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Alfred Jenks & Son
| Name | Alfred Jenks & Son |
| Ortssitz | Philadelphia (Penns.) |
| Ortsteil | Bridesburg |
| Art des Unternehmens | Maschinenfabrik |
| Anmerkungen | Spezialisiert auf Textilmaschinen. Inhaber um 1857: Barton H. Jenks. |
| Quellenangaben | [Freedley: Philadelphia and its manufactures (1857) 300+427] |
| Zeit |
Ereignis |
| 1810 |
Gründung durch Alfred Jenks in Holmesburg. Er war Schüler und Mitarbeiter von Samuel Slater. Er rüstete die erste Spinnerei in diesem Teile Pennsylvanias mit Maschinen aus und danach die Keating Mill in Manayunk (später im Eigentum von J. G. Kempton). |
| 1816 |
Alfred Jenks baut in Holmesburg eine Anzahl von Baumwollwebstühlen für Joseph Ripka |
| Produkt |
ab |
Bem. |
bis |
Bem. |
Kommentar |
| Karden |
1857 |
[Freedley (1857) 427] |
1857 |
[Freedley (1857) 427] |
|
| Spinnmaschinen |
1857 |
[Freedley (1857) 427] |
1857 |
[Freedley (1857) 427] |
|
| Webstühle |
1810 |
Beginn vmtl. ab Gründung |
1857 |
[Freedley (1857) 427] |
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| ZEIT | 1857 |
| THEMA | Beschreibung |
| TEXT | These works are located at Bridesburg, a flourishing town now constituting a part of the city of Philadelphia. They are built in the form of a hollow square, cover an area of 160,000 square feet, and consist of a Foundry 130 by 50 feet (for interior view see opposite page), in which about thirty men are constantly employed; a Blacksmith Shop, 120 by 50 feet, having eighteen forges and four trip-hammers, for making, in addition to other things, Bolts of which seven hundred are made and used in the machinery work daily ; a building, 190 by 32 feet, containing an apartment used as a Brass Foundry, and also for " cleaning" the castings after they have been subjected to the process of " pickling," and a well-adapted room for storing patterns when not in use. The Machine Shop is a building 225 by 38 feet, upon the first floor of which Cards are built, and Mill Gearing, Shafting, &c., constructed; upon the second floor, Spinning and Drawing Frames, and Speeders are made ; and the third floor is devoted to making Looms. A capacious Elevator is employed for raising and lowering castings and other objects between the different stories of the machine shop; and a Railway connects this and the foundry. The Carpenter Shop is a building 168 by 30 feet, three stories high; and each of the various rooms and departments is supplied with tools and machinery of the most perfect construction, peculiarly adapted to the purposes for which they are designed. In the Wood-working Room are two of Daniel's Planing Machines, one of Woodworth's, and Moulding and Sawing Machines capable of facilitating and making more perfect the wood-work required for the Carding Engines, Looms, &c. All the wood used is kept for the space of two years before being shaped by the machinery, so as to properly season it; and after it has been thus seasoned and brought to the form desired, it is placed in a commodious Drying-house, which has been recently erected, entirely fire-proof, and always kept by the heat of steam at a temperature of seventy-five degrees, for the purpose of being still more thoroughly seasoned. The Tools and Machinery for performing the work in the several shops are mostly made by their own workmen; among which may be classed several Drills of new and improved construction, Boring Mills, and other self-acting machines, of the most beautiful design and perfect workmanship.
Since the decease of Mr. Alfred Jenks, and, in fact, for twelve years previous to his decease, the entire business has been conducted by Mr. Barton H. Jenks, who was thoroughly educated and fitted by his father for the important and responsible trust he now fills, for which he has peculiar qualifications by his genius for invention, his skill in mechanism, and an administrative capacity evidenced in all departments of the establishment. The family has been distinguished in the fabrication of iron for nearly two centuries, Mr. Jenks being a lineal descendant of the Hon. Joseph Jenks, Governor of Rhode Island, who, a forgeman by profession, built, in the seventeenth century, a forge which was destroyed during King Philip's war. Since early boyhood, Mr. Barton H. Jenks has been engaged in experimenting, with a view to improve various portions of machinery employed in Woolen and Cotton manufacture, on which the skill and genius of his father had been impressed; and there is now scarcely a portion of machinery in the manifold variety of parts employed in the respective stages of Cotton and Woolen manufacture, from the machines which first operate on the cotton and wool through the series which they have to successively pass in their progress
to completion for the market, that has not been improved by the members of this firm, both in the superior finish and more substantial and convenient construction of the respective parts, and in the novel arrangement and combination of parts, or additions involving valuable inventions, which render the operations more perfect, and, in many cases, the production of heretofore unaccomplished, new, and beneficial results. The Drawing Frames and Ring Spinning Frames or Throstles of the Messrs. Jenks, for performing the respective operations in cotton manufacture
which their names indicate, are peculiarly of the class spoken of; for, while the workmanship and mechanical skill are of the highest degree of excellence, they embrace important features of invention, which enable them to produce better work than those ordinarily used. The latter, particularly, which is known favorably among cotton manufacturers as Alfred Jenks' Ring Spindle or Ring Frame, has, in a great number of cases, taken the place of the live and dead spindles, on account of its superiority in the quality and quantity of yarn it produces. The spindle of this improved frame has no fly, and has a small steel ring, called a traveler, about a quarter of an inch in diameter, with a slit for the insertion of the thread, which is wound by the ring traveling around the bobbin, being held in its horizontal plane, during its circuit, by an iron ring loosely embraced by its lower end and fastened upon the traversing rail; being sufficiently large to allow the head of the bobbin, as well as the traveler, to pass through without touching. This plan of spindle may be driven 8.000 revolutions per minute with perfect security when spinning coarse yarn; and when producing the finer numbers, 10.000 revolutions per minute is not an extraordinary speed for it to attain; the yarn produced in either case being superior in strength and character to the yarn produced by the other throstles at a greatly reduced speed. In the construction and arrangement of the several parts of the power-loom, whether in the simplest form for weaving plain goods, or the enlarged and complex state produced by this firm, for weaving the most beautiful and elaborate patterns of fancy cassimeres, the characteristics above mentioned are manifest in a remarkable degree; and hence the vast number of the Messrs. Jenks' Looms in operation, and the continued demand for them over all parts of the country, where the benefits derived from such advantages as the improved shuttle-box movement for changing the picks of weft, shuttle-stopper, parallel pick-motion, and a vast number of improved attachments embodied in the Looms of their make, are experienced and appreciated by manufacturers. In the Keystone Loom, made by this firm, by using a different shuttle from the ordinary one, silk goods may be woven with as much facility as cotton or wool; and a Jacquard motion, if desired, may be easily attached. It is forty inches wide, and has four shuttle-drop boxes at one end of the lay, and an improved pattern-wheel for controling the boxes, which will run 1,200 picks before it ends, and can be extended to a greater capacity. Within the last few years, Mr. Jenks has brought out a number of very important machines, to two or three of which we invite particular attention.
