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 177

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 177

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In 1851, the whole amount of capital invested in the business was over one million dollars; the united pro- duetion from 8,000 to 12,000 tons, and the annual value of the produet from $1,200,000 to $1,500,000.

It was publiely stated at this time that the produc- tion of white lead in Brooklyn exceeded that in any other town or eity in the United States, and was nearly equal to that of all the rest of the country.

In 1860, the eensus officers reported in Kings eounty eight white lead works, with $848,800 capital; using $1,182,400 of raw material; employing 356 hands; paying $137,340 annually in wages, and produeing annually $2,129,500 of white lead and other products. This was probably an understatement; but the returns of the eensus, in 1870, of the manufactures of Kings county were palpably wrong, as they were every- where else.

There was no separate statement of " white lead," but under the head of " paints, lead and zine," in distine- tion from " paints (not specified)," we have the follow- ing returns: Five establishments; 154 hands; $+33,500 eapital; $86,592 wages; $690,280 of raw material used, and $882,500 of annual produet. We are sure that one of the establishments in Kings county at that time exceeded these figures, and that the whole number (there were four companies instead of five at that time) more than doubled it.

But, if these returns are grossly inaeeurate, what shall we say of the eensus returns of 1880 ? No entry of the white lead manufacture was permitted. Mr. Frothingham made a return of "Paints, Lead and Zine," in which he gave the number of establishments

as 28; the capital, $3,352,800; the largest number em- ployed at one time as 1,270; the amount of wages paid as $577,123; the raw material used as $6,769,702; and the annual produet as $8,442,938. This ineluded all the manufacturers of dry colors, all the manufacturers of mixed paints, of which there were several specialties, all the producers of mineral paints, and probably, also, those of whiting, Paris white, ete., as well as the white lead manufacturers. The amount of production was probably not very far from the truth, though it was impossible to separate in his tables the white lead man- ufaeturers from the others. One of the white lead houses also manufactured linseed oil for their own use and for sale. Mr. Frothingnam had ineluded this in the list of their products. The eensus office, on the pretext that linseed oil was a distinet manufacture (which, however, they only ineluded, if at all, among the " unspecified " industries), threw out the words "lead and zine," and rejected, for no apparent reason, two of the establishments, making their returns as fol- lows: Paints, 26 establishments, $2,602,800 eapital, 941 hands, $478,376 wages paid, $4,023,500 raw material used, and $5,284,201 of annual produet. It is hardly necessary to say that these statisties do not adequately represent the white lead, paint, color and whiting in- terest of Kings county, nor its linseed oil manufacture, which is as essential a part of the manufacture of paints and varnishes as are the colors themselves. The annual produet given by the Census Office, while it more than covers the white lead interest, is far below that of the great paint manufacturers, several of which eount their annual produet by millions of dollars. In a letter from the Census Office, under date of March 12, 1883, they state the annual linseed oil produet of Kings county as $3,158,737. I have been unable to ascertain the process by which they eliminated this amount from the general returns of the white lead manufacture. The manufacturers themselves eannot give any aeeount of it, and it is certain that some of the largest pro- dueers of mixed paints and varnishes here do not ob- tain their linseed oil from Brooklyn manufacturers. The whole return is but another lamentable instance of assumption of a knowledge on the part of officials which they did not possess, and demonstrates, what ought to be well and widely known, the utter worthlessness of the eensus statisties of manufactures.

Assuming, however, that this estimate may have been something more than a mere guess, we have a most re- markable development in the linseed oil manufacture here in the last deeade. In 1860, the linseed oil pro- duced in Kings county was reported as of the value of $1,610,704, only $30,000 more than the cost of raw ma- terial and amount of wages paid. 1n 1870, it was $1,- 668,000, which was $301,500 more than the raw mate- rial and wages. In 1880, $3,158,737, or $313,768 above the cost of raw material and the amount of wages. An analysis of these returns serves to show very conclu-

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

sively that they were only guess work, and the returns of 1880 seem to have been no better. Only two estab- lishments are allowed, while more than that number cer- tainly existed; the number of hands is given as 335, when in 1870 only 145, less than one-half that number, were reported, yet the 335 are said to have received only $98,767 wages, while the 145 received $100,000. The difference, which is supposed to indicate the net profit, was $313,768; while in 1870, on about one-half the annual product, it was $301,500, or only $12,000 less. Clearly, there are blunders somewhere in these re- turns,

The manufacturers of linseed oil in Kings county are two; one of them, Robert Colgate & Co., being also manufacturers and corroders of white lead; while the other, Campbell & Thayer, manufacture the oil alone. The product is now a little less than the amount stated by the Census Office, though in some seasons it has been considerably more.

