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 17

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 17

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Iu 1870, this good, wise and judicious business man, es- teemed and beloved in all the relations of life, was laid on his death-bed, smitten by that terrible malady, Bright's dis- ease of the kidneys. But death had no terrors for him. With a calm and humble faith, he prepared to surrender his spirit to the keeping of the God who gave it. He was mind- ful of the trust which his father had left to him, and made provision in his will for all those, in any sense, dependent upon him. He provided that a joint stock company should be formed, to carry on the business, for which he also left the necessary capital ; that his wife and daughter, and his three brothers, should constitute the company, and that his youngest brother, Elijah, should be the President, his brother Joseph, Secretary, and E. Cabble, Treasurer. Elijah Cabble. was also to be his executor.

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

The result proved the soundness of his judgment and the wisdom of his choice. Mr. Elijah Cabble, whose portrait graces the opposite page, assumed the position to which he was called with the hearty co-operation and good will of all the members of the family, and a more united and happy family it would be hard to find. He has devoted his whole powers to building up the business, with a persistent earnest- ness and an untiring fidelity to the interests of the family, which is as rare as it is beautiful, impairing his health by his devotion to the business. The second brother, Joseph, died in 1879, a man of rare gifts and talents, with whom music was a passion, and art a delight. Ilis son, Joseph, took his place in the company as Secretary, and several of the younger generation have been admitted, after thoroughtrain- ing. as shareholders in the company. Mr. Edward Cabble, the third brother, is now Superintendent.

their original length. After drawing, they are an- nealed, cleaned, and if necessary drawn again till they have reached the proper degree of fineness. They are next tested, examined and classified as to strength, temper and fineness. When ready for use, the wire is wound off on spools by the spooling machine, for the warp and shuttles, and reeled for special purposes on hand wheels. These spools are now taken by the weavers, and the wire from them wound upon the back beam of large, ponderous, iron looms, varying in width from four to ten feet, and weighing from three to seven tons each; then, one by one, the threads are taken through the hed- dles or harness, then through the reed, which form the

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CHIN

SHOP.

CO.

THE WILLIAM CABBLE EXCELSIOR WIRE IWORKS.

Meanwhile, in these thirteen years, the business has trebled in amount, and new buildings have been erected, until they cover nearly half of a large city-block ; the manufacture of Fourdrinier wire, and Fourdrinier wire-cloth, for the use of the paper-makers, is constantly extending, and the demand, stimulated by the excellence of their goods, more than keeps pace with the supply. Their other lines of wire goods are also popular, and find a ready sale.

The Fourdrinier wire cloth, the making of which is the specialty of these works, is woven from very fine and perfect brass wire, and all the processes, except the manufacture of the brass, are conducted here. In the wire-drawing rooms, the large brass rings of coarse wire are arranged ready for the successive dies through which they are to be drawn, till they have attained two hundred thousand or three hundred thousand times

mesh of the cloth, sixty or seventy threads (as the case may be) to an inch, these are tied to a bar, this is fas- tened to a canvas, which is attached to the loom, and the operation of weaving then commences by throwing the shuttle back and forth. The weaving is performed, as usual on hand looms, the shuttles being provided with the bobbins of fine wire. The wire cloth which is thus woven at the rate of four or five yards a day by each weaver, is carefully inspected by the Super- intendent; and, if found perfect, the pieces are sewed together, very deftly, to form an endless sheet, then drawn out, stretched, squared and made true, and rolled and boxed, ready for shipment.

Nearly all paper, of whatever material, is now made on the Fourdrinier machine, and as the wire cloth under

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THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

its necessary hard usage requires frequent renewals, the demand for it is constant and rapidly increasing. The wire cloth made by the Cabble works, is of such uni- formly superior quality, that it is regarded as the best in the market.

As Mr. Cabble says: "Our aim is not the almighty dollar; we are proud of our work and of our name. Our father's boys were all brought up in the same business. We inherited it from father and maternal grandfather, and our aim is to make goods that can- not be surpassed."

