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 II, Part 16

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co
Number of Pages: 1345

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 II > Part 16

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Mr. Bliss, in his extensive machine shops and foun- dry, sometimes turns his attention to other branches of the business, as the construction of steam pumps, sugar- house machinery, etc .; but, in general, his large force are fully employed in filling his orders, which come from every part of the globe,

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THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

There are other machinists engaged in a moderate way in supplying this demand for drawing and stamping presses and dies. Among them we may name Robert Brass, of Scholes street, E. D .; Oramel C. Carpenter, of Lorimer street, E. D., and Messrs. Kennedy & Diss, of Adams street. Bernard F. Piel also advertises presses among his various machines. The total annual product of drawing and stamping presses and dies does not probably greatly exceed $600,000, and employs, possibly, 425 men.

We can find no trace of but one manufacturer of cotton presses in Kings county, viz., Balston & Son, of 35 Quay street, Greenpoint. We have been unable to learn any particulars of the extent of their manufac- ture.

There were formerly two manufactories of printing presses in Brooklyn, the Montague and the Campbell; the former have now removed to another city, and the Campbell press manufacturers have formed a joint stock company, under the title of the Campbell Press Works. The Campbell press is one of the best and most popular of the modern printing presses, as dis- tinguished from the great printing machines on which the mammoth dailies are printed, and there is a good and constantly increasing demand for a press of this description. The Campbell Press Works employ 30 or 40 men and turn out something over $100,000 worth of presses annually. The entire annual out-put of this subsection may be safely estimated at not less than $800,000, and about 525 men are employed in all its shops.

Among other manufacturers and dealers in engines, machinery, &c., we may mention James Pendlington, 88 Elizabeth street, shipsmith, steam forging and screw-bolt manufacturing, established 1869 (since his decease, in 1882, the business has been managed by his step-son, John A. Knowles). Reuben Riley, 508 Clinton street, builder of steam-engines and machinery; came to Brooklyn in 1854; established 1866, on Sum- mitt street; now located corner of Richard and Bowen streets. Daniel Sanders & Son, Shepard avenue, near Baltic avenue, engineers and machinists; established 1881, East New York ; make a specialty of manufac- turing experimental machinery.

SUBSECTION VI. - Brass Foundries and Brass Castings and Finishing.

It is somewhat difficult to ascertain who, and how many of our manufacturers, should be included under the title of brass founders. Most of the large engine and steam pump manufacturers manufacture, cast and roll the brass for the trimmings and bearings of their pumps and engines; some of them, like the Worthing- ton Pump Works, manufacture the brass from the zinc, copper, etc., in order to have it of the requisite and uniform hardness which they want. The jobbing and repairing machine shops, which use a good deal of

brass, purchase it in sheets or ingots of the great man- ufacturers at Waterbury, Ansonia, or elsewhere, and work it up for themselves. These last are certainly not brass founders, as the Worthington and some of the others are, but they are to some extent brass fin- ishers.

Yet aside from these there are twenty brass found- ers and manufacturers, and six brass finishers in Kings County, besides one iron founder, whose work is much more in brass, bronze and zinc than in iron, and two or more machinists who make brass work a spe- cialty.

In Mr. Frothingham's report the number of estab- lishments of brass castings and finishing was 25; the capital invested, $227,750; largest number of hands employed, 381; amount of wages paid, $144,213; raw material, $773,125; annual product, $1,059,823. This probably represented, as far as could be ascertained by the census processes, the business of brass castings and finishing in 1880. It does not fairly represent them in 1884.

