The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I, Part 174

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1114

USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I > Part 174

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But, as the processcs of manufacture differ mate- rially, and the saw manufacturer need not be, and often is not, a manufacturer of files, we will treat of saws first, and afterwards of file-making.

The manufacture of saws and files is not an old indus- try anywhere in this country. It is not yet fifty years since the English file manufacturers declared that the Yankees would never be able to acquire the art of mak- ing files; that the skill required had passed from genera- tion to generation, and that no American could ever by

any possibility acquire the sleight of hand necessary to cut files evenly and perfectly. It is about forty-five years since the manufacture commenced, and for more than a score of years past the American files have ranked as high as any of English or French manufac- ture.

The saw manufacture has passed through a similar experience. The Sheffield manufacturers thought they had reduced their business to a system and perfection which defied competition. The tempering, toothing, grinding and finishing a saw were each processes re- quiring long practice and training, and it was not to be supposed, for an instant, that a people who had had no experience in such a manufacture, could compete suc- cessfully with the English saw works and their skilled workmen. But stranger things than this have hap- pened, and it has come to pass that, while we manufac- tured about $4,000,000 worth of saws in 1880, we im- ported in that year only $14,475 worth, and exported in the same year $37,271 worth, and about $17,000 of this to Great Britain and its colonies.

There are now, according to the census of 1880, 89 saw manufactories and 179 file works in the United States, and 18 of the former and 37 of the latter in the State of New York. We have no positive knowledge as to the first manufacturer of saws in this country, but among the earliest, as well as the largest, was the firm of R. Hoe & Co., who afterwards embarked so largely in the production of printing presses. The early saw and file manufacturers found it desirable to import skilled workmen, saw-makers, saw-grinders and saw- handlers from Sheffield, to train their apprentices and young workmen in the difficult processes of the manu- facture; and in 1848 they invited a father and two sons by the name of Peace, experienced and skillful saw grinders, to come over and manage their saw- grinding department. They came, and their work gave ample satisfaction. The elder son remained with Messrs. Hoe for thirteen years, and in that time made himself completely master of all the processes of the trade, something very rarely attempted in that business. In 1861 the two brothers commenced business for them- selves, at first in small quarters in Centre street, New York; after a little, they removed to Johnstown, N. Y .; but in 1863 settled finally in their present location at Tenth and Ainslie streets, Brooklyn, E. D. Here they have, or at least the older brother has, built up a fine business, the establishment being the largest, with one or possibly two exceptions, in the United States. Mr Peace confined his industry to saws alone; but of these he makes every known varicty.

The steel used is principally of Pittsburgh manufac- ture, and while its quality is excellent, Mr. Peace com- plains that two of his competitors, who manufacture their own steel, are enabled to use steel which costs them only about one-half the market value, while he is obliged to use steel purchased at the market price, and

THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

699

is thus handicapped at the very beginning of the race. Mr. Peace is a believer in a tariff with a fair degree of protection for manufactures, but he does not believe that it should be such a tariff as will discriminate against the manufacturer.

The steel used is rolled at the rolling mill to the proper length, width and thickness. The steel for carpenters' saws is in square sheets, which are divided diagonally, each sheet making two saws. Being eut into the de- sired shape, the future saws are toothed and filed while the steel is in the soft state. The teeth, which are of a great variety of forms, according to the purposes for which they are designed, are, except in the more com- plicated forms, cut by automatic machinery, the ma- ehine for entting the teeth of the carpenters' saws making

on a hardwood bloek), and, as the processes through which they have passed have somewhat impaired their elasticity, this is restored, if need be, by heating to the required color. They are next set, filed, etched and oiled, when those saws which do not require handles are finished, ready for packing. The carpenters' and cross-cut saws are transferred to the saw-handler's de- partment, and the blades are punched to receive the serews for the handles; and in one pattern, which is patented, a portion of the upper part of the blade is eut out by a die, and the handle fitted to match this ex- actly, and, like the other handles, is secured firmly in its place by serews. The handles are made of beeeh and apple wood principally, though mahogany, rose- wood, cherry, and black walnut are used to some extent.

