Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 15

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : Munsell
Number of Pages: 1360

USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y. > Part 15

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14119

COLUMBIAN IRON WORKS

COLUMBIAN

SHOP.

COLUMBIAN IRON WORKS.

3IRON WORKS 23

WILLIAM TAYLOR & SONS,

PATTERNS & CASTINGS

WILLIAM TAYLOR S. SONS.

COLUMBIAN IRON WORKS.

which we append to this article, led him to go largely into the construction of cotton-seed oil hydraulic presses, and he now supplies these to the numerous oil mills of the South, as well as to the linseed oil mills in the North and West. The strength, precision in working, and admi- rable finish of these presses, leave nothing to be desired.

Within a few years past a demand has sprung up · among brewers, distillers, meat-packers and hotel pro- prietors for refrigerating machines, which, by what is known as the " American process," produce and main- tain a very low degree of cold, and on a large scale, at less than one-fourth of the average cost of ice, while their compact form enables them to save the great space heretofore occupied by the ice, and the labor con- nected with the handling of that commodity. These refrigerating machines, when constructed for the large

WILLIAM TAYLOR .- The oldest existing iron manufacturing firm in Brooklyn is the house of William Taylor & Sons, near the foot of Adams street; they are also the largest makers of hydraulic and refrigerating machinery in the city. The present magnitude of their business interests is due to the ability and efforts of the senior member, Mr. William Tay- lor.

It is interesting to trace the career of a man who, begin- ning with no capital save a stout heart and a thorough knowledge of his trade, by dint of his own exertions, builds up a small business into a great industry that gives employ- ment and a livelihood to hundreds, and adds thousands to the country's material wealth. Such a man is a public ben- efactor, his life a lesson, and his example an encouragement.

Mr. Taylor is a native of England, born near Manchester in 1812. In that manufacturing district the boy's mind nat- urally inclined to the mechanical trades, rather than to agri- cultural or commercial pursuits. Accordingly, he was ap- prenticed at an early age to an iron founder.

PATTERN 1

COLUMBIAN IRON WORKS.

686

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

About six months later, when he was only fourteen, his parents removed to America, leaving him behind in the hands of a master who was harsh at times. For two years the lad worked steadily on, under hard treatment, longing for liis kindred across the sea ; then made a bold push for freedom and traversed the Atlantic. After a short visit with his parents at their home in New Jersey, he went to finish his trade as iron moulder, finding employment in Brooklyn, New York and Connecticut. His proficiency as an appren- tice brought him into favorable notice, and soon after he be- came master of his time he was appointed foreman in Birk- beck's foundry in Brooklyn. It is worthy of mention that he worked in New York upon the car wheels for the first locomotive engine that was brought from England to Amer- ica, and used in hauling coal from the mines in Pennsylva- nia. Mr. Taylor next had charge of a foundry in Connecti- cut for a time. But he possessed innate qualities that fitted him to be master as well as man, while ambition spurred him on to establish himself in business independently.

Accordingly, in March, 1844, he started in a small way, locating his foundry in the rear of a dwelling house on Gold street. His venture proved successful; his work, carefully and thoroughly done, was its own recommendation, and brought numerous orders. In the year following, he bought one lot on Adams street, where he now occupies thirteen, and · built there a small foundry, which has since grown into a large, complete establishment, with moulding and machine shops attached. His earliest work consisted largely of house- castings, pillars, railings and similar work; but, in its enor- mous growth, has changed character, and he now makes ma- chinery of all kinds, especially hydraulic presses for the manufacture of cotton-seed oil, in which the firm lias a large and lucrative trade at the South. Some of their heaviest work was done on the Sectional Dock in 1866, and on large castings for the Navy Yard.

Increase of business brought added cares, so that Mr. Tay- lor in after years availed himself of the help of three sons, James A., Edwin S. and William J., admitting them into partnership with himself, under the firm name, as it now stands, of William Taylor & Sons. He also established the Magnolia Oil Works at Vicksburg, Miss., for the manufac- ture of cotton-seed oil, with his two sons, Hubert G. and Frank W., but the whole establishment, with machinery and stock, was burned in 1873, entailing a loss of over one hun- dred thousand dollars. This misfortune was the means, however, of building up a large Southern trade in oil presses and machinery, so that their losses have been more than made good.

