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 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
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 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
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HISTOEY 
 
 OP THE 
 
 American Card-Clothing Industry. 
 
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 H. G.'KITTREDGE 
 
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 A. C. GOULD. 
 
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 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 THE T. K. EARLE MANUF'G COMPANY, 
 
 WOllCESTER, MASS. 
 1886. 
 
Copyright, 1885, 
 By a. C. GOULD. 
 
 PRESS OF 
 
 EOCKWELIi AND CHUECHILL, 
 
 BOSTON. 
 
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PREFACE. 
 
 PoRTiOKS of the matter contained in the following 
 cliapters have previously appeared in papers devoted 
 to the textile industry. Recognizing the value of 
 this, and knowing its perishable nature if recorded 
 only in a newspaper, the publishers have corrected 
 certain errors in wliat has heretofore appeared in 
 print, have made many additions, and by printing 
 and circulating it in book form among their friends 
 and customers they wish to commemorate the cen- 
 tennial anniversary of the existence of their business. 
 
 As the late Timothy K. Earle contributed so 
 much to bring the Card-Clothing Industry to its 
 present condition in this country, the publishers 
 deem it only fitting that his portrait and a slight 
 memoir of his life should appear in these pages. 
 
 T. K. EARLE M'F'G COMPANY. 
 
 Worcester, Mass., January, 1886. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Its Early History and Inventions .... 7 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Pliny Earle and his Successors. — Record of a Cen- 
 tury. — The T. K. Earle Manufacturing Com- 
 pany . . . . , . . . . 18 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Eleazer Smith. — His Efforts to Perfect the Card- 
 setting Machine 24 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Amos Whittemore. — His Contribution to the Card- 
 Clothing Industry. — Perfection of the Card-setting 
 Machine 34 
 
6 AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Growth of tlie Card-Clothing Industry, and Sketches 
 
 of Parties Engaged in its Manufacture . . 55 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Later Inventions and Improvements in the Manu- 
 facture of Card-Clothing. — Varieties made . 70 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Description of Various Processes in the Manufact- 
 ure of Card-Clothing. — Preservation of the first 
 Card-setting Machines 77 
 
 APPENDIX 85 
 
 INDEX 95 
 
HISTOET 
 
 AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ITS EARLY HISTORY AND INVENTIONS. 
 
 The importance the card-clotliing industry bears to 
 the textile industry of tliis country is manifested in the 
 fact that it directly contributes to the successful em- 
 plo^^ment of $350,000,000 of capital which is invested 
 in cotton and woolen manufactures. With only three 
 exceptions, the industry is confined to six towns in 
 the State of Massachusetts ; and, although no large 
 fortunes have lieen amassed by those engaged in this 
 industry, they have in most cases been prosperous, 
 largely due to the fact that American card-clothing 
 manufacturers are, as a class, men of thrift}' and 
 correct habits, their business requiring the greatest 
 
8 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 care and constant personal supervision, and neces- 
 sitating employes possessing the same qualifica- 
 tions. 
 
 The use of some instrument for carding, or pre- 
 paring wool to facilitate its being spun into thread, has 
 been among the devices of man from the earliest eras 
 of historical record. It is doubtful if carding was 
 contemporaneous with spinning, for it is quite possi- 
 ble to spin the raw material into yarn without the 
 intervention of any mechanical contrivance. The 
 history of card clothing as we know it to-day, in its 
 manufacture b}^ machinery, is scarcely a century old. 
 Immediately before this the making of card clothing 
 was the work purely of manual labor, and the substi- 
 tution of mechanical means did not affect the princi- 
 ple of construction. With the inventions in textile 
 machinery that rapidly followed each other in the 
 latter part of the eighteenth centiu-y, the necessity of 
 some expedient by which card clothing could be more 
 rapidly and uniformly made, was imperative ; without 
 it the ingenuity of man would have been seriously 
 impeded in bringing his schemes to a satisfactory 
 fruition. The manufacture of card clothing by ma- 
 chiner}', before the latter part of the last century, 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 9 
 
 would not have been a necessity, and therefore it 
 lacked an incentive. 
 
 The fabrication of cloth by machinery which led to 
 our present system of manufacture, liad its com- 
 mencement in 1738 with John Wyatt's patent of a 
 cotton-spinning machine. 
 
 An era of inventions now seemed to be intuitively 
 felt, and new appliances steadily followed one another 
 in progressive strides toward enlarged operations iu 
 commercial and manufacturing enterprises. In 1743 
 John Kaye brought forth his fly-shuttle, which re- 
 ceived a new value by his son's invention of the 
 rising-box on the loom, in 17C9. The most interest- 
 ing invention connected with our subject was that of 
 Lewis Paul, who patented, in 1748, a cj-linder-card 
 for carding cotton, the cylinder being covered with 
 sheet card clothing, and this obliged further inven- 
 tions to dispose of the more rapid accumulation of 
 carded stock. The Spinning-Jenny, Throstle-Frame, 
 and Mule, soon succeeded, to be followed b}- the 
 Power- Loom. Inventions for converting stock into 
 cloth had now assumed a practicability that demanded 
 some mechanical method by which the cotton used 
 could be more readily prepared for manufacture. 
 
10 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 This was happily consummated by Eli Whitney in 
 1792, in his invention of the Saw Cotton-Gin. 
 
 The rotary card of Lewis Paul, is, in principle, the 
 same as used to-day in cotton-mills. 
 
 Like many others, whose creative powers have con- 
 tributed to the industrial progress of mankind, Paul 
 was not successful in his operations, and his machines 
 passed into the hands of a hat manufacturer of 
 Leominster, England, who applied them to the card- 
 ing of wool. The conception, the invention of Paul, 
 however, did not lie dormant, for in 1760 the cylinder- 
 card was introduced into Lancashire, near Wigan, for 
 the carding of cotton. Ten years after this Sir 
 Richard Arkwright greatly improved the machine by 
 inaking it more automatic, in the application of a con- 
 tinuous feed-table, and of an additional but smaller 
 cylinder, known as tlie doffer, from which the cotton 
 was ^continuously discharged by the operation of a 
 vibrating comb. The practicability of this new sys- 
 tem was immediately appreciated, was patented in 
 1775, and became an important factor in the growth of 
 English manufacture. 
 
 The objects of carding are to detach the fibres of 
 the stock and iay them parallel, and the accomplish- 
 
AMERICAN GARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. H 
 
 ment of these rests in the reciprocal motion of two 
 surfaces which are covered with short, pointed teeth, 
 and between which the stoclv is placed. It is to these 
 pointed teeth that we propose to devote this series of 
 articles. 
 
 During our Revolutionary War communication 
 with foreign nations was practically at a stand-still, 
 and this serious interi'uption greatly affected our in- 
 dustries by making all machinery and implements 
 very expensive, even if it were possible to obtain 
 them at all. Realizing the urgency of the situation, 
 several of the colonies passed resolutions "recom- 
 mending and encouraging bounties to manufacturers 
 of wool and cotton cards, iron tvire, etc." The making 
 of cards for carding cotton and wool was as much a 
 part of the economy of a community, as the spinning- 
 wheel and hand-loom. The garments of a household 
 were dependent on the first process which the hand- 
 cards gave to the raw material ; without them the 
 wool of the sheep and the cotton of the fields would 
 have remained un wrought. The significance of en- 
 couraging their manufacture was too apparent to the 
 isolated colonists ; the few small shops then existing 
 were inadequate to the demand, and the high cost of 
 
12 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 materials prevented their continuance without colonial 
 or public assistance. 
 
 There are records of the existence of several estab- 
 lishments for the manufacture of cards during the 
 Revolutionary War. There was one at Providence, 
 R.I., which was conducted by Daniel Anthony. The 
 colony of Connecticut, fully recognizing the importance 
 of sustaining the card industry, and the subsidiary in- 
 dustry of wire-drawing, gave a substantial assistance 
 in the form of aloanof $1,500, in 1775, to one Nathan- 
 iel Niles, of Norwich, to enable him to prosecute the 
 manufacture of fine iron wire for card-teeth. Mr. 
 Niles erected buildings for the purpose, and kept his 
 works running till sometime after the close of the war. 
 The high cost of manufactured iron, as well as the 
 difficulty of procuring it, was particularly felt in the 
 supply of tacks used in the card business, and this led 
 Jeremiah Wilkinson, of Cumberland, E.I., a hand- 
 card-manufacturer, to undertake the making of tacks by 
 cutting them out from sheet-iron with a pair of shears, 
 and hammering heads on them in a vice. Among 
 the eaj-liest inventions for the making of card-teeth 
 by machinery was that of Oliver Evans, in 1778, 
 a young man of Philadelphia, who was employed in 
 
AMERICAN' CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 13 
 
 manufacturing card-teeth by hand. His machine 
 was capable of making 1,500 teeth a minute, 
 which was a great advance over anything ever 
 done before. Not meeting with the patronage and 
 support which he anticipated he disposed of his 
 machine and plans to other parties. He afterwards 
 devised plans for pricking the leather, and for 
 cutting, bending, and setting the teeth ; but these he 
 abandoned because of the disheartening results of 
 his former efforts. Others, however, took them up, 
 and they furnished the foundation of subsequent 
 patents. 
 
 The inventions of Evans are thought to have been 
 applied to machines used by Giles Richards, of Boston, 
 in 1788, who had established the hand-card business, 
 and erected a factory near Windmill Bridge. The 
 power of the mill was derived from a wind-wlieel. A 
 machine tended by one man was capable of cutting 
 and bending wire in twelve hours sufficient for 240 
 cards, at a great reduction in cost of labor. The 
 factor}^ was considered a valuable acquisition to the 
 industries of Boston, and was referred to with pride 
 by the local inhabitants. Strangers visited it, when 
 permitted, with more than ordinary interest, and it 
 
14 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 was opened to the inspection of President "Washington 
 during one of his Eastern tours, who intently watched 
 the mechanical operations that furnished, in the mill 
 and at home, employment for 900 persons in the 
 manufacture of G3,000 pairs of cards per aimum. 
 "Washington wrote, in 1789, of these machines as 
 " executing every part of the work in a new and 
 expeditious manner, especially in cutting and bending 
 teeth, which are done at one stroke." 
 
 Kude and imperfect as the machines would be con- 
 sidered now, they were then the wonder of the com- 
 munit}', in that t-hey had carried the manufacture of 
 cards far in advance of anything ever accomplished 
 in England, cheapening production in the face of dis- 
 advantages to the extent of allowing exportation at 
 a profit. Mr. Richards had at one time associated 
 with him, Amos and William "Whittemore. Mr. Giles 
 Richards' brother Mark carried on an extensive 
 business in the manufacture of cards in 1794, near 
 Faneuil Hall. The factories of Giles and Mark Rich- 
 ards and one operated by Amos "Whittemore sup- 
 plied four-fifths of the number of cards made in the 
 State, sending a large portion of the production to 
 the Southern States. These three establishments 
 
AMEBIC AN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 15 
 
 made 12,000 dozens of wool and cotton cards, con- 
 suming 35,000 tanned sheep and calf -skins, and S'26,- 
 000 worth of iron wire, which gave emplo3-nient to 
 over 2,000 men, women, and children. The wire was 
 obtained fr9m a wire-mill at Dedham, Mass., which 
 was erected specially for the manufacture of wire for 
 cards and fish-hooks. The usual process of making 
 cai'ds at this time was to take a strip of leather fifteen 
 to twenty inches long, by four inches wide, and rule 
 it off into small quadrilateral sections. Two holes 
 were made at a time by a double-needled pricker, at 
 the intersections of the lines, and the two-pronged 
 staples, which had been previously bent in a machine, 
 were inserted into the holes, one at a time, by hand. 
 The second bend on the staple then being made, the 
 card was tacked on a board ready to be used for 
 carding either wool or cotton. 
 
 About the year 1784 a Mr. Chittenden, of New 
 Haven, Conn., devised a machine for taking the wire 
 from the coil, cutting it into teeth and giving them 
 the first or double bend. It was capable of making 
 86,000 teeth in an hour. It is possible Mr. Giles Rich- 
 ards took advantage of this machine as well as of 
 the plans of Mr, Evans. 
 
