Society for Industrial Archeology · New England Chapters

EDITORIAL VOLUME 7 NUMBER 1 1987 There are two upcoming meetings first time that an annual SIA conference that should be of interest to Chapter has been held .!,Wice In the same city, EDITORIAL members. The first Is a joint Southern and Troy is close enough that most of and Northern New England Chapters our New England Chapter members should PRESIDENTS' REPORTS meeting to be held In Shelburne Falls, be able to attend. If you need SNEC 2 Massachusetts, on May 9. (See "Shelburne registration forms, please contact NNEC 2 Falls ~o be Site of Joint Spring Duncan Hay, c/o New York State Museum, Meeting" by Peter Stott.} Two hydro­ Historical Services, 3097 CEC, Albany, CURRENT RESEARCH IN NEW ENGLAND electric tours are planned, and the NY 12230. Or, if you have questions Massachusetts 3 Shelburne Historical Society will be about the paper sessions, to be held at Rhode Island 4 hosting the meeting. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on May Vermont 5 The second Is the 16th Annual 30, then please contact me directly at Conference of the Society for Industrial RPI (518 266-8503). MEETINGS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS 6 Archeology, to be held in Troy, New David Starbuck York, from May 28-31. This will be the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute RECENT PUBLICATIONS 9

.-IELP WANTED 9

ARTICLES Haverhill Shoe Factory Strike of 1895 10

Hot-Metal Surviving at Yankee T ypesetters 13

CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE

Richard Greenwood, Dennis Howe, Martha Lance, Vic Rolando, David Simmons, William Smith, Peter Stott, Jerry Wolfe, Bertha Woodman

Editor David Starbuck

Southern Chapter Officers Richard Greenwood, President Peter Stott, Program Coordinator Anne Booth, Secretary / Treasurer

Northern Chapter Officers . Dennis Howe, President Walter Ryan, First Vice President Stewart Read, Second Vice President Vic Rolando, Secretary/ Treasurer

The Newsletter is jointly Yankee Typesetters' owner, John Stone sponsored by the Scuthern and Northern demonstrates some detail of the New England Chapters of the Society operation of a for Industrial Archeology. This issue to SIA members during a NNEC tour. was typeset and printed by The Printed See article on 13. Photo by Word, Inc. of Concord, New Hampshire. Dennis Howe. article, "Chapters Plan New England ------Winter Conference on I ndustrial -/ Archeology".} This symposium is a good way for a maturing chapter such as ours to reach a more general audience with our lA message. PRESIDENT'S REPORT, SNEC PRESIDENT'S REPORT, NNEC The special tour of Yankee Typesetters, Inc., in February was also a The Southern New England Chapter The large attendance at the Fall success and has resulted in a fine has gone on the offensive in the past Meeting and Tour In Claremont was article by Jerry Wolfe in this several months in its efforts to bolster gratifying. We thank Walt Ryan for Newsletter. This tour-article is some­ membership rolls and spread the !A planning and arranging the fine meeting thing I would like to out as a gospel. In addition to the circulation and tour of Claremont's mill area along model of how we should handle future of the new membership brochure, which is the Sugar , and we thank the staff tours as much as possible. Recording being greatly assisted by a promotional of New Hampshire Vocational-Technical what we have observed and researched mailing courtesy of Mike Folsom and the College for the use of their facilities. should always be the goal of a process Charles River Museum of Industry, the At that meeting we revised our By­ tour. This way, the word "archeology" Chapter has launched a 1987 Winter­ laws, changing the makeup of our in our name keeps the meaning intended. Spring Events Program. The program, executive board and adding a new Archeology is a process of observing and the brainchild of Program Coordinator officer. Congratulations to our new recording. A fter all, we are not a Peter Stott, offers NNEC and SNEC First Vice President, Walt Ryan; to our Society of tourists. members the chance to visit some old and new Second Vice President Stewart Read; Please try to attend the SIA Annual new IA sites in the region on a monthly and to Vic Rolando who was reelected to Conference i n Troy, NY, on May 28-31. It basis. Beginning in January, Peter has another term as Secretary/ Treasurer. will be well worth your time and not orchestrated tours of: MATH's Machinery Also at that meeting we took very expensive. Hall; Yankee Typesetters' "hot type" significant action by establishing a Dennis Howe shop in Concord, NH; and East Boston and committee to work with the SNEC to plan Deer Island Sewage Pumping Stations. a symposium on New England Industrial Other scheduled trips include the Chain Archeology. (Please see Peter Stott's Forge at the Charlestown Navy Yard and Wilkinson Machine Shop at Slater Mill Historic Site. In addition to his work getting this program off and running, Peter has also been busy laying groundwork with NNEC members for a proposed annual New England IA symposium. SNEC's fall meeting was held at the Dedham Community House and the Barrows Mill on Mother Brook (1984 Spring Tour}. Notable events in the business meeting included the establishment of a SNEC lifetime membership category and a vote of thanks to Fred Roe, our resigning treasurer, and Herb Darbee, our secretary emeritus. The tour of the Burrows Mill led by Mike Folsom included a hands-on investigation of the mill's power plant, which the Charles River Museum of Industry plans to preserve in situ, and a review of Bergemeyer Associates' plans to rehabilitate the complex as condominiums. The architects' proposal includes the reconstruction of the original gable roof and monitor which were destroyed by fire in 1911. For its spring meeting, SNEC is once again joining forces with NNEC, this time for a tour of Shelburne Falls, MA. Highlights will include visits to two Deerfield River hydroelectric A Jaquard loom of the Claremont plants, the 1912 plant #4 at Shelburne Woven Label Company is inspected by an Falls and the 1974 Bear Swamp Pumped SIA member during the tour following the Storage facility in Rowe, MA. NNEC's fall meeting. The tour also included a review of the redevelopment Rick Greenwood of the city's old industrial center, and Barrington, Rl a process tour of CMC Paper Company . ..__/

2 economy. When fire struck the mill complex, it housed eleven smaller companies providing 800 jobs. In 1983 FALL RIVER FIRE: the buildings were listed on the 1888 KERR THREAD MILL National Register as part of the Fall River Multiple Resource Area. DESTROYED The fire is believed to have started in the basement of Mill No. 3, CURRENT RESEARCH On January 12, a devastating fire at the west edge of the complex, and IN NEW ENGLAND destroyed the eight-building Kerr Thread within three hours the three principal Mills, one of more than two dozen mill buildings had been reduced to significant textile mill complexes in flaming shells. Some brick walls still Fall River. The fire was the second standing when the fire was put out have major mill fire to strike the Spindle since been demolished. City in this decade. In November 1981 Peter Stott the Richard Borden Mill (1871) was also Newton Highlands, MA destroyed by fire. Massachusetts The Kerr Thread Company, establisher! in 1888 for the manufacture of fine cotton yarns, was founded by the RARE LATTICE TRUSS Scotsmen, Robert C. and John P. Kerr. BRIDGE DUE FOR The original five-story brick Mill #1 was e rected in 1890 with a capacity of REPLACEMENT QUINEBAUG MILL 24,000 spindles for the manufacture of "Kerr's six cord spool cotton and fine The Florida Bridge, the earliest SURVEY RESEARCH yarns." In 1897 the company became part known example of the R.F. Hawkins Bridge of the American Thread Company. Company, spanning the Deerfield River The Research Department at Old Additional mills were constructed in the between the Massachusetts hill towns of Sturbridge Village is conducting an 1890s and 1907. With the completion of Florida and Charlemont, is to be archeological and historical survey of a bleachery and finishing mill in 1916 replaced· later this year by a new bridge low technology, water-powered mills in and 1921, respectively, the Kerr Mills on a new downstream a lignment. The I 31 - the Quinebaug River Valley located in expanded into finished cotton c loth. foot lattice through truss has recently central Massachusetts. The survey is The company survived the depression and been identified by the Massachusetts one component of a large research by 1944 produced 3.5 million yards of Dept. of Public Works as the earliest project, partially funded by NEH, c loth annually. The mills remained in known example of its type. According to entitled "Tradition and Transformation: operation until the early 1950s. After Stephen J. Roper (SlA), DPW Historic Rural Economic Life in Central New the mills c lose d, the building continued Bridge Specialist, the bridge is one of England 1790-1850." Research focuses on as an integral part of Fall River's six known la ttice truss bridges in the c hanges over time in agriculturally- based water-powered industries, the effect of emerging large-scale industry on non-commercial mills, the technological traditions and innovations evident in milling techniques, and the analysis of economic and social. networks generated by milling activities. Approximately 250 sites have been identified in the watershed area through cartographic and preliminary documentation research and will be further investigated and documented. Field survey, hydrological assessments and some measured drawing of selected sites will also be undertaken. In addition to the general mill study, the Research Department is initiating an intensive study of grist mills and milling in central New England from settlement to 1860. Persons with information, documents, and photographs of grist mill structures, machinery, and sites throughout New England please contact Martha Lance, Research Department, Old Stur bridge Village, I Old Sturbridge Village Road, Sturbridge, MA 01566. Tel. (617) 347-3362. The 1886 Florida Bridge c. ·ter the Deerfield River, between Charlemont and Florida, Mass.