There are only four houses in Brooklyn which are properly manufacturers (i. e., corroders) of white lead. These are: The Brooklyn White Lead Company, founded in 1822; the Union White Lead Company, founded about 1842 or 1843; the Atlantic White Lead and Linseed Oil Company, founded about 1845; and the Bradley White Lead Company, founded about 1870. Of these, the Atlantic White Lead Company is considerably the largest, and is, indeed, with one or possibly two exceptions, the largest corroding house in the United States. The white lead business has not been prospering greatly in the East for several years past, and the out-put is considerably less than it was a dozen years ago. This is due to several causes; one, that several of the Western houses are connected with, or at least in the neighborhood of, the lead mines of Missouri and Iowa, or of the smelting furnaces where it is parted from silver, and so can procure their raw material cheaper than the Eastern manufacturers. There has sprung up, also, a certain demand for "sub- limed lead " for painting purposes; this was first pro- cured from the smelting furnaces, by the condensation of vaporized lead. There are objections to this pro- duct, from its comparative lightness and bulkiness, from its lack of body and its tendency to part from the oil, and rub off after a little from the wood or other surfaces to which it is applied; and its consumption is believed not to be materially increasing, but it has helped to depress the trade in the past. The largest house in this country, one at Cincinnati, started re- cently, which claims to make 15,000 tons of white lead annually, has been producing it by what is known as the "Shaw process," i. e., by the direct action of car- bonic acid gas upon the lead; but the result has been expensive and not satisfactory. The capacity of the four white lead companies of Brooklyn is about 18,000 tons of white lead, litharge, red oxide of lead or glass- makers' lead, etc., but the annual out-put of white lead

since 1880 does not much exceed 12,000 tons, or at $6.75 per hundred pounds, the minimum price of white lead ground in oil, about $1,620,000 of annual product, as against $2,430,000 of possible out-put. The demand for the lead is increasing rather slowly, but the numer- ous new factories springing into existence increase the annual product beyond the limit of demand, and it is only by their capacity to carry heavy stocks of the manufactured lead that a reduction below the actual cost of production is prevented.

The manufacture of the so-called mineral and other patent paints which contain no white lead, or very little, help to make this business unprofitable. There are a considerable number of these mineral and other paint manufacturers, and their sales are large, though, in the end, their wares are not satisfactory.

The other so-called white lead manufacturers, of whom there are four or five, are not corroders, but white lead grinders, generally in connection with other colors, which they also purchase and grind, dry or in linseed oil.

SUBSECTION II .- Painters' Colors, Dry.

The number of colors now used by house and sign painters is very large, amounting to several hundreds of different tints. Some of these are produced by com- bining colors, but there is now a possibility of procur- ing so many distinct shades of color from coal tar, pe- troleum residuum, etc., etc., that the necessity of hand- mixing of colors by the painters themselves has greatly diminished. Many of the fine colors are not produced here, but only ground in oils or refined for the painter's use. This is the case with such of the aniline and petro- line colors, carmine, etc., as are used in painting. There is not yet, in Brooklyn, any manufacture of aniline or petroline colors, though there are indications that there may be soon. But the more solid, as well as some of the fanciful colors, are largely produced here and others are isolated from the ores, minerals, metals, and earths with which they are combined, and made ready for immediate use. The largest houses engaged in the production of dry colors are Adolphus B. Ams- bacher, and Sondheim, Alsberg & Co. There are three other houses which manufacture dry colors, to a moder- ate extent ; and two, or more, of the great paint manu- facturers grind and pack dry colors as a part of their business. One of the houses named above, though manufacturing chrome, arsenical and other choice colors largely, makes a specialty of Paris Green (Scheele's green, arsenite of copper), now so largely used by agriculturists for the destruction of potato bugs, army worms, etc., etc., as well as for an ingredient of paints, and for use on wall papers, and in some articles of clothing.