16" HISTORY OF TEE 
 
 In 1785 the town of Leicester, Mass., received the 
 foundation of its .prosperity in the manufacture of 
 card clothing, through the enterprise of Edmond 
 Snow, who then commenced tlie making of hand- 
 cards which were mostly used for wool by the spinsters 
 of the neighborhood. 
 
 The young Republic of the United States was fully 
 alive to the necessity of an industrial independence 
 as well as a political one. The Statqs had incorpo- 
 rated many of their prerogatives into a general con- 
 stitution governing the whole, which gave a mutual 
 dependence on one another. Each and every State 
 became sensible of tlie importance of inviting to our 
 country the skill of the Old World, and encouraging 
 the ingenuity of native talent. The field was open to 
 usefulness. 
 
 In 1789 Samuel Slater left England, and landed in 
 New York ; in the year following he was induced to 
 begin the manufacture of cotton goods b}' machinery, 
 which he _did in the State of Rhode Island, thereby 
 originating in this country the manufacture of cotton- 
 cloth by mechanical power. One of his most annoy- 
 ing obstacles was the difficulty of procuring a supply 
 of properly constructed card clothing, and it was not 
 
AMERICAN GARD-CLOTUINQ INDUSTRY. 17 
 
 overcome until 1790, when he foi-tnnateh' made the 
 acquaintance of Pliny Earle, of Lei 'ester, Mass., who 
 had been in the hand-card business since 1786. It 
 was a new, untried undertaking, but Mr. Earle agreed 
 to make for Mr. Slater the clothing for his machines ; 
 and this decision gave to Mr. Earle the honor of being 
 the first to engage in the manufacture of machine 
 card clothing in the United States. The cards made 
 for Mr. Slater were from sheets of calf-skius, cut into 
 strips 18 inches by 4 inches. The teeth were made 
 by machinery, but the holes were pricked by hand 
 with a couple of needles fastened in a handle. One 
 hundred thousand holes were thus pricked. Mr. 
 Slater put the clothing on his machine, but was not 
 successful in making it do good work, much to his 
 vexation of mind and body. With his natural deter- 
 mination he mounted his horse and rode a distance 
 of forty miles to Leicester, Mass., where he found Mr. 
 Earle, who accompanied him back to his mill to set 
 things right, if possible. Mr. Earle found that the 
 teeth had been pressed down by too severe grinding 
 and hard usage ; but these ho soon raised and placed 
 in position, which rectified the difficulty to the satis- 
 faction of Mr. Slater. 
 
13 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 PLINY EARLE AND HIS SUCCESSORS. RECORD OF A 
 
 CENTURY. THE T. K. EARLE MANUFACTURING 
 
 COMPANY. 
 
 Pliny Earle was bora Dec. 17, 1762. He was a 
 man of sound common-sense, cultivation, and great 
 hospitality, and lived in a large mansion in tlie out- 
 skirts of the town of Leicester, Mass. 
 
 He was one of the first to engage in the manufact- 
 ure of hand-cards, commencing his business in 1786, 
 and in 1790, as previously stated, he produced for 
 Samuel Slater the first machine card clothing made 
 in America ; thus he largely contributed towards suc- 
 cessfully planting this now great manufacturing 
 industry. The business which Mr. P^arle began 
 in a small way has ever since been kept in the Earle 
 family, descending from generation to generation. 
 
 The leather first used by Mr. Earle was calf -skin, 
 but in time he adopted cowhide, which was tanned 
 especially for the purpose. For hand-cards sheep- 
 skin was in general use. The teeth in the clothing 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 19 
 
 for Mr. Slater's cards were set diagonally, which led 
 Mr. Earle to the invention of a machine for pricking 
 twilled caids, for which he obtained a patent, Dec. 6, 
 1803. The letters-patent were destroyed in the fire 
 of 1836, and have not been restored. In 1791 his 
 brothers, Jonathan and Silas, became associated with 
 him in business, under the firm-name of Pliny Earle 
 & Brothers. In 1815 Silas Earle commenced busi- 
 ness in his own name, and so continued till his death 
 in 1842. He accumulated a lil)eral fortune and built 
 a large mansion not far from his brother Pliny's. Mr. 
 Pliny Earle died in 1832, and left a reputable name 
 and business, which had a beginning in 1786, to suc- 
 cessors, who are now represented in the well-known 
 concern of T. K. Earle Manufacturing Company, of 
 Worcester, Mass., which was formed Jan. 1, 1880. 
 
 Timothy Keese Eaile, whose portrait occupies the 
 first page of this work, was born Jan. 11, 1823. He 
 was a son of Henry and Ruth Keese Earle, of Leices- 
 ter, Mass. 
 
 At sixteen years of age he commenced the business 
 of card-making with his uncle, Silas Earle, and in a 
 few years pui'chased his business. He subsequently, 
 in 1842, moved his business to Worcester and associ 
 
20 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ated his brother Edward Earle with him, under the 
 firm name of T. K. Earle & Co. In 1857 they built the 
 largest factory in America for the manufacture of card 
 clothing, and, with the many additions made since it 
 was first constructed, it is still much larger than any 
 other American establishment for this business. 
 
 Edward Earle retired from the business in 1869 and 
 died May 19, 1877, and his interest in the business was 
 purchased by T. K. Earle's twin brother, Thomas, who 
 died in 1871. In 1872 Edwin Brown, of Worcester, a 
 son-in-law of T. K. Earle, became a partner in the busi- 
 ness. In 1880 a company, under the name of the T. K. 
 Earle Manufacturing Company, was formed with T. K. 
 Earle as president, and Edwin Brown as agent and treas- 
 urer. T. K. Earle died Oct. 1 , 1881 , at the age of fifty- 
 eight years. He was the acknowledged head of the card- 
 clothing business in America. Quick to recognize 
 ability in others, and to appreciate what was needed 
 in his business, he always associated with himself 
 employes and mechanics of only the highest ability, 
 and most of the important improvements in the manu- 
 facture of card clothing, originated in his factory. 
 The T. K. Earle Manufacturing Company abate no 
 part of their predecessor's energy or determination to 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 21 
 
 make the best goods that can be produced. The most 
 recent and improved card-setting machine has been in- 
 vented in their shop by Oliver Arnold, who inherits the 
 inventive genius of his father, Addison Arnold, who 
 was one of the early card-makers and inventors. T. 
 K. Earle and Co. were ihe first to publish a book of 
 estimates of the number of square feet of card cloth- 
 ing required to cover any size cylinder. They printed 
 five large editions of this most useful work to carders, 
 and distributed them gratuitously among their cus- 
 tomers. Before this book of estimates was issued 
 bills for card clothing could not be verified without 
 long calculations being made. It was during a visit 
 to the card-setting machine-room of tlie T. K. Earle 
 Manufacturing Company that a well-known English 
 card-maker, after examining the fine work of the ma- 
 tjhines, said, " If I were going to start another card 
 factory in England, I should order American machines, 
 as they are much superior to the English, and turn out 
 finer work." The T. K. Earle Manufacturing Company 
 own a number of patents on their improvements in the 
 method of producing card clothing. Pliny Earle made 
 one kind of card clothing, viz., iron wire teeth set by 
 hand in leather. To show the difference in the demand 
 
22 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 for card clotliing between that time and the present, 
 the T. K. Earle Manufacturiug Company now make 
 all kinds of leather card clothing, using both hemlock 
 and oak tanned leather, over ten varieties of rubber- 
 faced card clothing, over ten varieties of cloth card 
 clothing, and use eighteen or more sizes of soft steel 
 wire, eleven or more sizes of hardened and tempered 
 steel wire, besides tinned wire and brass wire of vari- 
 ous shapes and sizes Thej' curr}' their own leather, 
 manufacture card cloths and rubber-faced card cloths 
 for themselves, and for other card-makers. They have 
 built almost all their card-setting machines in their 
 own machine-shop, and are constantly making im- 
 provements in the quality and the methods of making 
 card clothing. 
 
 The T. K. Earle Manufacturiug Company, of 
 Worcester, Mass., have manufactured double and 
 single cover cloth for foundation for card clothing 
 for the past fifteen years, having special and improved 
 machinery for the purpose, and in 1883 they built a 
 factory on their premises for the manufacture of all 
 kinds of card cloths, including vulcanized rubber fac- 
 ings. With the very best American and English 
 machinery, and the most improved process of vul- 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 23 
 
 canizing rubber for this purpose, they are now pre- 
 pared to furnish not only their own hirge card-cloth- 
 ing factory with card cloths, but have sufficient 
 capacity to make them for all the card-makers in 
 America. 
 
 Since they first commenced the manufacture of 
 card clotli, which was formerly all imported from 
 England, the price of rubber card cloth (one of their 
 specialties) has decreased over fifty per cent., 
 thereby reduciug the cost of card clothing of this kind, 
 to manufacturers, from ten to thirty-five per cent. At 
 a recent industrial exhibition at the Crystal Palace, 
 England, this company exhibited their products, 
 being, we believe, the first and only American exhibit 
 of card clothing. A medal was awarded them for 
 excellence of the goods. 
 
 We have here the history of an honorable and suc- 
 cessful business, a century old, that began with 
 limited facilities, in a room of a few feet square, and 
 which has developed into one of national import, con- 
 tributing largely to the healthy growth of an im- 
 portant industry, which now requires a floor space of 
 over an acre in extent to do its work and meet the 
 demands upon it. 
 
24 If IS TORY OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 p:leazer smith. — his efforts to perfect the card- 
 setting MACHINE. 
 
 About the time the rotary cardhig-machiue of 
 Lewis Paul was struooling for a recooaition in Ens;- 
 hvnd there was born in Medfield, Mass., in IToi, a 
 youth, of humble parentage, b^' the name of Eleazer 
 Smith. His education partook of the best that the 
 schools of liis neighborliood furnished in arithmetic, 
 grammar, geography, reading and writing. A nat- 
 ural student, fond of reading, and blessed with a 
 retentive memory, he secured what books he could 
 ou astronomj', botany and chemistry, and became 
 well versed in these subjects. His mechanical turn 
 of mind and studious habits seemed to fit him for 
 certain branches of surgery, in which he was con- 
 sidered quite skilful. In early life he moved to the 
 adjoining town of Walpole, where he afterwards 
 lived. His house and shop occupied one of the most 
 eligible locations in the place, on a high elevation, 
 from which an extended view was to be had of fields 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 25 
 
 and scattered woodlands. The buildings disappeared 
 long ago, and all trace of the spot is found only in a 
 cellar-hole, a few old bricks that once answered for a 
 chimney fireplace, and some old poplar trees that 
 stand lilve monumental shafts. 
 
 That he was regarded as a man of erudition is 
 noted in the visits he was accustomed to receive from 
 aclvuowledged scientific and professional men, for 
 consultation and information. Dr. Jackson, of Bos- 
 ton, was a frequent visitor. His favorite occupation 
 was in mechanics, and many devices attest his 
 ingenuity. In his boyhood he made a wooden spring 
 trap for catching rabbits, that became a coveted 
 instrument for sport, and which hiis not yet outlived 
 its usefulness. At the age of fifteen or sixteen he 
 constructed a complete watch, and encased it in a 
 white-oak knot, which he fashioned "with his jack- 
 knife. It kept good time. He presented it to Mr. 
 Aaron Wight, of Medway, who was so well pleased 
 with it and with Smith's ingenuitj', that he gave him 
 his board for four months, and aided him in making a 
 complement of tools for the manufacture of watches 
 and clocks. One of his products was a clock, with 
 wheels of apple-tree wood and a bell made from a 
 
26 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 wineglass, which attracted the notice of Simon 
 Pettee, a clock-maker of Wrentham, who endeavored 
 to secure his services ; but his father was not disposed 
 to let liim turn his attention to such things, which he 
 considered as of no profit. A clock of his, nearly 
 one hundred yeai-s old, is still running in Walpole, 
 and is in possession of Mr. Lewis Bowker. It is a 
 curious and simple piece of mechanism, with only 
 three wheels, and a pendulum which beats seconds. 
 The face is seven inches in diameter, and made of 
 brass with the name of Eleazer Smith engraved on 
 it. 
 