3 state. Sadl y, the central part of the The F!orida Bridge v1as constructed complex, containing the most impressive in 1886, a year prior to the edifices, including two six-st ory stair­ construction of the Great Northampt on to~ers, was lost. The two original 1832 Bridge, 9 lattice truss spans car rying bu ildings and the 1855 connection, with the Mass. Central Railroad over the it s impressive appearance and imposing Connecticut River. Both bridges were towers, were destroyed, as was the 1835 constructed by the R.F. Hawkins Iron cotton storehouse and numerous nearby Works of Springfield. Richard Fenner structures. Other buildings suffered Hawkins (1837-1913) was one of two major varying amounts of fire and water Massachusetts bridge builders in the damage. Several hundred people were put Rhode Island late 19th century, the other being D.H. out of work by the blaze. Lowell Andrews' Boston Bridge Works. Hawkins' Univer sity's plans to expand Into the parent firm, Stone & Harris, in the space will apparently proceed. 1850s held the New England rights to the Both stair and toilet towers were Howe truss. After Hawkins joined the left st anding after their interiors company in 1853, it was among the burned. Six-stor y factory walls earliest t o begin experimenting with crumbled from the intense heat. Despite THE BIG RIVER RESER VOIR all-iron bridges, in New York, as well firemen's efforts to establish water as western New England. curtains around the buildings first According to bridge authority involved, radiant heat carried the fire For two hundred years, a succession Victor Darnell (SIA), the lattice truss from structure to structure. The mill's of millers, blacksmiths and textile with riveted connections and plate location at the r iver prevented access factory owners were ponding and re­ girders was early favored by the New from that direction, and narrow impounding the water s of the Big River York Central Railroad, particularly for alleyways within the complex, while wat ershed as they flowed through the longer spans. The Irish engineer Howard passable for trucks, could not be used rural upland towns of West Greenwich and Carroll Introduced the through lattice because of the danger of falling walls. Coventry, Rl. Now the remnants of truss to the railroad in the late 1850s. Firemen we re left to work from the ends their hardwon engineering feats are His successor at the New York Central, of the complex and from the roof of the faced with a larger and mor e permanent, Charles Hilton (1829?-1884), modified ca. 1900 structure (which survived) at inundat ion, as plans proceed, once the form, introducing a short horizontal the top of the yard. again, for the construction of the Big member between the intersection of the The fire was sad because of the R iver Reservoir by the Rhode Island lattice web and the endpost. This jobs and investments lost . Many tenants Wat er Resources Board. The Public feature, Darnell not ed, together with were small businesses in partially Archaeology Laboratory, Inc., of '-.-I Hilton's recommended panel length, is occupied buildings and thus were unable Providence, which conducted a pilot repeated in the Florida Bridge. to obtain insurance (said by one to study of the reservoir a rea in 1978, Despite these discoveries, the require 801\'o occupancy). The spri nklers began a more intensive survey of the bridge is due to be demolished. When in the first building involved were shut proposed flood pool i n the fall of 1986. the original demolition proposal was off, apparentl y as the result of The fiel d study by PAL's industrial reviewed by the Massac husetts Historical freezing darrage during the winter. archeol ogical team of R ick Greenwood and Commission several years ago, no Lowell has now lost yet another of Marsha King has identified a rich lode systematic historic bridge su rvey of the the major companies on which it s fame of IA sites on the area's four stat e had been conducted. The decision, was based. More important, it lost one water ways, ranging from isolated that the bridge was "not eligible" for of the few remaining major complexes sawmill sites from the early 18th to the the National Register, was made. The which stood visible as a discrete entity early 20th centuries, to intensively lesson that all state historic in all i t s imposing stat ure. Of the · developed waterpower complexes, where pr eser vation offices should take from nine major original companies, only the pattern of industrial use has been this debacle is the c rucial importance three (Boott, Massachusetts, Suffolk) complicated by successive rebuilding of a comprehensive state bridge survey. stand but are not readily identifiable and reworking of the waterpower Peter Stott in terms of scale or impact as separate systems by textile manufacturers i n the Newton Highlands, MA entities. Since these mills represent 19th century. While the Congdon Mills, the onl y extant memorials to the Nooseneck Mills and their neighboring hundreds of thousands who labored there, mills and factories never held a promi- thi s loss is a particularly harmful one nent place in t he Rhode Island indus- for those who interpret this history t r ial scene, they are significant as artifactually. The visible record has representatives of the type of small- been ser iously diminished. scale rural i ndustry that was common to all of New England. A s the project FIRE IN LOWELL Larry Gross moves from the i ni t ial fieldwork phase, Museum of American Textile History it is anticipated that the data recovered will provide valuable insights Fire of undetermined origin ravaged into the evol ving nature of rural the Lawrence Manufacturing Corporation industry, both in t erms of its role in complex in Lowell. Discovered by a the rural economy and its adaptation to technological change. passing fireman at 5:30 P.M., March 23, the conflagration Jed to eleven alar ms Rick Greenwood and burned furiously into the middle of Barrington, Rl the next day.

4 new apartments in the complex. The eye was maintained for clues to rec­ Glenark Mill occupied an important tangular charcoal kilns as part of the location in Woonsocket, opposite the continuing lA survey of Vermont, but oldest part of this industrial city and finally finding one was more accidental just upstream from the Bernon Mills than intentional. STATEWIDE BRIDGE SURVEY visited during the 1984 SIA/TICCIH tour: On a cold Saturday afternoon (May 3, 1986), Bob West and l were inspecting Peter Stott an area about a mile southeast of The State of Rhode Island has Newton Highlands, MA Chittenden Village for remains of a recently se lected the team of historic "coal kiln," as indicated on Scott's resource consultants composed of Matt (1854) Map of Rutland County. While we Roth, Bruce Clouette and Pat Malone to were querying some local residents, conduct a statewide survey of historic someone asked if we meant "the old kiln highway bridges. The project is to Vermont near Lefferts Pond." It wasn't what we begin in the near future. were looking for, but since we were having no luck in our search for the 1854 "coal kiln," we followed directions to the site, which led us about 2 miles RECTANGULAR CHARCOAL east of Chittenden Village along the dirt road that skirts the southern edge GLENARK MILL BURNS KILN RUIN FOUND of Lefferts Pond. To our surprise, what IN WOONSOCKET IN VERMONT we found in some low brush was the ruin of a rectangular, stone-built, partially The Glenark Mill, a prominent brick Finding a charcoal kiln in Vermont standing charcoal kiln. and rubble stone textile mill in is not news. Over 130 kiln ruins -and Outside dimensions of the ruin (VT­ Woonsocket, Rl, was destroyed by fire on remains have been found in the state in RU-156) are 37 feet long, 16 feet wide, April 7th. The four-story brick and the last three years. But all of them and walls generally 4 to 6 feet high. rubble stone complex was built about are remains of mound, round, or conical One section of wall stands a precarious 1865 on the bank of the Blackstone River kilns. This one is rectangular, which 10 feet high. The kiln is made of stone by Woonsocket's·prominent Ballou family, makes it noteworthy. A 19th-century throughout, insofar as the remains se rving originally as a cotton mill. paper on charcoal-making discusses medts indicate. The insides of the walls are Expanded in 1885, the building later of rectangular, round, and conical char­ blackened with hard, black pitch. served successively as a knitting mill, coal kilns in New England as well as Except for some breakdown outside one a worsted m!ll, and in its last use as a outside New England, to the end, most of the collapsed stonework has dye works. T he building had remained conclusion that rectangular c harcoal fallen into the kiln; the actual floor vacant and subject to vandalism for kilns should have been a common of the kiln is l :idden beneat!l many feet several years, although developers had occurrence in Vermont (Eggleston of breakdown. The walls are about 2 recently announced plans to construct 80 1879:378-85). Accordingly, a watchful feet thick with signs that some

