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Lamb Knitting Machine Manufacturing Co.
| Name | Lamb Knitting Machine Manufacturing Co. |
| Ortssitz | Chicopee Falls (USA) |
| Art des Unternehmens | Maschinenfabrik |
| Anmerkungen | E. O. Carter, Leiter der Finanzen. |
| Quellenangaben | [Wiley: American iron trade manual (1874) 29] [Bishop: History of American manufacturers 2 (1868) 570] |
| Zeit |
Ereignis |
| 08.01.1840 |
Geburt von Isaac W. Lamb |
| 28.06.1859 |
Patenterteilung für eine Flechtmaschine |
| 1860 |
Beginn der Versuche für eine Strickmaschine |
| 12.1862 |
Lamb kommt auf die idee einer Zweinadel-Strickmaschine. |
| 02.1863 |
Ein Modell der Strickmaschine zur Herstellung von Schlauchware wird fertiggestellt. |
| 04.1863 |
Alvah Strong, Esq. aus Rochester, New York, erwirbt einen Anteil an der Erfindung und führt zusammen mit Lamb eine Firma unter dem Namen "I. W. Lamb & Co." |
| 05.1863 |
Patentanmeldung für die Strickmaschine |
| 15.09.1863 |
Patenterteilung für die Strickmaschine |
| 1864 |
Man kommt mit "Sessions, Arey & Co." aus Springfield, Mass., für den Bau von 100 Strickmaschinen überein. |
| 1865 |
Verleihung einer Goldmedaille auf der Aussellung des American Institute, New York |
| 1865 |
Verleihung einer Goldmedaille auf der Mechanics Fair, Boston |
| 05.1865 |
Die "Lamb Knitting Machine Company" wird in Springfield, Mass., eingetragen. |
| 06.1865 |
Die "Lamb Knitting Machine Manufacturing Company" wird in Rochester, New York, eingetragen. |
| 1867 |
Verleihung einer Silbermedaille auf der Weltausstellung Paris |
| 04.1867 |
Die beiden getrennten Firmen werden konsolidiert, und ihre Fabrik wird nach Chicopee Falls, Mass., mit einem eingezahlten Kapital $200.000 verlegt. |
| Produkt |
ab |
Bem. |
bis |
Bem. |
Kommentar |
| Strickmaschinen |
1874 |
[Wiley: American iron trade (1874)] |
1874 |
[Wiley: American iron trade (1874)] |
Vorgabe: Knitting machines |
| ZEIT | 1868 |
| THEMA | Firmenbeschreibung |
| TEXT | Who has become widely known both in Europe and America as the inventor of the Lamb Knitting Machine, was born January 8th, 1840. He was the third son of'the late Eev. Aroswell Lamb, one of the pioneer clergymen of Michigan, who settled in the then territory in 1823. His father, like most clergymen in the West of that day, was obliged to support his family by the labor of his hands, and, although he never learned any trade, he was his own shoemaker, carpenter, general mechanic, and farmer. All of the children were apt at any mechanical labor that they had to perform. Isaac W. Lamb, almost from his infancy, manifested a very strong inclination for mechanical labor, exhibiting, at a very early age, unusual skill in the construction of toys and playthings for his brothers and sisters. When twelve years of age, he, with his eider brother, now the Kev. M. T. Lamb, of Davenport, Iowa, commenced making whip-lashes for the neighbors and the country stores. They could only work evenings and rainy days, as their time was all required on the farm during working hours. They earned at this labor (braiding) about one hundred dollars the first year, and about the same the next. The second year they began to experiment with a view to produce a machine for braiding, and succeeded in constructing a rude machine with which they could produce simple, four-strand work twice as fast as by hand. Isaac continued the experiments until the year 1859, when he succeeded in making a machine that would braid any number of strands desired, for which he obtained a patent June 28th, of that year. The braiding machine was financially a failure, and such a failure as would have discouraged many in his position, as he lost over three years of time, and was left several hundred dollars in debt. But to his mind, that machine was a great triumph, for, though it paid him nothing in money, it was in the experience that it gave the foundation of his subsequent success - and it convinced him that he had a talent for invention, which, when exercised upon a really needed machine, would be financially as well as mechanically successful. The financial failure of the braiding machine was not because it lacked mechanical merit, but, on the contrary, it was the admiration of all who saw it, for the delicate, yet perfect mechanical combinations that it embraced. Mr. Lamb, therefore, resolved that the next time he would give his thoughts to the production of a machine that would meet some general want; and with this simple resolution he began to search for such a want. He looked over the field of labor, with which he was familiar, and concluded that a Family Knitting Machine was, of all things he could see, the most needed, provided one could be produced that would knit either flat or tubular work, and that would widen and narrow. He resolved to attempt to produce such a machine and began experimenting for that purpose in 1860. For nearly three years little progress was made; numerous plans were conceived in his mind, examined and condemned. He still continued to plan, until, in December, 1862, he hit upon the idea of employing two rows of needles, side by side, knitting