Novelty Iron Works

Allgemeines

FirmennameNovelty Iron Works
OrtssitzNew York (N.Y.)
OrtsteilManhattan
Straße14th Street
Art des UnternehmensMaschinenfabrik
AnmerkungenAnfangs unter der Firma "H. Nott & Company" mit Nathan Bliss als Superintendent und Ezra K. Dodd als Vorarbeiter und späterer Chefingenieur der "Novelty Iron Works". Dann wird die Firma nach und nach von Thomas B. Stillman, Robert M. Stratton und C. St. John Seymour erworben und unter der "Firmierung "Ward Stillman & Company" geführt. Später als "Stillman & Co." und "Stillman, Allen & Co.". Seit 1855 als "Novelty Iron Works". Auch in der East 12th Street angegeben. Lage (1868): Twelfth, gegenüber Dry-Dock Street. In den 1850er Jahren eine der größten Gießereien des Kontinents mit über 1.200 Beschäftigten.
Quellenangaben[Hunter: History ind. power USA 1 (1985) 158] Internet [Lewis: First generation of marine engines] [Dayton: Steamboat days (1925) Internet] [Bishop: History of American manufacturers 3 (1868) 125]




Unternehmensgeschichte

Zeit Ereignis
1827 Gründung des Ursprungsunternehmens durch Neziah Bliss
1833 Rev. Eliphalet Nott, Präsident des Union College, Schenectady, baut ein kohlegefeuertes Boot mit seinem verbesserten Kessel und Maschine ein. Dieses Boot ergreift die Menschen so sehr, daß es "Novelty" genannt wird. Seine Fabrik ist in der Nachbarschaft als "Novelty Works" bekannt, und daher rührt der unverwechselbare Name in der Welt des Maschinenbaus.
1838 John D. Ward, Thomas B. Stillman, Robert M. Stratton und 0. St. John Seymour erwerben die Firma "H. Nott & Co."
1841 Auflösung der Firma "Ward, Stillman & Co." mit dem Rücktritt von J. D. Ward, und das Unternehmen wird als "Stillman & Co." weitergeführt.
1842 Allan wird Mitbesitzer
1842 Durch die Aufnahme von Horatio Allen, (er importierte die erste Lokomotive in die USA) in die Firma wird diese seither unter dem Namen "Stillman, Allen & Co." geführt.
Sommer 1854 Guß des Zylinders der "Metropolis" der Fall River-Linie. Er ist der größe der Welt mit einem Zylinderdurchmesser von 105 inches udn einer Länge von 14 feet, mit 12 feet Kolbenhub.
1855 Eintragung der bisherigen "Stillman, Allen & Co." als "Novelty Iron Works" mit einem Kapital von 300.000 Dollar.
1855 Die Anlagen und Einrichtungen der "Stillman, Allen & Co." werden an eine eingetragene Gesellschaft unter dem Namen "Novelty Iron Works" mit einem Kasenkapital von $300.000 erworben.
1869-1870 Schließung




Produkte

Produkt ab Bem. bis Bem. Kommentar
Dampfmaschinen 1855 Umfirmierung aus "Stillman, Allen & Co." 1869 Ende der 1860er Jahre  
Feuerspritzen 1856 durch Lee & Larned 1856 durch Lee & Larned  
Feuerspritzen 1856 durch Lee & Larned 1856 durch Lee & Larned  
Schiffsdampfmaschinen 1855 Umfirmierung aus "Stillman, Allen & Co." 1869 Ende der 1860er Jahre  




Firmen-Änderungen, Zusammenschüsse, Teilungen, Beteiligungen


Zeit = 1: Zeitpunkt unbekannt

Zeit Bezug Abfolge andere Firma Kommentar
1855 Umbenennung zuvor Stillman, Allen & Company, Novelty Iron Works und Eintragung




Allgemeines

ZEIT1855
THEMAFirmenbeschreibung
TEXTRev. Eliphalet Nott, President of Union College, Schenectady, who had succeeded in burning anthracite coal to heat houses, invented a boiler, about 1833, with appurtenances for applying coal fuel to the generation of steam. He built a boat to test its merits, installing his improved boiler and engine. The boat embraced so much that was new that it was named Novelty.

Dr. Nott required special arrangements for creation and repair of his engine and purchased Burnt Hill Point, East River, a small wharf and small farm buildings. One of Novelty's engines was built within the limited mechanical resources then installed. From time to time power and tools were added. The place was known in the neighborhood as the "Novelty Works," and thus originated the distinctive name by which it was long known in the engineering world.

The business was conducted as H. Nott & Company. Nathan Bliss, who had recommended the use of the horizontal style engine for the boat, was superintendent. Ezra K. Dodd was foreman and later chief engineer of Novelty. Subsequently, Thomas B. Stillman, Robert M. Stratton and C. St. John Seymour purchased the premises and conducted the business under the name Ward Stillman & Company.

