USA > Ohio > Sketches and statistics of Cincinnati in 1859 > Part 26
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The manufacture of all kinds of steam and gas fittings, and or- namental brass work, is also carried on in this department, on a large scale. Iron and brass valves for steam and water gauges, oil cups and globes, cylinders, air, frost and oil cocks, and a gen- eral assortment of articles suitable to every class of steam ma- chinery. Of these, many articles are new inventions, in which the greatest care has been taken to make their adaptation to the pur- poses for which they are designed as nearly perfect as possible, and no judge of steam fittings or brass work can examine these articles without admitting their superiority of material and finish to work of the same class imported from the castern establishments.
The entire apparatus for the manufacture of gas, both for large buildings and private residences, is also manufactured by Mr.
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Greenwood in this department of his works, and is guaranteed perfect in its operation. To dwellers at a distance from large cities, no luxury is more desired than this.
Mr. Greenwood's steam heating or pipe department is person- ally superintended by Messrs. Charles M. Wilson and Jno. L. Frisbie.
HARDWARE AND MALLEABLE IRON. This branch of the Eagle Iron Works was established in 1844, under the name of M. Green- wood & Co .- M. Greenwood, Chas. R. Folger, and Nelson Gates present proprietors.
The principal object in the commencement of the business was the manufacture of malleable iron castings, and such articles of hardware as are required for building purposes ; but the rapidiy increased demand for articles of these descriptions, and hardware generally of American manufacture, rendered it necessary to ex- tend, not only the facilities for manufacturing, but also the number and variety of articles, which have increased to such an extent that the catalogue now numbers more than fifteen hundred distinct articles ; and in addition to these, they are executing orders for an endless variety of castings, plain and ornamental, in iron, brass, and other metals.
In the list of goods may be found about thirty varieties of house locks and latches, varying from the plainest cast to the most supe- rior styles of wrought locks in use ; in addition to which they man- ufacture vault, safe and bank locks. In this latter article they have brought before the public one of the most ingenious locks of its kind, as it possesses at the same time, ALL the desirable requi- sites of simplicity of arrangement, strength and durability of con- struction, superior workmanship, and that more desirable merit of being burglar and powder proof.
Shutter fasteners, wardrobe hooks, door bolts, a great variety ; and in fact almost everything required in house building.
Piano stools, store stools, ottomans, shovel and tongs stands, ta- bles with marble tops, garden seats and chairs, toilet glasses, etc., of beautiful designs and finish, furniture castors, thirty sizes, of iron and brass ; bridle bits and stirrups, a large variety ; buckles, rings, snaps, etc.
In malleable iron castings, a full stock of which is always on hand, may be found all articles required by carriage and wagon
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makers, machinists, and for agricultural machines, garden imple- ments, and for other purposes.
SILVER PLATING. In connection with house furnishing articles, and carriage trimmings, this establishment is at all times prepared to execute orders for plating at short notice and upon favorable terms, and guarantee all work of the best materials.
Having a brass foundery, supplied with every convenience, they furnish to order any description of brass castings for machinery, steam or water, gas fittings, lock work, etc., etc.
This description of the extent and variety of the operations of Miles Greenwood, and M. Greenwood & Co., while it falls short of doing justice to the ground it covers, affords ample evidence that there is not probably in the United States, and certainly in no other country, so wide a range of articles manufactured in any one establishment.
Anchor Iron Works, Chamberlain & Co., proprietors. Foun- dery, Hunt street, east of Broadway. Sale and sample rooms, northeast corner of Main and Ninth streets. This is probably the largest stove and hollow ware establishment in Cincinnati. The stoves are of every variety of pattern and form, and adapted either to the use of wood or coal as fuel. They also make sad and dog- irons, caldrons and sugar kettles, and a variety of other articles.