In Claremont, NH, site of the NNEC's Fall Meeting, the Sugar River provided the power for the early mills which helped the city develop into an important manufacturing center for western New Hampshire. Today the river ~--- continues to provide hydroelectric power for the area's industries. ..,~ 1 ....:;. r.+-:£5\n--.

5 mortaring was used. It was common evidence of that type of construction/ pr actice not only co mortar the stones reinforcement at this kiln site. in place, but also to liberally coat the The advantage of rectangular over outside walls with lime mortar during round and conical kilns was its ease, MEETINGS AND the burning process to prevent air speed, and low cost of construction. ANNOUNCEMENTS leakage into the kiln. Also, larger rectangular kilns could be Vent holes are visible in the walls constructed in sections, divided by in generally horizontal levels starting internal walls across the width of the at the ground and spaced about 2 co 3 kiln, so that each section could be feet apart up the walls, and the same operated separately. But savings at the distances laterally from each other. construction end cost at the production Dimensions of the vent holes suggest end. The square corners made for SHELBURNE FALLS TO BE that bricks were used to close the inefficient burning due to lack of holes, another common occurrence in proper venting and air circulation. To SITE OF JOINT almost all stone-built charcoal kilns avoid the waste of partially-charred SPRING MEETING found thus far in Vermont. wood, some operators of rectangular Charging and discharging the kiln kilns didn't stack wood into the Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, in was apparently carried out at one of the corners, thus effectively creating an the western foothills of the upper 16-foot-wide ends of the kiln, suggested oval/circular mound of cordwood inside Connecticut Valley, will be the location by indications of an opening at that the rectangular kiln. of the joint meeting of the Northern and end. Much loose surface charcoal was Child's Gazetteer lists "Benjamin Southern New England Chapters on May found outside this opening. A large, N. Lampman, manufacture·r and layer of 9th. Through the cooperation of the flat sill stone is the base of the concrete roofing and pavement, coal opening, possibly supporting a ramp from kiln, and farmer" (Child 1881:310). Massachusetts Electric Company and its parent, New England Power, two it to the slightly elevated ground Chittenden local historian Bert Muzzy hydroelectric tours are planned for the adjacent. Also at this end, a 2-foot­ confirmed this as the kiln operated by daylong meeting: a visit to the 1912 wide ditch runs the width and a few feet Lampman, making the operating period of Deerfield River plant #4, and by way of around each corner of the base of the this thus-far unique Vermont charcoal kiln, probably co keep rain runoff from kiln contemporary with Eggleston's contrast, an afternoon tour of the 1974 leaking through the base into the kiln description of rectangular kilns in New Bear Swamp Pumped Storage Facility. The meeting will be hosted by the floor. England. The site is on the property of Shelburne Historical Society, whose 1880 There is no visible indication of a cooperating landowner and within the Queen Anne landmark, the former Arms how the kiln was roofed. The walls are proclamation boundary of the Green vertical with no visible reinforcement Mountain National Forest. (Later in Academy, will be the meeting location, to support a peak or arch-type roof. 1986, we found a second, more recent­ beginning with coffee and doughnuts at 9 A.M. There, after a brief business The roof might have been large, flat vintage, rectangular char coal kiln in meeting, Hugh Sullivan, New Hampshire sheets of cast iron, removable to Stratton (VT-WD-66), built of modern Power's Director of Hydro Production, facilitate additional charging and concrete blocks and operated in the will make a slide presentation on the discharging access. The only significant 1950s, however unsuccessfully, by an historical development of hydroelectric piece of hardware found, a section of enterprising Vermonter. We never did power in the region. railroad track sticking up through some find our 1854 "coal kiln" in Following the slide presentation, stone wall breakdown outside one end of Chittenden.) the ruin, further hints at a flat (or we will tour Mass. Electric's Deerfield River plant #4. The 1912 hydroelectric slightly slanted) iron roof supported by References cited: railroad track, spanning the tops of the plant, one of five built on the Deerfield River between Conway and walls across the width of the kiln. But Child, Hamilton. Gazetteer and Business there m ight not have been a structural Directory of Rutland County, Vt., roof. The top of the kiln could have for 1881-82. Syracuse: Journal been left open and the cordwood covered Office, 1881. with wet leaves and coal dust, another common occurrence and one similar co Eggleston, Thomas. "The Manufacture of covering techniques employed in older Charcoal in Kilns". Transactions of mound-t yp~ kilns. There i> insufficient the ~merican Institute of Mining stone breakdown inside the ruin to Engineers, Vol. 6, May 1879--Feb. justify speculation of a stone arch roof 1880, pp. 378-386. to the kiln. In his report on charcoal kilns, Vic Rolando Eggleston described rectangular charcoal Pittsfield, MA kilns in New England as measuring 12 co 15 feet wide, 40 to 50 feet long, and 12 to IS feet high. The capacity of the kilns was 55 to 70 cords of wood. These kilns, however, were described as having been made of brick, with arch roofs, and Arms Academy in Shelburne Falls, with walls supported on the outside by 1882 headquarters of the Shelburne vertical wood beams. Cast iron rods Historical Society and meet ing location were tied at the bottoms and tops of of the joint NNEC/ SNEC Spring Meeting. opposite beams and the rods run through Photo courtesy Shelburne Historical the inside of the kiln. There is no Society.