one way on one row and the other way on the other row, uniting the work produced upon the two rows at the ends of the rows. He began at once to construct a model upon that plan, and completed it in February, 1863, and found that he could produce tubular work in that manner successfully; and that by using only one row of needles he could produce flat work; and by using a greater or less number of needles he could widen or narrow. He constructed a second model, embracing such improvements as he could discover, and applied for a patent in May, 1863. The patent was granted, all his claims being allowed, September 15, 1863. He then constructed a full sized model and discovered that it was not yet a practical machine, and he therefore continued his experiments, working almost day and night, until September, 1863, during which month all of his difficulties were overcome; and about the time that the patent issued on his first application, he had produced the first really practical machine. That machine was substantially the same in principle with those now manufactured. An unsuccessful attempt was then made to get them manufactured, and the winter of 1863 and 1864 was lost, owing to the incompetency of the parties who undertook the task, they becoming discouraged and giving up the business in March, 1864, having sunk or lost about two thousand dollars in the trial. In April, 1863, Alvah Strong, Esq., of Rochester, New York, purchased an interest in the invention, and he, together with Mr. Lamb, conducted business under the style of I. W. Lamb & Co. In August, 1864, they made a contract with Messrs. Sessions, Arey & Co., of Springfield, Mass., for the construction of one hundred of the machines; and before that number were made the demand for them had become so large that it was deemed necessary to make immediate provision for the manufacture of the machines on a large scale. Accordingly, in May, 1865, The Lamb Knitting Machine Company, was organized at Springfield, Mass., and in June, 1865, The Lamb Knitting Machine Manufacturing Company was organized at Rochester, New York. The two Companies had an aggregate nominal capital of two hundred thousand dollars, although but about eighty thousand dollars were paid in. Two separate Companies carried on the business until April, 1867, when they were consolidated and their manufactory removed to Chicopee Falls, Mass., where, with a capital paid in of two hundred thousand dollars, with machinery of the best description, and thorough and competent managers, the business is rapidly becoming one of importance, while the thousands of the machines that are already in use are beginning to be felt in their influence upon the hosiery trade, both in Europe and America. The family machine sold at fifty-eight dollars, currency, at retail, produces over thirty kinds of knitting, making almost every variety of knitted goods, in perfect form, producing about four thousand loops per minute at ordinary speed, on plain work, and producing a pair of half-hose complete, in twenty minutes, and other work at proportionate speed, leaving no hand knitting to be done and but little hand labor to finish the work ready for wear. The invention is patented in Great Britain, France, Belgium, and other countries of Europe, and a large manufactory is being erected at Covet, Switzerland, by Messrs. Dubied & de Wattville, two eminent European engineers, for the manufacture of the machines to supply the European trade, they paying a royalty to Mr. Lamb and Mr. A. Strong, for every machine by them sold. The machine has received a great number of medals and diplomas at the different Fairs in the United States, including a gold medal at the Fair of the American Institute, New York, in 1865, and a gold medal at the Mechanics Fair, Boston, in 1865. It also received a silver medal at the Universal Exposition in Paris, in 1867, and so highly was it esteemed in Paris that the machine on exhibition was purchased by the Imperial Conservatory of Arts and Sciences, to be placed in their collection as an example of successful invention. Mr. Lamb has secured three patents on his knitting machine in the United States, and several minor improvements have been patented by other parties; yet in the European manufactory it has been decided that the machine made as Mr. Lamb's inventions leave it, is superior to any other style produced; and none of the improvements that have been patented by others in the United States, are deemed, by the European manufacturers, of sufficient importance to warrant their adoption there. Mr. Lamb has secured eight separate patents in the United States, including those on his knitting machine. He now devotes nearly all his time to experimenting upon new inventions; and that he might be free from many of the annoyances incident to inventors in large towns, he has retired to his country residence in Salem, Michigan, where he is enabled to conduct his experiments and perfect his plans without interference or interruption. |
| QUELLE | [Bishop: History of American manufacturers 2 (1868) 570] |
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