USA > Ohio > Butler County > Hamilton in Butler County > The centennial anniversary of the city of Hamilton, Ohio, September 17-19, 1891 > Part 16
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The canals or "hydraulics" are about forty feet wide and about four feet deep. No record has been found of the actual power of the system. About all of the power has long ago been taken up, though some of it is not at present in actual use. The rates at which the power is sold, on leases, is extremely low, and the power is satisfactory, within its limits, except at cer- tain seasons of the year. The power is leased by the "run," and about one hundred runs are now under lease.
The water power is the property of the Hamilton and Rossville Hy- draulic Company, of which Adam Laurie, Sr., is President ; Asa Shuler, Vice President, and E G. Rathbone, Secretary and Treasurer.
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The Black & Clawson Company.
Paper Mill Machinery, Etc.
OUNG FRANK BLACK had been knocking around his father's shop, and in 1866, he began his apprenticeship in the Owens, Lane & Dyer shop at one dollar per week. He then tramped and worked in Richmond, and then in the Whitely Reaper Works, Springfield, and then on the new bridge at Louisville, and then in the Gates shop in Chicago. In Chicago he was getting three dollars per day. He wanted to learn how to run a roll. grinding lathe and found that he could get a job with the celebrated J. Mor- ton Pool in Wilmington, Delaware, at one dollar per day. This was a hard rub but Frank stood to it and mastered the roll-grinding machine. In 1874 Peter Black & Sons got a J. Morton Pool machine and started the roll-grind- ing business in Hamilton, there being many paper-mills in the neighborhood needing such work. Frank operated the roll-grinding machine, and in May, 1874, the first roll-grinding was done in the Western country, a roll for Beckett, Laurie & Co. Peter; Black & Sons built a new shop on the corner
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of Water and Market Streets. In addition to the roll-grinding they got some extra work from the Owens, Lane & Dyer shop, which was overflowing with work, and a little repairing was done for paper-mills, the merest trifle.
Linus P. Clawson had been raised on a farm and knew nothing of ma- chinery or of business, except that he had taken a course in a Commercial College. In 1875 Clawson got well of farming and immediately took the manufacturing fever. He came to town and found the Blacks, and just north of Black's shop Burns was making plows and wagons. Then the firm of Burns, Black & Co. was formed, consisting of P. Burns, John Conboy, Peter Black, Frank Black, I. P. Clawson and John Stillwaugh. The new firm bought the properties of Black and Burns, and the intention was to do roll-grinding and build agricultural implements. But this elaborate firm was, too big to live, and in 1876 it was dissolved, Burns retiring to the northern part of the shop and assuming the wagon and plow business. The firm of Black & Clawson was formed, consisting of Peter Black, Frank Black and I. P. Clawson, to do roll-grinding. Roll-grinding was good business, but after- all it was simply the operation of a single machine. Clawson was business. He had the hardest kind of business sense and an amount of pluck and energy which would make a success of anything susceptible of it. He made up his mind that the firm of Black & Clawson should eventually become builders of paper-making machines. He was laughed at by the paper mill men generally, and his partners looked on in fear and trembling. The Rock- dale mill was short of drying power, and Clawson proceeded to have designs. made for super-dryers to improve the Rockdale mill. This brought pitying smiles from the Rockdale people, but Clawson hung on and got the order, and the job was done, and it was well done. This was in 1878, and was the first piece of paper mill construction done by Black & Clawson.
At this time there were only two mills in the West making fine writing papers, and the Harding Paper Mill Company, at Excello, was making the. best product. Their larger and finer mill at Franklin had burned and it was determined to rebuild it. That would require a Fourdrinier Paper Machine capable of producing the finest possible grades of paper. Clawson had the sublime nerve to go after this job, and Mr. Harding, a man of splendid attain ments and rare good sense, was not long in taking Clawson's measure and in determining that the new machine should be built by Black & Clawson. When the paper-mill men of the valley heard of this they were astounded, and the prophets of evil held high carnival. But the machine was built and made paper, and it is making paper to-day of as fine grades as has ever been produced from the stock it works on.