6 Vernon, Vermont, between 1909 and 1912, Markley. It is expected that the is the best preserved of all of the engines will be dismantled in the near Deerfield River facilities, the system future. At Deer Island, MRWA's Joe which inaugurated the New England Power SOUTHERN CHAPTER Monestere led the group first to the Corn pany, pioneer in the introduction of LAUNCHES EXPANDED 1896 sister plant of East Boston, now in long-distance power transmission in New EVENTS PROGRAM ruins, and then to the "modern" 1960s England. Its electrical engineer was E. Nordberg engines of its successor plant. Lovette West (1875-1944), former general SIA members from as far west as Colorado manager of t he Central Colorado Power At the Chapter's annual fall and New York helped to produce a good Company, whose 150-rnile Denver meeting in Dedham in November, SNEC turnout for the event. transmission line over the continental Program Coordinator, Peter Stott, Boston was also the scene of the divide was the pioneer long distance announced that the Chapter would fourth event on the program, on March transmission line in the world. Long inaugurate an expanded series of lA 21, when Chapter members met to tour the distance power transmission made events, beginning in January. The Charlestown Navy Yard's former Chain possible the location of major Chapter has traditionally depended on Forge (Building 105), constructed in generating facilities far from the meetings held twice each year, often 1904-05. The building is best known for centers of power demand. dominated by business matters. The day­ the development and production of the After a box lunch at the site, we long events often involved considerable Navy's die-lock anchor chain, 1926- will drive into the steep gorge of the advanced planning, and the time required 1960s, and much of its production Deerfield River, a region sometimes to prepare for such meetings has equipment remains in place. The visit referred to as "the Switzerland of generally discouraged any increase in included a viewing of the 1950s CBS America." Here, the Bear Swamp Pumped the number of such events. These semi­ television film, "Lets Take A Trip," Storage Pla:1t uses surplus electric annual meetings will continue, Stott showing the Chain Forge in action. power at night to pump Deerfield River explained, in conjunction with a series Marie Richards of Immobiliare New water into a storage reservoir over 700 of less formal visits to interesting England, and Pam Miller of the feet above the river. During hours of and/or significant !A sites in Southern Architects Collaborative outlined peak demand, the water is released back New England. These events would be various schemes being considered for the through the two reversible pump­ announced via a program announcement, conservation of the structure. Their turbines, generating 600 megawatts of sent out to members twice a year. challenge is to retain two whole electricity, 120 times the quantity The first announcement was sent out production lines of the die-lock process supplied by the 1912 plant and 6 percent in December to members of both the on the first floor, while building of the total Massachusetts generating Northern and Southern Chapters. Five office and classroom space for Mass. capacity. Bear Swamp is one of two events were listed, including one in General Hospital around it. The tour of large examples of its type in New Concord, NH, co- sponsored with the the building which followed was possibly England, the other being Northfield Northern Chapter. Inaugurating the one of the last opportunities to see the Mountain, less than 30 miles to the series was a tour of the Museum of structure before construction gets east. American Textile History's Machinery underway later this year. The Shelburne Falls meeting is seen Hall. Guides for the tour were curator The last event in the series, which both as a means of attracting new Larry Gross and Tom Rockwell. Despite had not occurred at the time of writing, rnern bers from a region with little the snow, which limited the turnout to a was a planned tour of Slater Mill's current representation, and as a way of select band, the tour provided a view of Wilkinson Machine Shop in Pawtucket, RI, introducing present members to Franklin what is easily the world's largest one of the most complete operating 19th­ County, the upper third of the collection ·of textile machinery built century machine shops in New England. Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts. between 1810 and 1970. In viewing the Director Pat Malone and past curator In terms of IA, the county is one of the Machinery Hall collection, most of which Sandy Norman have planned a guided tour richest and least explored areas of will go on display when the museum's new through the mill from the newly restored Massachusetts. Our route to Bear Swamp headquarters in Lawrence opens in 1988 water wheel to the water-powered will take us past both the east portal or '89, SNEC tourists received a glimpse operation of the machine shop. of the Hoosac Tunnel and the ruin of of what must be considered the awesome The second program announcement, the pumping station which supplied the potential of the Lawrence exhibit! covering events during the summer and tunnel's pneumatic drills. However, On Saturday, February 14, some two fall, is expected to be mailed to numerous bridges, textile mills, and dozen Northern and Southern Chapter Chapter members in May. Among the cutlery factories all offer visitors members met in Concord, NH, for a tour sites be ing discussed for possible unusual opportunities for exploration. organized by Dennis Howe and the visits are the steam engines of the Meeting organizers anticipate producing Northern New England Chapter to view Natick Paperboard Company on June 6th, a brief guide t o some significant IA some of the last operating Linotype the Crane Museum (paper industry) in sites in the area. The region is also machines. (See "Hot-Metal Surviving at Dalton, MA, and the Stanley Woolen Mills being viewed as a possible site for a Yankee Typesetters", by Jerry Wolfe in in Uxbridge. In Connecticut, the National fall tour, in -1989 or 1990. this issue.) Newgate Copper Mine and Sloane/Stanley Shelburne Falls is located on Route The third tour in the series, on Museum and Kent Iron Furnace are being 2, just over two hours west of Boston, February 28, was a combined visit to the considered, and in Rhode Island, the approximatel y ten minutes west of East Boston and Deer Island sewage Wireless and Steam Museum in East Greenfield and Interstate 91. pumping stations. The 1899 horizontal Greenwich. One unusual event, probably triple-expansion engine in East Boston, in August, will be a day-long bicycle Peter Stott viewed in st eam during the 1984 National tour of mills and bridges along the Mill Newton Highlands, MA Conference, was again in steam, River in Northampton, Mass. Peter Stott interpreted by the Mass. Water Resource Authority's Director of Pumping, John Newton Highlands, MA

7 MR W A Chief of Pumping John Markley explains f ine points of steam pumping during SNEC visit to East Boston Pumping Station, February 28.

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~---- types of resources available. Even CHAPTERS PLAN long-rime SIA members were not always aware of the different resources NEW ENGLAND WINTER available in different states. The net SNEC INTRODUCES CONFERENCE ON result was the decision to make the LIFE MEMBERSHIP INDUSTRIAL ARCHEOLOGY conference a two-part affair: a series CATEGORY of general papers in the morning, and workshops in the afternoon. The At their joint meeting on May 9th, afternoon will conclude with a wine-and­ At its annual fall meeting in t he Northern and Southern New England cheese event, coupled with a show-and­ November 1986, the Southern Chapter voted to i ntroduce a new membership Chapters will be asked to approve a tell session. proposal for an annual winter Bill Taylor, past NNEC president cat egor y, lifetime membership, for a conf erence, jointly sponsored by the two and Director of the Institute for New one-time fee of $100. As of Marc h 1987, chapters. The motion calls for the Hampshire Studies at Plymouth State six SNEC members had taken advantage of conference location to alternate between College (New Hampshire), offered to host the new class of membership. The Plymouth, New Hampshire, and Lawrence, the first meeting in 1988. The Chapters Chapter officers were gratified ~y this Massachusetts, with the first meeting, will be asked to consider one of two expression of support. in February or March of 1988, to be held Saturdays, February 6th, or March 5th, For the time being, t he annual in Plymouth. 1988. Plymouth is near the center of general membership remains at five The proposal springs from a meeting the state, just south of the White dollars, but with the expanded events held January 17th in Lowell at which Mountain National Forest. It is 43 program planned, this rare must ideas for such a conference were aired. miles from Concord and just over two i nevitably rise, and wit h it, the l ife Representing the Northern Chapter were hours from Boston via Interstate 93. It membership rate. Program Coordinator Dennis Howe, David Starbuck, Stewart is proposed to hold alternate year Peter Stott obser ved that an Read, Dot Nadeau, and Bill Taylor. conferences in Lawrence, Massachusetts, announcement of this pending rise in the Peter Stott· and Chuck Parrott in conjunction with the new convention two rates m ight be a good incentive to represented the Southern Chapter. There quarters being built in association with members who are considering the life was general recognition that the the Museum of American Textile History. category while the rat es still remain Chapters, in fulfilling their goals of Although the conference is only low! promoting industrial archeology i n New planned as a single day event, Peter St ott England, need to reach a much wider participants will be encouraged to plan Newt on Highlands, MA audience. An annual conference their weekend around the conference. specifically geared toward New England Both downhill and cross-country skiing industrial archeology was seen as an are available in the immediate vicinity important means of addressing this need. of Plymouth, and conference organizers Dennis Howe and Bill Taylor noted that are looking at the feasibility of a although most states require the cross- country !A ski tour for Sunday. teaching of state and local history, Peter Stott more often than not high school teachers Newton Highlands, MA were unaware of many of the different