Mr. Taylor has always been devoted to his business, giving it his whole energies and labor ; how much of both is seen by comparing the firm's immense establishment with the small foundry from which it sprung, and the local trade of years ago, with the widely extended business of to-day. His integrity has been unquestioned through a long and active business life, and his commercial honor is untarnished. He has met every dollar of his obligations, principal and inter- est, under all circumstances; which redounds the more to liis credit, and produces well-merited confidence, because assign- ments and compromises are so common among business men of the present day. One so strictly faithful to every engage- ment cannot fail to win, as Mr. Taylor has won, the perfect confidence and utmost esteem of his fellow men. He is to- day one of our inost influential and public-spirited citizens, active in all public improvements. His sagacity and experi- ence are sought in important positions of trust. He has been for soine years a director of the Lafayette Insurance Com- pany; in June, 1879, he was appointed a trustee of the Brook-

lyn Bridge, and served on the Finance Committee during his term of office. He has never desired or taken, when solicited, an active part in politics, although upholding the principles of the party of his choice, which was formerly the Whig, latterly the Republican. His church preferences are for the Church of England; he is a communicant and vestryman of Christ Church. Mr. Taylor has always been a close observer of men, and a careful reader of the current affairs of the day. This advantage, coupled with excellent business capacity, has made him very successful in his undertakings. The fortune that his enterprise has won is wisely used for the comfort of his family and the happiness of others.

Mr. Taylor has been blessed in his family; of twelve chil- dren born to him, eleven reached maturity, though three have since died. In an elegant home he enjoys, with his family, the reward of his persevering industry. In his social relations he is genial, kind and agreeable, with a large circle of friends sincerely attached to him, on account of his worth as a man and a citizen. He was privileged in April, 1883, to celebrate his golden wedding amid the rejoicings of children and many friends. Mrs. Taylor is one of the Stod- dart family, who are old residents, and well known in Brooklyn.

Many men of fewer years than Mr. Taylor, and smaller fortune, have retired from active business; but his energetic disposition keeps him still in his counting-room, where he bids fair to remain for many years to come.

JAMES A. TAYLOR .- This well-known gentleman-a mem- ber of the firm of William Taylor & Sons, proprietors of the Columbian Iron Works, located on Adams street-is a son of Mr. William Taylor, and the eldest of twelve children. He was born in Hicks street, Brooklyn, March 9, 1834, and edu- cated at the Columbia Institute, long and favorably known in this city.

At the boyish age of sixteen, Mr. Taylor began to assist his father in the office of the works, and so grew into the confidence of his father, that in July, 1856, he was admitted as junior partner into the then newly-formed firm of Taylor, Campbell & Co.

In July, 1861, Mr. Campbell withdrew from the enterprise, and the firm of William Taylor & Sons was formed by the admission of Mr. Edwin S. Taylor ; and later, Mr. William J. Taylor became a partner with his father and brother, the firm at this date consisting of Mr. William Taylor, and Messrs. James A., Edwin S., and William J. Taylor.

Mr. Taylor was married, December 8, 1857, to Isabel, second daughter of the late Hon. John A. Cross, of Brook- lyn, a lady of high musical and artistic attainments, and a devout Christian, well-known for her unostentatious chari- ties. Their married life has been one of the pleasantest, marred only by the death of a young daughter and an only son, a bright and promising boy of fourteen years, in whom, and for whom, they hoped much that Providence had de- creed was never to be realized. Two daughters remain to them, by their presence adding to the comfort and happiness of their home. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor celebrated their "Silver Wedding," December 8, 1882. It was very largely attended by the élite of Brooklyn and New York, and every- thing conspired to render the occasion an unusually brilliant one. and long to be remembered by the many who were participants in it. Among the elegant floral decorations, which were so profuse and so costly as to excite more than a common amount of praise, a new and glistening wedding- cake stood side by side with the original wedding-cake which had been made, and one-half of it eaten, a quarter of a cen- tury before, and which was an object of much pleasant

A.LITTLE

Form Af Oulon

THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

687

R.LITTLE

interest to every one present. All except the first two years of their married life Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have passed in their present residence, No. 106 Wilson street, which Mr. Taylor erected in 1859.

