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Oliver Ames & Sons
| Firmenname | Oliver Ames & Sons |
| Ortssitz | Worcester (Mass.) |
| Art des Unternehmens | Fabrik landwirtschaftlicher Geräte |
| Anmerkungen | Um 1874 "Ames Plow Co." (s.d.). |
| Quellenangaben | [Bishop: History of American manufacturers 3 (1868) 363] |
| Zeit |
Ereignis |
| 1836 |
Beginn der Vorgänger-Firma "Ruggles, Nourse & Mason" in Worcester |
| ZEIT | 1868 |
| THEMA | Firmenbeschreibung |
| TEXT | Is the largest establishment of the kind in New England, and, some say, in the world. This firm are the successors of Nourse, Mason & Co., who succeeded Ruggles, Nourse & Mason, who commenced the business in Worcester in 1836. To Draper Ruggles, Joel Nourse, and John C. Mason, the farmers of America are under many obligations for their unwearied assiduity in supplying them with superior Plows, at low prices. They found the cast-iron plow a rude and imperfect implement - they left it so nearly perfect in point of efficiency and convenience as hardly to be susceptible of further improvements. When they engaged in the manufacture, about a hundred cast-iron Plows supplied the annual demand. Twenty years afterward, they made and sold in a single year thirty thousand Plows, of one hundred and fifty different forms. Their manufactory, originally in a small shop now or lately used as a stable, then in the basement rooms of "Court Mills", became, by the addition of building to building, to accommodate an increasing business, nearly as remarkable for its extent as for its importance. In 1860 this establishment passed into the hands of Oliver Ames & Sons, who had been distinguished in another though kindred branch of manufacture, that of Shovels and Spades. Ames' Shovels have for many years been a well-known and leading article in the hardware trade. Nearly sixty years ago Mr. Ames commenced the manufacture at Easton, Massachusetts, in the most unpretending manner, buying the iron and steel for not more than a dozen shovels at a time - manufacturing them, carrying them to market, and with the proceeds procuring more stock. He however lived long enough to see his establishment, thus begun, grow to be the largest of the kind in this country, and perhaps in the world, requiring for its weekly supply from twenty to twenty-five tons of Swedish and Russian iron, and from twelve to eighteen tons of cast-steel, employing about three hundred and fifty hands, and producing about four thousand Shovels and Spades per day, or nearly a million and a quarter per year. The main building of the Finishing Shop at North Easton is five hundred and twenty-five feet long, with an L ninety feet in length; and the next largest building is one hundred and fifty feet by seventy feet wide, with an L, which contains a steam engine of one hundred and ninety horse-power, with a fly-wheel attached, twenty feet in diameter, that weighs over nine tons. Besides the Shovel Factory at North Easton, and Forge Shops at West Bridgewater, Canton and Braintree, and the Agricultural Implement Manufactory in Worcester, Messrs. Ames & Sons have a manufactory at Groton Junction, where Patent Hay Cutters, and a variety of other farming utensils are .made. They are now making nearly a hundred varieties of the cast-iron Ploughs, and over fifty with steel mould-boards, which are peculiarly adapted for the rich sticking soils of the new lands of the Western States. Their Warehouse or Salesroom is in Boston, in the spacious halls above Quincy Market, and extends nearly the entire length of the market. |
| QUELLE | [Bishop: History of American manufacturers 3 (1868) 363] |
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