Besides the Fourdrinier wire cloth, and Fourdrinier wires, dandy rolls and cylinder wires, the Cabble works also manufacture iron-wire cloth for coal-burning loco- motives, iron-wire bolting cloth, and other grades of iron-wire cloth; galvanized wire netting, fencing, fen- ders and guards, sieves and bolters, traps, screens, flower-stands, ropes, railings, chains and settees.

Their buildings, on Union avenue and Ainslie street, Brooklyn, E. D., are very extensive. They consist of four buildings, erected around an open court. The loom factory (one story, brick, 100 feet by 36 feet, with slate roof and lantern skylight) has just been completed. The front on Union avenue is 150 feet, with a depth of 100 feet, and on Ainslie street, the front is 92 feet, with a depth of 100 feet. The main building, on Union avenue, is 75 feet by 40 feet, four stories, and a base- ment occupied as an engine-house. The engine, a 40- horse power, and built by Weisbecker & Ray, of Brooklyn, is named "James A. Garfield." Here is the driving and heating force of the whole establishment ; for the whole is heated by steam.

The office is in the two-story building, on Ainslie street, a fine building, with mansard roof, giving a third story, with an ornamental paling in the centre, from which rises an imposing flag-staff.

The directors' room is the parlor of the house ; it is handsomely furnished, and its walls are hung with paintings. Adjoining the main building, on Union avenue, are: the machine-shop, where all the machinery is made and repaired ; the blacksmiths' shop, where the forging is done, and the carpenters' shop, where every outfit for a large factory is at hand. The build- ings cost $45,000. They employ now about 105 hands, and very many of their employees, male and female, have been with them for many years; it being a rule of the establishment to make but few changes, which al- most always implies faithful workers and good work. The factory is connected by telephone with the ware- house at 43 Fulton street, New York.

The annual amount of wages paid is $70,000, which, considering the number of women and boys in the force, is, we think, the highest pay roll per capita in Kings county, or elsewhere. Their annual out-put at present is from $240,000 to $250,000, but they can, in years of active and prosperous business, nearly double this amount with their present machinery and appliances.

Of the other manufacturers of wire goods, Messrs. Howard & Morse and J. II. De Witt & Son are both very large houses, and manufacture wire cloth and almost every description of wire work already enumer- ated, except Fourdrinier wires and Fourdrinier wire cloth, these, as we have said, being only manufactured in Kings county or New York by the William Cabble Company. The out-put of these two houses is about the same as that of the William Cabble Company. The other houses in the business, The Brooklyn Wire Cloth Works (Richardson & Hodgson), Smith & Rhind, Joseph Norwood, The N. Y. Wire and Wire Rope Company, Philip Schmitt, Michael Mc Cormick, John Mc Murray, Francis A. Fuy, John Jansen, John II. Schweers, etc., make almost every variety of wire goods and wire rope. Several of them are large and enter- prising houses, doing a good and profitable business; others are but new beginners, but make excellent goods, and will achieve success.

The census reported in 1880, on " wire work," 10 establishments; $240,778 capital; 172 hands; $83,690 wages; $97,641 material, and $228,204 annual product. As we have seen, there are three, at least, of the houses in the trade which each exceed this product. Our figures are: 17 establishments; about 525 hands; about $180,000 wages; about $1,050,000 annual product.

SECTION VII. The Manufacture of Steel.

The manufacture of iron from the ore is not one of the industries of Kings County. The production of steel is not on a large scale, and there are, we believe, no Bessemer steel works here, these requiring a costly and extensive plant, and certain facilities for obtaining ores and fluxes which do not exist here. The census persistently ignored the existence of any steel works here, although one had been at work here since 1868 or 1869, and the other for five or six years. The Chrome Steel Works, Kent avenue, cor. of Keap st., is deserving of a place in our history, if there were no other reason, for its plucky persistency in overcoming all obstacles, and for refusing to be overwhelmed or discouraged by a long succession of disasters. It was started to de- monstrate the truth of a theory, that chromium was a good and sufficient substitute for carbon in the manu- facture of steel.

