USA > Ohio > Sketches and statistics of Cincinnati in 1859 > Part 24
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Boots and Shoes .- Of these, there are every variety made in Cincinnati ; fine and coarse work for foreign markets, and custom work for home consumption. The purchases of our own citizens alone, annually, reach seven hundred and fifty thousand pairs of boots and shoes; worth more than two millions seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Two-thirds of these, at least, are made here, wholesale, or at custom shops. There are four hundred and seventy-four boot and shoemakers, with twenty-seven hundred and forty-five hands, and a product of seventeen hundred and fifty thou- sand four hundred and fifty dollars; value of raw material, 50 per cent., as an average.
When the statistics in this line, of the census of 1840, for Cin- cinnati were taken, although the value of the leather annually manu- factured in the place was three hundred, and thirty-five thousand dollars, yet, at that period, the entire consumption of leather here, was by custom-work boot and shoemakers, and the amount of raw material beyond that demand, was exported east, whence it came back, to a great extent, worked up into the cheaper qualities of ready-made boots and shoes.
Since that date, a beginning and successful progress has been made in changing this course of things, by various business houses, who have entered the field as wholesale boot and shoe manufac- turers.
Of these, the principal are Charles Hendley, southeast corner Second and Sycamore streets, who makes men's boots and shoes only ; Win. II. King, and W. G. Rogers, on Pearl street, and Mark Tennison, on Western Row, who make men's and women's wear,
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and E. G. Webster, No. 63 west Pearl street, and John H. Deters, southwest corner of Walnut and Fourth streets.
Webster & Co. is a large wholesale jobbing house in the boot and shoe line, and the only one in Cincinnati who manufactures here to any extent. They work one hundred hands -- fifty men and as many women-and produce over seventy-five thousand pairs women's, misses', and children's boots and shoes annually; value, forty thousand dollars. They are also extensive dealers in eastern boots and shoes, for men's wear, their sales, in this last department, reaching one hundred and fifty thousand dollars yearly.
J. H. Deters, warehouse, in Carlisle's building, corner Fourth and Walnut, makes every description of boots and shoes-is exclusively a manufacturer, and sells his own products, wholesale and by retail ; employs one hundred and fifty hands, and produces, annually, a value of one hundred and thirty thousand dollars.
Box Factories. - There are six packing-box factories, which employ seventy-five hands ; value of product, two hundred and ten thousand dollars ; of raw material, 40 per cent.
J. & J. M. Johnston, 219 and 221 west Third street, make pack- ing-boxes, bath tubs, and refrigerators ; employ forty-five hands, and produce to the value of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. They make, annually, three hundred thousand boxes, of every size and description, and work up two millions five hundred thousand feet of boards as material.
Brands, Stamps, Stencil Cutting, etc .- Ten shops ; thirty hands; product, twenty two thousand dollars ; raw material, 10 per cent.
John Stanton, No. 139 west Fifth street, west of Race, cuts steel alphabets and figures of all sizes and patterns ; stenographic char- acters, etc. Also, railroad, steamboat, and hotel baggage checks, which can be ordered by mail and will be forwarded by express to any part of the country. Four hands, yearly, produce four thou- sand dollars.
Bricklayers and Plasterers .- Two hundred and ninety brick- layers, and forty plasterers-master workmen. Eleven hundred and twelve hands; labor value, six hundred and forty thousand seven hundred dollars ; raw material, 10 per cent.
Brickyards .- Sixty brickmakers ; employ five hundred hands ; value of product, two hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars; raw material-clay and fuel-45 per cent.
Brooms .- Two shops, one small.
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MANUFACTURES AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS.
Conklin & Bacon, corner Front and Walnut streets, manufactu- rers of brooms, and dealers in produce and broom corn, work twenty-five hands ; product, in brooms, twenty-five thousand dollars ; raw material, 60 per cent.
The broom corn is raised throughout the west, and supplies reach this market from points as far off as western Illinois. It varies, in price, according to quality or scarcity, from sixty to one hundred dollars per ton. Average crop is two-thirds of a ton to the acre. They make three hundred and fifty dozen per week, which range, in price, from one dollar and a quarter, to three dollars per dozen. Their handles are supplied from the valley of the Kanawha, Virginia. The West is the principal market for the article. The largest share of the brooms is made at various points, contiguous to where the broom corn grows, in many cases upon the farms themselves.