Of the brass founders and manufacturers, some do a general business, making, casting and rolling brass for all the purposes required, and finding a market for their goods mainly among other manufacturers, who work up the brass into such forms as they require. These are but few, however; the great brass foundries at Waterbury and Ansonia, and their warehouses in New York, supplying much of this demand. Others make a specialty of bronze and phosphor bronze, and the great demand which has sprung up for these for door knobs, hinges, window fastenings, sashes, etc., etc., as well as for statuettes and ornaments, makes this manufacture specially important at the present time. Others make a specialty of plumbers' brass goods, and steam engine and steam pump trimmings, faucets, brass and copper boilers, valves, stop-cocks, etc., etc. Others still manufacture registers, screens, grate trimmings, fenders, office railings and gates, stamped brass, railroad baggage checks, etc. Still an- other class devote themselves to die sinking, seal en- graving, book-binders' stamps, and to the manufacture of printers' rule, and the strip brass used in the cylin- ders for printing wall papers.

Blakeman & Kerner, of Dunham Place, and J. O. L. Bottcher of First street, E. D., are brass founders, pure and simple, and so perhaps are two or three more smaller houses. John Bowie of the Columbian Brass Foundry, and his neighbors, the Brooklyn Brass and Copper Co., both on Front street, near Pearl, make special castings of brass, composition, zinc and lead to order, fine ornamental castings of zinc, lead or brass for cemeteries, and make a specialty of phos- phor bronze. F. A. Renton, of the Greenpoint Brass Foundry, and five or six others, manufacture plumbers' brass goods and brass for engineer work, and Renton makes a specialty of a patent ejector faucet.

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

ALITTLE

WILLIAM G. CREAMER.

Messrs. James Bailey & Co., of Clymer street, E. D., and several others, are die sinkers, makers of book- binders' and other stamps, seal presses, brass tools, etc., etc., while the Brass Goods Manufacturing Co. and the Long Island Brass Co., manufacture a general assortment of brass goods.

Mr. William G. Creamer of the "Brooklyn City Foundry," whose portrait and biography adorn our pages, though down in the directory as an iron founder, has more to do with brass and bronze than with iron. His establishment on Grinnell street, extending from Smith to Court, was erected in 1869. Its extent is 100x300 feet, an area of 30,000 square feet, and it in- cludes several large buildings. He manufactures everything in the way of hardware or metal trimmings used in the interior of railroad cars, the lamps, seat frames, ventilators, sash trimmings, bell-cord fixtures, locks, saloon fixtures, etc., etc.

He manufactures, also, every description of registers and ventilators used in private dwellings, schools, pub- lic buildings, etc. He has furnished these for the Cap- itol at Albany, and the Capitols at Atlanta, Ga., and Des Moines, Iowa, as well as for many of the public schools of this city, and other cities, the Middletown Asylum, etc. But his finest goods are in the line of choice hammered brass and repoussé work, mirrors, sconces, tables, candlesticks, table tea-kettles, etc.,

etc. He also makes fine brass, iron and bronze cast- ings and general brass work, such as railings, vaults, doors, etc., etc.

He has a capital of $100,000 invested in the busi- ness, employs about 80 hands, and turns out nearly $250,000 worth of goods annually.

WILLIAM G. CREAMER, the subject of this sketch and the proprietor of the Brooklyn City Foundry, has been a resident of this city since 1860. He was born in New Jersey, Novem- ber 26th, 1821. His ancestors on his father's side emigrated to this country from Lower Saxony about the middle of the last century, and settled in Middletown, Connecticut. His grandfather married an English lady, Lydia Simmons. His father, the Rev. John Creamer, was born in 1794, and mar- ried, in 1820, Nancy B. Snyder, of New Brunswick, N. J. She was of Holland descent. The marriage of the young Meth- odist clergyman was something of a romance, and is per- haps worthy of a place in this sketch.

Miss Snyder was on a visit to her uncle, Archibald Taylor, Esq., a wealthy land owner of Hunterdon county, N. J. While there, she and her cousin heard of the eloquence of the young Methodist preacher, who was to preach in a barn a few miles from her uncle's residence. The young ladies thought it would be worth while to go and hear him, and, with the consent of Mr. Taylor, the family carriage and col- ored coachman took them to the meeting-house, where, of course, their appearance attracted some attention among the audience. The young ladies were much interested with the eloquence of the young itinerant, who gave notice that he would preach again at the same place three weeks later.