8 RECENT PUBLICATIONS, ETC. HELP WANTED OSV FIELD SCHOOL Romano, Frank J. 1986. Machine Writing Drill or Punch Work and . The Story of (See Vol. 6, No. 2 of SNEC/ NNEC The ninth annual Old Sturbridge Sholes and Mergenthaler and the Newsletter) Village Field School in Historical Invention of the Typewriter and the Archaeology will be conducted from June Linotype. Salem, NH: GAMA. Robert Talbot writes: "Betsy 22- -August 7 at Old Sturbridge Village (Talbot) would like to know of other and at the Emerson Bixby and Cheney Starbuck, David R. 1986. The New England examples of drill work as interior Lewis sites in Barre, Massachusetts. Glassworks: New Hampshire's Boldest decoration, not specifying location Bixby was a blacksmith and Lewis a Experiment in Early Glassmaking. shoemaker in a once-busy, early-19th­ geographically. This past July I Special Issue of The Ne"!_Hampshire visited the George Read House, The century, agricultural/crafts Archeologist, Vol. 27, No. I. neighborhood known as "Barre Four Strand, New Castle, Delaware -- as 148 pp. stated, the sharp edged holes are easily Corners." Following a week of intensive filled by successive layers of paint so Weible, Robert (ed.). 1986. The World of I could not see how they are made. I orientation to the historical and the Industrial Revolution: Compara­ material culture of early-19th-century later experimented with a flat ground tive and International Aspects of rural New England, students will spend punch and hollow pointed punch. The Industrialization. Essays from the six weeks learning methods and results were not consistent depending on Lowell Conference on Industrial techniques of field archeology, working spacing and grain location. The History, 1984. North Andover: at the Bixby and Lewis sites. The Field sponsors of this house have an architect Museum of American Textile History. working on restoration, so there may be School will involve students in pp. excavation, survey, measured drawing, 177 a source of information from his office conservation, computer, and other field, re. the method used. It seems to me Newly Published: A Railfan's Guide to lab, and recording activities. t hat this was a short- lived fad killed Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Lectures, workshops, and informal by thick lead paint, but nevertheless 24x36 fold-out sheet with maps of seminars will complement the work in quite stri king in appearance." If you Eastern Massachusetts and the Boston field ·and lab. know of any examples, please write to: area showing all extant rail lines. On Robert Talbot, 1536 Magnolia Street, This is the fourth season of a the reverse side are lists of all New Smyrna Beach, Florida 32069. .../ long-term project to develop new operating passenger services; surviving historical information for exhibits and railroad stations and other structures; interpretation at Old Sturbridge other MBTA rapid transit lines; and Village. The focus of the 1987 more... $3.7 5 from Mass. Bay Railroad fieldwork will be excavation of several Enthusiasts, Inc., P Box 360, Babson outbuilding sites on the Bixby homelot, .0. Park, MA 02157. and of the yard spaces of Bixby's neighbor, Cheney Lewis. SIA Hats and 1986 Fall Tour Guidebooks The Field School is designed as the Available: Spiffy, high quality equivalent of two full courses at either baseball hats (adjustable bands) the graduate or undergraduate level. featuring the SIA 1986 fall tour logo Eight semester hours of credit are and the full name of the Society are available through Clark University in available. The tour logo shows a masted Worcester, Mass., for an additional f ee whaler and a submarine, symbols of of $100. The basic program fee of $500 coastal Connecticut and Rhode Island's covers all materials and fees and maritime industries. Hats are gray with includes complementary admission to Old navy blue lettering. Also available are Sturbridge Village during the program. limited copies of the tourbook entitled Local housing during the Field School is Waves on the Industrial Shore: Industrial also available for an additional fee. Archeology in Coastal Connecticut and Participation is limited to 20 students. Rhode Island (paperback, 60 pages). The application deadline is June I, Hats may be purchased for $5.00 and though applications will be processed as tourbooks for $4.50. Please send orders received. For further information and to Mary M. Donohue, Connecticut application forms, please contact: David Historical Commission, 59 South Prospect Simmons, Archaeology Field School, Old Street, Harl ford, CT 06 Il)6. Make checks Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, MA out to "SIA". 01566. Telephone: (617) 347-3362. SIA members watch a demonstration of the operation of a proof press during a recent tour of Yankee Typesetters, a hot-metal shop in Concord, NH. See article on page 13. Photo by Dennis Howe.

9 Article

HAVERIDLL SHOE FACTORY STRIKE OF 1895

train them to do the highly skilled work [This article is taken from a a dollar a week or 20% of the weekly and pay lower wages. When the workers forthcoming book by Bertha Woodman that wage be withheld for a year, until a became proficient in their jobs the will be published by the Haverhill total of $50.00 was reached. The money manufacturers would discharge the higher Public Library. Tentatively, the title withheld paid 7% interest. According to paid workers. This became the practice will be Our Lives in the Queen Shoe Mr. Chick, "withholding the money taught in the Chick and Winchell factories. City, The Early History of the Jewish the workers thrift as they would have There were two major reasons for Community of Haverhill, Mass., 1880 to spent the money foolishly if they had the strike. First, the contract system 1940. It will be available for it." Because the workers did not allowed the workers no control over the distribution on October 1, 1987, through understand the American system, they money withheld from their wages. Pay the Haverhill Public Library, 99 Main agreed to these contracts. Failure to envelopes showed the full amount earned. Street, Haverhill, MA 01830. Copies of give two weeks notice by the worker Workers had no receipt or record of the the original interviews and transcripts meant loss of money. This threat kept money held in escrow. The second reason of the tapes will be available for them from striking or quitting. As the for the strike was the low wages agreed research only at the Haverhill Public shoe workers became experienced in their upon the previous year while the country Library.) jobs and familiar with life in Haverhill, they became dissatisfied with was still trying to pull itself out of the inequities of their wages and the economic depression of the early Eighteen ninety-four was a bad year contract system. 1880s. for the shoe industry. Economic The contract system was not the Labor had been trying to organize conditions had been depressed, and sales only example of exploitation of workers. since the early 1830s when shoes were were down. Shoe manufacturers, trying Max Maistrosky, who worked at the Chick first produced in factories instead of to keep factories afloat, asked Brothers Shoe Factory from 1893 to 1895, as a cottage industry. Factory owners employees to take a 33-1/3% cut in had to work for four weeks without pay felt threatened by the unions that were wages. This cut would have allowed shoe in order to get a job. He was told that being formed by workers. If shoe unions sales at a lower price to beat the this was the way to learn the trade. succeeded, the owners would have to deal competition of factories in other parts Another example of exploitation was to with organized groups instead of of the country. Prices and sales were bring immigrants fresh off the boat who individual wotkers. This struggle was a made months before shoes were had skills that were easily adapted to major issue by 1894. manufactured, so economic conditions making shoes. The factory owners would often changed between the time of sale and completion of products. Hence, the workers were caught in a bind, having agreed to lower wages insufficient to support their families. The shoe manufacturing season ran from December through June. Whatever wages were earned during that time had to stretch to support the workers over the slack period. Both male and female workers had to find supplementary work to tide them over. Many shoe workers were newly arrived immigrants. They did not know the cost of living in America. Any sum of money sounded like a fortune compared to what they had earned in the old country. The manufacturers were distrustful of these new workers. Management did not know if they would report to work on a daily basis, so Chick Brothers Shoe Company, W. W. Spaulding, and Swett Shoe Company developed a contract system to insure workers' loyalty. There seem to have been two types of contract;. One c:ontrac~ !>tated that a sum of money be withdrawn from wages each week until $25.00 was accumulated. Chick Brothers Shoe Factory, 414 This was held to assure that workers River Street, Haverhill, 1890s. would report to work each day. The Courtesy of the Haverhill Public other type of contract, referred to as Library. the "iron-clad contract," dictated that

