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Wests, Bradley & Gary
| Name | Wests, Bradley & Gary |
| Ortssitz | New York City |
| Straße | Chambers street |
| Art des Unternehmens | Reifrockfabrik |
| Anmerkungen | Bezeichnet als "Wests, Bradley & Gary's Hoop Skirt Works" |
| Quellenangaben | [Bishop: History of American manufacturers 3 (1868) 209] |
| Produkt |
ab |
Bem. |
bis |
Bem. |
Kommentar |
| Reifröcke |
1868 |
[Bishop: Hist. of Amer. manuf. I (1868)] |
1868 |
[Bishop: Hist. of Amer. manuf. I (1868)] |
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| ZEIT | 1868 |
| THEMA | Firmenbeschreibung |
| TEXT | In the City of New York, are believed to be the most extensive of the kind in the "United States. The business was originally established by J. W. Bradley, the inventor of an important improvement in the form of Skirts, who soon after associated with him J. I. & J. O. West. For several years the manufacturing operations of this firm, and their successors, the present firm, were confined to the upper floors of their extensive store in Chambers street; but, with the increase of business, enlarged premises were required, and now the firm occupy, in addition to their store, a six story building on the south side of Twenty-ninth street extending through to Twenty-eighth street, a length of two hundred feet; and another on the north side of Twenty-ninth street, seven stories high, exclusive of the basement, and one hundred feet square. The former is used for the manufacture of Crinoline Wire and weaving Tapes, and the latter for spinning cotton into yarn preparatory to being woven into Braid Bands and Tapes, and finishing Hoop Skirts. The firm have upward of five acres of ground, giving them ample accommodation for their extended Works. This is one of the few establishments in this country that combine within itself all the facilities necessary, and in which may be witnessed all the processes incidental to converting steel rods into finished Skirts. In the basement of the warehouse on Twenty-eighth street may be seen an immense stock of steel rods, a little less than a quarter of an inch in diameter, and which are imported in large rolls. These are taken into the blacksmith's shop, where the ends are pointed, to enable them to be started through the "wire plates." From this shop the rods, still in rolls, are placed in a large annealing oven, where by a heating of some hours' duration they are rendered soft enough to "draw." After this they are pickled, that is, steeped in a solution of sulphuric acid, the object of which is to remove the scale. The rolls are next suspended in the drying kilns, from which place they pass into the wire room, where, by powerful machinery and skilful manipulations, the wire is reduced in size, with a corresponding increase in length. But two drawings can be performed before the Wire becomes so hardened that it must be again annealed, pickled and dried, preparatory to further drawing. The wire as produced here is round, and, to give it the necessary ribbon shape, it is flattened by being passed through small but powerful steel rollers. These machines are quite expensive, costing not less than one thousand dollars each. The steel for the rolls is imported expressly for this purpose, from the famed works of Krupp, Germany. This steel ribbon, of various gauges, is still quite soft, not having had communicated to it the necessary spring temper. To accomplish this, the reels containing the ribbon steel are conveyed to the tempering room, where the wire is passed through a furnace at a regulated speed, from which it issues red hot, and enters a vessel of oil, where the steel is hardened. Being now too brittle for use, it has the temper drawn by means of a vessel containing a melted composition of tin and lead through which it passes. These springs have yet to be covered, which is executed in an tipper room, by machines of great ingenuity, that cover the flattened wire with a tightly-woven cotton thread. Some of the wires designed for the lower hoops of the Skirt are run through the covering machine a second time, to guard them against the excessive wear of dragging over stone steps, etc. These covered wires are now placed in troughs of starch. By means of bands the machinery carries the starched, braided wire backward and forward, over rollers heated by steam, and between which are attached a series of grooves of polished steel, which act as ironers, and give a fine glazed or enamelled appearance to the Wire. When properly dried it is again wound up into coils; and while this is being done, an index in the machine indicates the number of yards. Messrs. Wests, Bradley & Cary consume in this department over eleven hundred barrels of starch annually. In the seven-storied building on the north side of Twenty-ninth street is a regularly-arranged Cotton Mill, where raw cotton is spun and worked up into Tapes and the Braid for covering the wires. Above the spinning department are rooms devoted to the fabrication of the Skirts, where hundreds of young women are engaged in this light and pleasant toil. Machinery is here called into play whenever practicable, and the results of machine labor are manifest in the regularity, precision and durability of the work performed; and it is indeed a most interesting sight to observe the intelligent operatives at their work, and note how deftly they weave the hoops with the tapes,' and then fasten them in position by small metal fastenings. This firm have a most wonderful and efficient piece of mechanism for inserting the eyelets into the bands of the Skirts. When under judicious guidance, it can accomplish work which formerly, by the ordinary process, required seven or eight hands to accomplish. There is also throughout the establishment a small army of inspectors, through whose hands all the work passes, and whose duty is to reject every article in the least defective. When finished, the Skirts are packed, a dozen of a kind, in strong paper bags, which bear the stamp of the manufacturers. Some idea of the magnitude of the Works may be formed when we state that the floor surface exceeds five acres in area, and the pay-rolls of the firm contain the names of sixteen hundred employees - some seasons over two thousand - who have manufactured eighty-four hundred Hoop Skirts in one day, each of which contains from forty to one hundred and fifty yards of single steel, or from eighty to three hundred yards of Duplex Elliptic Steel, making a total of over 150.000.000 yards per annum, with a consumption of Tapes and Braids to the extent of 3.166.400 yards. Mr. J. W. Bradley, in connection with his partners, has done more for the improvement of this manufacture than any man in America. His latest production is the celebrated Duplex Elliptic Hoop Skirt, consisting of two elliptic steel wires ingeniously braided together, edge to edge, which enables the wearer to place or fold it, when in use, as easily as a silk or muslin dress. The employment of two small elastic wires, instead of one single wire, gives the Skirt not only greater elasticity, but greater strength and durability, while at the same time it is one third lighter than any other made. These improved Skirts have attained a remarkable popularity not only throughout the United States, but in Cuba, Canada, and even in the markets of England and France. Before closing our remarks on the great manufacturing establishments of New York, it may be proper to notice, in this connection, two companies that have acquired an honorable and deserved distinction for the production of Edge Tools, inasmuch as their principal warehouses, and depots for the sale of their goods, are located in that city, although the manufacturing operations are carried on in New England, viz.: The Collins Company and the Douglass Manufacturing Company. |
| QUELLE | [Bishop: History of American manufacturers 3 (1868) 209] |
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