Mr. Taylor's interest in matters of national and municipal concern is such as every true and intelligent citizen must take in the public weal; but though he is an earnest Repub- lican, politically, he is not, in the usual acceptation of the term, a politician, and has never been a seeker of any office at the hands of his fellow citizens. A few years ago he was chosen a member of the Ward Association of the 19th Ward, and, while so serving, was made chairman of the finance committee of that body. Socially, his position is an enviable one, and he is very popular with the many who have the pleasure of his acquaintance. He was one of the select few who constituted the " Windsor" Club of Brooklyn, at its organization, and is, at the present time, its President.

In his religious affiliations, Mr. Taylor is an Episcopalian. At one time he was prominent in the vestry of St. Paul's Church in the Eastern District ; and for all its various inter- ests his solicitude is deep and abiding.

If Mr. Taylor possesses a distinguishing characteristic, it is probity. In business, and in all the relations of life his con- duct is dictated by a profound regard for his own word and the rights of his fellow men, and he is honored and respected alike by those with whom he mingles, socially and com- mercially.

Hydraulic Presses are made also by the Worth-

ington Hydraulic Works, by James Cornelius, of the Puritan Iron Works, and by Samuel Jaques.

Architectural castings occupy many of the larger foundries. The first successful builder of iron build- ings was and is a Brooklyn man-Mr. H. D. Badger ; and although well stricken in years, he yet has his office with Messrs. Howell & Saxtan. Among his ear- liest large contracts was the rebuilding, in 1853, of Messrs. Harpers' grand establishment on Franklin square and Cliff street, New York.

The term architectural castings includes not only iron columns, pillars and pilasters, girders, sills and lintels, but fire-escapes, sky-lights, posts and cast-iron fences, etc., etc. The leading firms in this business are Cheney & Hewlett, the North Brooklyn iron foundry of Messrs. J. S. and F. Simpson ; the Eagle Iron Works of Jacob May; Frances S. Hass; Howell & Saxtan (the senior of this firm was our late Mayor); Daniel Sullivan, of 230 State strect, established 1869, at 78 Smith street; Knight Brothers, and perhaps two or three more ; Brown & Patterson, corner of Hope and 8th streets, E. D., are the successors of James Ritchie, who established the business about 1850. They manufacture piano plates, grates, fenders, corner pieces and ornamental castings. They employ a capital

688

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY

of $75,000, and an annual prodnet of $120,000. The number of hands employed in a busy and prosperous season in this branch of the business ranges from 1,000 to 1,200, and the annual out-put varies from $1,200,000.

We append biographieal sketeb and portrait of Mr. D. Y. SAXTAN, as belonging to this branch of the foundry and machine shop industry. (See portrait on page '687).

DANIEL Y. SAXTAN is a son of Richard and Rosannah (Young) Saxtan, and was born December 13th, 1824. at Farm- ingdale. Long Island. In 1825 his parents, with their family, removed to Brooklyn, where he was educated in the public schools, as boys of his time were educated: and at the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to learn the trade of blacksmith with Rev. Timothy C. Young, who had a shop at the foot of Pearl street. After acquiring the trade, he was, for several years, a journeyman blacksmith. About 1851 he formed a partnership with Jacob Outwater for the manufacture of iron railings, and their works were located in Adams street. near Myrtle avenue.

In 1866 the firm of Howell & Saxtan was formed, the part- ners being ex-Mayor James Howell and Daniel Y. Saxtan, and these gentlemen established the Central Iron Works, at the corner of Hudson and Park avenues, with offices in Adams street. This firm is celebrated for the manufacture of all kinds of architectural iron work, making specialties of fronts, roofs, bridges, domes, capitals, arches, railings, stoops, door and window guards, lamp and awning posts, sky and area lights, rolling and folding shutters, and many other kinds of iron work similar in character. The reputation of this concern for fine and reliable work is well established, and the proprietors have a reputation second to that of no other firm in the city. As wire-workers, they may be con- sidered as among those in the foremost rank, and as evidence of their facilities and ability to cope with any undertaking they assume, we may mention a few of the most prominent of the many structures for which they have erected or fur- nished the iron parts: The retort houses of Havemeyer & Co., in Williamsburgh; the Hanover buildings and the Wheeler buildings (now owned by Wechsler & Abrahams), in Fulton avenue; the new Municipal Building of the city of Brooklyn, the Armories of the 13th, 14th and 23d Regiments, and of that of the 47th Regiment, now in course of construction; and ex_ Mayor Schroeder's building, and the Young Men's Christian Association building, in Fulton avenne.