 With many other compatriots he enlisted in the 
 army, in 1776, and marched to the taking of Ticon- 
 deroga ; but his military career was not one congenial 
 to his taste, and after several adventures he returned 
 home and busied himself in inventing machines for 
 making cards, needles, tacks, nails, pins, and other 
 contrivances, so as "to do witlaout England," as he 
 expressed himself. His machine for the manufacture 
 of solid-headed pins, and drawing the wire for them, 
 was well devised for making 1,500 pins a day; but 
 they had to be pointed on a grindstone. The clever- 
 ness with which he could turn his hand in mechanism 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 27 
 
 gained for him quite an extended repiftation. Mr. 
 Jeremiah Willvinson, a card-maker, of Cumberland, 
 R.I., set him to work in the planning and construc- 
 tion of a machine for making card-teeth, which he 
 did in one month. The operation of this machine 
 proved very satisfactory, and when known, was the 
 means of opening engagements to him from three 
 parties who wished him to build like machines for 
 them. A pair of hand-cards was valued at this time 
 at sixteen shillings. The erection of his house and 
 shop involved him in debt, and his financial embar- 
 rassments forced him to the harder labor of wood- 
 chopping and general farm- work for his neighbors, 
 which brought him in the small income of about sev- 
 enty-five cents a day. 
 
 His conception of a machine for making cards, 
 which would combine the operations of bending the 
 teeth and pricking the holes into the leather, was being 
 evolved at this period of hi§ life, but his straitened 
 circumstances too frequently required him to turn to 
 diverting engagements. Mr. Jonathan Hale, a card- 
 manufacturer, of Framingham, having heard of Smith's 
 capabilities, bargained for his services in doing all 
 such work that required the aptitude of an ingenious 
 
28 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 band, such as mendiug cart-wheels and improving 
 machines for making card-teeth and tacks. His 
 plans for what he termed the " Grand Machine to Stick 
 Cards," were communicated to Mr. Hale, who sympa- 
 thized with his efforts and became interested in their 
 promotion. His creditors so worried him with their 
 importunities, that he was obliged to seclude himself 
 in a room under lock and key, so as to conduct his 
 work uninterruptedly. His plans were probably of 
 slow development, as Mr. Hale became discouraged, 
 and on the payment of $150 released himself from 
 further obligations. His mind bent on accomplish- 
 ing his purpose, with a nature hopeful and earnest, 
 he conquered all disposition to disappointment, and 
 dispelled every apparition that pi'ophesied failure. 
 Of an ingenuous temperament, suspecting none, he 
 willingly unfolded his schemes to all who would 
 favor him with a listening ear. Many did he enter- 
 tain with the revelation of his designs, as he depicted 
 here and there the mutual working of his little de- 
 vices, and portrayed the revolution they would occa- 
 sion when they became a reality. Few, however, be- 
 lieved ; and the apathetic had no word to express, 
 aside from pronouncing his notions ridiculous. Ad- 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 29 
 
 verse opinions had no weight with him ; Ihey did not 
 diminish the confidence he had in his ideas. He 
 would often say, " I cnn see right through it; I can 
 see how CA'ei'y part will move." His whole nature 
 was concentrated on his machine ; he would devote 
 days and nights, without intermission, to his work, 
 scarcely allowing himself time to eat, and paying no 
 attention to those who might venture near him. 
 With a mind overtaxed and exhausted he would 
 occasionally leave his shop and roam about the village, 
 as if demented. 
 
 In 1784 he left the employment of Mr. Hale. At 
 the solicitation of Giles Richards, of Boston, he sub- 
 sequently went to work in the card-factory of that 
 gentleman, who had formed a company, consisting of 
 himself, William and Amos Whittemore, and others. 
 He remained here twenty-one months, effecting 
 several improvements in card-setting machinery. * It 
 was during his engagement with this company that 
 President Washington visited the factory in 1789, 
 when the machines were under Mr. Smith's super- 
 vision. They elicited praise from the President, 
 although they were not working satisfactorily and 
 showed signs of having been tampered with. Leaving 
 
30 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Boston he spent a whole year in improving a nail- 
 cutting machine, which he got to be self-feeding and 
 to cut nails with the fibre of the iron. This machine 
 came into geneial use. The idea of it largely origi- 
 nated from a former invention of his for cutting and 
 heading card-tacks. While at work completing a 
 machine for making card teeth, he was visited by Col. 
 Thomas Denny, Jr., of Leicester, who paid him $93 
 for it. In 1795 he went to Newburyport to work 
 for Jacob Perkins in his brad-mill; but because of a 
 disagreement in regard to a claim of originality in a 
 nail-cutting machine, he soon returned home. Passing 
 through Boston he called on William Whittemore, who 
 asked him if he thought it possible to construct a 
 machine to stick cards. He answered affirmatively, 
 and expressed an intention to accomplish it as 
 soon as his finances would admit of it. He had 
 not long been at his home before his shop was the 
 scene of busy preparations for serious labor on his 
 " Grand Machine." 
 
 While his heart and mind were thus engrossed he 
 was visited from time to time by those interested in 
 the manufacture of card clothing, and especially by 
 Amos Whittemore, and one or more of his associates. 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 31 
 
 Not doubting the honest purpose of his visitors he 
 candidly explained his work, and made known his 
 ideas, little dreaming that his frankness could possi- 
 bly operate to his disadvantage. It appears that he 
 mistrusted the object of Amos Whitteraore's comings, 
 whom he knew to be a skilful mechanic, quick to 
 turn new ideas to account, and one fully alive to all 
 improvements in the card industry. He questioned 
 Whittemore acutely if he was not also engaged on a 
 simihir machine ; but his inquisitiveness brought none 
 other than evasive replies. His machine was grad- 
 ually nearing completion. It consisted of an iron bed- 
 plate, twenty-four inches square, with wrought-irou 
 posts for the centre and working parts. He had suc- 
 ceeded in making it prick the leather, make the teeth 
 and set them in straight^ and was about to apply his 
 ideas in putting on the second bend to tlie teeth, 
 when he heard of the patent granted to Amos Whitte- 
 more, in 1797, who had forestalled him in this last 
 contrivance and given the machine an automatic com- 
 pleteness. Mr. Smith was inclined to contest the 
 validity of the patent, but his limited means and 
 inability to secure pecuniary assistance, together with 
 the imperfect knowledge then had of the patent-laws, 
 
32 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 prevented him from doing so. Notwithstanding this, 
 he perfected his macliine b}^ a device for making the 
 second bend, but he never derived any benefit from 
 it. It is evident that the achievement of Mr. ^Vhitte- 
 more had a very depressing effect on Mr. Smith, and 
 the disappointment was so overwhebiiing tliat lie 
 never fully recovered from it. His hopeful prospects 
 vanished in a moment, as if they were but visions 
 come to beguile him to deeper poverty and wretched- 
 ness. Hours, days, years, and a life had been spent 
 in solving a problem which, when near consumma- 
 tion, was wrested from him by a more artful hand 
 than his. 
 
 In 1812 he built for Pliny Earle & Bros., 
 of Leicester, a machine for making card-teeth, to 
 be set into the leather b}- hand. This machine is 
 still in existence, and one who has seen it says : 
 "The permanency of construction and beauty of 
 finish would do credit to a machinist with a set of 
 tools of the latest improvements." The Whitte- 
 more patent being confined to the exclusive use of 
 a few, kept the old practice of setting the teeth in 
 leather by hand in vogue till 1828. Mr. Smith 
 died in Walpole, March 9, 1836, aged eightj^-two 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTEING INDUSTRY. 33 
 
 3'ears. He was buried in the country graveyard, 
 now Rural Cemetery, where a plain marble slab marks 
 the spot of his last resting-place. In 1854 the select- 
 men of the town made an effort to erect a monument 
 to his memory, but without success. 
 
34 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 AMOS WHITTEMORR, HIS CONTRIBUTION TO THE CARD- 
 CLOTHING INDUSTRY. PERFECTION OF THE CARD- 
 SETTING MACHINE. 
 
 Among the articles subject to payment of duties in 
 tlie first tariff act of 1789 were hand-cards used for 
 wool and cotton. For every dozen imported there 
 was levied a duty of fifty cents, and this was con- 
 tinued till 1812, when a duty of one dollar was im- 
 posed. The tariff of 1816, and subsequent ones, 
 make no mention of them, as they had outlived the 
 necessity of special protection. The last decade of 
 the eighteenth century was developing an independ- 
 ence in our industries, in sympathy with the politi- 
 cal stability which we were establishing among the 
 nations of the earth. Several woolen and cotton 
 mills were started in embryo, to meet certain local 
 wants of thrift}' housewives. The first cotton mill, 
 and the first woolen mill, showing a complete system 
 of manufacture, were then organized as the beginning 
 of two branches of a vast industry. To supply the 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 35 
 
 demands of these new and growing enterprises the 
 inventive skill of the American mechanic was taxed 
 to the ntmost ; and to encourage and protect such in 
 the benefits and emoluments to which it was entitled, 
 the United States Government enacted certain patent- 
 laws, which were early called into requisition. Very 
 few great inventions are patented in any country, that 
 are allowed to stand unmolested as being the exclu- 
 sive conception, or having priority in conception, in 
 whole or in part, in the mind of the patentee. The 
 greater the usefulness of the invention the greater will 
 be the number of persistent claimants, often with just 
 cause, but more often with immature pretensions of 
 fancies that have not got beyond the realm of 
 thouglit, and lack the existence of a reality. Patents 
 do not depend on conception, but on execution ; and 
 the two are not always the property of the same 
 person. He who conceives has a right to share in 
 the honors of him who executes, and he who executes 
 should not be divested of the glory attending the con- 
 version of an idea into a fact, of transforming a cru- 
 dity into a success. To determine the origin of an 
 invention is a difRcuIt, if not an impossible, task. 
 The most beautiful and useful mechanical devices 
 
36 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 with which we are familiar are simpW the imitation 
 of the action of the human hand. Intercourse with 
 our fellow-men not only furnishes an incentive, but 
 serves to create ideas to be matured into practical 
 application. 
 
 Eleazer Smith is entitled to all the encomiums 
 which have been connected with the products of his 
 consummate skill as a mechanic. There is no ques- 
 tion of his ingenuity, and that its free play was 
 greatly fettered by his financial embarrassments and 
 povert3\ There is no doubt that he devised contriv- 
 ances that gave great promise of success in facilitating 
 the manufacture of card clothing ; and that he should 
 not have reaped the full benefit of them is no discredit 
 to him ; it was one of those unfortunate fates that not 
 infrequently befall the greatest of men. Let not 
 one jot be taken from whatever is due to the inge- 
 nuity of Mr. Smith ; it is deserving of laurels ; let 
 them there remain. In dealing with the history of an 
 invention we are apt to be involved in a series of 
 deductions ; and though history, pure and simple, is 
 a chronicle of facts, it is not always easy to ascertain 
 what are the facts. Let us review for a moment. 
 As near as we can determine, about the year 1780, 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 37 
 
 Mr. Smith conceived the idea of one machine for 
 combining the operations of bending the teeth and 
 pricking the holes into the leather, and he no doubt 
 experimented upon it during his connection with Mr. 
 Giles Richards, of Boston. We have, also, mention 
 of a plan of one Oliver Evans, of Philadelphia, for 
 pricking the leather, and for cutting, bending and 
 setting the teeth, which, it has been thought, was 
 applied, in some form, to the machines of Giles 
 Richards. Again, in 1784, it seems that a Mr. Chit- 
 tenden, of New Haven, Conn., devised a machine for 
 taking the wire from the coil, cutting it into teeth and 
 giving them the first or double bend ; and this device, 
 it has been thought, was also taken advantage of by 
 Mr. Richards, who, it is needless to saj-, was ac- 
 tive in all things necessary to promote the profitable 
 growth of his business. Not presuming to say but 
 that Smith's conceptions were formed independent of 
 and even earlier than either of the above, is it not 
 reasonable to suppose that he derived some helpful 
 aid from the contrivances in operation on Mr. Rich- 
 ard's machines while he was in that gentleman's 
 employ? During his engagement in Boston he was 
 well acquainted with Amos Whittemore, and knew 
 
38 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 him as a veiy skilful mechanic, and, so far as is 
 known, was on friendly terms with him. It is nat- 
 ural to believe that these two men, who were mutuallj- 
 interested in the same vocation, working side by 
 side, would talk on matters that absorbed their at- 
 tention in common, and become more or less familiar 
 with each other's plans. Whittemore, having a 
 stronger nature, was probabl}^ more discreet in im- 
 parting his schemes than Smith, whose ingenuous and 
 communicative nature would not allow him to with- 
 hold from others what he knew and what he was 
 doing. It is not at all unlikely that Whittemore got 
 from 'Smith more than what Smith got from Whitte- 
 more, but it does not necessarily follow that Whittemore 
 did not have other than well-laid plans of his own 
 for his machine ; for it is not disputed that he was an 
 intelligent and proficient workman. It is impossible 
 to determine where to divide the honors. Two things, 
 however, are fixed : Whittemore gave the machine an 
 automatic completeness, and secured a patent for it. 
 