COMPANY.

Limited

ÈRS

VIEW OF THE H. W. PEACE CO.'S "VULCAN" SAW WORKS, TENTH AND AINSLIE STREETS, E. D.

1,200 teeth per minute. The burr, or roughened edges, raised by shearing and toothing, are next knocked or rolled down. They are then hardened in oil, and tem- pered (a difficult and delieate proecss), a particular shade of color being required for the requisite temper. After the tempering, they go into the hands of the saw makers, to be hammered on an anvil as true as possible; they are then taken to the grinding shop, where each saw is ground for the purpose for which it is to be used. Most of the saws are ground on a machine, the saw passing between rollers to the grindstone, and passing out between other rollers on the other side. The jig and compass saws are ground by hand, the grindstones, in all cases, being driven by steam power.

The saws go next to the polishing shops, and, after polishing, are blocked (straightened by being hammered

The logs of these woods arc first sawed into boards of the proper thickness, and then thoroughly steamed and dried. The handles are then marked out by pattern, and sawed out by band or jig saws, burred and filed into shape, smoothed by sandbelts and sandwheels, oiled and polished, and finally slit and bored ready to receive the blades.

In the manufacture of saws, the division of labor is earried to a remarkable extent, not in the prodne- tion of different kinds of saws, as might be expected, but in the different processes required in the produe- tion of the saw. Each process is a trade by itself, and hardly ever does a mechanic pass from one to another. The usual divisions are saw-makers, saw- grinders, saw polishers and finishers, and saw-hand- lers; but even these are sub-divided; the man who

VULCAN SAW

WORKS,

PEACE

700

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

hardens and tempers the saw has no knowledge of the proeesses of toothing and filing, nor of the smithing and hammering; so that there are three distinet trades un- der the head of saw-making; in saw grinding, the man who grinds the saws on a machine eannot be trans- ferred to the work of grinding them by hand. In the polishing department, the polisher eannot do the setting, filing, retempering or etehing. He might do the graining, which is effeeted by passing the polished and finished saw between hardwood rollers.

The saw-handlers have also several subdivisions. It is very rarely the ease that a man has made himself a master of all the processes, as Mr. Harvey W. Peace has done, and is capable of superintending and direet- ing each effectively. This is to be regretted, because it is a business which can only be conducted sueeess- fully by a man who is thoroughly familiar with every department of it, and who has, at the same time, the executive ability needed in the buying and selling, and the financial management of a large business, and the power to control large bodies of men successfully. Without these qualifieations, failure in the end is inev- itable. There have been many sad examples of this in Brooklyn, and the successive disasters have left the Harvey W. Peace Company, Limited, practically alone in this industry, their only competitors now being some small shops which make only one or two deseriptions of saws, and from their limited means, the quality even of these laeks uniformity.

HARVEY W. PEACE .- Were we called upon to name one among the manufacturers of Brooklyn, who had, in early middle life, won for himself a high and honorable position as a manufacturer, solely by the exercise of industry, enter- prise, and the mental abilities which fitted liim for being a leader and employer of men, our first thoughit would be of the name of Mr. PEACE, as the most striking exemplar of the success which comes from the exercise of those quali- ties.

HARVEY W. PEACE was born in Sheffield, England, Aug. 10, 1831. His father and grandfather had both been brought up in the saw business all their lives. When he was yet very young, his parents removed to Dore, in Derbyshire, about six miles from Sheffield, but still retained their con- nection with the saw-works in Sheffield. Mr. Peace ob- tained his early education in Dore, but at the age of thirteen began to work, a part of the time, in the same manufactory with his father and grandfather. At the age of eighteen, he was a very skillful saw-grinder. At that time (1849), he came to America with his father and family, the father having re- ceived an invitation from Messrs. R. Hoe & Co., of New York, to take charge of the saw-grinding in their extensive works. In this establishment, young Peace remained for twelve years (except a trip to Europe, in 1857, for health and recreation). In these twelve years, he had become a com- plete master of his business, and with his industry, temper- ate habits, and economy, had been able to save a little cap- ital, to start the business of saw manufacturing for himself. Accordingly, in 1861, he commenced, in a small way, in Center street, New York, taking a younger brother as a partner. Find- ing their location not a good one, at that time (it was just at the beginning of the Civil War), they removed, the next