. 10 The lasters, all men, felt the for workers to fill shoe orders. They By mid-January the strike was in advance of mechanization in the intro­ sent agents to New York and Boston to full swing,- involving over 3000 workers. duction of the "niggerhead" machine. bring newly arrived immigrants to On January 15, 1895 the manufacturers This machine nailed the loose leather Haverhill to work in the factories. bought an injunction against the shoe from the upper part of the shoe down Among those to come as strike-breakers unions to stop the strike and return to around the back before the heel was put were Jews (referred to as "Hebrews" in work under the same conditions that on. The process had been done by hand the newspapers), Italians, Armenians, existed before the strike. The strikers until technology developed the "consoli­ and Huns. Mattresses and clothing were were represented by their agents, T. T. dated method lasting machine" during the brought to the factories so workers did Pomeroy and Secretary Hodgkins. Industrial Revolution. This machine not have to leave the shops and be The women stitchers, native-born eliminated hand work and jobs confronted by the strikers. The newly­ Americans of various ethnic groups, were (Newburyport Daily News, 12/ 27/ 1894). arrived immigrants had no idea of what skilled workers. They wanted pay for On December 12, 1894, the machine was happening. They did not know they their work equal to men's pay. The lasters of the T . F . Finney shoe con­ were employed as "scabs." women stitchers who went out on strike tracting shop went out on strike, Jacob Blastein also played a role, in January were very militant in their demanding a 30% increase in wages. not as a striker but as a victim. The demands and played a very active roll in Fights between hand lasters and machine Haverhill Evening Gazette of January 4, the strike and the organization of the lasters broke out in earnest. Hand 1895, contains the following report: union. lasters attempted to drive the machines "A braham Goldstein alleges that The workers presented six requests: out of the factories. As the lasters Jacob Blastein, a McKay stitcher, I. That employees return to work struck, new men were employed. These was forcibly detained when he without discrimination on the men were trained to use the lasting attemped to leave one of the part of the employers at the machines, so hand lasters were no longer factories, and locked in. 'What established prices pending a needed. right had they to keep that man settlement, and that none of On December 14, 1894, eight hand from coming home? 'asked Goldstein the union help be fired. lasters employed by Husseey and Hodgen last night. "They would not dare 2. That prices be settled by the struck because the employees' new price to do t hat to an Italian, for local board of conciliation and list was not accepted by the manufac­ Italians carry knives, and know arbitration o r by the state turers. The lasters' union saw con­ how to use them. We were going to board. ditions more favorable for a successful get a policeman to rake the man 3. That prices agreed upon go into strike against the use of lasting out, and his wife wanted us to do effect February 15th and it, but we thought it might be bad machines. On December 15 the shoe continue through 1895. f or the union cause, so we let him manufacturers' met to protest against 4. That the contract system be stay until tomorrow. They will the workers' demand for increase in abolished. have to let him go in the morning, wages and the proposed increase in 5. That f orfeited contract money or we will find out the reason tariff on shoe shipments. held by the firm be returned to why .... On December 16, 1894, about 200 the people who deposited it. " We will notify our people in unionized lasters from the Chic k 6. That all grievances which Boston and New York that they must Brothers factory struck in the dispute cannot be settled by manufac­ not come here to take our over wages. On December 31 , thirteen turers be referred to the board jobs.... hundred lasters headed by a brass band of conciliation. "The reasons that Blastein was paraded through the streets of (Haverhill Evening detained, the strikers say, was Haverhill. William M. Chick, owner of Gazette, 1/15/1895) because he was the only McKay Chick Brothers Shoe Company , The Strike lasted until mid-March, stitcher left in the factory, and reported:" ... I heard the sound of a 1895. Help to sustain the strikers came it would be impossible t o get work drum corps and saw a large body of men from many sources. Donations came from through the factory if he went and women coming. They appeared headed garment workers unions, shoe unions out. for my factor y, and a large c rowd nation-wide, the Women's Christian assembled directly in front of my Temperance Union, and various women's "Swain Chick was today factory, while a thousand marched back charities concerned with the welfare of questioned relative to the and forth in front of my factory with a the lady stitchers. The union organized statement. Mr. Chic k declared drum corps ... The c rowd stayed for an their members into shop crews to that there were men in the factory hour, and from 350 to 400 people left my distribute the three or four dollars a ever y night, and that at the factory and joined the c rowd. The crowd week to feed strikers and their present time an additional f orce shouted and hurrahed." families. Relief funds for rent insured had been acquired to serve as A I though Jews were involved in the that strikers were not evicted from night watchmen. strike of 1895, few played prominent their tenements and rooms. "He refused to state whether roles. Max and Sam Sibulkin were Jews Finally, when relief funds were no any Hebrews were confined in the important in the strike. Their concern longer forthcoming, the workers tried to building and added that the doors for organized labor with a strong union form a strong branch of the Boot and were always open and the men could motivated their participation in the Shoe Workers Union, now a part of the go out whenever they pleased. No strike. According to the Haverhill American Federation of Labor, to member of the firm, he said, had Gazette, l / 15/1895, "The two Sibulkins negotiate an end to the strike. The ever attempted to detain any of were seen in Tuesday's parade and nearly strike committee agreed that the strike the Hebrews by force, and the every day after as pickets." (as quoted was partly successful, and the story that he had seized one of by William Chick at the hearing in Salem "ironclad" contract system was done the foreigners by the coat, and Court). away with. Wage cuts were halted, and compelled him to return to his The manufacturers were desperate 118 factories signed agreements t o work was false."

11 arbitrate a uniform price list. Haverhill during the: 1890s, many went to work in the Lennox and Briggs The Haverhill Evening Gazette unknowingly as strike breakers. The tannery which was located on Essex reported at the end of the strike: Jews played a positive role in the Street behind the building renovated in Not a man or woman is a whit poorer strike despite their smaller number when 1984 for Senior Housing. than he or she was when the strike compared to other ethnic groups. In a The Jews soon realized that they began last December. We have won feature story on the strike in the would have to use their i ngenuity to many things. We have brought into Boston Herald, the writer commented c reate ways of making more. money to existence the local board of con­ that the Jews he interviewed were better support their growing families than it ciliation and arbitration and have informed of the goals of the strike was possible to earn as laborers i n the established the right to articulate than many of the other ethnic groups. shoe industry. with our employees on all our Many Jewish immigrants began Bertha Woodman grievances. The board will make American life as laborers in the shoe Newburyport, MA out a price list, and no firm in factories. Charles Court had been one the city, big or little, will do of the first Jews to work in a shoe work unless it pays the scale of factory. He went to work for Chick wages demanded by the price Brothers in the cutting room. Harry list• ..1f they don't they will get Snyder left the factories in 1895 when another strike, for the men and he realized that there was no future women will come out as quickly as there. He went into business buying they did last December and January. leather pieces and selling them to The strike of 1895 had a great cutters for facings and trimmings. · impact on the Jewish community. Louis Maistrosky, Zundel Karelitz, Elie Hundreds of Jewish people moved into Karelitz, Barney Sulkin, and Jacob Brown Workers at the Chick Brothers Shoe Factory, 414 River Street, Haverhill, ca. 1900. Courtesy of the Haverhill Public Library.

12 in Brattleboro, Vt. The Stones sold, and Article in 1960 they opened Yankee Typesetters in Concord. Several former employees followed them to the new business. HOT-METAL SURVIVING AT YANKEE TYPESETTERS Low Key The Concord operation has changed little since opening day; John distrusts [A tour of one of the few remaining the latter category may undergo multiple "bigness." In a day when printers some­ "hot-metal" typesetting shops in the revisions and take a two-year period to times seem more interested in hype than United States -- Yankee Typesetters, complete. type, Yankee T ypesetters remains notably Inc., of Concord, N.H. -- was the focus Yankee Typesetters' owners, John low key. There is no outdoor sign at the of the Feb. 14, 1987 special meeting of and Jean Stone, are life-long veterans plant, reached through a side entrance the Northern New England Chapter of the of printing who have worked side by side at the Page Belting Company and a stair­ Society for Industrial Archeology. in a variety of businesses almost con­ way to space on the second floor, Approximately 20 members attended the tinuously since they were married. In Locally, their pu bile profile is a engaging demonstration of Linotype 1959 they were approached by American simple Yellow Pages listing. And while operation. Book Stratford Press who wanted to buy many typographers produce elaborate For comparison's sake, an exhibit out their successful Stone Typesetting specimen books to flaunt all their type- of hot-metal's nemesis -- photo­ typesetting -- followed at the Sir Speedy Printing Center (owned by NNEC President Dennis Howe). This report was compiled by Sir Speedy employee Jerry Wolfe.]

