USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York, 1609-1909 > Part 64
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Among his inventions and discoveries are: System of arc lighting, 1886; Tesla motor and system of alternating current power transmission, popularly known as two-phase, three-phase, multiphase, or polyphase sys- tems, which have created a revolution in electrical engineering and are now universally adopted (1888) ; system of electrical conversion and distribution by oscillatory discharges, 1889; generators of high-frequency currents and effects of these, 1890; transmission of energy through a single wire without return, 1891; the "Tesla coil" or transformer, which has proved an indispen- sable adjunct in many electrical arts, 1891; investigations of high-frequency effects and phenomena, 1891-93; system of wireless transmission of intelli- gence, 1893; mechanical oscillators and generators of electrical oscillations, 1894-95 ; researches and discoveries in novel radiations, material streams and emanations, were published in a series of papers in the Electrical Review, New York, 1896-1898, in which he announced all the salient phenomena later attributed to radium; high-potential magnifying transmitter, 1897; system of transmission of power without wires, 1897-1905; economic transmission of energy by refrigeration, 1898; art of Telautomatics, 1898-99; discovery of sta- tionary electrical waves in the earth, 1899; burning of atmospheric nitrogen, and production of other electrical effects of transcending intensities, 1899- 1900; method and apparatus for magnifying feeble effects, 1901-1902; art of individualization, 1902-1903. The development of his system of world-teleg- raphy and telephony and of the transmission of power without wires has engaged much of his attention since that time. A number of discoveries in the electrical field, made by Mr. Tesla, which he has not yet announced, he considers of greater moment than any electrical work he has so far done. His most important recent work is the discovery of a new mechanical prin- ciple, which he has embodied in a great variety of machines, as reversible gas and steam turbines, pumps, blowers, air compressors, water turbines, mechan- ical transformers and transmitters of power, hot-air engines, etc. This prin- ciple enables the production of prime movers capable of developing ten horse power, or even more, for each pound of weight. By their application to aerial navigation, and the propulsion of vessels, high speeds are practicable.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
DR. EDWARD GOODRICH ACHESON
727
DR. EDWARD GOODRICH ACHESON
D R. EDWARD GOODRICH ACHESON was born March 9, 1856, at Washington, Pa .; had three years schooling, after which he was engaged in various pursuits including civil engineering on railroad construc- tion, and in the fall of 1880 became assistant to Thomas A. Edison, who sent him, the next summer, to Europe in his interests, where he remained two and one-half years. While in Europe he installed the first incandescent electric lighting plants ever erected in Italy, Belgium and Holland. He next became superintendent of the Consolidated Lamp Company, Brooklyn, and later elec- trician to the Standard Underground Cable Company, Pittsburgh.
In 1891, Dr. Acheson discovered Carborundum and organized The Car- borundum Company, of which he was president for ten years. This com- pany is now producing carborundum at the rate of 10,000,000 pounds yearly. Following the completion of the details of carborundum manufacture, Dr. Acheson created a new industry-the manufacture of graphite. For carrying on the business, he incorporated the International Acheson Graphite Company, which is now making about 15,000,000 pounds of graphite annually. He also invented methods for extracting metallic silicon from ordinary sand.
Dr. Acheson's latest discoveries embrace the production of a fine lubri- cating graphite, and the "deflocculation" of inorganic, amorphous bodies, and a clear explanation of the cause of the formation of the bars of the Mississippi and the delta of the Nile. In a recent lecture delivered by Dr. Acheson be- fore the Automobile Club of America, he discarded all technical phrases and, after describing in a popular vein his earlier work, showed his distinguished audience how the extract of plants, such as straw, grass and barks of trees, deflocculate soils and all amorphous inorganic bodies, including his artificial graphite. He showed by means of diagrams the remarkable results obtained by Professor Benjamin, of Purdue University, and Dr. Mabery of the Case School of Applied Science, in determining the value of deflocculated graphite as a lubricant when carried in very small quantities by either oil or water.
Dr. Acheson has obtained results that clearly indicate the universal use of deflocculated graphite in lubricating oil (Oildag) will extend the possible life of petroleum lubricating oils four times. The results prove that water and deflocculated graphite (Aquadag) give better lubrication than the best oils.