1. THE SELF-STRIPPING COTTON CARD.
This is an important addition to the usual cotton-carding machines. It is applied just below the "licker-in", in contact with the main cylinder, and driven by a stripper-head, at the end of the cards, at a variable sneod, so as to take both the dirt and the uncarded cotton off the cylinder, and then to deliver the cotton back again to the cylinder, whilst the dirt falls into a box which is placed back of the " licker-in" and feedrollers for the purpose; consequently, it keeps both the cylinder and the cotton perfectly clean, (which are certainly two very desirable results) and but seldom requires hand-stripping. An arrangement of rollers is placed at the doffer to deliver the cotton, instead of the old mode of a comb, thereby gaining a greater speed in the card, and not injuring the carding as the comb does. This Card will produce 150 pounds per day.
2. THE IMPROVED COTTON GIN:
This ingeniously improved and valuable machine for ginning cotton is what is called a "Cylinder Gin." The cylinder is constructed in a very peculiar manner, and operates in combination with a stationary straight-edge and a spirally-grooved roller called "the agitator." The straight edge is fixed in a position parallel with, and tangential to the cylinder, with its thinner edge almost in contact with the upper side of the same, and the agitator so as to rotate rapidly at a short distance above and parallel with the straight-edge. The periphery of the cylinder consists of numerous steel-wire teeth imbedded in Babbitt metal, in positions inclined in the direction of the cylinder's motion, so that after the cylinder is "ground" or finished, each tooth presents a separate, sharp, and smooth point, tangential to the cylinder surface. When in operation, the cotton and seeds are together carried by the cylinder against the straight-edge, where they are rolled over and over by the agitator, until the teeth of the cylinder have stripped off the fibre, when the seeds immediately drop down, through a grating, into a receiving
box. The fibre is at the same time being continually removed from the cylinder in the usual manner, by a rotating brush behind the straight-edge. The teeth of the cylinder are made of the finest steel needle wire, rolled into a double razor-edge section, and secured obliquely around the cylinder, with their sharper edges in directions transverse to the axis of the same; consequently, after the cylinder is "ground off" in finishing, it presents a serrulated surface, or a surface studded over with innumerable sharp and smooth tangential teeth, admirably adapted
both for entering and leaving the fibres. It will gin any cotton, however trashy it may be, and take nothing
through but the lint ; it neither cuts nor naps the fibres in the least, leaving them nearly as long as when separated by hand; whilst it will clean as great a quantity in the same time as any other gin occupying the same extent of space, and run as easy. It will also last as long, if not longer, than the saw-gin, and cost no more for repairs.
3. JENKS' COTTON SPREADER:
This machine, a cut of which is given on the opposite page, is well worthy of attentive examination by those who are interested in its merits, for it undoubtedly possesses superior excellence. It is made entirely of metal, thus insuring greater steadiness and durability. The beater, shafts, blades, and feed-rollers, are made of cast-steel; the shafts which drive the feed are braced together in such a manner that the teeth in the diagonal shaft cannot break ; and, by an ingenious application of the elastic principle of air, the machine is constructed to make the
lap of uniform thickness, and of such compactness that any portion of it will sustain its own weight ; and, moreover, the whole machine works without producing any dust in the room. To describe all the novel and important machines that have been constructed at these Works would require a volume; and even a recital of the improvements made by this firm in Cotton and Woolen Machinery and patented in this and other countries, would transcend our limits. Such a recital would include machines for making spools, for rifling musket barrels, for cleansing, laying, and preparing wool, and for an infinite variety of purposes. No pains or expense is spared by Mr. Jenks to bring to perfection, and develope into practical use, whatever is likely to be useful and beneficial to his patrons; and we have been repeatedly assured, by manufacturers of cotton and woolen goods, that no firm in the entire Union is more zealous in regarding the interests of their customers, more liberal in making experiments, or more entitled to general confidence and patronage. Messrs. Alfred Jenks & Son employ in their works, at Bridesburg, when in full operation, about four hundred men, many of whom have been with them over thirty years a fact which speaks volumes for both employer and employee. They have prepared a Catalogue of their machinery; and also separate drawings, of a size convenient for enclosing in letters, which they forward to persons desirous of dealing with them. Each machine is numbered, and accompanied by a full description a convenience of much advantage to manufacturers, and duly appreciated by them. |
| QUELLE | [Freedley: Philadelphia and its manufactures (1857) 427] |
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