 The life of Amos Whittemore runs in the same 
 channel of many other inventors, with its hopes and 
 despondencies. He was bora in Cambiidge, Mass., 
 April 19, 1759, and was the second of five brothers, 
 
AMERICAN' CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 39 
 
 and third in a family of ten children. His birthplace 
 is still standing near the dividing line between Cam- 
 bridge and Arlington. His father was a farmer in 
 moderate circumstances, whose bodily strength and 
 labors were actively and daily needed to supply the 
 necessaiies for his large family. He could give his 
 children none other than the elementary education 
 which the schools of his neighborhood furnished, and 
 when their strength was sufficient to be helpful 
 to him in the occupations of a farm, he required it of 
 them ; and the youthful days of Amos were employed 
 in assisting his father in general out-door labors. 
 Amos was of a meditative and philosophical tufe of 
 mind, preferring the solitude of his own reflections to 
 the genial companionship of his associates, which, 
 with a mechanical aptitude, seemed naturally to 
 direct him to the abstruse in the science of invention. 
 He was early made to feel the necessity of choosing 
 an employment for his maintenance ; and, as he was 
 left free to make a choice, he selected the trade of a 
 gunsmith, as having an immediate future of more 
 profit than anything else at hand. Serving as an 
 apprentice, he assiduously applied himself to his task 
 and invented a number of serviceable implements, 
 
40 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 which his employer recognized as the manifestation 
 of a talent far above the mediocrity of a common 
 workman. Among the many ingenious productions 
 of his was a clock, made without a model, which long 
 remained in the possession of his famil3^ A Dr. 
 Putnam, of Charlestown, becoming interested and in- 
 timate in his work, and noticing the dexterit}' with 
 which he could turn his inventive talent, suggested 
 to him the invention of a self-acting loom for weav- 
 ing duck. The suggestion was at once acted upon 
 and resulted in the construction of a loom, which, 
 according to some information, embraced the same 
 principle as evolved in the power-loom of the present 
 day. The times were not propitious at this period of 
 his life ; he found but little inducement to be zealous 
 in securing the adoption of his devices ; for none 
 seemed to care to improve the methods then in use ; 
 matters of more general interest were then engross- 
 ing the thoughts of his fellow-men. 
 
 During the war he was much of the time out of 
 employment, and was obliged to scrupulously husband 
 his limited resources. Some time subsequent to 1788 
 he and his brother William, together with five others, 
 became associated under the firm-name of Giles 
 
AMERICAN VARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 41 
 
 Richards &'Co., for the manufacture of card clothing, 
 and their success gave them a wide reputation. Amos 
 devoted himself to the mechanical wants of the 
 factory, and its prosperity was largely dependent 
 on his management. The production of the factory 
 was in ready demand, but the expense of manufact- 
 ure was a serious encumbrance, the same as that 
 connected with the making of wool and cotton cards 
 everywhere, because of the imperfect and rude 
 machines in use, and the large amount of manual 
 labor required. Amos quickly realized the situation 
 and saw the opportunity for a grand and substan- 
 tial success for a machine that would unite all the 
 operations in one harmonious whole. The occa- 
 sion was one that appealed most happily to his 
 nature, as a favorable time to exercise his inventive 
 ingenuity with a hope of a lucrative return. His 
 mind became involved in a series of evolutions, 
 and he applied himself sedulously to experimental 
 tasks that offered any promise of solving the question. 
 He kept no account of time ; day and night had no 
 distinction to him, and physical and mental exhaus- 
 tion only determined the time for rest. He unfolded 
 his plans to his brother William, in whom he had 
 
42 HIS TOBY OF THE 
 
 implicit confidence, and received from him encourage- 
 ment and excellent advice. His incessant toil threat- 
 ened the complete undermining of his constitution ; but 
 to him this was of momentarj^ consideration. His in- 
 genuity was taxed to the utmost, and device after 
 device was attempted and rejected, all seeming to baffle 
 and mihtate against the accomplishment of his pur- 
 pose. 
 
 The laws of physics appeared to work by contraries. 
 At length parts began to work in more harmony with 
 each other, and he realized a machine to draw the 
 wire from the reel, cut and shape it, pierce the holes 
 in the leather, and place the staples in the sheet ; but 
 the forming of the second and final bend in the 
 teeth was a problem that vexed his very soul as one 
 of insurmountable difficulty. Hope was followed by 
 despair, and the most glorious prize of all that would 
 crown his machine with perfection, hovered around 
 him like a phantom, enticing him on to further exer- 
 tion, yet eluding his grasp. He did not lack, however, 
 the support of encouraging friends, who believed in 
 his ultimate success if he would only persevere be- 
 lievingly and courageously. To the cheerful assur- 
 ances of his friends may be attributed much of his 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHIKG nWUSTRY. 43 
 
 resolution and unremitting ardor in forcing liis sclieme 
 to a successful finality. 
 
 While in this maze of doubt, his brain hot with 
 feverish uncertainty, liis thoughts dwelling vaguely 
 on a theory of possibilities, his exhausted strength 
 permitted the solution to come to him in a dream. 
 Such is the testimony of some, and, whether it be true 
 or not, it is not outside a common experience of 
 many, to retire at night with a mind confused and 
 mystified by unabated application to a single idea, and 
 wake up in the morning with it fresh and clear with 
 the mastery revealed and elucidated, as if it were the 
 work of a vision. He arose at early dawn with a 
 heart full of emotion, and a face beaming with joy, 
 and eagerly sought his workshop to place on his ma- 
 chine the last piece of mechanism that was to trans- 
 form it into a magnificent consummation. The com- 
 mencement and the achievement covered a space of 
 three months, as stated in a memoir of him ; but it is 
 hardly consistent with his nature and that of tlie sub- 
 ject to confine it to so limited a period. The need of 
 such a machine had been long recognized and dis- 
 cussed, and it is to be presumed that so earnest and 
 observant a mechanic as AVhittemore would not 
 
44 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 have allowed the time to have passed without prac- 
 tically exercising his inventive skill in accomplishing 
 the object. The invention was a splendid specimen 
 of " construction, precision of movement, rapidit}^ of 
 performance and perfection of execution. It must 
 be studiously examined to be justly appreciated, and 
 its complicated performance can be compared with 
 nothing more nearly than the machinery of the human 
 system." 
 
 The Whittemore brothers took with them to Wash- 
 ington a full sized and complete machine, as a model, 
 to be shown to members of Congress, from which 
 they could form a better and more correct judgment 
 than from any verbal or written description that 
 could be given of it. It excited mucl^ curiosity and 
 admiration at the astonishing facility with which it 
 performed its work ; and especially was its advantage 
 to the woolen and cotton industries reckoned upon 
 as incalculable. The petition for a renewal of the 
 patent came before Congress for action, and, after 
 a little deliberation, it was favorably considered and 
 granted, March 3, 1809. The vote on the final 
 passage of the renewing act was fifty -five in the 
 affirmative and eighteen in the negative, and as 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 45 
 
 there is no record of the speeches made ou this 
 occasion, we have no means of knowing the nature 
 of the objections raised against the extension, or 
 the animosity that may liave been instigated in 
 opposition. It is a consistent presumption, how- 
 ever, to say that with the above vote there was some 
 discussion made on the merits of the invention, or 
 advisabihty of renewing the patent. Unanimity 
 would have been anomalous ; blessings and great in- 
 ventions do not find appreciation without exciting 
 hostility ancl antagonistic elements, thongh they may 
 arise from the perversity of human nature, when 
 disturbed from its conservatism. It is related of 
 John Randolph, of Roanoke, that, when the question 
 of extending the patent was before Congress, he 
 expressed himself with that emphatic eloquence, for 
 which he was noted: "Yes, I would renew it to all 
 eternity ! for it is the onl}- machine which ever had a 
 soul!!" 
 
 The act of renewal was as follows : — 
 
 An Act to extend to Amos Whittemore and Wm. Whitte- 
 more, Jr., the patent-right to a machine for manufacturing 
 Cotton and Wool Cards. 
 
46 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 
 of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, that 
 all the privileges and benefits granted to Amos Whittemore, 
 of the State of Massachusetts, in consideration of a machine 
 invented by him for the manufacture of Cotton and Wool 
 Cards, within the United States, by a patent issued from the 
 Department of State, and bearing date the fifth day of June, 
 one thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven, be, and the 
 same are hereby extended to Amos Whittemore and William 
 Whittemore, Jr., as joint proprietors of the said machine, for 
 and during the term of fourteen years, to commence on the 
 fifth day of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eleven ; 
 anything in tlie Act entitled, " An Act to promote the prog- 
 ress of useful arts ; and to repeal the Act heretofore made for 
 that purpose," to the contrary notwithstanding. 
 
 J. B. Varnum, 
 
 Speaker of ilie House of Representatives. 
 
 J. N. MiLBRIDGE, 
 
 President of the Senate, pro tern. 
 March 3, 1809, approved. — Th. Jefferson. 
 (Passed the House Feb. 28, 1809.) 
 
 In the year 1803 Samuel Whittemore, a younger 
 brother, started the manufacture of cards for cotton 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 47 
 
 and wool in the city of New York, as a branch of tlie 
 business established in Cambridge ; and the novelty 
 of the machine attracted no little attention. The 
 success of this branch is not given us, but it probably 
 moved along slowly and inconsequentially till its 
 reanimation b}' the renewal of the patent, when 
 efforts were soon made to place it on a flourishing 
 basis, by the addition of capital, to secure the antici- 
 pated demand and profit resulting from the practical 
 monopoly which the exclusive control of the ma- 
 chine would give. It was not long in waiting 
 before it elicited the serious consideration of men 
 of money. 
 
 An act was passed by the Legislature of New 
 York, June 15, 1812, incorporating Anthony Post, 
 John Van Kleeck, Samuel Whittemore, Isaac Mar- 
 quand and others, as the New York Manufacturing 
 Company, for the manufacture of iron and brass wire, 
 and of cotton and wool cards, with a capital of 
 $1,200,000. The ninth section of the act provided 
 that " the corporation shall, as soon as the same shall 
 be dulj- organized, contract for and purchase of A. & 
 W. Whittemore, of Boston, the machinery owned by 
 them for cutting and sticking card-teeth, together 
 
48 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 with the exclusive right, secured to them by letters- 
 patent from the United States, of using that and 
 such machinery for the term of thirteen years." The 
 corporation was required to expend by the 1st of 
 November, 1813, in the purchase of patent-right and 
 in the erection of manufacturing houses, machinery 
 and hydraulic works, $250,000, and $50,000 per year 
 afterwards, till the capital so invested should 
 amount to $500,000, which should be kept as a per- 
 manent manufacturing capital. The corporation was 
 also required to establish in the city of New York 
 a bank of deposit and discount, and to employ 
 such parts of its capital stock in it as should 
 not be otherwise appropriated, not exceeding 
 $700,000. 
 
