Metacomet Mill

Allgemeines

FirmennameMetacomet Mill
OrtssitzFall River (Mass.)
Art des UnternehmensTextilfabrik (Baumwolle)
Anmerkungen[Earl (1877)]: Vollkommen im Besitz der "Fall River Iron Works Company"; das fünfgeschossige Gebäude ist 247 feet lang und 70 feet breit; 2/3 der Maschinen stammen aus Amerika, sie sind eingerichtet zur Bedrucken von Stoffen cloths 64 x 64; die Fabrik enthält 23.840 Spindeln und 591 Webstühle, sie produziert 6.500.000 yards Gewebe im Jahr aus 2500 Ballen Baumwolle.
Quellenangaben[Bishop: History of American manufacturers 3 (1868) 535] [Earl: Centennial history of Fall River (1877) 120] [Phillips: Phillips History of Fall River 2 (1944) 125]
HinweiseThe Metacomet Manufacturing Company was built in 1847 by the Fall River Iron Works Company with 25,760 spindles. Jefferson Borden was president ; Thomas S. Borden was treasurer. In addition to the Metacomet Manufacturing Company the Fall River Iron Works owned the Fall River Gas Works Company, the Fall River and Providence Steamship Company and the Fall River Machine Shop. These companies were operated in conjunction until 1880.




Unternehmensgeschichte

Zeit Ereignis
1846 Bau der Spinnerei (auch 1847 genannt)




Betriebene Dampfmaschinen

Bezeichnung Bauzeit Hersteller
Dampfmaschine um 1868 unbekannt




Allgemeines

ZEIT1877
THEMABeschreibung
TEXTIn 1846, also, the Metacomet Mill was erected bv the Iron Works Company, and filled with machinery. The plans of this mill were brought from England bv Major Durfee and William C. Davol, and varied in a number of particulars from any in this country. The original mill, in Bolton, was the " model mill " of England at that time, and its production was the standard to determine the rating of all the cloth produced in the cotton-manufacturing districts. It was a wide mill, 75 feet, and had iron posts and girders. In all the old mills, timber alone had been used, and where these were exposed to moisture, they became soft, and the floors settled slightlv, producing friction and a consequent loss of power. The new arrangement obviated this difficulty, and was seen to be an improvement at once. The mill started up smoothly from the first, turned out a good production, and made money for its owners. The death of Major Durfee left Mr. Davol as the only one conversant with the plans, and the machinery was made, put in, and arranged wholly under his supervision, and the success of the enterprise is largely due to his skill, judgment, and experience. William C. Davol was born January 5, 1806, in Fall River, and while yet a lad entered the Troy Mill, then just commencing operations. He was made overseer of the spinning in 18 19, and superintendent in 1827, a position which he occupied until 1841, when he became partner in the firm of Hawes, Marvel & Davol, and engaged in the manufacture of cotton machinery. He was an intimate friend of Holder Borden and Major Durfee, and, when the latter went to Europe in 1838 to investigate the improvements in cotton and iron machinery, accompanied him. Increased consumption necessitated increased production, and foreign competition demanded a large reduction in the cost. For instance, skeins or hanks of yarn cost 11 cents here, but only 3A cents in England ; and Mr. Davol, being a practical manufacturer, made it a point to ascertain the kinds of machinery used, and the methods of working the raw cotton into the finished cloth. By letters of introduction, a little Yankee ingenuity and persistence, he accomplished his purpose so far as to effect an arrangement with the owners of the Sharp & Roberts self-acting Mule, to secure patents for their manufacture in the United States, and the manufacture of cotton and other kinds of machinery from the most approved patterns was entered upon at once by the new firm of Hawes, Marvel & Davol. Mr. Dayol soon projected improvements to beautify and perfect the operation and durability of the self-acting mule, and from these patterns built 180000 spindles. In 1847, [...] set of patterns were made, which superseded the old, and from which 100,000 spindles were soon constructed. In 1852 and in 1854 other new mules were perfected with a combination of improved principles for spinning fine yarn. At the same time Mr. Davol's inventive genius was at work upon other parts of cotton
machinery, resulting in patent carders, speeders and drawing-frames, by which the productive power was quadrupled. The advantage to any manufacturing community to have among its number one such man, cannot well be estimated, and the high opinion of Mr. Davol's practical worth may be gathered from the opinion of a well-known cotton manufacturer, as expressed in the statement that "William C. Davol was worth more to Fall River, for the twenty years succeeding the building of the Metacomet Mill, than all others put together, because of his improvements in cotton machinery." This is high praise, but is in some respects justified by the statement of another noted manufacturer, who said, "There's more in the man than in the mill."
QUELLE[Earl: Centennial history of Fall River (1877) 57]