The first experimenters, though good metallurgists in a small way, with crucible and cupel in the labora- tory, were not at home in the larger operations of the furnace, and met with technical difficulties and obsta- cles which were as unexpected as they were annoying; they would turn out a number of ingots of very supe- rior steel, its qualities surpassing everything in the market; and while they were rejoicing over this, and reckoning their profits, the very next batch, selected from the same materials, and made by the same pro-

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

cesses, so far as they could determine, would come out with no cohesive power, and none of the qualities re- quired in steel; and yet the one ingot could not be dis- tinguished by its looks from the other. The reasons for this difference could not be ascertained, and, discour- aged by long-continued ill success, the original partners withdrew, one after another, till but one was left; but he, a Scotch-Irishman, held on and held out, and within the last four or five years has succeeded, in part at least, in overcoming this very stubborn difficulty. This uncertainty of the tenacity of the product, had given the Chrome steel a bad reputation. The company was a bidder at low rates for the steel wire for use on the Bridge, but its reputation for uncertain tenacity of its steel caused the bid to be thrown out. Of late, the steel has been quite uniform in its character, but the difficulty of insufficient capital, which has hampered it from the first, still causes it difficulty. The invention has proved itself valuable, and it is time that the at- tention of capitalists was turned to it. The out-put is now, we learn, from $50,000 to $60,000 per annum.

The other steel manufactory of Brooklyn is that of Wright & Son, in Hancock street, between Reid and Patchen avenues. They make carbon steel, but the extent of their works or the quality of the steel we have been unable to ascertain.

SECTION VIII. Saws and Files.

This is Mr. Frothingham's heading, and his statistics are: 24 establishments; $161,900 capital; 302 hands; $97,647 wages; $90,718 material; $249,805 annual pro- duct. The census office assumed that there was but one saw manufacturer in Brooklyn (there were three at that time), remanded him to the miscellaneous industries, and inserted Files, 12 establishments, $25,750 capital, 76 hands, $29,192 wages, $21,970 material, $68,509 an- nual product. Both entries are hopelessly wrong, and only illustrate the folly of meddling with statistics, which the officials of the census office were incapable of understanding. The two branches of business, which are intimately connected, have been carried on with many vicissitudes, but the annual product of the two is not now less than $500,000, though there have been sev- eral failures within the last two years. The number of hands is probably now not far from 400.

But, as the processes 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. 1

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 variety.

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 valne, while he is obliged to use steel purchased at the market price, and

THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

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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 cut 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- chine for cutting the teeth of the carpenters' saws making

on a hardwood block), 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 screws for the handles; and in one pattern, which is patented, a portion of the upper part of the blade is cut 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 screws. The handles are made of beech and apple wood principally, though mahogany, rose- wood, cherry, and black walnut are used to some extent.

PEACE

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COMPANY

Limited

OPFIC

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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 delicate process), 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 are 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 carried to a remarkable extent, not in the produc- tion of different kinds of saws, as might be expected, but in the different processes required in the produc- 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

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

hardens and tempers the saw has no knowledge of the processes of toothing and filing, nor of the smithing and hammering; so that there are three distinct trades un- der the head of saw-making; in saw grinding, the man who grinds the saws on a machine cannot be trans- ferred to the work of grinding them by hand. In the polishing department, the polisher cannot do the setting, filing, retempering or etching. He might do the graining, which is effected by passing the polished and finished saw between hardwood rollers.

The saw-handlers have also several subdivisions. It is very rarely the case 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 direct. ing each effectively. This is to be regretted, because it is a business which can only be conducted success- 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 qualifications, 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 descriptions of saws, and from their limited means, the quality even of these lacks 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 him for being a leader and employer of men, our first thought 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, ho commenced, in a small way, in Center street, New York, taking a younger brother as a partner. Find- ing their location not a gool 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 theira, 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, snccess 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, tbat 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 hardness of the times, furnishing them with employment in his own establishment till they could recover themselves.

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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 17

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