Under the new ownership engines were built for two ocean liners, Lion and Eagle, constructed for the Spanish government. J. D. Ward retired in 1841 and the business continued as Stillman & Company. Horatio Allen, importer of the first locomotive, came into the firm in 1842, the style being then Stillman Allen & Company, and in 1855 the business was incorporated as the Novelty Iron Works of New York with $300,000 capital. The early neighborhood identification now became the corporate title.

Entrance to the works was on East 12th Street, opposite Dry Dock Street, and here was the porter's lodge, head offices, draughting rooms, and beyond the machine shops, foundry, crane, shears, etc The foundry was equipped for heavy work, and cast the bed plates for the engine of Atlantic, weighing 37 tons and Arctic weighing 60 tons. The great cylinder for the Fall River liner Metropolis was cast in 1854, being 105 inches diameter and 14 feet length, with 12 feet stroke of piston. Twenty-two persons sat down to lunch inside this cylinder, with room to spare, and a horse and chaise were driven through it.

The side lever engines of the Collins Line steamers Atlantic, Arctic, Pacific and Baltic were built in 1849-50, the two former at the Novelty Works and the latter two at the Allaire Works. C. W. Copeland designed the engines and the boilers were designed by John Faron, chief engineer of the line. There were two engines in each ship, with cylinders 95 inches diameter by 9 feet stroke in Atlantic and Pacific and 10 feet stroke in Arctic and Baltic. The boilers had two tiers of furnaces and vertical water tubes back of them, and the four boilers connected to one stack. Steam pressure was 14 lbs., with Stevens' cut-off on Arctic and Sickles' on Baltic at 4 feet and 4½ feet respectively.

Using salt water, scale in tubes became troublesome and the unequal expansion of the front and back tubes caused them to leak with heavy expense for cleaning and repair. Unequal expansion of the engine parts due to the design of the bracing caused breaks, yet the engines did good service and the ships made good voyages with reasonable fuel economy.

Adriatic was the largest sea-going side-wheel steamer, except Great Eastern, being 350 feet length, 50 feet beam and 5,000 tons. Adriatic was modeled and built by George Steers, "a perfect vessel in appearance, appointments and speed." Adriatic cost more than 1,000,000 The two oscillating engines, built by the Novelty Works, had cylinders 101 inches diameter by 12 feet stroke and carried 25 lbs steam. The paddles were 40 feet diameter, with floats 12 feet length and 3 feet wide and the eight vertical tubular boilers had 30,758 square feet of heating surface.

The Novelty Works blacksmith shop ran 30 fires, while 20 departments were organized with foremen and working forces, numbering more than 1,000 men. The production of the works ran above 1,500,000 in the early '1850's.
QUELLE[Dayton: Steamboat days (1925) Internet]


THEMAÖrtlichkeit
TEXTVor den 1850er Jahren zwischen Avenue C und dem Fluß zwischen 12th und 13th Straße. Bis 1857 ausgedehnt nach beiden Seiten der Avenue D bon der 11th bis zur 14th Straße. Ein zweites Eisenwerk nahm die Ostseite der Avenue D zwischen den 9th und 10th Straßen ein. Späer ersetzt durch die New York Mutual Gas Light Company.
QUELLEhttp://mta.info/capconstr/sas/documents/deis/chapter_8.pdf


