Wm. Wharton & Co., Ltd.

Allgemeines

Name	Wm. Wharton & Co., Ltd.
Ortssitz	Philadelphia (Penns.)
Straße	25th Street
Art des Unternehmens	Maschinenfabrik und Gießerei
Anmerkungen	Lage: 25th Street, Washington Avenue, S. 24th Street und Ellsworth Street (Südost-Ecke; Pennsylvania Railroad). Herstellung von Eisenbahnmaterial und Maschinen.
Quellenangaben	[Hexamer General Surveys, Plates 1911-1912+2469-2470+2831-2832 (1885+1891+1894)] [Philadelphia and popular Philadelphians (1891) 184]

Unternehmensgeschichte

Zeit	Ereignis
1862	Gründung
1873	Bau der Biegerei
1883	Errichtung der meisten Gebäude
1885	Errichtung des Bürogebäudes
1890	Vergrößerung der Eisengießerei und Gußputzerei südwestlich an der Ellsworth Street 1889
1890	Bau der Schmiede und der Montage- und Maschinenwerkstatt an der Washington Avenue 1889
1891	Umbau der Schmiede und Montagewerkstatt
1893	Vergrößerung des Bürogebäudes
1894	Bau der neuen Maschinenwerkstätte in der Nähe der South 24th Street; die alte an der Washington Avenue wird in ein Lager umgewandelt
1894	Bau der Eisengießerei südöstlich an der Ellsworth Street
1895	Anpassung des Maschinenraums an der Washington Avenue

Produkte

Produkt	ab	Bem.	bis	Bem.	Kommentar
Eisenbahnmaterial	1885	[Hexamer]	1894	[Hexamer]
Maschinen	1885	[Hexamer]	1894	[Hexamer]

Betriebene Dampfmaschinen

Bezeichnung	Bauzeit	Hersteller
Dampfmaschine	vor 1885	unbekannt
Dampfmaschine	vor 1891	unbekannt
Dampfmaschine	vor 1891	unbekannt
Dampfmaschinen	vor 1894	unbekannt

Maschinelle Ausstattung

Zeit	Objekt	Anz.	Betriebsteil	Hersteller	Kennwert	Wert	[...]	Beschreibung	Verwendung
1885	Dampfkessel	1		unbekannt
1891	Dampfkessel	2		unbekannt
1894	Dampfkessel	4		unbekannt
1894	Dampfpumpe	1		unbekannt

Personal

Zeit	gesamt	Arbeiter	Angest.	Lehrl.	männl.	weibl.	Kommentar
1885	150						6 Jungen, Rest Männer)
1891	200						6 Jungen, Rest Männer)
1894	200						6 Jungen, Rest Männer