Dr. Acheson is a member of many scientific and engineering societies ; he has received many honors, prominent amongst them being the Rumford Medals awarded by the American Academy of Arts and Science, and the Perkin Medal awarded by committees of the Society of Chemical Industry, American Chem- ical Society, and the American Electro-chemical Society. The University of Pittsburgh conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Science.
Dr. Acheson was married, December 16, 1884, to Margaret Mahar, of Brooklyn, N. Y., and has five sons and four daughters.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
RICHARD DE WOLFE BRIXEY
729
RICHARD DE WOLFE BRIXEY
R ICHARD DE WOLFE BRIXEY, the head of the Kerite Insulated Wire and Cable Company, was born in Seymour, Connecticut, on September 22, 1880. He is the son of William Richard and Frances (De Wolfe) Brixey. He is of English descent on the paternal side and through his mother a descendant of the old and well-known American family of De Wolfe. His father, William R. Brixey, who was for so many years the head and owner of the business, dating from the death of his brother-in-law, Mr. A. G. Day, the well-known inventor of Kerite, retired from active business after many years of successful operation when he incorporated the business in 1908 under the name of the Kerite Insulated Wire and Cable Company, with his son, Richard De Wolfe Brixey, as president and treasurer, whom he had trained to succeed him.
Richard De Wolfe Brixey spent his early life at Seymour, Connecticut, where the large plant of the company is located. As a boy he spent a large part of his spare time in the works. He has always been most deeply inter- ested in the business, and from boyhood up he has had no other ambition than to follow in his father's footsteps. His natural inclination for and close asso- ciation with this business during his early life have been of great value to him in the direction of the company's affairs. He graduated from the public schools with high honors, being the head of his class, and then entered the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University, from which he graduated in 1902 with the degree of Ph.B. After his matriculation he entered the works at Seymour, Connecticut. While he already had a thorough knowl- edge of the practical end of the business, having always been closely asso- ciated with it, upon his graduation he entered the works as an ordinary laborer and worked up from that position. He was then transferred to the head office at New York City, where he rapidly acquired a large knowl- edge of the executive end of the business and became manager. Not long afterwards he was advanced to be general manager of the entire business and upon the retirement of his father naturally became the head of the business.
The company, as manufacturers of insulated wires and cables, enjoys the highest reputation for its product and business standing. The business is the oldest and best known in its line in this country, having been founded in 1850. Kerite insulated wires and cables have earned an unequalled record of per- formance in service under all conditions. It is the policy of this company under the management of Mr. Brixey, as it has always been under that of his predecessors, to do business on the basis of quality rather than on a cheap first-cost basis. The growth of the business under this policy, while perhaps conservative, has been very large and steady. The products of the company include insulated wires and cables of every description for interior, aerial, un-
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
derground and submarine service, from small telephone and electric light wire to high power transmission cables.
Owing to the merit of Kerite, the general policy of the company and the personal efforts of Mr. Brixey, it secures business from practically all parts of the world. One of its most important contracts was the furnishing of a cable laid across the Isthmus of Panama in the Canal Zone. This cable was manufactured, shipped and laid in one continuous length of fifty miles, and the contract was secured in competition with manufacturers of various coun- tries, the Kerite company being the highest bidder, but its product was consid- ered the best. This is probably the most important stretch of cable of its length in the world, connecting as it does the Atlantic and Pacific cables. Another important contract was the furnishing of the wires and cables for the new Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal system, which extends from Har- rison, New Jersey, under the North River, across New York City and under the East River to Long Island City. The largest part of this contract, run- ning into hundreds of thousands of dollars, consists of the block signal system wire and cable upon which the safety of the public as well as the efficient oper- ation of the road depends. The company also made and laid for the gov- ernment a cable from Skagway to Juneau, in Alaska, which is one of the important links in placing Alaska in communication with the rest of the world.
The business is rapidly growing under the direction of Mr. Brixey, who brings to its management not only the most complete technical knowledge of the manufacturing and scientific details, but who also possesses administrative and executive abilities of a superior order and the company has come to be recognized as representative of the highest achievement in the industry. As such it has secured and is constantly adding to its patrons the leading corpora- tions engaged in various departments of electrical service and large systems, such as the railroad systems, the telephone and telegraph companies. Mr. Brixey is recognized as a man of keen judgment and is an example of the highest type of the American business man in all that it implies.