The Linotype. Some observers say its rolling cams and reciprocating parts · remind them of a "Rube Goldberg" contraption. Literary critic Hugh Kenner in his new book The Mechanic Muse [Endnote I] callslt"as complicated a piece of lever-and-gear technology as you'd want to think about." Thomas Edison reportedly dubbed it "the eighth .wonder of the world". But to the people at Yankee Typesetters, Inc., the Linotype is more than a mechanical curio, it is the marvelous means by which they make their living. Yankee Typesetters serves book pub­ lishers by producing reproduction­ quality galleys from authors' t y pe­ written manuscripts. The publishing houses usually take responsibility for the book's design (specifying and sizes, , etc.). The Con­ cord, N.H., company sets the type and handles , billing the labor­ intensive service according to a formula that blends the number of characters of a given size and the complexity of typography involved. The publisher forwards the final "repro proofs" to the printer, who arranges them according to the press's configuration, makes printing plates and begins the actual book manufacturing process. The New Hampshire firm's regular customers irclude Simon ~· Schuster, S. Jay Lasser's annual tax guides by Hilltop Publications, New Directions (often poetry), Duke University, 1. Kevboard Columbia University and Oxford Univer­ 2. Ma.gazine of Matrices sity presses. Content ranges from 3. Spaceband Box ~ typographically straight-forward novels 4. Casting Mechanism to textbooks and legal or scholarly Linotype Model 35. Priced at approx. 5. Slugs in Galley works. A heavily-footnoted manuscript in $4500 in 1943; shipping weight 4000 lbs. 6. Distributing Mechanism 7. Cams in rear

13 faces in all of their permutations, John tion of new matrices is projected to simply lists the names and sizes. cease within the next five years, John Faster is Better He does not seem to regret deciding often buys and spare parts from Ottmar Mergenthaler introduced the to close a branch in Biddeford, Me., shops that are closing down. Linotype in 1886. Before that, t ype had which he ran for five years. "In any Besides the Linotypes, the opera­ been set by hand. Foundry-cast charac­ business you have to make money," Stone tion uses Models I and lll Vandercook ters were stored in a compartmentalized says. "But I've never put that proofing presses; an Elrod strip-casting wooden rack called a "job case." The foremost." machine to make borders, rules, and t ypesetter or compositor picked up a One of the things that does appeal blank spacing material; a Hammond metal character out of the case with one hand to John is having the opportunity to saw; a pig caster to recycle unwanted and placed it next to the previous take part in producing fine books. "If type metal into new ingots for the character in a shallow tray ("composing you've done a nice job, you can take it Linotypes; several cases of foundry type ") held in the other hand. When all out later and look at it," he says. for hand-setting, and (with some reluc­ the words that would fit into one line "That's what I think is important." tance) a vintage Photo-Typositor had been se t, the compositor "justified" The Linotype itself also is [Endnote 2] for "display'' size type. the line by distributing extra spac ing appealing. Now in his mid-70s, John remarks that he first saw a Linotype at age II, and that he knew then he "just had to get involved with it." The Lino­ type (like the Model A Ford) is a particularly "elegant" machine -- in the NOT ABLE DATES sense that a brilliant mathematical solution may be called "elegant." It is A.D. not at all unusual for people to feel a Ci.1o41 -- machine followed by "band" machines. strong attraction to it. Possible invention of movable t ype in " ... Vertical bars containing an alphabet An air of quiet, effictent China. of female characters descended at the craftsmanship at Yankee Typesetters touch of a finger key, were brought to a indicates that John's crew members (the 1454 -- common alignment and metal forced youngest is near 40) share many of his Three hundred Bibles printed using through a mold into the depressed c har­ attitudes. Overtime Is the norm. About a attributed t o Johann acters in the tars, thus forming raised dozen full-time employees (five Linotype Gutenberg of Germany. (Some writers type on the front edge of a slug in the operators) keep the machines running 24 claim that the actual inventor of mold. The slug was ejected through trim­ hours a day. movable type was a Dutchman, Janszoon ming knives into a galley and the Coster.) vertical bars were lifted to their Equipment Inventory original position, ready for the next Yankee Typesetters' equipment in­ 1714-l860s -- line." [Endnote 4] cludes two Linotypes: a Model 5 (circa Numerous mechanical writing machines 1960, originally introduced in 1906) and pass through conception, description, 1885 -- a Model 8 (circa 1930, with three prototype phases. Hand-setting from Mergenthaler develops machine using superimposed magazines). Approximately foundry type continues to dominate small c irculating matrices rather than 25 text typefaces are available, and the printing. characters fixed on bands. The New York library Is still growing. Since produc- Tribune sets type for July 3, I886iSsue­ 1854 -- . using this model. Circulating matrices Ottmar Mergenthaler born in Hachtel, were the final major breakthrough in the Germany; he emigrated to U.S. in 1872. development of the Linotype as it He was first employed by a stepcousin, existed for the next 100 years. creating watches and scientific inven­ tions. 1899 -- Ottmar Mergenthaler dies.

1867 -- Twentieth Century -- Christopher L. Sholes presents "Type­ Linotype undergoes continual mechanical writer" working model. refinement, but no radical changes. Most improvements involved increasing the 1874-- number and variety of matrices usable at First shipment of typewriters manu­ one time on a particular ("mixer") factured by Remington's Ilion, NY, machine. Other advances: matrix slide plant. block (for casting decorative borders), self-quadder, six-mold disk. 1870s -- Interest shifts toward machines to early 1950s -- "bridge the gap between the typewriter Fotosetter released. An unsuccessful and the printed page". Still working for attempt to overlay con­ his stepcousin, Mergenthaler works on cept onto the linotype's well-perfected "transfer" machine, later drops exper­ keyboard and distribution system. iments. 1986 -- Spare parts -- insurance against early 1880s -- Linotype celebrates l OOth year, with future unavailability. Mergenthaler establishes his own new-tech digital laser unit as one of Photo courtesy of Dennis Howe. factory, develops "rotary matrix" its major products.

14 Justification of lines is accom­ mechanical damage or a dangerous squirt plished by spacebands dropped between of molten metal. words. Each consists of two thin steel After casting, the water-cooled wedges mounted in opposite directions so mold disk rotates, trimming the bottom that the outside faces remain parallel of the slug as it passes a knife. The (Figure 3). When the spaceband hangs slug is then ejected f rom the mold freely, its width is at the minimum; t hrough a pair of knife edges that trim upward pressure on the spaceband will the sides. increase its t otal width. Completed slugs (Figure 6) collect When the operator has finished and cool in a removable slanted tray filling a line with words and spaces, he ("galley") on the front lef t of the lifts up a lever which raises the Linotype. After the job has been assembling elevator that contains the printed, the unwanted slugs can be re­ matrices and spacebands. They are sub­ melted and cast into fresh pigs (ingots) sequently delivered to the casting to feed the Linotype pot. mechanism. While the machine is trimming and Linotype slugs are cast from lead ejecting the slug, the line of matrices Figure 5. Relationship of matrix, mold (alloyed with tin and antimony) which is and spacebands is raised to an upper and resulting slug. kept molten in a gas- or electric-heated level of mechanisms. One of the most pot. (Kerosene and gasoline have also noticeable moving parts of the Linotype, been used.) a long arm called the "second elevator," Actual justification of a line of swings down to collect the toothed drops by gravity into the magazine chan­ matrices and spacebands occurs just matrices on its grooved bar. Driven by a nel from which it originally came. Each before the slug is molded. A horizontal cam, it then pivots up to carry the channel contains up to 20 matrices of rod pushes up on the dangling ends of matrices to the distributing mechanism each character. the spacebands, which makes each one above the magazine, discussed earlier expand in width until the line fits (Figure 1). etaoin shrdlu tightly into the allotted space The spacebands, having no teeth, do The Linotype keyboard has three (Figure 4). not slide onto the second elevator's color-coded sections: lower-case letters When the line has been wedged to grooves. Instead, they are raked into a at far left, capitals at far right, and its full width, a plunger forces hot box to replenish the supply of space­ figures, fixed spaces and in lead through a mouthpiece to cast the bands for subsequent lines of type. the center. The layout follows the bar of metal with raised mirror-image Linotype speeds up to about 20 approximate pattern of distribution of letters along one edge (Figure 5). The lines per minute have been claimed, but letters in the English language. The casting mechanism has built-in safe­ actual production runs much less -- lower-case "e" is used most often, so it guards that stop the action if a line is occupies the upper-leftmost corner of too long for the vise-jaw, or too short the keyboard. Ot occurs so frequently, to justify properly. This prevents in fact, that most magazines contain two "e" channels to ensure a sufficient supply of matrices.) The letter "t" is second most common, "a" is third. When an operator runs a finger down the first two rows of the keyboard, it produces the sequence "etaoin shrdlu". It's a quick way to fill a line with matrices, roughly equivalent to a typist's use of the "x" key to strike out a typewriting e r ror. The custom was so common among newspaper Linotypists that "etaoin shrdlu" inevitably found its way into print by mistake. A great deal of lore developed around "etaoin shrdlu". The sequence has been the sub­ ject of numerous humorous stories, limericks, and mock letters to the editor; some readers concluded that it was a person's name, or an obscure swear word. The Linotype keyboard has a hair­ trigger touch, made possible by an ingenious series of cams, rods, levers, springs, pawls, and escapements (Figure 2). The operator's downward finger pres­ Figure 6. A stack of Linotype slugs. sure, whether light or heavy, is Hot-metal pri nters are adept at reading translated into a uniform mechanical mirror-image raised type. motion that releases one matrix per stroke.