year, to Johnstown, Fulton county, New York, where they remained about a year. By this time, business -in some directions, and the manufacture of saws was one of them - had greatly revived, and was much better in the seaports than in the interior. Once more, therefore, they removed, and this time, to what proved a permanent location, to Ainslie street, Brooklyn. At first their quarters here were small and narrow, and proved so inconvenient that they moved to a better location on the same street, in 1867; the times were favorable for the development of an extensive business, and though averse to anything like speculative action, they went forward, "hasting not and resting not," increasing with each year the quality and the quantity of their saws, till one building was added to another, and one kind of saws to another ; and now (with the exception of the file-works of Mr. C. B. Paul, a friend of theirs, and one whose manufacture is an almost indispensable adjunct to their own), they occupy several lots in the block bounded on two sides by Tenth and Ainslie streets. They make every description of saws known to the trades. and for such as re- quire handles or frames, they manufacture these necessary attachments. We have described elsewhere the processes of saw manufacture, the four classes of workmen, the saw- maker, saw-grinders, saw-handlers, and saw-finishers, and it only remains to be said here, that in all this great enterprise, employing a force of more than 200 men, and producing annually nearly a quarter of a million dollars' worth of goods, Mr. Harvey W. Peace has been the informing and controlling spirit; his judicious and enterprising manage- ments has brought order out of confusion, success out of threatened disaster, and his house has now but two rivals in the United States in the extent of its production, and none in the quality and excellence of its wares. It is well under- stood everywhere, and among all classes of purchasers, that the, stamp of " Harvey W. Peace" on any saw, or case of saws, insures the purchasers that the goods are of the very best possible quality.

In his relations to his fellow manufacturers, Mr. Peace has always been kindly and helpful; often taking large risks, to keep them from disaster, and where they have succumbed to the liardness of the times, furnishing them with employment in his own establishment till they could recover themselves.

In all the relations of civil and social life, Mr. Peace has shown himself a good citizen, a tender and kind husband and father, and a pleasant neighbor. Though not a member of any church, he is a regular attendant on the Methodist church - the church of his parents. In politics he is a de- cided republican, though never an office-seeker or office- holder. He wields a powerful influence in his ward, but has invariably refused to be a candidate for any public position. In regard to the tariff, he favors a moderate protection of our struggling manufactures, but insists that the duties should be taken off from raw material which cannot be produced here, and reduced on such raw material as is equally a product of our own and foreign countries; thus placing us on an equality with foreign manufacturers.

Mr. Peace, though heartily American in feeling and inter -. est, does not forget that he first drew breath in England. He is an officer of the St. George's Society, and a hearty and cordial friend and helper of his countrymen. In other directions also, his liberal spirit exhibits itself, and he is a generous giver to all good causes.

Mr. Peace, and some of his skillful workmen, have designed and patented many of the machines for the purpose of grinding the various kinds of saws, as well

Harvey M. Ceace

701

THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

as for polishing, toothing, handling and graining saws. While this company make every description of saws known or demanded in the trade, their special attention is directed to the higher grades of carpenters' saws, band saws (some of these are fifty-five feet in length, and they vary in width from one-eighth inch to six inches), veneer and re-saw segments, and cross-cut saws. They employ from 150 to 160 hands, and their produc- tion ranges from $200,000 to $225,000 per annum.

Files .- There are a number of manufacturers of files in Brooklyn, but most of them have but small es- tablishments. The largest are that of Mr. Charles B. Paul, whose factory adjoins that of the Harvey W. Peace Company, on Tenth and Ainslie streets, and that of Mr. E. M. Boynton, on Devoe street, who was a manufacturer of saws as well as files. The latter estab- lishment is now closed. Four or five others are doing a moderate business in this line. The amount of capi- tal required is much less than that for the saw manu- facture; but the material must be of the finest forged steel, of the most perfect temper, and the cutting done by hand, and by workmen of the highest skill. There are, indeed, machine-cut files on the market, but for the purposes for which a first-class file is wanted, they are as yet of very little worth. There are many va- rieties of files and rasps-rat-tail or taper, round, square, flat, triangular, oval, half-round, cabinet, etc., etc. A catalogue before us specifies about thirty varieties, and fourteen lengths of nearly all.