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THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

The second time they went, the young minister, attracted by their appearance, took pains to find out who his distinguished visitors were, and a year or two afterward was married to Miss Snyder, who died in April, 1883, full of years and honors, in the 84th year of her age, at the house of her son-in- law, W. A. Bray, Esq., of Oakland, Cal. The Rev. John Creamer died in 1826, while attending Conference in Phila- delphia.

Mr. Creamer was married at New Brunswick, N. J., Dec. 29th, 1843, to Miss Hattie Molleson. From this marriage there were two sons and one daughter. The daughter, Hattie, only survives. She was married in 1867 to Colonel L. L. Langdon, of the U. S. A. In 1869, his oldest son, Ho- ratio, was married to Miss Chicas, of this city, and died March 6th, 1882. Two children survive him. The youngest son of Mr. Creamer, Robert, died in infancy in 1850.

At the commencement of the late war for the Union, Mr. Creamer was the first resident of the Sixth Ward to display the old flag from the top of his house in Second place, and there it remained until the close of the war.

He has never been specially active in local politics, or even national affairs, so far as immediate participation is con- cerned; but, at the same time, he has always been a close reader and earnest thinker in the history and politics of his own country, as well as the world at large, and has per- formed every duty devolving upon a citizen.

The most important sphere of Mr. Creamer's active life has been connected with his inventions and improvements, and he is widely known throughout the Union by his numo- rous inventions connected with railroad car building.

His first and, perhaps, most important invention was known as the Creamer safety-brake. This was the first prac- tical and successful invention that gave the engineer com- plete control of every brake of all the cars comprising the train. This invention was largely used on the Hudson River railroad, New York Central, Lake Shore and many others, and was only lately superseded by the air-brake. Mr. Creamer himself made the invention of an air-brake in 1855, and filed a caveat of the same in the Patent Office. This invention was shown at the time to a number of railroad men, but its use was discouraged, the safety-brake being then considered preferable. The gold medal of the Ameri- can Institute was awarded for his safety-brake. His connection with railroad affairs, through the invention of his brake, brought to his attention many suggestions of im- provement in the construction of passenger cars; and, in the latter part of 1863, he hired a small room with steam power in John street, New York, and commenced, in a small way, the manufacture of car fittings, and from this small begin- ning has grown the business now conducted at the Brooklyn City Foundry.

Space would hardly allow in detail a description of all the inventions made and patents issued to Mr. Creamer. Next to his safety-brake, his system of ventilation of railroad cars is best known. More than a hundred thousand of his venti- lators have been sold, and are being constantly made. Mr. Creamer is in the enjoyment of excellent health, and is ac- tively engaged in his business in Brooklyn and New York, and often tells his friends that he does not intend to give up work as long as his life is useful to the world, or until he is called to Greenwood.

Messrs. White & Price machinists, the South Brook- lyn Steam Engine Co., and several other large machine and engine shops, do a considerable business in brass casting and finishing.

The statistics of the brass foundries and factories are, as nearly as can be ascertained, as follows: Number of establishments, 27; or, including Mr. Creamer and the two machine shops, 30; number of hands employed, about 600; wages paid annually, about $195,000; an- nual product, $1,693,000.

SUBSECTION VII .- Woodworking Machinery, and small machines of all kinds; iron bolts, nuts, washers, screws and rivets; stoves, heaters, and cast-iron hollow ware.