Bristle Dressing and Curled Hair Manufacture .- In the list of a variety of operations here insignificant in their details, but of some importance in the aggregate, may be included the business of bristle dressing, or preparing the bristle and hair of our great staple, the hog, for eastern markets. This is carried on, in this place, at two establishments, Whittaker and Bullock's, and gives occupation to one hundred and fifty hands, whose labors it engages during a part of the year, affording higher wages, or rather, netting to the laborer more profits than almost any other journeyman em- ployment in Cincinnati. These bristles are sent to our eastern cities, where they are assorted for various uses.
These firms have prepared for market, this season, the supplies, in these articles, which have been yielded by the three hundred and sixty-five thousand hogs sold this year in this city. Each hog yields three-quarters to one pound of bristles ; value of bristles and hair, one hundred and forty thousand dollars. This is six-fold the value of sales in 1840, and three-fold that of sales in 1850.
This appears a small business, but it becomes of interest for several reasons. It is, in the first place, a fair specimen of a vari- ety of petty operations here, whose aggregate of value, in export, is more than three millions of dollars, but whose importance is further enhanced by the fact, that nearly the entire value is con- ferred on it by labor .- In this particular employment, as in the manufacture of hoofs, refuse bones, etc., of hogs, an advantage is afforded to this city which has built it up into the great hog market
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of the west .- The manufacture for foreign consumption of bristles and prussiate of potash and other articles made of hog offal, enables the pork-packer to give seven to ten per cent. more for hogs here, than is given elsewhere at points where the purchaser is not pre. pared to save or use up these materials.
Britannia Ware. - Two factories; product, one hundred thou- sand dollars; employ forty hands; raw material, 40 per cent.
H. Homan & Co., manufacturers of britannia ware, and Willis Ilumiston's patent candle mould machine, dealers in block tin, antimony, and tinners' solder, No. 11 cast Seventh street, between Main and Sycamore, north side, Cincinnati, O. Candle moulds made to order. Homan & Co. employ twenty-eight hands; value of their products eighty-five thousand dollars.
Brushes .- Of these there are fifteen factories, all small, but one or two; aggregate product one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars ; employ eighty-five hands; raw material 40 per cent.
W. D. Mintzer, south east corner of Walnut and Fifth streets, works sixty hands, men and boys, with a product of one hundred thousand dollars. Manufactures patent paint brushes and sash tools, coach varnishing and nailed white-wash brushes, street- cleaning brooms, which are made of sea veed from the South Sea Islands, etc.
Most of his brushes for fine work are imported. Mintzer claims, by a process peculiar to himself, to straighten out bristles so that they never curl, but preserve a chisel edge to the last.
Building Materials .- S. C. Salisbury, No. 6 Burnet House Buildings, has invented a machine which he terms the building and architectural reformer, which he considers destined to pro- duce a great revolution in architectural designs as well as to add great density and durability to building materials. Clay is taken direct from the bank in its crude damp state, and without any pre- paration is thrown into the hopper of this machine, where it passes through a series of kneading and working until every particle becomes thoroughly mixed and the fibres united together like those of wax or putty; and as fast as it becomes so prepared, is constantly being forced along through the forming dies, where it is forced and pressed into all the various shapes, such as brick- pipe of all kinds, cornices, grooved and matched blocks, etc., under a revolving forcing pressure of upward of two hundred tuns per square inch. All that has to be done to produce any of the
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various articles, is merely changing the dies. And with : light alterations in construction, the same machine will manufacture lead or gutta percha pipe at one-half the present cost, by any machine ever put in practical use, and much more accurately than has ever been yet done, as a perfect even density is obtained in whatever is produced; which is one of the greatest advantages it has over all former attempts at building materials, and a composition is thus obtained that will render these unburnt building blocks perfectly impervious to our dampness or water, and which is almost equal to stone in its density, and bears nearly the pressure of stone. This community has long needed cheap sewerage and drainage pipe, and this machine will be the means of a general introduc- tion of such articles. It works all kinds of clay as well as all other plastic materials; yet the tougher the clay the better the finish and perfection of its product.
Bungs and Plugs .-- One factory; works two machines, driven by steam power. The plugs are punched out at the rate of six thousand per hour, and the bungs can be turned, by adjusting the machine, to any requisite size. Sales, annually, seven hundred barrels; value of six thousand dollars. A large proportion is sent east ; raw material, 30 per cent.