Allgemeines

ZEIT	1891
THEMA	Beschreibung
TEXT	The origin of the business of this corporation was in 1862, when William Wharton, Jr., entered into the construction of street railroads, for which he was the earliest and largest contractor, building many of the principal roads in New York, Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore. The construction of street railroads in this country being about that time an entire novelty, no plants existed where the different articles used in building the permanent way could be obtained, and the necessities arising for a high quality of material eventually compelled Mr. Wharton to start works of his own; these were of course on a limited scale, suited to the small wants at that time. He continued the business in his individual capacity until the year 1881, when a limited partnership corporation, under the name of William Wharton, Jr., & Co., Limited, was formed, his associates in this partnership being Mr. Edward Samuel, a mechanical engineer and iron manufacturer and merchant, and Mr. Richard Ashhurst, well known in banking circles, who undertook the financial part of the business. This corporation largely extended the business, increasing the works and developing the trade not only in the United States, but also in South America, Cuba and Mexico. In the evolution of street railroad building incident to the changes caused by cable and electrical railroads, it was found necessary that a rolling mill suitable for the manufacture of tram rails, slot rails, T-rails, and other shapes in steel be secured, and to this end the corporation became large and controlling stockholders in the North Branch Steel Company, located at Danville, Pennsylvania. In the meantime, the entire block on Washington avenue, Philadelphia, from Twenty-fourth street to Twenty-fifth street, had been secured, new foundry erected and machine shop built and a thorough system inaugurated, whereby the capacity of output was enormously augmented. In 1887 the street railroad developments of the United States had become so large and the business of the corporation had become so extensive, that a new (the present) corporation, Win, Wharton, Jr., & Co., Incorporated, was formed, and succeeded to the business of Wm. Wharton, Jr., & Co., Limited. The capital of the corporation was augmented from lime to time, until it now reaches over $900,000, and the output of the works in Philadelphia and Danville can under present conditions be run up to a value of 20,000 per diem. Everything used in street railroad tracks, depots, car-houses, mechanism of cable railroads, and permanent way for electrical railroads is manufactured by this Company, within their own works, commencing with the iron ore to their furnaces, the pig iron from their furnaces to their steel works, the blooms from their steel works to their rolling mills, and the rails from their rolling mills to the track, together with all the appendages made in their foundries and workshops, such as switches, frogs, turnouts, crossovers, crossings, turntables and machinery incident to this work of every description; and their work is in use on nearly if not all of the principal railroads in the country. The railroads furnished or constructed by this Company or its predecessors are so numerous that it is impossible to, in so short an article, give a list of them, nor indeed would it be of interest to the reader. Among the notable works which created great public interest may be mentioned the building of the original Broadway Railroad, by this corporation, in twenty-one working days, from the Batter}- to Fourteenth street; this included not only the building of the railroad proper, but the repaying of Broadway in the greatest part of its width for that entire distance. In 1890 they furnished to the West End Street Railway Company, of Boston, Massachusetts, who have the largest electrical railway-plant in the world, all of their rails and a very large amount in value of special work such as curves, turnouts, switches, etc., incident to the change of the tracks of this company from horse to electrical service. These rails were at that time the heaviest used in the country by any street railroad, being six inches in height and weighing 72,5 pounds to the yard. Over 7.500 tons of material has been consumed in this West End construction, all of which has been furnished by William Wharton, Jr., & Co., Incorporated. Amongst other numerous and large contracts which they have on hand at this present writing is the furnishing of the material and the building of the Third avenue Cable Road in New York, the length of which is sixteen miles of single track measurement, extending along Third Avenue from the Harlem River to the Bowery, and along the Bowery to the Post Office. The amount of metal consumed in this will exceed 16.000 tons, the structure being the heaviest of its kind yet used in cable railroads, the rails being seven inches high and weighing Si pounds to the yard. The engineering and physical dfficulties of this work may be well appreciated when one knows that every water pipe, every gas pipe, every steam pipe, every electrical conduit, and a very large number of sewers have to be removed and replaced at other points not interfering with the conduits of the cable railroad, and in addition to this, that this has to be done in streets in the very heart of the largest city in the country, with a street traffic perhaps not exceeded at any other point in the world. This contract involves an expenditure of over 3.000.000 by the railroad company. The Traction's Co.'s tracks, on Market street, Philadelphia, were relaid this year with the rails, patent chairs and crossings of this Company. The Girard Avenue Line of the People's Road was relaid last spring with the patent materials. At the present writing the main office of Wm. Wharton, Jr., & Co., Incorporated, is at its works, Twenty-fifth street and Washington avenue, Philadelphia, its down-town or city office at No. 330 Walnut street, Philadelphia, its mill office at Danville, Pa., its Western office at the American Central Building, St. Louis, Mo., and its New York office at the N. W. corner of Nineteenth street and Third avenue, New York City. Its present officers are, William Wharton, Jr., President; Edward Samuel, First Vice President; F. P. Howe, Second Vice President; Richard Ashhurst, Secretary and Treasurer, and Y. Angcrcr, Superintendent. Directors, Wm. Wharton Jr., Josiah M. Bacon, Richard W. Bacon, Wm. Rotch Wister and William Selfridge.
QUELLE	[Philadelphia and popular Philadelphians (1891) 184]