The art of file-cutting is a very difficult one, and only acquired by long practice. A large proportion of the file-cutters are of English birth, though the younger men of American birth are now doing very creditable work. Like the workmen in the saw works the file-cutters adhere very rigidly to their own special division of the work. The cutter of three-cornered files will not attempt to cut rat-tail files, or even half- round ones, much less rasps of any description; and the cutters of these, in their turn, look with disdain upon the three-square file-cutters.

The census of 1880 reports 12 file factories, employ- ing 96 hands, and producing $68,509 of files annually. The report is both defective and redundant; redundant in the number of establishments, which does not ex- ceed eight; and defective in the amount of product, which considerably exceeds $100,000. Mr. Paul's out- put alone is from $30,000 to $40,000; and Mr. Boynton's was not much less, in this department of his business. The average number of hands employed by Mr. Paul is from 40 to 50.

SECTION IX.

Stamped or Drawn Wares, Tin and Sheet Iron Wares, Galvanized Iron and its Ware.

The production of stamped or drawn wares, by which is meant the formation, by means of continuous pres-

sure by a power press, and by single or combined dies and blank-holders, of pans, dishes, pails, kettles, sar- dine, blacking, spice and other boxes, and by combina- tion machines and dies, fruit, vegetable, meat and fish cans, petroleum cans and cases, and the lettering of these with any required name or address by dies, worked by the same machines, has become an import- ant industry, and has almost entirely superseded the old process of manufacturing tin-ware. In some of these machines, the pan, pail, dish or can, etc., come from the machine complete; in others they require wiring, trim- ming and finishing, all of which is done with great rapidity on other machines. By the use of these machines the amount of production can be increased one hundred fold with the same number of hands. The process of deep stamping was first invented by a French- man of Metz (now Mayence) named Mix; it was con- siderably improved and introduced into this country by Messrs. Lalance & Grosjean, who still manufacture, in Queens' county, these and their enamelled or granite wares on a large scale. Subsequent improvements were made in the machines, for stamping not only tin, but sheet iron, brass, zinc, copper, straw and card board, leather, etc., and the first extensive manufactory of these machines was started in Brooklyn in 1867, and subsequently greatly enlarged by Mr. E. W. Bliss, who is now the sole proprietor. Mr. Bliss does not manu- facture stamped ware himself, but produces the ma- chines by which it is made. The leading manufacturers of stamped wares are the refiners of petroleum oils, who make millions of cans, of a capacity of from one to five gallons, for exporting and transporting their oils; the canners of fruits, vegetables, meats, oysters and fish, whose consumption of the cans is immense; and the houses which are engaged in the production of house- hold hardware. It is only because these petroleum oil cans, fruit, meat, vegetable, oyster and fish cans and boxes, and the lard pails, etc., etc., can be furnished 80 cheaply, and in such quantities, that the oil and pro- vision trades and the canned goods trade have been so enormously expanded within the last decade, and especially within the last five years. These inventions have also rendered other industries largely prosper- ous, which but for these products of the stamping machines must have long since been abandoned as unprofitable.

It is not exceeding the bounds of truth to say that these products of machines manufactured in Brooklyn, and almost wholly by Brooklyn manufacturers, have increased our national exports to the extent of about fifty million dollars annually.

The leading manufacturers of stamped and drawn wares, as well as of other tin-wares, aside from the great manufacturers who make cans, pails, etc., exclusively for their own goods, are : E. Ketcham & Co., Fred. Habermann, Silas A. Ilsley & Co., William Vogel, G. J. Hauck & Co. and Somers Brothers.