The building occupied by the firm as their works, is one of the most extensive and best arranged for operations in this line of any in the city. It is built of stone and brick, four stories in height, with a deep basement, having a front of two hundred and two feet on Hum street, with a depth of one hundred and sixty-four feet, is fire proof, and has a metallic covering. The moulding room is one hundred and eighty-six by one hundred and thirty-six feet, with a lofty ceiling supported by cast iron columns, and is thor- oughly lighted and ventilated. There are three cupolas in the centre of the moulding floor, the largest being a wrought iron cyl- inder sixty-seven feet high, seven feet in diameter, and lined with fire brick. Two engines are employed in driving two blowing cyl- inders, and one for driving the cleaners, grindstones, emery wheels, etc. The engine blowing cylinders and machinery shops occupy a space of two hundred and two feet by twenty-eight in the base- ment story, while the salesroom and office are in the front part of the first story. In the second story are the pattern and finishing rooms, and the third and fourth stories are devoted to storage, etc.
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Chamberlain & Co. melt in these works three thousand two hun- dred tons pig iron per annum, and employ in their establishment two hundred and twenty-five hands, two-thirds of whom are mould- ers ; and the value of the various products of their manufacture reaches three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
This firm has recently commenced the manufacture of Sawyer's patent heating and ventilating stoves and furnaces, which are ex- pected to inaugurate a new era in this department so deeply af- fecting health and comfort, and one so long the subject of abortive experiment and repeated failure. The present invention is claimed to have accomplished all it professed to perform, in more thorough and efficient ventilation, as well in the saving of fuel in heating, to a greater degree than in any other apparatus of this nature now in use. It has been introduced with marked success into Wesley Chapel in this city, and the trustees of that church certify that that building, as tested by thermometers distributed over the house, varied but a single degree in any one part of the chapel from that of any other part, the air in the upper portion of the edifice being only to that extent warmer than along its floor. They are also sat- isfied that it is equally successful in driving out impure air, and restoring a pure current from the external atmosphere. As this heating and ventilating apparatus is constructed on strictly scien- tific principles, its superiority becomes at once apparent to all in- telligent persons.
First .- For its extraordinary heating capacity, and consequent economy of fuel-whereby a saving of from 20 to 30 per cent. is effected in the expense of warming buildings.
Second .- Its perfect ventilating qualities, insuring a full supply of pure and wholesome air to every apartment with which the fur- nace is connected.
Third .- An equal distribution of the heat, giving an even tem- perature throughout the space to be warmed.
Fourth .- The perfect control, by means of dampers, which this apparatus affords over the warm and cold air, each independently of the other, by which any desired degree of temperature may be obtained and held for any length of time, or varied at will by the operator.
Fifth .- For the ventilation which in summer may be carried on without heating the rooms, by placing a small lamp in the ven-
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tilating chamber, whereby a current of pure air will be diffused through any room in the house.
These stoves and furnaces have become extensively known and used at the East, and approved in the same degree. Thus far they have been introduced in the West only at Chicago, Indianapolis and Milwaukee, not having yet been manufactured in this section of the United States. There can be no doubt that they will rap- idly work their way into general use, and engross largely the field of usefulness which the article already occupies.
Kentucky Stove Works, G. W. Ball & Co., proprietors ; office and warerooms, 32 and 34 Main street. These works are situated on Fourth near Russell street, Covington, Ky., and cover an extent of nearly three acres.
Here are made in large quantities every description of stoves, hollow ware and other castings, for the western and southern mar- kets. Pig iron from the Hanging Rock region is used exclusively. They melt the best brands of this metal, so celebrated for strength and tenacity, and challenge competition in the durability of their wares, the smoothness of the castings, and the careful manner in which they are mounted.
Various new and important improvements in facilities for mould- ing operations have been introduced in this establishment, and the number and variety, as well as beauty, of the patterns of every shape and description, are unsurpassed anywhere, an efficient corps of pattern artists being constantly occupied in producing novel and original designs.
With their facilities, and the constant efforts of the firm directed to such improvements as observation and experience suggest, they will always be in the front rank in this important branch of man- ufactures.
This firm manufactures castings in an infinite variety. Fancy stoves of the highest class for design and finish ; sad irons, tea- kettles, as well as the simplest utensils for the Indian tribes of the west and south-west.
It may be added, that the capacity of the " Kentucky Stove Works " is equal to that of any other establishment in the Union, and the fact that to the business activity and energy of G. W. Ball and Thomas R. Elliott, who constitute the firm, this city is indebted for a large amount of new and valuable business attracted for the
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past ten years to this market, is a guarantee that the business of this establishment will ever rank among the first in this line.