Burning Fluid .- This is a combination of whisky, or rather, alcohol and camphene, which is a re-distillation of spirits of turpen- tine, and is the cheapest material of artificial light. Much preju- dice exists, in the minds of many, against using this article, on account of the many casualties resulting from its use. All these are, however, from ignorance or carelessness in pouring the fluid into lamps, the wicks of which are lighted. Fluid oil lamps ought invariably to be filled up in the morning, when they are put away after previous use, and with this precaution no accident can take place. Three establishments, employing twenty hands, and pro- ducing a value of one hundred and ninety-five thousand dollars; raw material, 50 per cent. It is the estimate of persons qualified to judge, that the amount of whisky affording a material for light, is greater than that consumed as a beverage ...
E. P. Starr, No. 165 Walnut street, is extensively engaged in the manufacture and sale not only of burning fluid, but of phosgene and burning fluid lamps of every variety in pattern and size. Mr. S. was the pioneer here, in the product of burning fluid, having
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MANUFACTURES AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS,
been in this line of business for the past ten years. His manufac- tory is on Second, west of Plum street.
Butchers .- Two hundred and ten, who occupy six market houses, beside one hundred and ninety more who keep meat shops. Eleven hundred hands. The value of pork, beef, mutton, etc., cut up and sold to families, public houses, steamboats, and delivered in the vicinity of the city, reaches four millions three hundred and seventy thousand dollars ; raw material, 80 per cent.
One hundred and seventy-five head of cattle alone, are slaugh- tered daily for this market.
Candles .- Star, adamantine, opal, tallow-Jard oil, red and tallow oil, soap, glycerine, etc. There are twenty-five manufactories here, in which one or more of these articles is made, and mostly on a large scale. Three of the entire number make glycerine, and as many more tallow, oil, and fancy soaps. Eight manufacture tal- low candles, and seven oleine, palm oil, soda, and German soap. Eleven are engaged making red oil, and the same number tallow candles. Thirteen make star, adamantine, or opal candles, and nineteen produce lard oil.
This aggregate forms our heaviest manufacturing department, except that of clothing, which it, however, exceeds in importance, the raw material, in these articles, being entirely of home growth.
Lard, as is well known, is separated, by compression, into oil and stearin. Stearin, when saponified and pressed, yields red oil, and the residue, which is stearic acid, is the material for star and adamantine candles. The compression of tallow, yields tallow oil, which enters largely into the composition of fancy soaps, and is entirely consumed in that manufacture. The tallow, thus di- vested of oil, becomes the material of which summer candles are made. Red oil, with soda ash, and rosin, forms the ordinary soap; oleine and soda, German, etc. Glycerine is made from the waste of lard, or residuum left of that article in these various manufactur- ing processes. It is an article of recent application to general purposes, having been known and used to but a limited extent for years past, owing to the expensive materials and processes em- ployed heretofore in its mannfacture. But modern chemistry, the great necromancer of the age, has brought this valuable substance to light, from hitherto hidden recesses, and converted the dregs and discolorations of the lard kettles into a transparent syrup, equally delightful to the eye and to the taste, and by increasing
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the product, and diminishing the expense of its manufacture, gly- cerine will now become a substitute for many articles which it supersedes to advantage.
It is already prescribed by the faculty in place of cod liver oil, being equally serviceable and far more palatable, for invalids of consumptive habits. It proves a valuable aid in surgical practice, and in the treatment of wounds ; is applicable to the relief of burns, rheumatism, sore throat, and ear diseases. It is also the best re- medy known for chapping of the lips or of the hands.
It is superior to molasses, in making up printers' rollers, which it keeps constantly flexible and yielding, and when incorporated with the material of printing paper, it obviates the wetting down process, and renders the paper soft and pliable for immediate use, at any future time.
It is an excellent ingredient in paste blacking, and a valuable adjunct to copying-ink. Most of its applicability to these purposes, consists in its properties of resisting the drying influence of the atmosphere, by which it is less affected than any other known sub- stance. In fact, there seems to be no more limit to the variety of its uses, than in those of gutta percha.