702

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

ENOCH KETCHAM .- The subject of this sketch was born October 18th, 1818, in the quiet village of Pennington, Mercer county, New Jersey. His parents were Enoch and Matilda Smith Ketcham, who are buried in the cemetery of the Pres- byterian church of that place, where also rest the remains of seven successive generations of the family name. His earlier years were spent upon his father's farm, among the duties incident to such a life, with educational advantages of the most limited nature. Pennington was not then, as it is now, a noted seat of learning, and the only privileges, formerly given to the farmer's son, were a few weeks in the district school during the winter season, when services could best be spared from the work at home. While yet a youth Mr. Enoch Ketcham left the old homestead to learn the trade of a car- penter; and, after serving a full apprenticeship, worked for a while at Newark and Morristown, in his native state. In 1844 he began his mercantile career in Cliff street, New York, enter- ing in the lowest capacity, and soon rising, by industry and integrity, to a position in the firm. In 1849 he was married to Miss Eliza Van Auken, and resides still in the city of New York. Like his fathers, he has retained his connection with the Presbyterian church, being now a member of the Church of the Covenant, corner of Park avenue and Thirty-fifth street.

Mr. Ketcham is one of the oldest dealers in manufactured tin-wares in the United States. When he began in 1844, and during the first years of his business life, nearly all kinds of goods for house-furnishing were imported from abroad. But few were made in this country, and they were the common wares of the country tin-shop. He entered largely into the manufacture of such articles, his house always occupying a foremost position, and he, personally, recognized as a leader in the trade. Of late years the methods of producing these goods have been entirely revolutionized, nearly every process being wrought out by elaborate and expensive machinery. These improvements have given rise to various large estab- lishments for the construction of such machines, which were entirely unknown before. The younger men in the trade can hardly appreciate the great changes that have transpired since Mr. Ketcham first undertook the building of his fac- tory.

The firm of E. Ketcham & Co., at great expense, and with an enterprise seldom equalled in these days, constructed machinery under their own roof which can be had of dealers at the present time for very moderate amounts. Later firms have profited largely by the experience which the firm of E. Ketcham & Co. acquired only by long and tedious experi- ments .*

In the year 1857, in company with some other persons, Mr. Enoch Ketcham purchased the factory at the corner of South Second and Twelfth streets in Williamsburg, and organized the firm of E. Ketcham & Co., whose warehouses are at 96 Beekman and 58 Cliff streets, New York. This building, which at that time was quite meagre in its proportions, has since become of extensive size. It is built in the form of a hollow square, is five stories high, and arranged to accommo- date the several departments of which it is composed. The stamping rooms are one of the main features of the place. Here articles of great depth are formed from one sheet or disc of metal, without seams or solder. It was in this branch that experiments were first put forth, the earlier efforts pro- ducing vessels of, say, half an inch in depth, and finally reaching from seven to ten inches, so that all cooking vessels may be made from single sheets of tin, or other sheet metal,

without the possibility of leaks .* There are many other de- partments in this factory, in which tin plates are manipu- lated in various ways and shapes, and then polished to a lustre equalling silver in brilliancy.

Somers Brothers have confined themselves to the production of lithographed or decorated cans, boxes, pails, etc., etc., in which they have a large trade.

THE SOMERS BROTHERS .- The brothers, Daniel M., Joseph L. and Guy A. Somers, among the best known of Brooklyn's manufacturers, are, though not of an old Brooklyn family, of one of the oldest families in the United States. The name has been for centuries known in England, and can be traced to the time of William the Conqueror.

The Somerses of America are descended from the family of John Somers, Lord Chancellor of England during the period of the War of the Roses. John Somers, the first of the name in America, emigrated from England in 16 5, and settled on a large grant of land in New Jersey, embracing Great Egg Harbor ; Somers Point, a well-known locality, having been the place of his residence. He had contracted a runaway marriage with a French lady of much beauty, highly accom- plished, and of distinguished social position in her native land. Previous to this alliance, the Somerses had been blonde men and women, with light hair. Partaking of the personal characteristics of this lady, her children and their descendants, to the present time, have almost invariably been dark of complexion, with the usual accompaniment of black hair and.eyes.

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The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I, Part 174

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1114

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1114