The manufacture of dry colors is said to exceed a million of dollars, but the manufacturers are very loth to give figures.

Eng bv Gen E Perine.IT for

Leonard Richardon

armand

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THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

SUBSECTION III .- Color ground in oil, Colored Paints, and Mixed Paints.

Several very large houses, as we have already hinted, have, within a few years past, created an extensive business in grinding colors in oil, and selling them in cans of various sizes, from one-fourth of a pound to five pounds or more, guaranteeing their purity and readiness for mixing with white lead, also ground in oil, or such other basis as the painter might prefer.

These houses also mix and grind these various colors with white lead, and thus make paints ready for imme- diate application; thus greatly facilitating the painter's work, and enabling householders who want but a small job done, to do it themselves. These houses generally purchase their white lead, or exchange mixed paints for it; and the paints, when mixed, have always given ex- cellent satisfaction. Among the leading houses in this trade are John W. Masury & Son, C. T. Raynolds & Co., Wadsworth, Martinez & Longman, F. O. Pierce & Co., John D. Prince's Sons, etc.

LEONARD RICHARDSON, son of Thomas and Lydia Richard- son, was born in Watertown, Middlesex county, Massachu- setts, December 2d, 1832, and was the first-born of nine chil- dren, eight of whom are living.

Mr. Richardson's boyhood was spent on his father's farm, and he enjoyed the public school advantages peculiar to the time and locality; and was later fitted for college at Phillips' Academy, Andover, then under the management of Dr. Samuel H. Taylor, for whose friendly interest and care for his welfare as a youth, Mr. Richardson has ever cherished the liveliest feelings of gratitude.

At the age of eighteen, Mr. Richardson left home, going to New York to engage as clerk in the paint store of Raynolds, Devoe & Co., at 106 and 108 Fulton street, but boarding in Brooklyn with his brother-in-law, Chas. Pratt, Esq .; and it has been in Brooklyn that Mr. Richardson has had his home since that time.

The business of the long-celebrated firm, with whose inter- ests Mr. Richardson thus early identified himself, was estab- lished in 1770 by William Post, who was succeeded by Post & Butler, and they by Butler & Raynolds, the immediate pre- decessors of the firm of Raynolds, Devoe & Co., who, in 1863, were succeeded by Raynolds, Pratt & Co., who gave place, in 1867, to C. T. Raynolds & Co., a firm composed of Messrs. C. T. Raynolds, T. B. Hidden, Leonard Richardson, E. L. Molineux and A. Rich. E. H. Raynolds has, during the pres- ent year (1883), acquired an interest in the business, in which Mr. Richardson's partnership dates back to 1858.

It was during the period of the interest in the concern of Mr. F. W. Devoe (now of the firm of F. W. Devoe & Co.), that Mr. Richardson, then a young man, developed that pecu- liar adaptibility to the business that has since caused him to be regarded as, without doubt, the best manufacturer of colors and paints in this country; and he relates that it was Mr. Devoe who was first to recognize his talent for this branch of the business, and advance him therein; and, during the many years of success which have followed one another into the past, since then, Mr. Richardson has never ceased to regard Mr. Devoe with that grateful feeling which he be- lieves is due from him to the friend of his youth.

The paint trade and manufacture, when Mr. Richardson's connection with it began, was in its infancy in this country,

only small quantities being made by hand, and the bulk of the painters' materials in greatest demand being imported. He has seen its development into one of the leading in- dustries of the country, employing thousands of skilled workmen, and based on millions of capital, and its advance- ment, under a protective policy, to a point where the import- ation of painters' materials has practically ceased, and an enormous demand, caused by the steady development of the previously unsettled portions of the United States, supplied almost wholly by domestic manufacturers, among whom his firm takes high rank, both for the excellence and quantity of its products, which find a ready sale everywhere.

The firm of C. T. Raynolds & Co. have an extensive paint and putty works in Brooklyn, a large varnish and color fac- tory at Bergenpoint, N. J., and an immense paint and putty works in Chicago, with large stores at 106 and 108 Fulton street, New York, and 21 Lake street, Chicago.

In 1858, Mr. Richardson married Miss S. Louisa Cole, and they celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of their mar- riage at their residence, 1190 Dean street, Brooklyn, on Monday evening, June 25th, 1883. They have two sons and a daughter.