The various industries included in this subsection occupy many shops, and employ, in the aggregate, a large number of hands; but the amount of capital in- vested is not so large, nor the out-put of so great a value as some of the other classes of machine shop work. The manufacture of woodworking machinery-which was for many years confined to a few simple machines, such as lathes, mortising machines, gang, circular, key and jig saws, and boring machines-has of late assumed a new and larger activity. The band saw and the scroll saw both work wonders; the veneers from the choicest woods are now taken off spirally, and so thin and per-

fect as to save the manufacturer one-half the former outlay for veneers. The new mortising machines, the dove-tailing machine, and the lathes for irregular forms, are among the most remarkable evidences of human skill and ingenuity of modern times. Still more won- derful are the machines for working in ivory, bone, and the softer metals. The machines for making the iron and steel work of sewing machines have reduced the construction of these useful machines to the finest pos- sible point. The Singer Manufacturing Company can calculate the cost of its sewing machines to a fraction of a cent; and any proposed process which would reduce that cost to the amount of three cents, would be adopted at once, though it might involve an outlay of ten thou- sand dollars, for three cents on the cost of a sewing ma- chine is more than $15,000 on their annual sales. This is true also of many other small machines, of which such great numbers are now put upon the market. The manufacturers of household hardware use very many of these machines, in the manufacture of their articles; and fluting, pinking, plaiting, braiding and crimping ma- chines, jewelers' rolls, macaroni machinery, etc., are specialties of several machinists.

The business directory for 1883 puts down seven firms as metal workers or manufacturers of metal goods. Some of these are, we believe, put down else- where among the machinists, but they themselves make the distinction. They are probably not all exactly in the same line, but this is perhaps the best place in which to group them. So far as our information goes, the largest of these houses is that of William Lang, of South 6th and Ist streets. Mr. Lang commenced business in 1869. He has invested a capital of $25,000 in his business; employs an average of 100 hands; pays

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

out $40,000 annually for wages, and produces annually about $110,000. At the commencement of his busi- ness Albert Hondlett was associated with him. Other houses, reported as metal workers, are: the Brothers Aston, at 230 Java street, and 133 Manhattan avenue; the Campbell Mining and Reducing Co., 175 North 10th street (we are not certain about their claim to a place here); William J. Flick, 21 Atlantic avenue ; Charles J. Hassock & Son, 36 Stagg street; James Smith, 65 Java street.

When we come to the manufacture of bolts, nuts, washers, screws and rivets, we are lost in admiration of the ingenuity of the machines that produce these in such perfection and in such vast quantities. Some of these screws-those for the watch manufacturers' use- are so minute that they look like grains of sand, and from four hundred to five hundred of them only weigh an ounce. Others, like the jackscrews, are so large that it requires the strength of several men to turn them in their sockets. There are five or six manufacturers of screws in Brooklyn, the leading houses being William C. Boone & Son, James W. Lyon, and John Fellows. Some of the machinists also give special attention to the manufacture of screws for a particular service. Of the manufacturers of woodworking machinery there are several. Among them are Stone & Mount, Leonard Tilton, and others. Most of these work for two or three of the great furniture manufacturers, and are so fully employed as not to make their vocation very pub- lic. Among the manufacturers of small machines are Robert Brass, Kennedy & Diss, Frank E. Stevens, J. J. Patton & Co., Oakley & Keating, etc., etc.

It is very difficult to estimate the total production of the classes coming under this subsection, yet we can approximate it. The screws, bolts, rivets, etc,, include not less than sixteen establishments, and an annual pro- duct of not far from $250,000; the woodworking ma- chinery, five or six, with a total product of perhaps $125,000; the metal workers, about 200 hands, with a product of not less than $350,000 ; the small ma- chines, sewing machines, etc., etc., about twenty, with a total product of at least $300,000. If we add to this the fifteen establishments for the manufacture of stoves, heaters, and cast-iron hollow ware, which form a distinct branch of the business, we have a further product of about $475,000, making a grand total of fifty-six or fifty-seven establishments, employing, per- haps, 850 hands, and producing about $1,500,000.

SUBSECTION VIII .- Minor Machine Shop Products, and Repairing.