I. & E. Greenwald, foundery and machine shop, steam engines, boilers, and mill machinery, No. 190 east Pearl Street, near Miami canal. Manufacture steam engines of all sizes, flour, saw and oil mill and general machinery ; hydraulic presses, circular saw mills, etc., etc. Number of hands employed, seventy-five; value of pro- ducts, eighty-five thousand dollars. These figures are exclusive of their agricultural machinery operations, which are already stated in that department. One-tenth of their work is for home consump- tion ; the residue finds its market in the west and south. Their as- sortment of gearing patterns is one of the largest in the city, and as they have recently purchased the extensive machine shop formerly occupied by Niles & Co. as a locomotive factory, their machinery operations must greatly enlarge with the capacity of the edifice.
In addition to the manufacture of the various kinds of castings, of which illustrations have been thus far furnished, there is a class of founderies in which various articles are manufactured exhibiting a high degree of ornament and polish, and which connect, also, wrought iron fabrics, such as iron jails, iron railing, etc., to a consider- able extent. Of these, the architectural iron works of Macy, Ran- kin & Co., corner of Elm and Pearl streets, is, in extent and importance, second to but few in the west, and the increasing de- mand for many of the articles of comparative recent introduction, which they manufacture, promises greatly to enlarge its operations.
Their architectural department, strictly speaking, comprises iron fronts for buildings, columns and lintels, capitals, sidewalk plates, stairs, railing, balustrade work, etc., but no inconsiderable portion of their business consists in the manufacture of marbleized man- tles, which are made of cast iron, and finished in imitation of every description of marble, Brocatelle, Egyptian, Agate, Pyrenees, etc.
Nothing can surpass the imitation in effect. This material re- commends itself by its cheapness and durability, its capacity of resisting a high degree of heat, and the fact that neither oils nor acids penetrate the surface. So nearly does it approximate the material it imitates, as to require considerable skill, as well as close inspection, to detect the difference. This manufacture is already superseding the use of marble to a great extent, not only in the cheaper forms of mantles, but for furniture tops, statuary posts, and many articles of architectural ornament.
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This firm turns out a large amount of enameled parlor grates, some of which are finished with electro plating of silver. The enamel is put on in such a manner as to give a fine effect, and at the same time is as durable as the cast iron which it decorates.
Many different articles of iron furniture are here made, such as toilet stands, fire stands, tables, hat racks, chairs and settees, bed- steads, vases, etc.
They have now on hand for finishing, several iron fronts, and are turning out some very extensive jobs of columns. Those for the new State house at Madison, Wisconsin, were cast at this estab- lishment. The dimensions of these are forty-nine and one-half feet high, fifty inches in diameter at the base, and thirty-seven inches in diameter at the top, surmounted with an ornamental iron cornice ten feet high and projecting five feet. They weigh nearly three hundred tons, and cost thirty thousand dollars.
These columns are put together in sections, having been made hollow, and of staves like a wash-tub, only the hoops are on the interior, the staves being provided with flanges, to which the rings or hoops are bolted.
The establishment occupies a front of one hundred and fifteen feet on Elm, and the same distance on Pearl, thirty by sixty feet on Burrows street, and thirty by sixty feet ( n Columbia street. The principal building is five stories high, and is closely filled with machinery and workmen. Of their principal staples they keep ample supplies constantly on hand. The original establishment, which is now represented by this, was commenced in 1829, and has been constantly enlarging in importance during the thirty years of its existence.
One of the departments in the business of Macy, Rankin & Co. is iron jail building, which is on a pretty extensive scale as respects size. These jails are constructed entirely of iron, and made of any required dimensions, and two or more stories high, if thus wanted. When all the parts are completed, it is put together here, and every part fitted to its proper place, when it is taken down and removed to its place of destination. The walls are made of boiler plate, strongly riveted, and the doors of the cells are of iron lat- tice work. These iron jails are not only secure, and fire-proof, but they afford every facility for ventilation, and their general business arrangement is admirable. They are finished very neatly, but not sufficiently so as to render them a too attractive home.