Hitherto, we have been depending upon London druggists for this valuable article, for which so high a price has been demanded, that it could not be retailed in the United States for less than one dollar and fifty cents per pound. It can now be supplied to the consumer at half that price, and as we obtain glycerine from lard, while the foreign article is extracted from palm oil, the home arti- cle excels the imported in the degree that animal extracts are stronger than the corresponding vegetable article.
If it should be asked, after all, what is glycerine, the reply may be made-it is the saccharine principle in oil-in pure English- the sugar of fat.
It is but a few years since that wood ashes were extensively bought for soap making; at present, they are worth nothing, for that purpose, being superseded entirely by soda ash.
The largest share of our lard and tallow reaches here from va- rious points south and west, and as long as these two products find, as they now do, their best market here, it becomes of little impor- tance to us that we should maintain our ascendency in the meat department of the hog and beef market.
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MANUFACTURES AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS.
The value of products, in this line, is:
242,000 boxes star candles, at
$8, - - $1,936,000
64,000 tallow "
53, 352,000
157,500. " soad, 4, - 630,000
Fancy toilet and shaving soap,
-
75,000
70,000 bbls. lard oil, at
36, -
2,520,000
3,000 " tallow oil, at
29, 81,000
14,000 " red oil,
at
22, -
308,000
Glycerine, -
- 212,500
$6,114,500
These products, which, it will be seen, do not include our pork and beef preparations, exceed in value the entire hog and beef product of 1851 ; raw material, 75 per cent.
Proctor & Gamble, factory, No. 830 and 832 Western Row, warehouse, 24 west Second street, are probably engaged more ex- tensively in manufacturing operations, than any other establish- ment in our city. They consume seven hundred barrels rosin, and three hundred tons soda ash; ten thousand carboys-or six hundred thousand pounds-sulphuric acid ; one hundred and fif- teen thousand pounds candle-wick, and thirty thousand barrels, of two hundred and fifty pounds each-or seven million five hundred thousand pounds-lard, annually, in their various products.
Their sales have largely exceeded one million dollars yearly ; and in consequence of the high price of the great staple, lard, will this year, doubtless, reach much higher figures than heretofore. They employ eighty hands, in the various departments of their business.
Peebles & Brother, No. 179 and 184 west Canal street, between Elm and Plum, manufacture lard oil, red and tallow oils, star, opal, stearin, and tallow candles and soap. This firm are the sole manufacturers, in this city, of opal candles. They employ twenty- seven hands, with a yearly product in value, of three articles, of one hundred and ninety-five thousand dollars ; raw material, 80 per .cent.
The opal candle is produced from lard stearin, and is a hand- somer, and at the same time, a lower-priced article than the star candle ; requires thrice the time to prepare it for market, and the yield of lard for opal, is much less than to star candles. Most
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MANUFACTURES AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS.
candlemakers, therefore, direct their operations to the last named article, in preference.
An opal candle is so transparent, when newly made and held up to the light, as to exhibit the wick in the centre as distinctly as if it were passed through a glass tube. If it had the property, like sperm or star candles, of consuming its own snuff, it would be the most popular of all candles. As it is, there is a ready demand for all that this firm are prepared to make.
It has been already stated that lard, by pressure, separates into lard oil and stearin. The stearin, under Peeble & Bro.'s process, yields opal candles and slush stearin - which last, saponified by lime and decomposed by sulphuric acid, produces star candles, red oil and glycerine. The red oil is the basis of the ordinary soaps. One million pounds lard, and three hundred thousand pounds of stearin added thereto, produce-five hundred thousand pounds of lard oil ; three hundred thousand pounds opal candles ; two hun- dred thousand pounds star candles, and three hundred thousand pounds of soap. The loss and waste of lard, in this manufacture, being equal in weight to the soda ash which enters into the soap- so that product and raw material are alike, in point of weight.
F. W. Meyer & Co., at the Buckeye Lard Oil Works, No. 15 Buckeye street, manufacture lard oil and star candles-Office, No. 31 Main street, employ thirty-five hands in their factory, produce six thousand barrels lard oil, and twenty-five thousand five hundred boxes star candles annually. Value of products, four hundred and fifty-eight thousand two hundred and fifty dollars.
Candy Factories-Of which there are thirteen, several of which are on a small scale. They employ one hundred and thirty-two hands, and make confectioneries and candies to the value of two hun- dred and sixty-two thousand dollars ; raw material, 60 per cent.