Mr. Saxtan is a republican, but not active as a politician. In religious faith he is a Methodist, and he is a member of the Simpson Methodist-Episcopal Church. He was married September 15th, 1845, to Phebe M., daughter of Henry and Martha Watts, of Springfield, Long Island. He is most highly esteemed both in and out of business circles, and deservedly so, in view of his excellent standing in the community; and it is due, in no small degree, to his enterprise and thorough knowledge of the requirements of the trade and the processes of manufacture, that his firm takes its well-known high rank in the city. As a large employer of skilled and unskilled labor, Mr. Saxtan has long been regarded as, in all import- ant ways, the friend of the workingman. As a self-made man he stands before the youth of Brooklyn in the light of an example of those who rise to prominence through their own exertions; and it is doing him but the barest justice to state that his success has been honestly earned.

Let us now sum up as far as possible the number of hands employed, and the total out-put of this see-

tion. We cannot estimate either very closely, beeanse we have been unable to obtain the exact statisties of all the smaller honses, but we prefer that our estimate should be below rather than above the truth. There are certainly not less than 4,500 men employed in these foundries, and the out-put is not less in average years than $4,700,000.

SUBSECTION V .- Presses and Dies, including Drawing and Stamping, Baling, Printing and other Presses.

On the opposite page we present a view of the present residence of Mr. E. W. Bliss at Bay Ridge, overlooking the Bay of New York. This elegant country seat was formerly occupied by the late Hon. Henry C. Murphy, and was by him named "Owl's Head," from the old Indian name of that locality.

Mr. BLISS has built up in a few years an im- mense business in machinery for drawing and stamping cold, plates of tin, sheet iron, brass or copper, in all the required forms for household or manufacturing use. It is well known to most housekeepers that the tin pans, kettles and pails, which were formerly eut by hand, and laboriously pieced and joined, are now stamped or drawn into shape from a single sheet of metal, at a much lower price; but it is not so generally known, ex- cept to the parties concerned, that our millions of tin eans for oils, fruit, vegetables, meat, oysters, fish, and every- thing else which can be sealed up, are made by machines which will turn out many thousands each in a day.

Mr. Bliss's establishment is the largest of its elass in the world; the main building, 200x50 feet, four stories in height, occupies an area of 27,000 square feet. The buildings and plant are all owned by Mr. Bliss, who has also invested in the business a working capital of $350,000, employs from 300 to 350 men, nearly all skilled workmen, pays an aggregate of $240,000 for wages, and produces an- nually more than $500,000 in value of machinery, the greater part of it from patterns invented in his own works. His specialties are the production of presses and dies for working sheet metal cold, as well as paper, wood veneers, ete., ete., and the furnishing of tools and automatie machinery for the manufacture of household wares, brass goods, lanterns, lamps, trade packages, such as fruit, meat, vegetables, fish, provis- ions, game and other cans; lard, butter, syrup, and other cans and pails, and beyond all the rest, the eans for petroleum oils, which are in such great demand. One item will demonstrate the extent of this branch of his business; he supplied the Devoe Manufacturing Co. with machines capable of turning ont 60,000 five- gallon cans in a day.

The number and variety of these presses and dies is very great. His catalognes give illustrations of more than 200, and he is constantly producing more, either from his own designs or those of other manufacturers, which he makes to order. Some of these presses

WRIGHT , N. Y.

" OWL'S HEAD." RESIDENCE OF E. W. BLISS, Esq., AT BAY RIDGE, L. I.

.......

OFFICES OF E.W.BLISSI

EW BLIS'S

MACHIN

SHOPS.

FORGE SHOP'S

CART WAY

JE.W.BLISS W BROOKLYN

VIEW OF E. W. BLISS'S MACHINE SHOPS AND FOUNDRIES,

690

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

weigh 25 tons or more, and are the perfection of me- chanism for their purpose.

An industry which has so thoroughly revolutionized the vast trade in tin-wares, and in other goods pro- dneed from sheet metal and kindred substances, de- serves to have a record of its history made. Under the heading of tin-ware manufactures, we have de- scribed, in part, the effect of the new processes of drawing and stamping the sheets of tin into a great variety of forms npon other productive industries. In speaking of Mr. Bliss's establishment, our inquiries must be confined to the history and progress of the construction of machinery for accomplishing these purposes.