Black & Clawson received about six thousand dollars for this job. The next year they rebuilt a cylinder machine for the Enson mill, near Springfield, and built an eighty-four inch cylinder machine for the Friend & Fox Paper Company, at Crescentville. They also built about one hundred of the Monarch Portable Engines for E. C. Hooven.
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In this year they took up the manufacture of paper-perforating machines of which there were very few in the United States, and those were imported machines. There were but two in Cincinnati. The Black & Clawson per- forating machines are now in use all over the world, and no more of the English machines are sold here, and it is a very poor printing office indeed that has not a perforating machine. The manufacture of machines for mak- ing printer's ink was also taken up and vigorously pushed. These machines were sold all over the country and some have been sold in Germany. It would be difficult now-a-days to read anything in print, which was not done in ink produced in the Black & Clawson machinery.
In 1881 the old shop proved entirely inadequate to the magnificent business which had been building up, so a new and very extensive shop was built at Second and Mill Streets. The concern was now better prepared for its work than anyone else in the world engaged in its line of manufacture. In 1883 the concern was incorporated, with a capital of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, with Frank Black as President, and L. P. Clawson as Sec- retary and Treasurer. The capital has since been increased to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. In 1886 Mr. Peter Black died. Mr. Black and Mr. Clawson both give constant attention to the details of the business which is constantly increasing. About one hundred paper-making machines have been built by this concern, and they stand to-day as the leaders in the trade, and the reputation of their machines is known the world over. These machines are to-day making paper of every grade, from tissue paper to paste- board, and machines have been shipped to Australia, Japan, Canada, Mexico, France and Germany. Among the machines so far constructed is a one hundred and eighteen inch Fourdrinier machine for the Diamond Match Com- pany, which is the largest Fourdrinier paper machine in the United States, and a one hundred and eighteen inch cylinder machine for the same concern, which is the largest cylinder machine in the world.
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L. DEINZER & SON.
Manufacturers of Bent Wood Work.
N 1855 Leonard Deinzer started a turning shop on Water Street, at the west end of Market Street. In 1861 he was joined by John H. Stephan and the firm became Deinzer & Stephan, and hubs and spokes were added to the line of work. At that time Philip Hurm was running a bending factory in the same locality, and, in 1873, Deinzer & Stephan bought out Hurm and added his line of work to their business. In 1887 Stephan retired from the firm and took with him the hub and spoke part of the business. Mr. Deinzer now took in his son George, and the firm became L. Deinzer & Son. They manufacture felloes, shafts, poles, bows, and bent work of every description for carriages and wagons, and the goods are sold throughout the country.
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NILES TOOL WORKS.
Machine Tools.
HE carpenter's tools are the things which he takes in his hand to do his work with, and the machinery employed for accomplishing the same kind of work is called wood-working machinery. So, also, the small implements handled by the machinist are called machinist's tools, but the term iron-work- ing machinery has never been generally adopted for the machinery which the machinists use. Such machines are known as "machine tools," and they comprise lathes, planing machines, drilling machines, slotting machines, boring machines, gear-cutters, and a host of other machines designed for operating on cold metals by the operation of a cutting-tool removing a shaving. Wherever machinery of any kind is built, machine tools are em- ployed in doing the work. Machine tools are therefore machines to make machines and must possess fundamental accuracy. The accuracy and low cost of any kind of manufacturing in metal must therefore find its founda- tion in the accuracy and efficiency of the machine tools employed in the work. The production of machine tools involves the highest grade of skill in design and of workmanship in production.
In Cincinnati there was a large machine shop, originally owned by the Niles Brothers and called the Niles Works. It was engaged in general lines of mill work, steam engines, steamboat engines, locomotive engines, and heavy sugar machinery. It was a very old concern and had fallen behind the age. In it were employed two men, George A. Gray, Jr., and Alexander Gordon. They were old cronies and had long worked together, having hammered away on the Government gun-boats constructed at Cincinnati during the war. Gray was Scotch and Gordon was Irish, with a little scotch in his, too. Both were young men and good mechanics.