Mr. Brixey is a member of the Engineers' Club, the Railroad Club, the New York Railroad Club, the Machinery Club, the Morse Electric Club, the Yale Club of New York, The American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the University Club of New Haven, the Essex County Country Club of New Jersey, and various business associations.
Mr. Brixey married, in Jersey City Heights, Jersey City, New Jersey, in November, 1905, Bertha Marguerite Anness, and has one daughter, Doris Marguerite.
Mr. Brixey resides at 210 Riverside Drive, and his summer home is at Seymour, Connecticut.
731
FLORIAN GROSJEAN
F LORIAN GROSJEAN, born in Saule, Switzerland, January 17, 1824, was educated for a business career, his first position being in a bank at Montbeliard, France. He came to America in 1856, and with Charles Lalance, under the firm name of Lalance & Grosjean, soon had a large business in French tin and hardware. Mr. Grosjean soon realized that advantages could be gained by manufacturing the goods he was importing. He brought several Swiss and French workmen here and opened a small shop in Woodhaven, L. I., where he manufactured articles of tin. He was the originator of tin spoons and many other arti- cles of household utility, that were added as the busi- ness grew.
Mr. Grosjean had shown rare executive ability in the expansion of the business, but his inventive genius was not exhibited until he origi- nated the process of enamel- ing sheet iron cooking uten- sils, spending several hun- dred thousand dollars in perfecting the product.
In 1869, Mr. Grosjean organized the present stock company, becoming its president and principal owner. The plant was burned in 1876, but was im- mediately rebuilt on a larger scale and in addition large FLORIAN GROSJEAN tin plate works and rolling mills were erected at Harrisburg, Pa., to supply raw material for the plant, which had grown from a modest shop to a succession of fine buildings, cov- ering an area of over twenty acres, and there are large storage warehouses in Chicago and Boston, supplying the Western and New England trade.
Mr. Grosjean, after a life of great usefulness, died at his home in Brook- lyn, January 24, 1903, at the age of seventy-nine.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
FRANK W. JACKSON
733
FRANK W. JACKSON
F RANK W. JACKSON, formerly general agent of the Hellenic Transatlantic Steamship Company of Athens, Greece, and who is a classical scholar of distinction as well as a successful business man, was born in Pennsylvania, June 6, 1874, the son of Enos Sturgis and Clara (Bailey) Jackson, his father being a merchant. The first American ancestor in his family was Isaac Jackson, who came from Lancashire, England, to this coun- try, in 1725. Prior to that date the Jacksons of this line had been prominent in the old country, including in their numbers distinguished participants in the War of the Roses and in Cromwell's Army. Since being transplanted in this country the family has also been prominent, notably in the case of Gen- eral T. J. (Stonewall) Jackson, of the Confederate Army.
Mr. Frank W. Jackson received a liberal education. He was graduated from the Mount Pleasant (Pennsylvania) Preparatory School with honors, winning the $300 college prize. He attended Bucknell University, and special- ized in the Greek language under the late Dr. Thomas Day Seymour, of Yale University, and in Greek historics under Dr. George S. Goodspeed, of the University of Chicago, from which institution he received the degree of Mas- ter of Arts in cursu.
Mr. Jackson became head master of Greek in the Mount Pleasant Pre- paratory School from 1895 to 1901. He traveled extensively through Europe and was a resident of Greece for two years, serving as American Consul from 1901 to 1903. During his two years' residence in Greece he became deeply interested in that country, not only as a scholar making linguistic, historical and archeological researches, but also devoted much study and investigation to the economic and commercial conditions and relations of Greece.
He established business connections in that country, and on coming back to New York, in 1903, he became general manager of the Greek Currant Company. In 1909 he was appointed general agent in New York of the Hellenic Transatlantic Steamship Company of Athens, for which position his familiarity with Hellenic affairs gives him especial fitness, and he gave to the company a most able and efficient service in that capacity until leaving it to engage in the importing business he now conducts at 130 Fulton Street.
Mr. Jackson is a Republican in politics, and is a trustee and treasurer of the West Park Baptist Church. He is a member of the staff of lecturers of the New York Board of Education; a member of the Archaeological So- ciety of. Athens, Greece; of Circolo Nazionale Italiano, Phi Gamma Delta Fra- ternity, Phi Gamma Delta Club, and Traffic Club, of New York.