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These jails form the interior of a square brick wall, which sur- rounds them on all sides, but which supplies a passage way through- out, between the iron and brick walls.
One of these jails, twenty by thirty feet, and two stories high, intended fer Muncie, Ind., has just been sent off. These prison novelties are highly approved wherever introduced, as they afford peculiar facilities for promoting health and cleanliness among the tenants, the absence of which has been so long and extensively a source of regret to the philanthropist.
The number of hands employed, when the works are running to their full capacity, is two hundred, and the amount of work turned out annually, two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. These products find a market in almost every direction, but mostly to the south and west.
Valleau & Jacobs, late E. Jacobs & Co., Nos. 86, 88, 90 and 92 Elm street, iron jail builders. Mr. Jacobs, of this firm, is the original inventor of a " wrought iron plate jail," which has become deservedly popular. Within the two years past, the firm have built these jails in the following counties ; Fayette, Champaign, Crawford, Winnebago, McLean and Edgar, in Illinois ; Gasconade, Lewis, Platte, in Missouri ; Randolph, Sullivan and Clark, in Indi- ana; McCracken and Graves, in Kentucky ; Chicot, Jefferson and White, in Arkansas ; Van Buren, Iowa; Crawford, Ohio, and Doug- las, Kansas Ter.
As to the merit of this peculiar style of jail work, a better judg- ment can be formed from the subjoined testimonials, than from any description, however elaborate, that can be furnished here :
A. J. Merriman, county judge of McLean county, Illinois, says: "I take pleasure in saying to you that we are well satisfied with the jail you built for our county last season. In fact, it is consid- ered a model jail throughout the centre of our State."
Thomas Rankin, county judge of Van Buren county, Iowa, writes : " You ask my opinion of the iron jail you built for our county. I am happy to say I am well pleased with it. I believe that for safety, convenience and comfort, it is not excelled in the west. It gives good satisfaction to the people of the county, and is a terror to evil doers." "
A. J. Stephens, county judge of Jefferson county, Arkansas, and his associates, certify as follows: "We, the undersigned, judges and officers of the county court, think it due to Messrs. E. Jacobs
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& Co., contractors and builders of the Jefferson county jail, now just completed, to say that it is built in strict accordance with the stipulations of the contract made with them, and in the particulars of convenience and construction, beauty of design, and perfect safety, it exceeds our anticipations. We deem the escape of pris- oners from within the walls, when due precaution is exercised, as almost an impossibility.
To the counties of our State that may be in need of a building of this description, for the better security of criminals, we take a pleasure in recommending E. Jacobs & Co. as every way reliable in any contract of this character that they may enter into. We also express ourselves on the part of the county, as in every way satisfied with the execution of the jail contract entered into with this county, and consider that they have fulfilled their part in every particular."
Julius Hondhousen, county judge of Gasconade county, Missouri, writing to the commissioners of Platte Co., Mo., says:
"As you desire information from me relative to the iron jails lately invented by E. Jacobs & Co., of Cincinnati, and now being manufactured by them, I can only say that said firm are now build- ing one for this county, as to the merits of which I can judge bet- ter when it is done. However, for your satisfaction I will say that previous to contracting with them, we had corresponded with some ten or eleven counties, where Jacobs & Co. had built iron jails, and in every instance their work was spoken of in the most flattering terms. These correspondents also state that Mossrs. E. Jacobs & Co., are gentlemen of high respectability, and in all cases fulfill their contracts to the letter."
The firm have applications pending for a patent for this jail, and for several important improvements upon the same, embracing an "improved joint," " register," "cell door fastener," " lock," etc. The jail when completed, is furnished with two iron bedsteads, water closet, and wash-basin in each cell, skylights in the ceiling, double entrance doors, and double grated hall window. It is, with- out doubt, one of the most perfect arrangements for the security of prisoners known to the present age.
Messrs. Valleau & Jacobs are also furnishing all other kinds of iron work peculiar to a foundery and iron railing manufactory, which they have attached to their establishment.