16 perhaps 2 to 8. If an operator keyboards faster than the machine can accept the lines, it is known as "hanging the elevator". While different divisions of the Linotype have their own independent mechanisms, the overall mechanical action and timing of the machine is controlled by large cams at the rear (Figure 7) driven by a 1/3 horsepower electric motor. Linotype Survives Published information on the his­ tory of the Linotype and other print­ Figure 7. Cams actuate and control most related developments is in ready supply; of the mechanical actions of the Lino­ after all, those associated with the type. A 1/3 horsepower motor drives the industry have never lacked access to the entire machine. media. Readers who wish to pursue the subject in detail are referred first to a recent book, Machine Writing and ~ setting, by printing consultant and operators using typewriter-style key­ of spring-loaded pins that sensed the editor Frank J. Romano. Somewhat boards could produce copy more cheaply combinations of holes), new tape readers "popularized" in tone, the book none­ than could traditionally-trained used light beams, photosensors and theless seems trustworthy and is the Linotype operators. And since many of solid-state electronics. It worked, source of much of the information in the keyboarders were women drawing less sometimes too well. The new devices this report. Romano's bibliography would pay than the predom inanely male oper­ could read tapes faster than the Uno­ be invaluable to any student of the ators, the theory proved valid. One types could properly assemble the Linotype and printing. former Linotypist could monitor several matrices. And with less cooling time Romano notes that the typewriter tape-driven machines simultaneously. between casting cycles, the mold disk and mechanical typesetter are branches Another advantage was that tapes tended to overheat. of the same evolutionary stem and could be punched via impulses sent by Early in the 1950s, the linotype encourages readers to observe that the wire services such as the Associated was facing competition from an entirely branches converge today in the silicon­ Press and United Press International. new species of typesetter -- machines based world of word processing, digital The concept began to yield that created type not from cast metal typesetting and computer graphics. This diminishing returns when further but from photographic images. (See view is supported by the fact that the attempts were made to marry electronics endnote on Typositor.) Reacting quickly, Linotype company, founded in the heyday and mechanics. Instead of decoding the Harris lntertype Corp. created a of mechanization a century ago, has punched tapes mechanically (with a row half-breed. The keyboard, magazine and survived to prosper in the era of multi­ national boardroom maneuvering. As part of its centennial celebra- tion last year, the Linotype Group presented three "experimenta.l fore­ runners of the original Linotype ENDNOTES machine" to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. The trade [ 1] Kenner's characterization appears electronic "digital" form instead of press item announcing the gift billed in a chapter e ntitled "In Memoriam film are now beginning to elbow photo­ the company as "one of the world's Etaoin Shrdlu". Type for the book was typesetters out of the market. The largest manufacturers of typesetting and produced by Yankee Typesetters using the newest versions create the final image photocomposition systems", claiming 1986 very technology Kenner eulogized. via laser or e lectrostatic technology, revenues of $230 million, up 28.6 per­ and some can handle graphic material in cent from the previous year. At the time [2] The Typositor is a bare-bones addition to letterforms. of the announcement, the profitable tri­ phototypesetter. The font characters are national firm was part of Allied-Signal, transparent windows in long strips of [3] This section on Linotype mechanics Inc., "one of the 30 largest industrial film. The operator cranks the desired uses information provided by Yankee corporations in the U.S.A." Allied had Jetter into position and actuates a Typesetters and by a 1951 Linotype plans to divest itself of Linotype to lignt that exposes the image onto photo­ Maintenance Manual published by the raise cash. graphic paper. The strip of paper is Mergenthaler Linotype Company of New Linotype's best-known product today then advanced, the next c haracter is York. The author also draws on personal is a high-resolution digital text and positioned, the exposure is made, and so experience gained while working for graphics typesetter -- the result of at on. As the photosensitive paper exits his father, retired Linotype operator, least 40 years' development that began from the machine, it runs through machinist and newspaper production with attempts to "improve" the original developer and fixer solutions to make manager C.B. Wolfe of Hastings, Linotype. One of the first stages of the visible image. Nebraska .. automation involved driving the machines Devices of this kind are direct with punched paper tapes rather than by antecedents to computer-driven photo­ [4] Romano. Machine Writing a nd~ direct keyboarding. The theory was that typesetters that currently dominate the setting. (at least for uncomplicated text type) industry. But machines using fonts in

17 matrix re-distribution system remained essentially unchanged. Photopaper Gas­ settes, exposure lamp and lenses replaced the metal casting apparatus. And the matrices were re-designed with BIBLIOGRAPHY negative film images of characters mounted on their flat sides, instead of Dewitt, Frank Meyer, Jerome S. punched impressions on their edges. A . 1940 All-Purpose Linotype. 1956 Great Inventions. The World chain drive moved the matrices into Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Publishing Company (Permabook paperback position, one after another, for Institute, Rochester, NY. edition published 1962). Pocket Books, exposure of the characters onto the Inc., New York, NY. "Developments in the light-sensitive paper. Kenner, Hugh Mechanical Age" chapter, The Story of The hybrid was called the 1987 The Mechanic Muse. Printing. "Fotosetter," and it was a dead end. Oxford University Press, Inc., New York Circulating individual matrices may have and Oxford. Romano, Frank J. been Ottmar Mergenthaler's most 1986 Machine Writing and brilliant breakthrough. For photo­ Linotype Keyboard Operation Typesetting. GAMA, Salem, NH. typesetters, however, the key to success 1957 Mergenthaler Linotype was to put the master characters onto Company, Brooklyn, NY. ~Wor ld rapidly spinning drums or disks. As the Jan. 1987, Vol. XI, No. l. desired character came into alignment, Linotype Maintenance Manual Press release-: "Linotype Records Set the exposure lamp flashed. 1951 Mergenthaler Linotype in Centennial Year". TypeWorld Publica­ The Mergenthaler company even­ Company, Brooklyn, NY. tions, PO Box 170, 35 Pelham Road, tually saw the light (a laser, in fact), Salem, NH 03079. and after 100 years in the market, Linotype Tyfcefaces sr:cimen Book Linotype still commands a major share of Undatedca. 1930? Mergenthaler the typesetting machine business. Linotype Company, Brooklyn, NY.

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