He married, at Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, in August, 1898, Margaret Z. Markle, daughter of the late Captain Cassius Clay Markle, and they have two daughters, Marian Markle Jackson, born in 1899, and Margaret Wade Jackson, born in 1904.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
2
HENRY ENGELHARD STEINWAY
735
HENRY ENGELHARD STEINWAY
T HE house of Steinway represents not only the evolution of an art product and a great business, but also a personal side which has made valuable contributions to the artistic and business development and civic betterment of the city of New York.
Henry Engelhard Steinway, the founder of the house, was a native of the Duchy of Brunswick, born in the hamlet of Wolfshagen, in the Hartz Mountains, February 15, 1797. Though the youngest of twelve children, he was, at the age of fifteen, the sole male member of his family. Of the others, who all served in the Franco-Prussian War of 1806 or the Franco-Russian War of 1812, several were killed in battle. The father, together with three older brothers, had survived these wars, and with two other men and Henry E. Steinway formed a party of seven which had congregated in the latter part of 1812, when a terrible bolt of lightning killed all of the party except Henry, who escaped unhurt. In 1814 he served in one of the Duke of Brunswick's regiments in the German war of defense against the aggressions of Napoleon Bonaparte.
He continued in the military service until he was twenty-one years old, when he declined promotion and took an honorable discharge from the army. While in the army he had devoted his leisure to music, and had made a cithera out of spruce with which he accompanied the songs of his comrades. On leaving the army he went to work to learn the art of building church organs, and in a year had become so proficient that he secured employment as a journeyman organ-builder. Settling as an organ-builder in the town of See- sen, at the foot of the Hartz Mountains, he pursued his vocation, and there, in February, 1825, he married; and on November 6, 1825, their first child, C. F. Theodore Steinway, was born.
Although a church-organ builder, Mr. Steinway's ambition centered on the improvement of the piano, the English and German models of which he had carefully studied. To put his ideas into practical expression he put in his lei- sure hours for a long period in the work of building an instrument intended for use of his son as a learner. His careful selection of materials and original improvement in matters connected not only with mechanical construction, but also with the quality and permanence of tone, made this instrument such an artistic and mechanical success that it created a sensation among the musical people of Seesen, and so large a price was offered for it by a wealthy resident of the place that Mr. Steinway sold it and postponed till later the making of a piano for his son. The success of this first complete Steinway piano led him to abandon the organ business and confine his attention, thereafter, to piano manufacture.
He was very successful, considering his location and opportunities, but had always hoped to be able to transplant the business to the United
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
States. It was many years, however, before his ambition in this respect was realized.
This recognition of excellence in a large competition was the first of a long and honorable series. The Steinway pianos have carried off many medals and prizes in all parts of the world, as well as receiving encomiums from the most distinguished pianist and musical celebrities of three generations. His pianos grew in reputation, and in August, 1839, he had an exhibit in the State Fair of Brunswick, Germany, in which he showed a grand piano, one three-stringed and one two-stringed square piano, receiving a first prize medal and a special commendation of the tone and workmanship of the instrument from the chairman of the jury of the fair, who was the famous composer, Albert Methfessel.
During the political and economic troubles of 1848 and 1849 many eyes were turned from Germany to America, with the result of most valuable addi- tions to the list of our German-American citizens, notably the Steinways. Charles Steinway, second son of Henry E. Steinway, came on a preliminary visit in April, 1849, making such a favorable report that in May, 1850, the rest of the family, except C. F. Theodore Steinway (who stayed behind to complete unfinished work), sailed from Hamburg for New York, which port they reached June 9, 1850.
After his arrival Mr. Steinway, exercising special care, and realizing the necessity of learning trade conditions in this country and of studying the tastes of musical people here, put his money out at interest and secured work for him- self as a journeyman in a New York piano factory. Mr. Steinway had from the first insisted that his sons should learn the piano business practically at the bench, and so those who were old enough worked as journeymen until Mr. Steinway felt ready to embark in independent business, which was March 5, 1853, when a factory was started on Varick Street, and the production of Steinway pianos in this country was begun, under favorable conditions as to the mechanical skill and high ideals of their makers.