There are very many of these shops, and the num- ber is constantly increasing, and as constantly being diminished - increasing from the enterprising young men who have learned their business, set up for them- selves in a small way, seeking for employment for the few tools they have purchased or made, and perhaps

also for some brother journeyman who has cast in his fortunes with them, doing at first small jobs in the way of making and repairing, and as they win the confi- dence of manufacturers or the public, increasing their facilities till they have a large shop, a dozen or more hands, and constant business. The ranks of these en- terprising young machinists are also constantly dimin- ished, as one after another, having proved his skill and executive ability, passes to the higher position of fore- man or superintendent of some great foundry or ma- chine shop ; or, in rare cases, builds up a large business in some specialty of his own. There are not less than fifty of these jobbing and repairing shops in Kings county, and their annual production ranges all the way from $3,000 to $30,000. They employ at least 175 workmen in all, and their total out-put is not far from $275,000, or, counting in the most prosperous of their number, may reach $300,000.

SUBSECTION IX .- Iron Fences; Railings, of Wrought Iron, Wire, etc., and Wire Work of all kinds.

This is a large subsection, including a great variety of products. The cast-iron fences and posts for the steps and areas of our city houses, the graceful or un- graceful wrought-iron fences of greater length and extent, the wire fences, window guards and railings of all sorts, often elegantly wrought or woven, and, be- yond these, the thousand uses to which woven wire net- work is put for sieves, screens, doors, filters, nets, bas- kets, gratings, meat safes, flower stands, etc., etc. And still beyond these come the multifarious uses of iron and steel wire, of some of which we have had such ex- emplifications in the construction of our beautiful Bridge. The use of it, plain and barbed, for a fencing material encompasses several hundreds of thousands of miles in the West, and is very large in the East also. Wire rope is not only used in bridge-build- ing and in the traction of cars, but it is largely in de- mand for the standing rigging of ships, especially of steamships; is greatly preferred for elevators for mines and mining shafts, and for all kinds of traction where great strength and the minimum wear from friction is required. In all these directions, our Kings County manufacturers are equal to any in the United States. In cast-iron and wrought-iron fences and railings, ceme- tery iron-work, area gates, window guards and gratings, awning irons, sheet-iron doors and shutters, etc., are the houses of Howell & Saxtan, Knight Brothers, Smith & Rhind, the Eagle Iron Works of Jacob May, Howard & Morse, Philip H. Dugro and James Forman, whose establishment, the Brooklyn Wire Works, in Court street, though small, does excellent work, turning out, with a very few men, the best of wire and orna- mental iron work. The North American Iron Works, the Atlas Iron Works, Thomas F. Rowland, Richard Knudsen, and many others, are largely engaged, and in the excellence of their work they have no superiors.

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THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

Annin & Co. have a high reputation for the excellence of their iron pipes and tubes.

The manufacture of wire cloth of all descriptions, and of fine wires, is a large industry in Kings county. There are nearly twenty firms, large and small, of all descriptions, engaged in it; but so great is the variety of purposes to which it is applied, that there is very little rivalry among them. Some confine themselves to the weaving of iron wire cloth, for which there is a large demand for window screens and doors, meat safes, and the coarser wire screens for coal, sand, etc., etc. Others make and weave fine steel wires . for various uses. Some, instead of weaving the wires which they have drawn, twist them into ropes and cords of varying size, from the great wire ropes or cables of the Brook- lyn Bridge to the rigging of a steamship, or the more delicate ropes of a pleasure yacht.

Others, again, draw and weave almost exclusively brass and copper wires for sieves and delicate screens; and one house makes a specialty of producing from these metals the Fourdrinier wires and the Fourdrinier wire cloth, so largely in demand for the use of paper- makers.