The Niles Works needed an additional lathe or two and found difficulty in getting the order filled by any of the builders of machine tools, and the lathes were accordingly built in the shop. After these were built a few more were built and sold to other shops, and soon a department was organized in one corner of the shop especially for the manufacture or machine tools, and this department was called the Niles Tool Works. Mr. James Gaff became inter- ested in the matter and the result was the formation of the firm of Gaff, Gray & Gordon, calling their shop the Niles Tool Works, and taking the machine tool business of the Niles Works. The Niles Works went to decay and has faded from the earth, and the firm of Gaff, Gray & Gordon continued business a short time in a shop since torn down to make room for the Little Miami Depot. But the work was done under the serious disadvantages incident to a factory in a large city. Heavy work was done on upper floors and holes had to be cut in the wall to get big work out. In 1872 the firm moved to
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Hamilton and built what was considered a model establishment, designed for an output of twenty-five thousand dollars per month. The shop was built at the corner of Third and Mill Streets, extending back to Second Street. The citizens donated the ground, and the brick and stone required, and the Water Power Company donated power for a short period. The business was conducted by Messrs. Gray and Gordon, Mr. Gaff being the monied man of the institution. As large and extensive as the concern then was, it would appear almost contemptible when compared with the present establishment, but, as small as it was, it was entirely too large when the panic came and all business flattened out. In 1874 the concern had been incorporated with the corporate name of Niles Tool Works, with one hundred and fifty thousand dollars capital. Mr. Gaff became President, Mr. Gordon Secretary, and Mr. Gray Treasurer and also Superintendent of the works. During the years of the panic the business became dead flat. Debts were piled up on the two mechanics, and in 1877 Mr. Gray's hopes and patience became exhausted and he retired. In 1877 Mr. R. C. McKinney, who had spent a time in the technical course of Cornell University, and who had been employed in the Cope & Maxwell Pump Works was put in charge of the office, and in 1878 Mr. George T. Reiss, a machinist who had educated himself by night studies, was put in charge of the engineering. These two young men were employees without ownership in the business. Mr. Gordon was the head of the iustitu- tion In 1879 Mr. Gaff died and his son, Mr. James W. Gaff, became Presi- dent. The business was pushed with vigor and was soon forced beyond the capacities of the shop which was accordingly enlarged. In 1882 a store and branch office was opened in Philadelphia ; not a mere agency, but a commer- cial house under the capital and name and management of the Hamilton establishment. In 1883 a similar branch was established in Chicago, and in 1886 one in New York, and in 1889 one in Pittsburg ; all being put in charge of branch managers, carefully supervised by the home establishment. The business became extended and the demands for the products of the shop were far in advance of its capacities, and enlargements were constantly taking place until to-day the establishment is one of the largest machine shops in the world, and is quite the most extensive engaged in its line of business. In 1879 Mr. Gordon, while awaiting a train at the depot, was overcome by the heat and his health became seriously shattered, and years were spent in re- covery, Mr. Gordon spending many months each year in Europe for the pur- pose. During his absence Mr. Mckinney has been at the helm. Mr. Mc- Kinney became a stockholder soon after his first employment. In 1889 Mr. Jas. W. Gaff died and Mr. Gordon became President, and Mr. Mckinney Sec- retary and Treasurer.
The reputation of the establishment is splendid, and there are no metal- working countries into which the products of this grand shop do not go. The United States Government has favored the establishment with many large orders for the equipment of its arsenals, gun factories and navy yards.
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While the shop turns out several hundred styles of machine tools special at- tention is given to machines of the heaviest type, machines for the heaviest classes of machine work, and for this line of work the shop has been specially equipped. Single machines have been turned out weighing two hundred and fifty tons. One machine sold to the Government and delivered at a navy yard in California, requiring the prepayment of a freight bill amounting to ten thousand dollars. The shops are on the grandest proportions. There are many departmental shops in the establishment and the magnitude of the whole may be judged from the fact that one of these shops, a single room, is four hundred feet long by two hundred and sixteen feet wide. The shops are lofty, and well lighted, and splendidly equipped, special attention being given to the handling of heavy work, for which purpose twenty-four travel- ing cranes are employed, two of the large ones having a capacity for easily lifting and carrying twenty-five tons each, while the next three can handle twenty tons each. The shops are lighted by one hundred and sixty arc lamps, and branch tracks of the railroads run through the yards and shops. The business is conducted with the utmost system and about one thousand people are employed.