Politically, Mr. Richardson is a republican, but he has never been, in any sense, a politician, though his counsel and advice have often been sought by those high in author- ity. His interest in the clean administration of public affairs is equalled only by that which he has ever taken in educational measures.

His family are members of the Washington Avenue Bap- tist Church, of which Mr. Richardson is one of the trustees, and he has long been prominent in the management of its finances.

In all matters pertaining to the public good, Mr. Richard- son takes a deep and abiding interest. His charity is bountiful, but never ostentatious; and in all the relations of life he is honored beyond a majority of his fellows. He is widely known in connection with important interests con- cerning the Baptist Church, and is at all times recognized as a liberal contributor to the pecuniary needs of the organiza- tion, and as a wise and safe counsellor in its deliberative assemblies.

A specialty in this line is the mixing of paints with gelatine, soluble india-rubber, or some other substance which keeps it suspended and prevents its drying up or forming paint skins. In this specialty there are several houses, each employing a different suspensory fluid. It is the opinion of the white lead manufacturers, and probably they have good reason for their belief, that these manufacturers of special paint use little or no white lead in their paints; at all events, only sufficien to justify their claim that they are partly composed of that substance. The Averill Paint Co., of which Messrs. Seeley Bros. are now the principal proprictors, are the leading house in this specialty, and do a large business. The Ingersoll Paint Works, and several others, are smaller in extent. Several of these houses claim to use a solution of india-rubber in their paints, thus preventing, they say, their fading or changing color.

There are also honses which manufacture coarser paints, and those which are used for roofs, for iron fences, beams and columns. These generally use the

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

mineral paints, or red lead, or paints mixed with coal tar, or something of the sort. Messrs. H. D. Johns & Co., and one or two other houses, produce these paints.

It should be said, in regard to the manufacture of paints, that there are certain underlying principles which govern the manufacture of all genuine and satis- factory productions, whether as applied to wood or smooth metallic surfaces, which consist of three constit- uents, viz .: 1, The pigments; 2, The vehicles; 3, The thinners and driers .*

The two largest houses engaged in the manufacture of these mixed paints in Brooklyn are also the largest in the United States, or, for that matter, in the world. These are: Messrs. C. T. Raynolds & Co., who have also a large interest in the white lead manufacture, be- ing stockholders in the Bradley White Lead Co., which supplies their white lead, and are engaged in the pro- duction of whiting and Paris white, and in the manu- facture of artists' (tube) oil colors. Their mixed paints are of excellent quality, and command a large sale in all parts of the United States as well as abroad. Messrs. John W. Masury & Son, under the vigorous management of their efficient superintendent, Mr. Wol- cott, have rapidly risen to the first rank in this manu- facture. They confine themselves to paints and fine varnishes, and their goods in both departments are

*1. The pigments are various; generally white lead (either pure or mixed with oxide of zinc, haryta or prepared chalk, or some of the earths) is the hasis. This should be always the case with white and light colors, and with most of the darker ones, from its body or cover- ing property.

Other pigments used in the mixed or colored paints are : Yellows .- Yellow ochre, chromate of lead, gamhoge, etc.

Reds .- Red oxide of lead, vermilion, red ochre, oxides of iron, red oxide of copper, di-chromate of lead, carmine, carmine-madder, and other lakes, etc.

Blues .- Prussian blue, ultramarine, smalt, Thenard's blue, verditer, aniline blues, etc.

Greens .- Verdigris, Paris green, verditer, borate of copper, oxide of chromium, cohalt green, and green lakes, and very often a mixture of chrome yellow and Prussian hlue, etc., etc.

Browns .- Umher, bole, terra di Sienna, bistre, sepia, etc.

Blacks .- Lampblack, hone-black, anthracite, graphite, etc., etc.

2. The Vehicles .- These are : 1. Oils, generally linseed oil, of late also, to a limited extent, cotton-seed oil, nut oil, and poppy oil, vari- ously prepared, for the finest work. 2. Water, with glue or gum added. The last are essentially water-colors, and are mainly used on interiors, and for graining purposes.