This house, the William Cabble Excelsior Wire Manufacturing Co., whose extensive works in Ainslie street and Union avenue are depicted on the following page, has had an interesting history, which will be found in detail in the following biography of

THE BROTHERS CABBLE .- The Cabble family are of ancient and good blood. For several hundred years they had been among the honorable and esteemed citizens of Frome, an old and pleasant manufacturing town of Somersetshire, England; and three hundred and seventy-five years ago their ancestor, John Cabble, was granted a charter by Henry VIII. to build and endow a chantry in the parish church of the town, which he dedicated to St. Nicholas. On the large and beau- tiful stained-glass window of the chantry were depicted, ac- cording to the custom of the time, the Cabble coat of arms. Beside the usual armorial bearings, the principal figure was a sea-horse rampant, impaling a text K and a bell, the whole enclosed by a rope or cable, a double play upon the family name ; this window is still in existence. The family had continued to be respectable and prosperous, and about the beginning of the present century they had become dissenters, enrolling themselves among the Independents, of which several members of the family were prominent and active communicants.

It was not far from the year 1800, that Edward Cabble went into the employ of Mr. Joseph Whiting, a wire manufacturer of Frome, and after a time married Mr. Whiting's daughter, and at his death succeeded to his business. He was an able, intelligent and enterprising man, conscientious and upright in his dealings, and brought up his family with great care, giving his children good opportunities of education, and training them thoroughly to business habits. He died in 1844, leaving four sons, the eldest of whom, William Cabble, then a young man about twenty-six years of age, inherited his business, and was thenceforward to be the head of the family and the protector and father of the younger members of it. William Cabble, whose portrait graces our pages, was no or- dinary man. He had been well educated in the city of Bath,

and had obtained a complete mastery of the wire manufac- ture. He was enterprising and ambitious, but not rash or impulsive. He saw very clearly that Frome offered no chance for such extension of his business as he deemed desirable for himself and liis brothers, and he decided to emigrate to the United States, taking them with him. The next year, 1845, he sailed for New York with his family and brothers, and at once began to look about for business. Possessing a fair amount of property, and a large share of sound common sense, he was not disposed to risk everything upon an immediate start in business, among a people whose ways and methods were in many respects strange to him. He was already mar- ried to the noble woman who survives him, and he took his brothers into his family and sought employment for himself and his brother Joseph in the wire manufactory of Mr. Robert Cocker. He remained with Mr. Cocker for two years, and then resolved to start in business for himself, at Roxbury, Connecticut. His first venture was unfortunate. It was too far from a good market for his goods ; and as the mill was run by water power, a great and continued drought dried up the stream which supplied it, and compelled him to close it for six months. Disposing of this property, he returned to New York, and soon after established a mill at Belleville, New Jersey. Here he remained for three years, and then returned to New York, and located his works in Gold street. Soon after this he became acquainted with Mr. David Woods, of Hester and Elizabeth streets, who was then at the head of one of the oldest wire-weaving establishments iu the country. In 1854 Mr. Woods made overtures to Mr. Cabble to become his partner. Not long after, Mr. Woods sold out his interest in the business to Mr. Cabble, who thus became the head of a large aud flourishing manufactory, located in Centre, Hester and Elizabeth streets, and with a warehouse at 43 Fulton street. He had taken his three brothers into the factory, not as partners, but as workmen, that they might become thor- oughly familiar with all the details of the business; and while they were all skilled workmen, the youngest, Elijah, who was only a boy of fifteen when he came to this country, had developed much of his brother's enterprise and executive ability. In 1857 Mr. Cabble removed his works to the Eastern District of Brooklyn, hiring a factory at Tenth and Ainslie streets. Two years after, this factory was burned down. He purchased the site and rebuilt it, and a few years later, de- siring larger quarters, he bought the site of the present works on Union avenue and Ainslie street. In 1860, finding that there was a large demand for hoop-skirts, he built a new factory, and employed five hundred hands in the drawing, rolling and tempering of steel wire, used in their manufac- ture. When, a few years later, these garments went out of fashion, he sold the machinery and replaced it with iron looms for wire-weaving. His business prospered, notwith- standing several disasters by fire.

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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 II, Part 16

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co Number of Pages: 1345

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co
Number of Pages: 1345