been his to attain prestige as one of the prominent business men and suc- cessful financiers of the nation and to do honor to the illustrious name which he bears,-a name indelibly impressed upon the annals of the New World. As a youth he prosecuted his studies for a time in the Albany Academy, after which he proceeded to the old home of his ancestors, Westford, Massachusetts, where he completed his edu- cational discipline in an effective way, as a student in the academy at that place. In the year 1854, which recorded the death of his honored father, he took up his residence in New York city, where he was for three years concerned in the wholesale dry-goods business. In 1857 he became associated with the rubber-clothing business of Will- iam D. Russell, and within the years of his connection with this concern, became thor- oughly conversant with all details and methods brought to bear in the successful conduct of the enterprise, so that when he sought a broader field of endeavor he natur- ally directed his attention to an analogous undertaking. In 1861 Mr. Minott associ- ated himself with F. M. Shepard in the es- tablishing of the Rubber Clothing Com- pany, and in 1872, still with the co-opera- tion of his able business ally, Mr. Shepard, founded the Goodyear Rubber Company, which to-day undoubtedly takes prece- dence of all similar concerns in the Union, its business ramifying into all sections of the civilized world and operations being conducted upon the broadest com- mercial scale. Of both companies men- tioned Mr. Minott has been secretary
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