The oil paints are first ground with a small quantity of raw linseed oil, to make the mixture homogeneous. This, as we have already stated, is now very largely done hy the manufacturers. About eight per cent. of oil is added to white lead, 12 or 13 per cent. to zinc white, and various proportions, according to the amount of hody of the different colors, and other considerations. Under the old system the painter mixed this for use with a further quantity of raw and hoiled linseed oil, and colored it, to any desired shade, with colored pigments, which he ohtained either dry or ground in oil.

Now, the painter can ohtain his paints, of the requisite fluidity, and of any desired shade of color, all mixed to his hand, and there will he no variation in the shade if he has to paint a surface of ten thousand or fifty thousand square feet. The addition of oil and colors is gov- erned by fixed rules, and the oils and colors are tested for purity hefore heing used.

3. The paints require, in using, thinners, which are generally of spirits of turpentine or henzine, and also driers, or siccatives, which may he, according to the necessities of each peculiar case, sugar of lead, nitrate of lead, sulphate of zinc, verdigris, binoxlde of manganese, red lead, japanners' gold size, and, most powerful of all, borate of manganese, ground in oll. The palnts must be used immediately, or they settle, and paint skins form over them.

of the very highest quality. In the paint department, they grind the white lead and the colors dry and in oil, and arc prepared to furnish them in both conditions. They also mix their paints with the requisite thinners and dryers, so as to be ready for immediate application. Messrs. Masury & Son procure their white lead mostly from Pittsburgh, exchanging their paints with the manufacturers for it. The range of shades of color made by these houses is very great, and the quality and color perfectly uniform. They have elevated the busi- ness to one of the fine arts.

All the paint manufacturers now put up their paints in cans and pails of all the sizes required by the large or small customers The competition in regard to quality is as severe as that in regard to price, and as a consequence there is less adulteration in paints at the present time than in almost any other commodities.

SUBSECTION IV .- Varnishes.

The manufacture of varnishes is carried on to a greater extent in Brooklyn than in any other city in the Union, more than one-seventh in value of the whole production of the United States being made here, and the business has received a very great impulse since 1870. The statistics of the census of 1880 were: for the whole country, 81 manufactories, employing $3,778,- 100 capital and 573 hands, paying $366,716 in wages, using $3,699,684 of raw materials, and producing $5,721,- 174 annually. Of these the state of New York had 17 manufactories, $1,395,800 capital, 143 hands, $91,638 wages paid, $1,028,705 raw material, and $1,867,155 product. There were no varnish factories in New York city, but Brooklyn had 8, with $716,800 capital, 73 hands, $47,186 wages paid, $353,205 raw material, and $874,655 product. The present product for the whole country is believed to be about $7,500,000, and for Brooklyn and Kings county, nine establishments, 150 employees, $90,000 wages, and an annual product of over $1,200,000.

The amount of varnish imported from all foreign countries in 1882 was of the value of $116,132, and this included all the oriental lacquers and varnishes, as well as everything of European production, the whole amount being less than one-tenth of the Brooklyn pro- duct alone, and about one-fiftieth of the entire American production. The figures of 1883 on both sides would show a still greater difference.

In fact, our export of varnishes has, for some years, exceeded the import, being, in the year ending June 30, 1882, $187,860, and having largely increased during 1883.

There are now nine manufacturers of varnish in Kings county, two having been added since 1880. We ought to say, perhaps, a few words here in regard to the differ- ent kinds of varnishes made.

Fixed oil varnishes, which are the kind most largely used, are prepared by mixing the fused gum resins with

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THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

a boiled and oxidized linseed oil, at a temperature of about 300° F., and added gradually with constant stir- ring.

The secret of those varnishes which have the highest reputation consists in the greater purity of the oil and gum resins, and the proportions which are used, rather than in any other ingredients. Asphalt is sometimes used for black varnishes, and India rubber or gutta- percha for the purpose of giving greater flexibility or elasticity in the working of the varnishes; but the finest varnishes are made from pure oil and pure gums.

Spirit varnishes are true solutions of the gum resins in alcohol (95 per cent.), or wood spirit of the same strength. The gums employed are sandarac, mastic, shellac, animé and copal. There are also colored spirit varnishes or lacquers, the coloring ingredients being tinctures of gums and gum resins, and recently aniline colors. The spirit varnishes are also used as driers for paints. They deteriorate by keeping, but as they are easily produced, this is not of so much consequence. They are not a staple article, like the oil varnishes.

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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 177

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