Niles Works. H. A. Jones, President ; C. W. Smith, Secretary
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and Treasurer-successors to Niles & Co .- iron and brass found- ers and machinists, No. 222 east Front street, Cincinnati. Manu- factures every variety of steam engines, sugar mills, saw mills, draining machines, etc., and steam apparatus for making and refin- ing sugar. Iron and brass castings of every description ; boilers, heavy forgings, tyre-lathes, boring mills, planing machines, etc., etc., made to order. This is a foundery which turns out princi- pally heavy castings. In addition to the above, they make heavy castings for rolling mills, marine engines, oil presses for cotton seed ; saw mill engines and saw mill machinery ; powder ma- chinery ; machinery for blast furnaces, all of a more or less heavy class. Every article required in Louisiana or Mississippi, can be furnished to the planter by these works more cheaply than by the Philadelphia founderies, for the reason that it is delivered at once on the spot wanted, thereby saving the delay and expense inci- dent to its reception via New Orleans.
These works employ three hundred hands, and produce a value of four hundred thousand dollars ; raw material, 333 per cent.
James Todd, north-west corner Seventh and Smith streets, found- ery and machine shop. Established 1836. Employs one hundred hands, and turns out over one hundred thousand dollars' worth of work per annum, in the shape of steam engines and boilers, cir- cular, sash and mulay saw mills, planing and flooring machines, portable corn and flour mills, cotton, tobacco and other screws, ma- chinery and castings in general, principally for the southern mar- ket, where the work of this establishment has gained an enviable notoriety for durability and finish.
W. R. Dunlap & Co., Cincinnati machine works, corner of Law- rence and Front streets, manufacture steam engines of all sizes, from two to one hundred horse power, from new patterns, possess- ing all the late and valuable improvements. Cylinder, flue. and tubular boilers, gearing and machinery for flouring mills and dis- tilleries, portable flouring mills, with bolts, elevators, and all the machinery complete, burrs, bolting cloth, smut mills, bran dus- ters, Kinman's celebrated flour packer ; mulay, sash and cir- cular saw mills ; Parker water wheels ; Farnham's double-acting lift and force pumps ; hydraulic rams ; Judson's patent governor valves and combined governor ; brass and iron castings generally. They also manufacture ornamental fountains, made of cast iron, richly carved, comprising a great variety of figures, from which they
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combined over one hundred different styles. Prices ranging from ten to fifteen hundred dollars.
The foundery of S. S. Ashcraft, on the canal, near Liberty street, is devoted principally to the manufacture of water and gas pipes, of which a very large amount is furnished for the water and gas companies in this city and elsewhere.
The works are under the superintendence of Mr. Ashcraft and Mr. J. A. Dyett. This foundery was established in 1847, and now occupies a front of three hundred feet on the canal, and extends back about one hundred and fifty-six feet to Providence street. There are five buildings, including the pattern shops, carpenter shop, office, etc., and the foundery proper measures eighty by two hundred feet.
About thirteen tons of iron are melted daily, and the yearly ag- gregate is about fifteen hundred tons.
Aside from the manufacture of water and gas pipes, a large bu- siness is done in gas apparatus, castings for coal oil works, retorts, etc., steam and water pipes for heating buildings, and some ma- chine castings.
He has a contract with the United States government for two hundred tons of eight inch cannon shot and shells.
He employs about one hundred hands, and does all the work for the gas company in this city, including those heavy columns, weigh- ing five tons each, for the gasometer. He also furnishes the cast- ings for nearly all the gas works in the west.
Breed, Barstow & Co., office, 28 Sycamore ; foundery, Eighth street, west of Freeman. Employ thirty hands. Manufactures stoves of a great variety of patterns and beauty of design, to the value of sixty thousand dollars.
G. P. Lawson, stoves, grates, hollow ware, etc., salesrooms, No. 21 east Pearl street. Value of yearly sales, thirty-six thousand dollars.
Furniture .- By this article is usually understood various equip- ments for housekeeping ; such as bedsteads, bureaus, tables, stands, wardrobes, desks, bookcases, cribs, sofas, settces, lounges, divans, plain and fancy chairs, ottomans, etc. It would have been desira- ble to classify these by assigning them to their respective work- shops, but in point of fact, these establishments are so various in their fabrics, some confining themselves to one or two prominent articles, others making every possible variety, and others, again,
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