P. BURNS & CO. Plows and Wagons.
N 1849 Patrick Burns was an apprentice in Hutchinson's wagon shop at twenty-five cents a day, and by working overtime managed to support himself and his mother. In 1860 he bought out his boss, for sixteen hundred dollars, four hundred dollars down and the balance to be paid whenever convenient. It was paid inside the year. Mr. Burns says that since that he has never borrowed any money or paid any interest, but, on the contrary, has done the loaning himself and has collected the interest. John Conboy worked for Burns and saved his money and got together six hundred dollars and bought into partnership with him. In 1875 Burns and Conboy and Peter Black and Frank Black and L. P. Clawson and John Still- waugh, formed the firm of Burns, Black & Co. But it did not last long, and soon we find the firm of P. Burns & Co., composed of Burns and Conboy, in the old business of making plows and wagons in the new shop on Water Street, near Market. The wagons made by the firmi are sold only in the im- inediate neighborhood and therefore this history is not concerned with them. Steel plows are made of about every variety of pattern, and these plows are sold, to a limited extent, in the various sections of the country. Mr. Burns says he has made all the money he wants and is anxious to quit and is now on the lookout for his successor .
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JOSEPH SCHUMAKER & GO.
Manufacturers of Angeline.
CERTAIN prescription of Dr. Kauffman was known for many years to have done wonders in the cure of rheumatism, and the formula had for some time been in the possession of Mr. Joseph J. Pater and Mr. Joseph Schumaker, who had personal knowledge of the merits of the medicine and in 1882, a partnership was formed between them for the manufacture, and sale of this rheumatic cure. A trade mark was registered for it under the name of "Angeline" and its sale was begun and the results closely watched and careful records kept as far as possible. The success was so great that its fame has spread throughout this country and Europe, and large shipments are daily being made over the country and also to Glasgow, Lon- don, Paris and Munich. The sales in 1890 were very large.
THE NATIONAL CAR SEAL CO.
THE HE old style was to lock up freight cars with padlocks, but this was ex- pensive and a nuisance, for cars went long distances and into the hands of strangers, the locks became lost and broken, and the sum total of expense due to this was enormous. Then the change was made to a simple strip of tin or wire sealed with a lead seal bearing the seal of the road that loaded the car. Every load for a box car means a car seal to be used, and destroyed when the car is opened.
Charles F. Hilker was a traveling salesman for special railroad supplies and in 1886, in Cincinnati, a friend showed Mr. Hilker a well known type of car seal and explained to him the demand for them, and stated that certain parties had spent a fortune devising machinery to make these seals cheaply and that they had reached the end of their string and the affair could probably be gotten at a bargain, and he suggested that Mr. Hilker get it and start the business. Mr. Hilker did so, securing the entire outfit and patents. He started into the seal business, incorporating it as the National Car Seal Co. It was uphill work, the method was far from satisfactory, and money was lost from the start and Mr. Hilker had every good reason for quitting the busi- ness. But he stuck to it for two years and finally succeeded in radically changing the system of manufacture. In 1890 the company established its factory in Hamilton and put out upon the market about fifty different styles of car seals. The car seals of this company's manufacture are used by about one hundred and fifty thousand miles of railroad and the seals are selling at
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a rate of twelve million seals per year. The capacity is now being increased to two hundred thousand per day. The business is prosperous and all the seals are being sold that can be made. These seals are made by automatic. machinery of the most ingenious character, invented and built on the premises of the company.
Early in 1891 the establishment began the manufacture of drill-presses. and emery-grinders for general shop use, and these are selling largely, and it is in contemplation to take up the manufacture of bottler's suppliesand other specialties.
As an example of what can be done by sticking to a problem and study -. ing it out, it may be stated that in the car seal shop, two years ago, it cost. twenty dollars to do work which now costs one dollar.
J. H. Stephan and Son. Hubs and Spokes.
S INCE 1864 the firm of Deinzer & Stephan had been engaged in the manufacture of hubs, spokes, and bent work for wagons and car- riages, on Water Street, at the West end of Market Street. In 1887 the firm was dissolved, and Mr. Stephan, in partnership with his son William, under the firm name of J. H. Stephan & Son, continued the hub and spoke part of the business at the same location, 119 to 125 Water Street. The goods m anu factured find a general market.