 The basis of this enterprise was the machinery for 
 making cotton and wool cards, invented by Amos 
 Whittemore, of Cambridge, Mass., and patented 
 June 5, 1797. Samuel Whittemore was a brother 
 of the inventor, and on the 20th day of July, 1812, 
 $120,000 was paid for the patent-right for the term 
 of thirteen years, and for the machiner3- of the 
 Messrs. Whittemore. This sale took from Amos 
 Whittemore all the rights and interest he had in his 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 49 
 
 invention, and with his shave of the proceeds he 
 retired to a pleasant estate which he purchased in 
 West Carobridge, now Arlington, Mass., and lived a 
 quiet and happy life, that seemed more congenial to 
 his nature than the vicissitudes of a manufacturing 
 and mercantile vocation. 
 
 The New York Company erected extensive works 
 on New York island, corresponding with the large 
 capital which had been invested in the undertaking, 
 and the laying of the corner-stone of the main build- 
 ing was attended by elaborate ceremonies in harmony 
 with the hopeful prospects that the present appeared 
 to foretell. 
 
 The calamities of war, which at this time was de- 
 stroying our commerce on the seas and subverting 
 our intercourse with foreign countries, threw upon us 
 the necessity of supplying our wants from domestic 
 manufactures, which thus became stimulated into an 
 unprecedented activity that kept the wheels of trade 
 in constant motion. 
 
 Cotton and woolen factories sprung up as by 
 magic, as if every water-fall was to have by its side 
 the busy hum of machinery. 
 
 None felt the momentum of the stimulated con- 
 
50 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 dition of affairs more than the New York Manufac- 
 turing Company, which bent every energy towards 
 securing and supplying the demands of the hour. 
 The return of peace, in 1815, relieved the intense 
 pressure of a feverish inflation, and the excess was 
 ever3^where diffused, weakened, and enervated. The 
 bountifulness of peace, an event sought for and 
 prayed for, brought with it no consolation for the 
 New York Company, but rather disappointments and 
 losses, by the impairment or destruction of the 
 channels through which it disposed of its products. 
 The demand for its manufactures ceased almost 
 wholly, — there was no market, — and it found itself 
 suddenly with a large stock of goods on hand of un- 
 certain value, and expensive machinery standing idle 
 for want of work. 
 
 No reaction coming to favor the continuation of 
 the business, it was decided to dispose of the 
 property, which was accomplished by a sale, in 1818, 
 to Messrs. Samuel and Timothy Whittemore, — 
 brother and son of Amos Whittemore. Timothy 
 almost immediately transferred his share to his 
 uncle, who assumed the exclusive ownership of the 
 property and continued the business, with varying 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 51 
 
 success, till the time of his death, in 1835. The 
 New York Mauufaetuiiug Co., after selling its 
 propert}^ in 1818, dissolved its cooperate title and 
 took that of the Phoenix Bank, and has pursued the 
 banking business, which its charter authorized it to 
 do, to the present day. The second term of the 
 patent expired in 1825, and the invention was given 
 to the woi'ld. In anticipation of this event, and fear- 
 ful of the effect it would have on his vocation, Sam- 
 uel Whittemore sold manj' of his machines, and very 
 considerably reduced the limits of his business. 
 
 A number of the machines that were used in 
 Samuel Whittemore's factory were bought by 
 Gershom and Henry Whittemore, sons of Amos 
 Whittemore, and moved to West Cambridge, where 
 a factory was started in 1827 for the manufacture 
 of cards, and which was kept running till its de- 
 struction by fire in 1862. 
 
 As soon as the expiration of the patent released 
 the monopoly on the invention orders were received 
 from England and France for some of the machines ; 
 but their complication was so imperfectly understood 
 by the foreign mechanics that workmen had to 
 be sent from America to set up and start them. 
 
52 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Returning once more to Mr. Amos Whittemore we 
 find tliat, witli liis retirement to his AYest Cambridge 
 estate in 1812, lie gave liimself up to tlie ease of life 
 and the enjoyment which he could cull from scientific 
 reading and reflection, which his natural inclinations 
 led him to seek. Astronomical inquiries engaged 
 much of his time, and his ingenuity was displayed 
 in this line of study b}- the consti'uction of devices 
 showing the principle of planetary motions, and 
 he conceived a plan of a complete orrery, — a ma- 
 chine that was in high repute during his time, in 
 the latter part of the 18th and early part of the 
 19th centuries, but which is now regarded with 
 little favor. 
 
 In the latter part of his life he felt the discomforts of 
 impaired health and the infirmities of old age. He 
 died March 27, 1828, at his homestead. He left but 
 a small fortune. He was spoken of as a man "of 
 a bland and conciliating disposition, even in temper, 
 strikingly meditative in manners, conversing but 
 little, and often seen in profound mental study." 
 Over his tomb is placed a marble tablet bearing this 
 inscription : — 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 53 
 
 Amos Whittemore, 
 
 born 
 
 April 19, 1779, 
 
 died 
 
 March 27, 1828. , 
 
 Inventor of tlie celebrated 
 
 machine for making cotton 
 
 and wool cards ; a marvelous 
 
 conception of mechanical 
 
 ingenuit}^, which gave him 
 
 a prominent place among 
 
 the principal inventors 
 
 of the age. 
 
 This tablet was erected by his descendants, a.d. 1882. 
 
 Desiring to give our subject a consistency as well 
 as continuity, we have been obliged to omit, for the 
 time being, all matter not directly connected with the 
 career of Amos Whittemore, whose history has such 
 a vital bearing on the existence and success of the 
 card-clothing industry. 
 
 To return to earlier days, when Whittemore's in- 
 vention was first generally known, but not generally 
 used, because of its monopoly by the inventor and his 
 brothers, tlie methods pursued when labor was almost 
 
54 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 purely manual, with few or no mechanical devices to 
 aid and ease the toil, called into requisition the handi- 
 craft of the neighborhood anywhere within a radius 
 of twelve miles. The wire teeth were the product of 
 the factory, but, in order that they be inserted into 
 the leather, they were distributed in bags among the 
 households of the vicinity, and thus gave employment 
 to women and children. Every house became a part 
 of a factory system, and the community busy in some- 
 thing which all could do, from the youngest to the 
 oldest. Women and girls were the most dexterous 
 members of the family for this kind of work. 
 
AMERICAN CABD-CLOmiNG INDUSTRY. 55 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 GROWTH OF THE CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY, AND 
 SKETCHES OF PARTIES ENGAGED IN ITS MANUFACT- 
 URE. 
 
 In 1802 Mr. Winthrop Earle, an active young man 
 of twenty-seven, began the manufacture of machine- 
 cards, and occupied for this purpose the west end of 
 Col. Denny's dwelling-house in Leicester, Mass. 
 He soon after built a factory apart from his residence, 
 and became extensively engaged in his business. 
 His early death, in 1807, deprived the town of a 
 most respected citizen. His business, however, did 
 not suffer for want of a competent successor, as it 
 was continued by John "Woodcock, a young and in- 
 genious mechanic who had come from Rutland two 
 years before. Woodcock's inventive tact was 
 manifested in many little devices for overcoming 
 annoyances that afflicted the crude processes which 
 were in fashion at that time. On one machine 
 he secured a patent for reducing leather used in the 
 manufacture of cards to a uniform thickness, which 
 
56 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 proved to be of much benefit, not only to himself, but 
 to the manufacturing community in general. 
 
 In 1808 Mr. Alpheus Smith associated himself 
 with Mr. Woodcock, under the firm-name of 
 Woodcock & Smith. Their factory building was 
 moved near the hotel, where it stood for man}' 
 years. In 1812 James Smith, from Rutland, 
 joined the firm as an active member. Mr. 
 Woodcock disposed of his interest in 1813, and 
 his death is chronicled in the same year, having 
 acquired a competency which he left to a family of 
 five children. In 1814 Alpheus Smith sold his 
 share in the business to his brothers, John A. and 
 Rufus, and the style of the concern became James & 
 John A. Smith & Co. The junior member, Rufus, died 
 in 1818, and the business was carried on by the re- 
 maining partners till 1825, when John Woodcock, 
 son of the foregoing John Woodcock, Hiram Knight 
 and Emory Drury were taken in as partners. Within 
 the following eight years many changes took place in 
 the membership of the firm. Mr. Drury left it in 
 1829, John A. Smith in 1830, and James Smith in 
 1833, leaving the business in the hands of John 
 Woodcock and Hiram Knight, who continued it alone 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 57 
 
 till 1848, when they took in their sons, Theodore E. 
 and Dexter. The firm of Woodcock, Knight & Co. 
 remained in existence till within a few years. 
 
 To show the state of trade in card clothing in the 
 early history of this concern, we reproduce a letter 
 that was written by it to a customer in want of card 
 
 clothing : — 
 
 Leicester, June 27, 1812. 
 Mr. E. D. Walcott: — 
 
 Sir, — Yours of the 18th inst. is just received, in which you 
 observe you are in want of five or six sets of machine-cards 
 for the Nassau Cotton and Woollen M. Society, and wish to 
 know our terms. Our terms are cash in hand. We formerly 
 gave a credit of three or six months upon our cards, and used 
 to have the same credit on our stock ; but now our stock com- 
 mands the cash; therefore we are obliged to sell our cards 
 for ready pay. Card wire is extremely high and difficult to be 
 obtained at any price. The present prices of cards are for 
 those made of No. 30 wire, .$3.00; No. 31 wire, $3.20; No. 
 32 wire, $3.40; No. 33 wire, |3.60 per square foot; and for 
 filleting, U in- wide, 55 cents; 14 in., 75 cents; and 2 in., 
 $1.00 per foot in length. The above are the prices that we 
 and others are selling cards in this place. We will engage 
 the cards at the above prices, or at the prices that others may 
 be selling at in this place. 
 
 Yours rcfpectfuUy, 
 
 Woodcock, Smith & Co. 
 
•58 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 A letter addressed to this firm, March 17, 1813, 
 quotes the price of card wire at $1.50 per pound 
 for Nos. 30, 31, and 32 ; but as it was subject to 
 daily fluctuation, the quotation was guaranteed only 
 for the time of its making. The war with England 
 had made wire a very scarce commodity. We have 
 mentioned the granting of letters-patent to Pliny 
 Earle, in 1803, for a machine for pricking twilled 
 cards. This patent Mr. Earle was particular in. de- 
 fending for his exclusive benefit, and infringers were 
 warned of their infraction as soon as it came to his 
 knowledge. It appears from the following document 
 that Messrs. Woodcock, Smith & Co. were using the 
 patent in violation of Mr. Earle's rights, which drew 
 from him a most emphatic protest and a demand 
 for indemnity : — 
 
 Leicester, 11th Mo., 18, 1813. 
 To John Woodcock, Alpheus Smith and James Smith, each 
 of you and all of you : I hereby in the most peremptory 
 terms forbid your using my inventions and improvements in 
 making regular and complete twilled or nailed cards, which 
 improvements are secured to me by law in the Patent-Office 
 of the United States, as you will be holden to answer all such 
 violations and encroachments at your peril, agreeably to the 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 59 
 
 laws in such cases made and provided. And I do hereby re- 
 quire you forthwith to settle with me, and make me just and 
 honest reparation for all former violations and encroachments 
 on my said improvements and inventions. Now, in order that 
 you may not deceive yourselves or be deceived, I have left 
 Fessenden's Law of Patents with Bradford Sumner, at Nath'l 
 P. Denny's former oflSce, where you may call and be informed 
 if you wish. I have been at the expense of paying an attorney 
 for advice, and a journey from Boston, and am now acting 
 
 agreeably to his directions. 
 
 Pliny Earle. 
 
 Upon Alpheus Smith's withdrawal from his partner- 
 ship with James Smitli, in 1814, he established a card- 
 factory in his own name, and carried ou a large busi- 
 ness till 1823, when he disposed of it to his brother 
 Horace, who remained in it till the time of his death 
 in 1828. 
 
 When Mr. John A. Smith dissolved his connection 
 with Mr. James Smith and others, in 1830, he started 
 a similar business on his own account, which he con- 
 tinued till 1844, when he was succeeded by Samuel 
 Southgate, Jr., and his son, John S. Smith, who con- 
 ducted the business under the firm-name of Southgate 
 & Smith till January 1, 1859, when the senior 
 member retired and his interest was taken bv Horace 
 
60 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Waite. The firm of Smith & Waite lasted till 
 1867, when Mr. Smith's interest was bonght by sons 
 of Mr. Waite, —E. C. and L. M. Waite, —and the 
 firm-name changed to E. C. & L. M. Waite & Co., 
 the father giving the sons the benefit of the name. 
 This remained till March 10, 1874, when the present 
 firm was formed under the st^de of E. C. Waite 
 &Co. 
 
