|
|
Providence Machine Co.
| Name | Providence Machine Co. |
| Ortssitz | Providence (R.I.) |
| Straße | Allens Avenue 31 |
| Art des Unternehmens | Maschinenfabrik |
| Anmerkungen | 1868: Thomas J. Hill, Eigentümer. Anfangs in der Eddy Street 564. Anschrift des Büros. 1874: T. J. Hill, Agent. 1882 auch Eigentümer der "Rhode Island Malleable-Iron Works" |
| Quellenangaben | [Pocket Book of Providence (1882); Internet] [Wiley: American iron trade manual (1874) 159] [Bishop: History of American manufacturers 3 (1868) 387] [Providence Industrial Sites (1981, Inventory] |
| Zeit |
Ereignis |
| 1805 |
Geburt von Thomas J. Hill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. - Er macht eine Lehre als Mechaniker bei "Pitcher and Gray". |
| 1830 |
Hill geht von Pawtucket nach Providence und nimmt Beschäftigung bei Samuel Slater, dem Pionier der Baumwollspinnerei in Amerikca, auf, wo er für dessen Maschinenwerkstatt verantwortlich ist, die im ersten Stock der "Providence Steam Cotton Mill" in der Eddy Street untergebracht ist. |
| 1834 |
Es wird eine Copartnerschaft der "Providence Machine Company" gebildet, die sich aus den Herren Slater und Hill zusammensetzt. - Sie bleibt auch über den Tod von Slater (1835) hinaus bestehen. |
| 1846 |
Hill hat ein Kapital von annähernd 50.000 Dollar angehäuft und kauft das alte Stonington Depot. |
| 1846 |
Errichtung eines dreigeschossigen Fabrikgebäudes |
| 1866 |
Eintragung |
| 1910 |
Kauf durch die "Whitin Machine Company" in Whitinsville, Massachusetts |
| Produkt |
ab |
Bem. |
bis |
Bem. |
Kommentar |
| Maschinen |
1866 |
Beginn (Gründung) |
1882 |
[Pocket Book] |
|
| Spinnmaschinen |
1874 |
[Wiley: American iron trade (1874)] |
1874 |
[Wiley: American iron trade (1874)] |
Vorgabe: Spinning machinery |
| ZEIT | 1868 |
| THEMA | Firmenbeschreibung |
| TEXT | Is one of the most extensive and complete establishments in New England for manufacturing Cotton and Woolen Machinery. Although it might be supposed, from its title, to belong to a Company, it is the property of one individual - Thos. J. Hill, of Providence. The buildings are of brick, three stories in height, and present an appearance, externally, that is very imposing. The main Machine Shop is two hundred and twenty feet long by sixty wide - with another, parallel to it, two hundred by thirty-six feet; the two being connected together in the centre. There is also a Foundry eighty by sixty feet; a Pattern Shop, ninety-five by twenty-six feet; and Storehouses and other buildings, covering in all an area of about five acres. In these buildings are produced, annually, a half million dollars' worth of Machinery used in cotton and woollen mills, especially Roving Machines, including the various kinds of Fly Frames, Slubbers and Speeders, Self-Acting Mules, Spinning Frames, Copper-Dresser Rolls, and Spindles. Mr. Hill, the Proprietor of these Works, is one of the few men who have rendered an important service to America by aiding to make her independent of England and other countries in her supplies of cotton machinery. He was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in 1805, and served his apprenticeship as a machinist with Pitcher and Gray, of that town, and remained with them and their successors until April, 1830. He then removed to Providence, and entered the employment of Samuel Slater, the pioneer of cotton spinning in America, taking charge of his machine shop, which was located on the first floor of the Providence Steam Cotton Mill, on Eddy street. During the first year he received as compensation the sum of one dollar and fifty cents per day. He commenced his second year on a salary of $900, which continued until the spring of 1834; when was formed the copartnership of the Providence Machine Company, composed of Mr. Slater and Mr. Hill, the former furnishing the room and power, the latter his services and skill. This arrangement continued even after the decease of Mr. Slater, and, with some modifications, until 1846, when Mr. Hill, having accumulated a capital of nearly fifty thousand dollars, purchased the old Stonington Depot, and erected the building which is now his principal machine shop. He also purchased the tools of the Providence Machine Company, and commenced business under the style of the old firm. Mr. Hill, during his youth, was remarkable for his great physical strength, and his capacity to execute work with astonishing rapidity. After others were fatigued and worn out with their day's labor, he was as fresh and vigorous as one of his own trip-hammers. He has a natural genius for mechanics, and his judgment respecting new machines, and improvements in machinery, has been so uniformly accurate, that many things have been thrown to the scrap heap at his suggestion; and it is said nothing that his judgment condemned has ever made its way in the world. As an expert in machinery, he has few superiors; and it is a common remark among manufacturers, when a new improvement is brought to their notice - "Has Mr. Hill seen this ? what does he say about it ?" The distinguishing quality that has given him eminence in his department of mechanics, is that he always commenced his labor on a machine with the highest conception of perfection his knowledge had attained, and kept all parts of the work up to this standard. Instead of gradually coming up to his own notions of perfection, it was just there he began. In this way, he made every machine with such thoroughness and completeness, that nothing was left to be done till another advance had been made in the invention. On one occasion, he was employed to construct a certain piece of machinery. He ordered his pattern-maker to furnish the patterns. When they were brought to him for his approval, they were inferior to his conception of perfection. The pattern-maker thought they "would do." "That is not my standard", he exclaimed, and stamped the pattern to pieces. The result was, that no pattern was again presented for approval that simply "would do." On another occasion, when certain machinery of great value had been completed, which operated imperfectly in some of its parts, he is said to have caught a sledgehammer and broken it in pieces with such determined will and heavy blows, in the presence of foremen and laborers, that ever afterward they understood the emphasis which he put upon the proper working of a machine. Mr. Hill has amassed a large fortune, is President of the Lime Bock National Bank, and connected with many of the public institutions of the city and State, as Director and otherwise, and has a high reputation for honor and integrity throughout the community. |
| QUELLE | [Bishop: History of American manufacturers 3 (1868) 387] |
|