The whole foundation of the discovery of the mode of manufacturing deep stamped or pressed ware, had for its basis the duetility of cold wrought iron, under slow and continuous pressure. This quality of the wrought or sheet iron, whether coated with tin or not, had not been fully discovered till about 1843. It was known, indeed, that, by the use of the drop press, it was possible to make shallow dishes of tin or sheet iron by repeated stampings, but the corners of the arti- cles so made were very prone to crack, and the artieles had a rough appearance. The first inventor of machin- ery to accomplish this, who was successful in manufac- turing it on a large seale, was a Frenchman named Mix, of Metz, then in France, but now in Germany. He ac- complished his purpose by slow pressure with a power press, but he annealed his sheet iron before stamping it, and did not coat his plates with tin till he had stamped and otherwise prepared them. This afterward proved to be unnecessary. His process was a striet monopoly and seeret, and, while charging enormous prices for his wares, he reaped a great fortune from their manufacture. The secret, however, finally trans- pired; and, in 1856, the firm of Lalance & Grosjean started a factory for deep stamped tin-ware, near Paris. They had large capital and were enterprising, and, in 1862, established a branch house in New York, which they removed the next year to Woodhaven, Long Ist- and. Their processes were substantially the same as those of Mix. They met at first with very strong op- position from the trade, but finally overcame it, and for three or four years had the monopoly of the pro- duction in this country. Then a rival house sprang up, but was finally bought up by Lalance & Grosjean. This house had, however, made several machines which they sold to others before they were bought out. The processes had been improved, and sheet tin was now used, and with satisfactory results. But monopolies do not flourish well on our soil, and, before 1870, there were eight machines sold to as many different firms for the manufacture of the deep stamped tin-ware. New inventions had been patented, which rendered the pro- cesses cheaper and more satisfactory. The time had come for the development of the business of producing these

machines and selling them to the tin-ware manufactur- ers. One improvement made about this time gave a uew impetus to this enterprise. This was an adjust- ment, by serews and guides, of the " blank-holder." The sheet of tin had hitherto been laid aeross the mould, and the die or stamp had descended upon it with com- paratively slow, but irresistible, force, and the plain sheet became, under this foree, a deep dish or pan. A rough disk of metal, even then known, perhaps, as a blank-holder, had been laid over the plate by Mix and his successors, but the pressure was uneven and not carefully adjusted ; and, as a consequence, the edges of the pan or dish were wrinkled or corrugated a little, and the pan was not so smooth and seemly as those made by the old process, and was composed of several pieces riveted and soldered together. The new adjust- able blank-holder was an annular disk or ring of metal which was held in place by screws and bolts, which could be so perfectly adjusted as to make the pressure perfectly uniform over the whole plate and prevent the slightest wrinkling or corrugation.

The spinning lathe, another early invention, was so modified and improved that it facilitated the rapid and perfect finishing of these goods. In 1867, Mr. Bliss, who had served as apprentiee, journeyman, contractor, foreman and superintendent in machine shops for six- teen or seventeen years, formed a partnership with John Mays, of Brooklyn, to manufacture presses and dies, in a little shop in Adams street, employing six workmen. The time was auspicious, and the partners were enterprising and ambitious. They had iuereased their business and had made improvements on these presses, when, in 1871, Mr. James H. Williams bought out Mr. Mays, and the business was moved to larger and better quarters. They removed again in 1874, and greatly enlarged their business. They had already in- vented machines for applying this drawing process and other processes to the manufacture of eans for fruit, meats, fish, etc., and to the rapidly developing demand for petroleum oil eans. In 1879, Mr. Bliss purchased the site of the present factory, and erceted their build- ings, and the business was removed thither the same year. Four times, since 1879, the buildings have been enlarged, and the business extended by the purchase of other buildings. In 1881, he bought out Mr. Williams' interest, and has sinee conducted the business alone ; and, at the age of 47, is at the head of one of the larg- est machine shops in the world, with a business which is increasing with a rapidity unparalleled in that line of industries, and all this has been accomplished in six- teen years, by pluck, energy, and perseverance.

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Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 15

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909. Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York : Munsell Number of Pages: 1360

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : Munsell
Number of Pages: 1360