N. L. DORRIS. Knitting Mills.
I 1876 Dorris began knitting hosiery with one hand machine in his store on High Street. In 1877 a factory was built on Campbell Avenue and twenty-five hand machines were put in and worked on hosiery exclusively. In 1878 the factory was removed to Fifth Street, in a rented building, and fifty machines were operated by steam, working on hosiery. The business was later sold to other parties. In 1885 the knitting of under- wear was begun on five or six machines at Schuler & Benninghofen's Mill. In 1887 the factory was moved to Campbell Avenue and operated by water power, working on underwear only. In 1890 the factory was moved to Third and Market Streets, where it is now located. Fourteen machines are operated by water power, and the line of manufacture includes hosiery, and ladiesand children's knit underwear. The sales are throughout the Western states generally.
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The Sortman and. Blum Co.
Wardrobes and Extension Tables.
I W SORTMAN and E. F. Blum were both cabinet-makers and had a re- tail furniture store in Hamilton, and, in 1870, they started the manu- facture of extension-tables in a rented factory at Water and Market Streets, manufacturing for their own retail trade alone. In 1876 they built a new factory on B. Street near North Street. They built extension-tables only, but, in addition to work for their own trade, they branched out into the wholesale trade. There was at that time only one other factory making a specialty of extension-tables. In 1880 the store was given up and the en- tire attention of the firm was given to wholesale manufacturing. The sale was pushed, and wardrobes were added to the line of manufacture. The name of the firm was Sortman & Blum.
THE SORTMAN & BLUM CO.
THE SORTMAN & BLUM CO.
FURNITURE WARE ROOMS
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In 1886 the factory burned and was a total loss, entailing an uninsured loss of seventeen thousand dollars on Sortman & Blum.
In 1886 the Sortman & Blum Company was incorporated with twenty- five thousand dollars capital, since increased to thirty-five thousand dollars, with Mr. Sortman, President, and Mr. Blum, Secretary and Treasurer. A new factory was built in the same location, a roomy factory and an extensive warehouse, both three-story brick buildings. The manufacture is still limit-
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ed to the two specialties, wardrobes and extension-tables. But these two lines have been much extended so as to include the higher grades of goods wardrobes in all the modern high-grade finishes, and extension tables from the simplest and cheapest to the more elaborate style and pillar tables. Twenty styles of wardrobes are manufactured and eleven patterns of exten- sion tables. The product of the factory is marketed all over the United States but principally in the East and South. Messrs. Sortman & Blum both give personal attention to the factory and business.
The J. A. SOMMERS mfg. Go., Clothing Factory.
( N 1887 Mr. Somi ars was a traveling salesman for a Dayton house en- gaged in the manufacture of certain grades of clothing, and in that year, under the name of J. A. Sommers & Co., he started the manufacture of overalls in Hamilton at 321 West Main Street. He had about two thousand dollars in cash and had a pretty hard row to hoe. But he was plucky and everything came out well and he added to the variety of goods manufactured. In 1891 he built the new factory at Seventh and Walnut and still further in- creased the line of products. The establishment was incorporated with a capital of twenty five thousand dollars, since increased to fifty thousand dol- lars. Mr. Sommers is President and runs the shop, Mr. C. F. Funk is Vice President and does the traveling. Mr. J. W. Slonneker is Secretary and Treasurer. Five traveling salesmen are employed and one hundred and thirty hands are employed in the factory which is always full of work, run- ning night and day.
The line of goods now manufactured includes overalls, outing cheviots and flannel shirts, pantaloons, coats, hunting cloths, knee pants, and child- rens waist's.
BERK, KINGERY & Co., Manufacturers of Gelatine.
JIM HIS business started in 1889, the firm being composed of F. H. Berk, S. S Kingery and H. P. Deuscher. The premises, formerly occupied by the Sohn Pork House were purchased and extensively remodeled. There is only one other factory engaged in this business in the United States. The Ham- ilton factory has opened its markets throughout the country, and now sells gelatine all over and for all the purposes for which gelatine is used. Last year sixty thousand pounds were sold, and the capacity of the establishment is now being increased so as to produce twice that quantity.
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