The distinctive excellence of Steinway pianos soon became known. The first year brought valued recognition in the award of the first premium by the judges of the Metropolitan Fair at Washington in March, 1854, for the best three-stringed and two-stringed instruments. From that time onward and always, the Steinway products have maintained precedence wherever used or exhibited, and when the founder died in New York, February 7, 1871, the house of Steinway & Sons had reached the foremost place in the piano industry.
Henry Engelhard Steinway had founded his house on correct principles, and had established the rule, which has been adhered to through four genera- tions, that each male member should be a practical piano-maker by personal
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HENRY ENGELHARD STEINWAY
experience at the bench and in the shop before taking up the financial or com- mercial branches of the business. Thus C. F. Theodore Steinway in Europe and Henry Steinway, Jr., sons of the founder, became inventive geniuses whose improvements added greatly to the quality of the instruments made by the house, and of the third generation Henry Ziegler, son of the founder's oldest daughter, is similarly endowed with the inventive faculty and is head of the Department of Inventions and Construction.
Henry E. Steinway had five sons and two daughters. The oldest son, who remained in Europe until 1865, and then came to New York, died with- out issue in 1889. The oldest daughter, Doretta, married Jacob Ziegler. Their son Henry Ziegler, mentioned above, and their grandson Theodore Cassebeer, are members of the present firm, and identified with the factory end of the business.
Charles Steinway, the founder's second son, became the financial head of the house for several years before he died in 1865. His sons are H. W. T. Steinway, formerly a member and still a stockholder in the house, Charles H. Steinway, now head of the Department of Finance, and since December 4, 1896, President of Steinway & Sons, and Frederick T. Steinway, head of the Department of Manufacture, and since December 4, 1896, Vice President of the house.
Henry Steinway, third son of the founder, whose inventive skill contrib- uted largely to the perfecting of the Steinway pianos, and was of great value to the business in its earlier years, died in 1865.
William Steinway, who was at the head of the Department of Finance and President of Steinway & Sons from 1865 to his death in 1896, was the father of William R. Steinway, now associated with his cousin Charles H. Steinway, the President, in the Finance Department, and of Theodore E. Steinway, who is collaborator of Henry Ziegler in the Department of Inven- tions and Construction.
The fifth son and youngest child of Henry E. Steinway was Albert Stein- way, who died in 1877, leaving two daughters. He was in the Factory De- partment of the house, and had charge of the Steinway Exhibit at the Cen- tennial Exposition at Philadelphia a year before his death.
Six lineal descendants of Henry Engelhard Steinway are now actively engaged in the business of the Steinway house; five grandsons, Charles H., Frederick T., William R., and Theodore E. Steinway and Henry Ziegler, and one great-grandson, Theodore Cassebeer. All were born and reared to the principles and traditions of the founder, standing for a product of irreproach- able workmanship, and the highest technical skill-a work of art rather than a commercial product, and for business methods of the highest integrity, and at the same time full of enterprise and vitality.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK
WILLIAM STEINWAY
239
IVILLIAM STEINWAY
W ILLIAM STEINWAY, the fourth son of Henry Engelhard Stein- way, founder of the house of Steinway & Sons, was born in See- sen, Duchy of Brunswick, Germany, March 5, 1836. He was educated in the schools of that place, and in 1850 came to the United States with his parents. He was apprenticed to William Nunns & Co., of 88 Walker Street, and when he was seventeen years old joined his father and elder brothers in the firm of Steinway & Sons, and took an active place in the manufacturing department. He contributed very largely to the perfecting of the Steinway piano, which the combined abilities of his father and brothers soon made the peer of any of the best makes of Europe. In 1862, after having won thirty-five American medals, the Steinways won a first prize medal at the London World's Fair, and in 1867, at the Paris Exposition, in competition with the foremost Euro- pean makers, their square, upright, and perfect grand pianos were awarded the first of the grand medals of honor. This award gave the house its inter- national fame, and the Steinway firm became successively the court piano manufacturers to the Queen of England, the Queen of Spain, the Emperor of Germany, the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Queen of Italy, and the greatest composers and artists of the world bought and used their instruments. This came about under the administration of William Steinway as president, which position he held in the firm from 1865 until his death in 1896.
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