E. Myers & Co., No. 52 Main street, consumed last year, sugar to the value of fifteen thousand one hundred and fifty dollars. Employ six men, seven boys, seventeen girls, and produces a value of thirty-six thousand dollars.
Myers & Co., No. 40 Main street, employ twenty-four hands ; product, fifty thousand dollars.
These two establishments are owned by the sons of John Myers, the oldest confectioner in this city, who has retired from business, and resides in the country.
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MANUFACTURES AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS.
Cap and Hat Body Factories .- Of the latter there are two, who furnish bodies for the cheap hats finished up in cap factories. They make a value of twenty thousand dollars. Of these cap manufacturers there are seven, all wholesale. They produce a value of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars, and employ one hundred and sixty hands ; raw material 50 per cent.
Carpenters and Builders .- Three hundred and ten shops. Em- ploy two thousand four hundred and twenty-four hands. Value of products, two millions seven hundred and sixty thousand dollars ; raw material, 5 per cent. :
Carpet Weavers-Fifteen shops, seventy hands ; seventy-five thousand dollars product ; raw material, 40 per cent.
Carpenters' Tools .- Charles G. Siewers, cabinet, joiner and mechanics' saw and tool factory, Eighth street, east of Broadway, manufactures and keeps constantly for sale, try squares, slide bev- els, mortice guages, spirit levels, billet, web, buck, coopers', butch- ers', machine, felloe and turners1 saws, coach tools, etc. Employs ten hands, and manufactures to the value of eight thousand dollars annually.
Carriages, Buggies, Omnibuses, Spring Wagons, etc .- Thirty- two factories, four hundred and fifty hands. Value of product, four hundred and sixty thousand dollars ; raw material, 70 per cent.
I. & B. Bruce, salesrooms south-east corner of Third and Vine street ; factory at the intersection of Second and Elm, and occu- pying a front on both streets; manufacture every variety of wheeled vehicles, including carriages, buggies, barouches, omni- buses, hose reels and spring wagons. They employ ninety to one hundred hands, with a product of one hundred thousand dollars. This firm carries on the largest manufacturing and repairing busi- ness in this line in Cincinnati. €
B. R. Stevens, No. 55 and 57 Fifth street, between Sycamore and Broadway, south side ; coach and carriage maker, keeps con- stantly on hand a large assortment of carriages of his own manu- facture, which he will warrant and sell low for cash. Orders re- ceived for all kinds of carriages, and promptly executed. Also, repairing done on the shortest notice, and at the most reasonable rates. Employs thirty five hands, and manufactures and repairs to the annual value of forty thousand dollars.
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MANUFACTURES AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS."
Carvers-Wood .- Four shops, twenty hands; value of product, thirty thousand dollars ; raw material, 5 per cent.
Henry L. Fry, architectural carver and designer, north-west cor- ner Sixth and Western Row, executes Corinthian, Ionic and other capitals, brackets and every kind of ornament furnished in wood, iron, etc. Ornamental pattern work designed and made in supe- rior style. All the fine and elaborate carving in our best buildings, public and private, has been executed by Mr. Fry. The Central Presbyterian Church, Carlisle building, Pike's opera house, and Messrs, Dexter, Este and Worthington's splendid mansion houses bear abundant testimony to the skill and taste of Mr. F., in their architectural designs and carved work.
Charcoal Pulverizers .- Three establishments, eighteen hands; product, thirty thousand dollars ; raw material, 50 per cent.
Cistern Builders .- Three, employ thirty hands ; value of pro- duct, seventy-five thousand dollars.
Chemicals .- Eight laboratories and factories, which make sul- phuric, nitric and muriatic acids, ether, prussiate of potash, prus- sian blue, glycerine, and a variety of modern chemical and phar- maceutical preparations and extracts.
Harwood & Marsh, Hamilton Road, west of Elm street, and Eu- gene Grasselli, on Front street, east of the Little Miami Railroad Depot, have laboratories constructed on the large and expensive scale required in their line of business. The value and amount of their products are nearly equal. They make, annually, twenty- four thousand carboys of one hundred and sixty lbs. each, or three millions eight hundred and fifty thousand lbs. nitric and muriatic acid. They have the capacity of manufacturing twice these quan- tities. Grasselli makes other chemicals to a minor extent. They each employ thirty hands, who work day and night, in relief par- ties. Value of product, four hundred thousand dollars.
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