 A good-sized business was done by Jonathan 
 Earle in his own house from 1804 to 1813. He 
 was an active and successful manufacturer. His 
 residence and factoi-y was situated on Mount 
 Pleasant, lying about a mile west of the village 
 meeting-house. 
 
 In 1810 the firm of Southgate & Sargent com- 
 menced business. The members, Capt. Isaac South- 
 gate and Col. Henry Sargent, then young men, 
 became identified with the progress of the town as 
 successful manufacturers, and their names have been 
 long known in the annals of Leicester. Col. Sargent 
 remained in the firm but two years when he formed a 
 new concern, and in 1814 took in his brother, Joseph 
 D. Sargent, as a partner. The latter left in 1819 and 
 started business for himself in the manufacture of 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 61 
 
 " hand and machine cards," having at different times 
 as partnei's, Sih\s Jones, Nathan Ainsworth and 
 William Boggs. March 1, 1836, he sold his machine- 
 card business and machinery to Joshua Q. Lamb and 
 Alohzo White, while he continued the hand-card 
 business. till his death in 1849. Col. Henry Sargent 
 remained alone after the withdrawal of his brother till 
 1829, the year of his death. Captain Southgate con- 
 ducted his manufacturing without a partner from 
 1812 to 1826, when he associated with him Joshua 
 Lamb, Dwight Bisco, Joseph A. Denny and John 
 Stone, under the name of Isaac Southgate &, Co. 
 Mr. Stone died the next year. In 1828 they erected 
 a factory in the rear of the meeting-house. In 1831 
 Mr. Lamb left the firm, and Capt. Southgate did the 
 same in 1843, which left the business in the hands of 
 Messrs. Bisco & Denny, who, in 18.57, took in their 
 sons, Charles A. Denny and George Bisco. Joseph 
 A. Denny died in 1875, and Dwight Bisco died in 
 1882. John W. Bisco was admitted to the firm in 
 1882. Mr. Dwight Bisco was in continuous business 
 for fifty-six years, — a length of time that is allowed 
 to but few men. He was born in Spencer in 1 799, and 
 went to Leicester, when twenty -three years old, " with 
 
62 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 a strong constitution, a few articles of clotliing tied 
 in a bundle, and a silver dollar in his pocket, which 
 was his capital for beginning his business career. He 
 at once engaged himself to serve an apprenticeship 
 and learn the trade of the card-clothing business with 
 Cheney Hatch, and continued in his employ until 
 1826." 
 
 Mr. Cheney Hatch started a factory in 1823 and ran 
 it till 183G, when he sold out to Alden Bisco, who 
 parted with it in a few months to Henry A. Denny, 
 an elder brother of Joseph A. Denn^-. Mr. Denny 
 continued the business till 1849, when he took in his 
 sons, Joseph W. and William S., when the firm 
 became known as Henry A. Denny & Sons, and so 
 continued to 1854, when the factory, machinery and 
 business was sold to White & Denny. Their factory 
 was the onl}'^ card-clothing factory in town at tbat 
 time using steam-power. The manufacturing facili- 
 ties of White & Denny were thus much enlarged. 
 This firm was composed of Alonzo White and Chris- 
 topher C. Denny, the latter a younger brother of 
 Heur}' A. and Joseph A. Denny, who had formed a 
 partnership for the manufacture of card clothing 
 July 1, 1846. Mr. White, as has been seen, had an 
 
AMERICAN GABD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 63 
 
 earlier beginning, at the time he bought with J. Q. 
 Lamb, in 1836, the business, etc., from J. D. Sargent. 
 At that time the formation of the firm was made 
 under the style of Lamb & White, with Libert}^ Lamb 
 and Joshua Lamb as silent partners. The two latter 
 gentlemen dissolved their connection at the termina- 
 tion of three years, otherwise the firm remained the 
 same till July 1, 1846, when Mr. Lamb retired to 
 engage in business by himself, which he did till his 
 death in 1850. Mr. AVhite continued the business 
 with C. C. Denny as a partner. Mr. Denny sold 
 his hqlf interest in 1868 to H. Arthur White, when 
 the firm-name was changed to A, White &, Son, under 
 which style it now exists. 
 
 Mr. Josephus Woodcock, a son of John Woodcock, 
 who succeeded Winthrop Earle, began the manufact- 
 ure of cards, in 1828, in connection with Benjamin 
 Conklin, Jr., a brother-in-law, and Austin Conklin, 
 under the name of Conklin, Woodcock & Co. Two 
 years after, the dissolution of the firm placed the 
 business into the hands of Josephus and his brother 
 Lucius, who established the firm of J. «&; L. Woodcock 
 & Co., which continued under that name for fifty-one 
 years. Danforth Rice was in the firm from 1831 tc 
 
64 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 1836, and William P. White from 1848 to the time of 
 his death in 1881. Upon the death of Mr, White 
 the constitution of the partnership was materially 
 changed, C. H. Woodcock taking the interest of his 
 father, Josephus, and Henry Bisco the interest of Mr. 
 White. The firm thereupon became known as L. 
 Woodcock & Co., which is the existing style. 
 
 Samuel Southgate, Jr., and Joshua Murdock, under 
 the firm-name of Southgate & Murdock, started a 
 new business in 1840, but after three years Mr. 
 Southgate withdrew to become associated with John 
 S. Smith, as previously noticed. Mr. Murdock re- 
 mained alone till 1847 when he was joined by his 
 brother Joseph, and the firm of J. & J. Murdock 
 established, which style has been preserved to the 
 present time. In 1857 John N. Murdock, a younger 
 brother, was admitted as a partner, in which condition 
 it continued till March, 1882, when Joshua, the senior 
 member, died. In that year was formed the existing 
 constitution of the firm, viz.: Joseph, John A., and 
 Julius O. Murdock, and Alexander De Witt — who 
 sold out his interest in 1883. 
 
 Baylies Upham and Samuel Hurd became part- 
 ners iu 1825, and so continued till 1833, when Mr. 
 
AMEBIGAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 65 
 
 Upham took the business to himself aucl conducted 
 it to 1850, when Erving Sprague became associated 
 with him. The latter left the firm in 1855, and the 
 next year Mr. Upham disposed of his business to 
 J. & J. Murdock. 
 
 In the year 1842 John H. and William Whitte- 
 more formed a partnership. A younger brother, 
 James, was admitted in 1845. In 1851 John H. 
 Whittemore was killed on the cais on the Western 
 Railroad, now the Boston & Albany. The style of 
 the firm was changed at this time to W. & J. Whitte- 
 more,, which is the same to-day. In 1874 W. F. 
 Whittemore, son of James, became a partner. In 
 1882 James died. 
 
 It would be a difficult, if not impossible, task to 
 give a record of all those who have engaged in the 
 card-clothing industry in the town of Leicester. In ad- 
 dition to those already mentioned we notice the name 
 of Reuben Meriam, as having been ten years in busi- 
 ness, from 1821, with George W. Morse and Henry 
 A. Denny as partners at different times. Harry 
 Ward carried ona business from 1810 to 1824. Others 
 can be named, as : Daniel Denny, Captain William 
 Sprague & Sons, Barnard Upham, Roswell Sprague, 
 
66 HISTORY OF TEE 
 
 Samuel D. Watson, Aaron Morse, Guy S. Newton , 
 Timothy Earle, Samuel Southgate, "William H. Scott 
 and Henry -Earle. 
 
 We have referred to Joseph D. Sargent as an 
 active manufacturer of card clotliing in Leicester. 
 He had two sons, Joseph B. and Edward, who be- 
 came extensivel}' engaged in the hand-card business, 
 which proved ver}' lucrative during the war ; and 
 in 1866 they organized the Sargent Card Clotliing 
 Co., and built a factory in Worcester, with Edward 
 Sargent as manager. April 15, 1879, the factory and 
 business was sold to James Smith & Co., of Phila- 
 delphia Also in Worcester is the large establish- 
 ment of the T. K. Earle Manufacturing Company that 
 was established by Pliny Earle in 1786, and before 
 referred to. January 1, 1867, C. A. Howard and 
 Clarence Farnsworth commenced business under the 
 firm-name of Howard & Farnsworth. In May, 1868, 
 A. H. Howard was taken into the concern, and in 
 the following October Mr. Farnsworth retired, leaving 
 the two brothers together under the firm-name of 
 Howard Bros., who conducted the business till 1870, 
 when they took in their brother, J. P. Howard. Chas. 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 67 
 
 F. Kent commenced the making of Card Clothing in 
 January, 1880. 
 
 The present Stedman & Fuller Manufacturing Co., 
 formerly- of Lawrence, Mass., but now of Provi- 
 dence, R.I. , is a recently incorporated companj'. Its 
 history, as a continuous concern, may be said to have 
 commenced as far back as the year 1847, or about 
 that time, when Smith, Walker & Co. came to Law- 
 rence from Enfield, Mass., to engage in the manufact- 
 ure of card-clothing, with an established connection 
 with Jones, Wood, & Co., of Enfield, — one of the old- 
 est card-clothing manufacturing firms in the country. 
 They were succeeded in 1850 by Warren and Bryant; 
 and this firm changed its partnership in 1856, by the 
 sale of Mr. Oliver Bryant's interest to S. M. Stedman 
 and George A. Fuller, — two employes, — which occa- 
 sioned a change in the firm-name to Stedman & Fuller. 
 In 1858 this new firm purchased the machinery, 
 fixtures and stock of the Enfield concern, then owned 
 by Rufus D. Woods, and moved the same to their 
 Lawrence factory. No change was again effected till 
 August 1, 1883, when the business was incoi'poratod 
 under its present style and name. 
 
 Davis & Furber Machine Co., of North Audover, 
 
68 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Mass., added the manufacture of card clothing to 
 their business about twenty years ago, and are now 
 engaged in it, tliough it holds a subordinate position 
 to their other work. In addition to the concerns 
 before mentioned are the following : D. F. Robin- 
 son, located at Lawrence, Mass. ; the Lowell Card 
 Co., at Lowell, Mass., and E. P. Stetson, who carries 
 on business at Walpole, Mass. 
 
 We have seen that Amos Whittemore visited Eng- 
 land in 1799 to secure to himself the advantage of 
 his invention in that country ; but his efforts proved 
 of no avail, and the first patent granted in that 
 country for a card- setting machine was that given to 
 J. C. Dyer, of Manchester. Nothing, however, ap- 
 pears to have been done with this invention till a long 
 time after, — about 1830, — when Mr. Dyer visited 
 the United States and obtained a machine, and com- 
 menced business in Manchester, on a very extensive 
 scale, under the firm-name of J. C. Dyer & Co. This 
 firm was the first to successfully set cards mechan- 
 ically. The machine used was probably for making 
 the clothing in sheets, and the adaptations for the 
 making of fillet were subsequently applied, as we 
 observe that Mr. James Walton, of Haughton Dale 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 69 
 
 Mills, Denton, near Manchester, not only greatly im- 
 proved Mr. Dyer's machine, but constructed tlie fillet 
 machine that has remained practically the same to 
 this da3% or for a period of over forty years. One of 
 these machines was on exhibition as early as 1838, at 
 a fair at Lowerby Bridge. 
 
70 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER Vr. 
 
 LATER INVENTIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- 
 FACTURE OF CARD CLOTHING. VARIETIES MADE. 
 
 The mechanical history of the industry is repre- 
 sented in the dailj' operations of any card-clothing 
 factory ; it is a thousand times repeated in the course 
 of the year, and the many devices which make up its 
 parts and exhibit its condition have been, in essential 
 features, familiar to the workman for a generation or 
 more. Everything connected with the manufacture 
 of card clothing bears the imprint of intelligence in 
 the careful and exact manipulation of the materials 
 that go into the final product. The machines that 
 insert the teeth impress the observer with being in 
 the presence of an inanimate object possessing 
 a conscientious sense of duty. The emplo3-6s that 
 are to be met with in every department carry with 
 them the character of thoughtful intelligence upon 
 which society can safely depend for its moral sup- 
 port. 
 