ZEIT1868
THEMAFirmenbeschreibung
TEXTAbout thirty-five years ago Rev. Eliphalet Nott, D. D., President of Union College, at Schenectady, New York, who had been very successful in the use of anthracite coal for warming houses, invented a boiler, with its appurtenances, for applying that fuel, then not used for such a purpose, to the generation of steam, and decided to test its merits fully by building a boat and equipping it with his improved boiler and engines. In the plans determined upon, he was not only to use a new fuel, but a new boiler, and an engine constructed unlike any used in frew York waters. His boat, therefore, embraced much that was new, and consequently received the name of "Novelty." Dr. Nott, finding that his projected enterprise would require special arrangements, not only for its creation, but also to enable him to keep the boat in the proper repair, decided to purchase the premises then known as Burnt Mill Point, on the Bast River, where a small wharf and some farm buildings furnished all the room he required. One of the engines of the Novelty was in a great measure built here with limited mechanical resources. Prom time to time the power and tools were added to, and when they were increased to an extent that enabled work for other parties to be undertaken, they were applied to such purpose. The place and shop where this work was being done for the steamboat Novelty, now became known in the neighborhood as the "Novelty Works", - and thus originated the distinctive name by which it is still known throughout the engineering world. At the time these new operations were carried forward, the business was conducted by the firm of H. Nott & Co., under the superintendence of N. Bliss, formerly of the West, who had recommended the use of the horizontal style of engine for the boat - the foreman being Ezra K. Dodd, who afterward was chief engineer of the Novelty. Subsequently Thomas B. Stillman had charge of the works, until the year 1838, when John D. Ward, Thomas B. Stillman, Robert M. Stratton, and 0. St. John Seymour, purchased the premises, machinery, tools and fixtures, and conducted the business under the name of Ward, Stillman & Co. - the first two of the partners having charge of the mechanical operations, while the two latter-named gentlemen gave their attention to financial affairs. During the time the establishment was in their hands, its capacity in machinery and tools was greatly increased, and among the work turned out were the two ocean steamers, the Lion and the Eagle, constructed for the Spanish Government, and still in use under different names. In 1841, the firm of Ward, Stillman & Co. was dissolved by the retirement of J. D. Ward, and the establishment was conducted by Stillman & Co. In 1842, a new firm was created by taking in Horatio Allen, (the gentleman who imported the first locomotive engine into this country,) and the business was conducted under the name of Stillman, Allen & Co. - Mr. Seymour having retired. In 1855, the stock, machinery, tools, patterns, etc., were sold to an incorporated company, under the title of the Novelty Iron Works, of New York, whose cash capital is 300.000, by which company the business has been conducted up to the present time. Prior to the incorporation of this company, the term Novelty Works was merely a designation of the place where the several firms carried on business; but since its incorporation The Novelty Iron Works is the legal designation of the body corporate by whom the works are carried on. At present, the principal maaage-ment is in the hands of Horatio Allen, President, and W. E. Everett Secretary. The entrance to the works is on Twelfth, opposite Dry-Dock Street, where there is a large gateway, near which is a porter's lodge, with doors leading to the offices and to the drawing-room. At a short distance from the gate, and within the enclosure, there is a great crane for receiving or delivering the vast masses of metal, such as shafts, cylinders, boilers, vacuum pans, and other portions of the ponderous machinery that are continually passing to and from the yard. Turning to the left, and just beyond the crane, is the iron foundry - a building 206 feet long by 80 feet wide, with a wing upon one side. It contains four cupola furnaces, capable of melting at one heat sixty-five tons of iron, which can be deposited into one mould, making a single casting of that enormous weight. There is an additional furnace for special uses, and is employed as occasion requires. The blast for the furnaces is brought under ground through a pipe having a sectional area of five square feet. Opposite the furnace are six drying ovens, each having a railway and two carriages, and each within a sweep of one or more of six cranes, some of which are capable of hoisting twenty tons. 'Within this foundry, and below the surface of the ground, there are moulding pits, twelve feet in diameter and eighteen feet deep, the sides of which are firmly secured by plates of boiler iron riveted together. Six weeks are sometimes required to prepare the moulds for loam castings, employing from ten to forty men. Five of the strongest men are required to carry a ladle of molten iron from the furnaces to the reservoir from which it is discharged into the mould. The process of clearing the mould and hoisting "out the casting requires about a week. In illustration of the capacity of this foundry for heavy work, it is sufficient to say that here were made the bed-plate of the steamship Atlantic, which weighed thirty-seven tons, and that of the Arctic, which weighed sixty tons. In the summer of 1854 there was also cast the cylinder of the steamship Metropolis, of the Fall River line, which was then the largest in the world - having a diameter of 105 inches, and a length of 14 feet, with 12 feet stroke of piston. Twenty-two persons sat down to lunch in this cylinder, with room to spare, and a horse and chaise were driven through it, both backwards and forwards. In the smiths' shop, where all the wrought iron parts of the machinery are formed and fitted, there are thirty forges, with the requisite number of men to each. Here also are large cranes, with chains connecting with small trucks on the top of the beams, for carrying whatever may be suspended further outward, or drawing it in, as may be required. These trucks are moved by a wheel at the foot of the crane, and are capable of carrying extraordinary weights. In one instance a single block of iron was forged which weighed 14.366 pounds. When forging such enormous masses, they are trucked up in a furnace to be heated, where they remain several hours. The masonry is then broken away, and the red-hot iron is lifted by the crane and placed under a massive trip-hammer. When the process of forging so large a mass of iron is going on, one man throws water upon the works to effect some purpose connected with the scaling, while others busy themselves about getting it into the requisite shape and dimensions as the forging proceeds. Adjoining the smiths' shop are the machine and finishing shops, where the cylinders, piston rods, and other parts of the machinery, after being cast, are subjected to a refining and polishing process. These arc provided with lathes, cutting mills, and planers of vast size and strength. There is also a brass foundry and a coppersmiths' room, each furnished with a crane and its appropriate tools. There are two boiler shops, provided with enormous shears to cut the iron plates into proper forms, rollers to give them the required curvature, punching machines to make the holes along the edges in which the rivets are inserted, and numerous drilling and boring machines. The whole establishment is divided into twenty departments, at the head of each of which is a foreman to superintend those under his particular direction, namely - iron founders, brass founders, machinists, boiler makers, carpenters, coppersmiths, blacksmiths, metallic life-boat builders, instrument makers, hose and belt makers, painters, masons, riggers, laborers, cartmen, watchmen, storekeepers, pattern makers, draughtsmen, and clerks; in all averaging more than one thousand men; and the value of the work finished is about 1.330.000 per annum. The establishment occupies almost two entire blocks of ground, and includes two slips capable of accommodating the largest steamships.
QUELLE[Bishop: History of American manufacturers 3 (1868) 125]