 The first step in the manufacture of card clothing 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTIIING INDUSTRY. 71 
 
 is the selectiou of the material for the foundation 
 or backing into which the teeth are to be inserted. 
 The selection is influenced by the purpose for which 
 the clothing is to be used, the stock that it is to card, 
 and its relative cost. Leather is most universally 
 used, and has been employed from the earliest be- 
 ginning. For some purposes its advantages are 
 superseded by other materials that have been con- 
 structed of cloth and rubber, though the prime con- 
 sideration for substitution was occasioned by the 
 matter of less cost. The kinds of leather that are 
 used are the hemlock and oak tanned. The first 
 is more generally employed, as it possesses more 
 pliability and greater compactness, aside from mak- 
 ing a smoother and better appearing piece of work. 
 
 Those unacquainted with the requirements for 
 which leather is intended have but a slight apprecia- 
 tion of the discrimination that must be exercised in 
 its selection, so that it may be alike in texture and 
 other essential features. This difficulty is greatly in- 
 creased when assortments have to be made from prod- 
 ucts of different tanneries. 
 
 Cloth backings vary in composition, and a major- 
 ity of them have rubber in combination. The value 
 
72 JflSTORF OF THE 
 
 of solid cotton doth is in its comparative cheapness, and 
 it is exclusively applied to the cotton card. Its 
 adaptation to other stock has been found insufficient 
 and defective. All cloth hackings have the matter 
 of uniformity of thickness in their favor, which is a 
 very valuable feature. 
 
 The ruhher-cloth hackings may be confined to those 
 covered or having a facing on one side of either 
 natural or vulcanized rubber. The body of this kind 
 of clothing is made of several layers of cotton cloth, 
 though in some cases linen is substituted. Its chief 
 recommendations are its superior elasticit}' and the 
 support which it gives to the teeth. It also pos- 
 sesses the elements of cheapness, strength and 
 durabilit}-, which stand in more than favorable com- 
 parison. The employment of india-rubber in the 
 manufacture of card clotliing is not of recent inven- 
 tion, though it is only of late years that American 
 mills have given it extensive use. 
 
 Natural rubber is successfully used onh' for the 
 making of card clothing for carding cotton. Being 
 quickly affected by changes in temperature, — harden- 
 ing in a cold atmosphere, softening in a warm room, — 
 and liable at any time to be ruined by oil carelessly 
 
AMERICAN' CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 73 
 
 dropped on it by some workman, or from overhanging 
 shafting, it cannot be relied on for uniform work, 
 and is being rapidly displaced by cloth cards, and by 
 the vulcanized rubber faced card clothing, which re- 
 tains all the elasticity and other advantages of the 
 natural rubber with none of its disadvantages. 
 
 Its advantages over leather are its cheapness and 
 durability, and it is regarded by many as superior in 
 its working qualities. The use of this kind of artifi- 
 cial material has another valuable feature in the firm 
 and elastic support it gives to the wire teeth. It is 
 well known that the holes in leather have to be made 
 larger than the wire to allow for the insertion of the 
 teeth, and, as the holes close up only partially, the 
 teeth are left unsupported and with a considerable 
 freedom of pla}-. With an India-rubber and cloth 
 foundation, the holes will contract about the teeth, 
 permitthig them to depend on the material for sup- 
 port and elasticity, thus securing an important aid 
 towards durability. The strength of the clothing 
 lies in the cloth, which is especially effective if con- 
 structed partly of linen, and " it would be very 
 rough usage indeed in clothing cylinders with fillets 
 which would cause its breakage." 
 
74 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Vulcanized rubber card clothing is used for all 
 varieties of carding. It is made with several layers 
 of cotton cloth, or cottou and linen cloths combined, 
 covered by a thin layer of vulcanized rubber, spread 
 on as paste, instead of natural rubber. 
 
 Vulcanized rubber faced cloth of the best quality 
 is now taking the place of leather almost entirely 
 for foundation or backing for card clothing for 
 carding worsted wools, which are worked with a 
 large amount of water and oil, where leather soon 
 hardens, and the splices or laps in the filleting, 
 no matter how well cemented and sewed, soon give 
 way. There being no laps in rubber filleting there 
 are no damages to clothing caused by the break- 
 ing of a piece of filleting which has come apart 
 in a lap. 
 
 Over twenty years ago Horsfall, of England, 
 invented a cloth for a backing for card clothing, which 
 is still one of the best in use. It is made of a woolen 
 cloth woven with a linen warp and covered on one or 
 both sides with cotton cloth. The cotton cloth is 
 cemented to the woolen by an oil cement which is un- 
 affected by oil or temperature. The T. K. Earle 
 Manufacturing Company has successfully made it for 
 
AMERICAN CARD-GLOTHlNa INDUSTRY. 75 
 
 thirteen years and recommend it for all carding 
 where there is no moisture. 
 
 There are other constructions of clothing, but the 
 foregoing are in most genei'al use. Some forms have 
 cotton cloth with rubber filling instead of rubber fac- 
 ing. 
 
 The wire that is now in greatest popularity is 
 hardened and tempered steel, which will short!}- be 
 so uniA'ersally used that the common iron wu'e will 
 scarcely be known. Most of the wire that is put 
 into clothing is of English importation, and some 
 of the largest manufacturers have foreign corre- 
 spondents, through whom they obtain a regular sup- 
 ply. Tempered steel wire is made to some extent 
 in this country, and considerable improvements have 
 been made within the last six or eight months ; 
 but up to this date general preference favors the 
 English production. The cost of clothing with, 
 tempered steel wii-e teeth exceeds that with the 
 common round iron wire about 75 per cent. ; but to 
 make amends for this great disparity in price, the 
 steel wire more than offsets it in durability, in elas- 
 ticity, in allowing a better and more lasting point, 
 permitting harder usage and requiring less repairs. 
 
76 HIS TOBY OF THE 
 
 The hardness of the wire is one of the important 
 points which should receive the careful attention of 
 the consumer. It is more difficult to make a nice- 
 looking card of the hard than of the soft-tempered 
 wire. Tlie hard-tempered wire is far more durable, 
 and requires less frequent grinding than the mild or 
 soft-tempered wire. 
 
 The chief property of steel, and upon which it is 
 particularly valued, is what is known as its tempera- 
 bility. By heating and cooling it in different degrees 
 and at different rates of rapidity, almost any degree 
 of harduess or softness may be obtained. The process 
 of tempering steel wire for card-clothing purposes has 
 not been successful!}^ attempted in this country un- 
 til recently. It may be generally understood by 
 saying that the wire is drawn through molten lead, 
 and hardened by being immersed in oil, and again 
 passed through molten lead, at a lower temperature 
 than the first, to give it the proper temper. 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 77 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS PROCESSES IN THE MANU- 
 FACTURE OF CARD CLOTHING. PRESERVATION OF 
 
 THE FIRST CARD-SETTING MACHINES. 
 
 There are several kinds of wire used in tlie manu- 
 facture of card clothing, which are made of either 
 iron, steel or brass. The forms are either round or 
 angular, the latter being cut with a diamond point. 
 The round form is that most commonly met with, 
 and is employed for all ordinary clothing, in both 
 sheets and filleting. The angular form is generally 
 given to such wire as is intended to perform heavy 
 work, and is particularly adapted to covering feed- 
 rolls, lickers-in, tumblers and cylinders of carding 
 machines designed for carding shoddy and similar 
 waste. The diamond point, which is given to the 
 angular wire, is destroyed by any attempt at grind- 
 ing, therefore when it has been worn off by use, the 
 clothing is beyond redemption and should be replaced 
 by new. It is in its best condition when it first 
 comes from the maker's hands. Round wire is in an 
 
78 HISTORY OF THE 
 
 t 
 imperfect condition as it comes from the maker's 
 
 hands and has to be ground with emery before it can 
 perform its duty. Tlie brass wire has its sphere of 
 usefulness in places where dampness exists, and onh* 
 in such places is it employed, as on cloth-drying 
 machines, etc. Tin-plated wire is also used in moist 
 places, especially, for worsted carding. 
 
 The processes through which leather is made to pass 
 in order to fit it for conversion into card clothing, are 
 simple in their parts, but require much care, exact- 
 ness, and discriminating judgment. The proper selec- 
 tion of leather is an important item in the successful 
 conduct of a factory, and no inferior talent can be 
 prudently allowed in this first step towards manu- 
 facture. The leather that is suitable for card cloth- 
 ing is taken from the back and side of the hide. The 
 best portion, that through the center of the side, is 
 chosen for the sheets, the next in quality for filleting, 
 and that along the back is used for coarse and heavy 
 wire, such as the angular wire, etc. As none but 
 clean stock can be employed, it will be readily appre- 
 ciated that there must be a considerable amount of 
 waste made, which increases relatively the cost of 
 the stock that is selected. One-quarter to one-half 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 79 
 
 of the hide is thus rejected as waste, so to speak, and 
 sold as remnants, at a low valuation, say from one- 
 third to one-half of the cost. 
 
 The operations connected with the progress of 
 manufacture of sheets and filleting are similar, var}'- 
 ing in certain particulars according to the nature of 
 their design. The hides, having been cut up into 
 proper forms, are put into water to soak till they he- 
 come soft and pliable. The various strips of leather 
 are then put through a splitting machine to bring them 
 to a uniform thickness. A second wetting process is 
 then gone through with, followed by an operation of 
 stretching by rubbing, laterally for sheets and length- 
 wise for filleting. The leather is now subjected to 
 treatment with a mixt u-e of neat's-foot oil and tallow, 
 technically called stuffing, because the pores are 
 thoroughly filled with the grease. In this condition 
 it is hung up to dry, and when this is accomplished 
 the sheets have their edges trimmed and straightened, 
 and the fillets are trimmed to a certain uniform width. 
 The sheets are now dry-stretched laterally on a 
 machine, then limbered on what is termed a gridiron, 
 and thus made ready to receive the teeth. The fillets, 
 after trimming, are matched, that is, the ends of the 
 
80 IIISTOEY OF THE 
 
 strips are bevelled off at a very acute angle, and then 
 lapped and glued together into one long continuous 
 piece. Before uniting the short strips, they are care- 
 fully sorted and classified according to flexibility and 
 condition, and those of a kind are put together. The 
 long pieces are put up into rolls from 300 to 400 feet 
 in length. After gluing, the filleting is for a second 
 time passed dry through a shaving" machine, to equal- 
 ize thickness, and it is then trimmed to width and 
 finished ready for the teeth. 
 
 There are very few who engage in the manufacture 
 of card-setting machines, and none who make it a 
 special business to the exclusion of others. The ma- 
 chines that are made come from the shops of the 
 large card-clothing manufacturers, who supply not 
 onl}' their own wants but those of the smaller estab- 
 lishments. Tins is explainable from the fact that a 
 machine has a long life, and a factory once supplied 
 has no occasion to make further purchase in the way 
 of renewals, and the only bill of expense is that which 
 arises from necessary repairs. Little account is taken 
 of improved machinery any further than certain ac- 
 cessories which can be adjusted to most every kind 
 of machine. Fundamentally there has been but 
 
AMERICAN CARD- CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 81 
 
 little iniproveiiuMit for a great luaiiy years, and ma- 
 chines thai are from thirty to forty years old are in 
 successful operation to-day, favorably competing with 
 those of more modern construction. We do not 
 mean, however, to be understood that there has been 
 no progress made ; but the advance has not been so 
 material as to incapacitate machines made twentj'-five 
 years ago from doing good work in competition with 
 those of recent make. . 
 
 Willie we are at this point of our subject it may be 
 fitting to dwell upon a little episodical history con- 
 nected with the manufacture of card machines. We 
 wish to state the obligation we owe to Mr. Thomas 
 A. Dickinson, of Worcester, Mass., for the great as- 
 sistance he has rendered in furnishing us with the 
 larger portion of the material from which the follow- 
 ing is composed. We desire to furthermore acknowl- 
 edge the willing aid we have received from this 
 gentleman in other portions of this series. There is 
 a card-tootli machine now in the possession of a 
 Worcester part}', manufactured by Joshua Lamb, of 
 Leicester, about sixty 3'ears ago. It is in excellent 
 running order, and capable of making from 500 to 
 600 teeth per minute. It was made by Mr. Lamb as 
 
82 HItiTORY OF THE 
 
 an improvement on bis upright arbor machine, which he 
 patented in 1819, and which is now in the Museum 
 of the Worcester Society of Antiquity-, where also 
 may be seen a circular card-tooth machine, that was 
 made about 1810, but by whom we have been unable 
 to find out. In the same place may be found a card- 
 'tooth machine made by Eleazer Smith about the year 
 1814, and which, it is thought, was made for Pliny 
 Earle _ of Leicester. In addition to the above 
 machines Joshua Lamb obtained letters-patent on a 
 card-settiug machine in 1827. Reuben Merriam of 
 Leicester, secured letters-patent on a card-filleting, or 
 cub, prick, and set machine in 1831. 
 
 It would seem unjust if no mention was made 
 of some other prominent mechanics and inventors 
 who have made valuable improvements in card- 
 setting machines. There are no doubt many names 
 that could be added to the list, but we have 
 been able to come into possession only of the 
 following : Joseph Elliott, who lived in Leicester in 
 1828, was one of the first to make decided improve- 
 ments in the card machine. He afterward removed 
 to Enfield, Mass., and made machines for Jones, 
 Woods & Co. , of whom we have spoken heretofore. 
 
AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 83 
 
 The Porter Brothers were iugenious mechanics of 
 Springfield, Vt., who commenced the manufacture of 
 cards about the year 1830, with machinery of their own 
 invention. They were the first to put stop-motions 
 on the machine, and the same stop is now in use in 
 some of the factories in Worcester. Rufus Sargent 
 started the card-setting business in Auburn, N.Y., 
 and many of his machines were of his own design 
 and manufacture. He was the first to appjy the 
 jointed die stop, hung on centres. A Mr. Coates of 
 Springfield, Mass., made the first machine for making 
 endless doflTer-rings, in 1852 or 1853. He took out 
 letters patent for it in 1854. William B. Earle, now 
 living at the age of eighty-five, commenced building 
 card machines in 1828. In 1837 he received a silver 
 medal from the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic 
 Association for a card-sticking machine. Some of 
 the machines in use by the T. K. Earle Manufactur- 
 ing Compan}', Worcester, were made by him. Great 
 credit is due to the names of Addison Arnold, Na- 
 than Ainsworth, David McFarland, Austin Conklin, 
 Augustus B. Prouty, David 0. Woodman, Charles 
 Ballard and Oliver Arnold, for the progress which 
 has been made in the card-clothing industry. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 1738. — John Wyatt's patent on Cotton-Spinning 
 Machine. 
 
 1743. — John Kaye invented Fly Shuttle. 
 
 1748. — Lewis Paul patented Cylinder Card for card- 
 ing cotton. 
 
 1754. — Eleazer Smith born in Medford, Mass. 
 
 1759. — Amos Whittemore born in Cambridge, 
 Mass., April 19. 
 
 1762. — Dec. 17. Pliny Earle born in Leicester. 
 
 1770. — Sir Richard Arkwright's improvements on 
 Paul's Card. 
 
 1775. — AboVe improvements patented. 
 Winthrop Earle born. 
 
 1778. — Oliver Evans' Machine for making Card 
 Teeth introduced. 
 
 1780. — Eleazer Smith first thinks of complete Card- 
 Setting Machine. 
 
 1784. — Chittenden's invention on Card Machine. 
 
86 AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 
 
 1785. — Edmund Snow of Leicester commenced 
 making Hand Cards. 
 
 1786. — Pliny Earle commenced business, thus estab- 
 lishing Card-Clothing industry now car- 
 ried on by the T. K. Earle M'f g Company, 
 of Worcester, Mass. 
 
 1788. — Evans' invention applied to Card Machine 
 by Giles Richai^ds. 
 
 1789. — President George Washington's visit to the 
 
 Card-Clothing factory of Giles Richards & 
 Co. in Boston (Eleazer Smith, sup't). 
 
 Duty on Hand Cards 50 cents per dozen. 
 
 Samuel Slater left England for the United 
 States. 
 
 1790. — Pliny Earle the first in the United States to 
 
 make Machine-Card Clothing. 
 1 791. — Firm of Pliny Earle & Brothers formed. 
 1793. — Eli Whitney invented Saw Cotton Gin. 
 1794. — Mark Richards manufactures Card Clothing 
 
 near Faneuil Plall, Boston. 
 1797. — Patent granted Amos Whittemore for Card 
 
 Machine. 
 1800. — William B. Earle born. 
 i8o3. — Winthrop Earle began the manufacture of 
 
 Machine-Card Clothing in Leicester. 
 
APPENDIX. 87 
 
 1803. — Samuel .Whittemore manufactures Card 
 
 Clothing in New York City. 
 Dec. 6. Patent granted to Pliny Earle on 
 
 machine for Pricking Twilled Cards. 
 1804.— Jonathan Earle started in business this year 
 
 and continued until 1813. 
 1807. — Winthrop Earle died. 
 
 1808. Firm of Woodcock & Smith formed. 
 
 1809.— March 3. Renewal of patent granted to 
 
 Amos and William Whittemore, Jr. 
 1810. — Southgate & Sargent commence business. 
 Harry Ward in business from this year to 
 
 1824. 
 181 2.— June 27. Prices of Card Clothing; see 
 
 page 55- 
 July 20. Amos and William Whittemore, 
 Jr.'s, patent leased to the New York Manu- 
 facturing Co. 
 Eleazer Smith built Card Machine for Pliny 
 
 Earle and Brothers. 
 Duty on Hand-Cards $1.00 per dozen. 
 1813. —March 17. Prices Card Wire ; see page 56. 
 1814.— Henry and Joseph D. Sargent in partner- 
 ship. 
 
88 AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 
 
 Alpheus Smith started Card Factory in own 
 name and then sold to James and John A. 
 Smith & Co. 
 
 1815. — Silas Earle commenced business. 
 
 1818. — The New York Manufacturing Co.'s ma- 
 chinery, etc., sold to Samuel and Timothy 
 Whittemore, brother and son of Amos. 
 
 1819. — Joseph D. Sargent started business in own 
 name. 
 
 1823. — Timothy Keese Earle born February 11. 
 
 1825. — John Woodcock, Jr., Hiram Knight and 
 Emory Drury partners in firm of James 
 and John A. Smith & Co. 
 Baylies Upham and Samuel Hurd manu- 
 facture Card Clothing from 1825 to 1833. 
 
 1826. — Firm of Isaac Southgate & Co. commence 
 business with Joshua Lamb, Dwight Bisco, 
 Joseph A. Denny, John Stone and Isaac 
 Southgate. 
 
 1827. — Gershom and Henry Whittemore, sons of 
 Amos, start Card Factory at West Cam- 
 bridge, Mass. 
 John Stone, one of firm of Isaac South- 
 gate & Co., died. 
 
APPENDIX. 89 
 
 1838. — William B. Earle commenced building Card 
 Machines. 
 March 27. Amos Whittemore died. 
 Josephus Woodcock, Benjamin Conklin,Jr. 
 and Austin Conkling began manufact- 
 uring Cards. 
 Factory erected by Isaac Southgate & Co. 
 1832. — Pliny Earle died. 
 1S33. — Baylies Upham bought out Samuel Kurd's 
 
 interest in firm of Upham & Hurd. 
 1836. — March i. Joseph D. Sargent sold Machine 
 Card business to Joshua Q. Lamb and 
 Alonzo White. 
 Eleazer Smith died March 9, aged 83 years. 
 Cheney Hatch sold out to Alden Bisco, who 
 sold out in a few months to H. A. Denny. 
 1837. — William B. Earle received silver medal 
 from Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic 
 Association for Card-Sticking Machine. 
 1839, — Timothy K. Earle commenced Card business. 
 1842. — Timothy K. Earle moved Card-Clothing 
 business from Leicester to Worcester and 
 associated his brother Edward with him ; 
 firm name T. K. Earle & Co. 
 
90 AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 
 
 1843. — Medal awarded to T. K. Earle & Co. by 
 American Institute. 
 
 1844. — John A. Smith succeeded by Smith & 
 
 Southgate. 
 
 1845. — James Whittemore admitted to firm of John 
 
 H. & Wm. Whittemore. 
 
 1846. — Medal awarded T. K. Earle & Co. by 
 American Institute. 
 
 1847. — Joshua Murdock joined by his brother Jo- 
 seph ; firm-name J. & J. Murdock. 
 
 1848. — Firm of Woodcock, Knight Si Co. formed. 
 
 W^illiam P. White with firm of J. & L. 
 Woodcock & Co. 
 
 1849. — Henry A. Denny & Sons started. 
 
 1850. — Smith, Walker & Co. succeeded by Warren 
 
 & Bryant. 
 Erving Sprague associated with Baylies 
 Upham to 1855. 
 
 1851. — Medal awarded T. K. Earle & Co. at Crystal 
 
 Palace, England, for excellence of goods. 
 
 Medal awarded to T. K. Earle & Co. by 
 
 Worcester County Mechanics' Association. 
 
 1852. — This year or 1853 the first machine was 
 
 built for making Endless Doffer Rings. 
 
APPENDIX. 91 
 
 1853.— Medal awarded T. K. Earle & Co. by Mas- 
 sachusetts Charitable Mechanic Associa- 
 tion. 
 
 1854. — H. A. Denny & Sons sold business to White 
 & Denny. 
 Coates' Endless Doffer Ring machine 
 patented. 
 
 1856. — Oliver Bryant sold out to Stedman & Fuller. 
 
 1S57. — T. K. Earle & Co. built present factory in 
 Worcester, Mass. 
 
 1862. — Card factory of Gershom & Henry Whitte- 
 more at West Cambridge, Mass., burned 
 down. 
 
 1867. — Firm of Howard & Farnsworth started. 
 
 E. C. & L. M. Waite buy out John S. 
 Smith. 
 
 1868. — A, H. Howard admitted to firm of Howard 
 
 & Farnsworth in May. 
 C. Farnsworth retired in October. 
 White & Denny changed to A. W^hite & Son. 
 
 1869. — Edward Earle retires from business. 
 
 1870. — J. P. Howard admitted to firm of Howard 
 
 Brothers. 
 
 1 87 1. — Thomas Earle died. 
 
92 AMERICAN CARD-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 
 
 1872. — Edwin Brown admitted to firm of T. K. 
 Earle & Co. 
 
 1873. — T. K. Earle & Co. commenced the manu- 
 facture of Woolen Card Cloths. 
 
 1875. — Joseph A. Denny died. 
 
 1877. — Edward Earle died May 19. 
 
 1879. — Sargent Card-Clothing Co. sold out. 
 
 1880. — T. K. Earle Manufacturing Company 
 
 formed January ist, with T. K. Earle, 
 President, and Edwin Brown, Agent and 
 Treasurer. 
 
 1 88 1. — T. K. Earle died October ist, aged ^S years. 
 
 First Hardened and Tempered Cast Steel 
 Wire for Card Clothing imported from 
 James Royston, Son, & Co., Halifox, 
 England, and used by T. K. Earle 
 Manufacturing Company. 
 
 William P. White died. 
 
 L. Woodcock & Co. formed. 
 1883. — Tablet erected to memory of Amos Whitte- 
 more. 
 
 Joshua Murdock died in March. 
 
 James Whittemore died. 
 
 Dwight Bisco died. 
 
APPENDIX. 93 
 
 1883. — Factory for making Card Cloths erected by 
 the T. K. Earle Manufacturing Company. 
 Alex. DeWitt sold out interest in firm of 
 J. & J. Murdock. 
 
 1884. — Additions made to T. K. Earle Manufact- 
 uring Company's Cloth Factory. 
 
 1886. — Centennial Anniversary of establishment of 
 T. K. Earle Manufacturing Company's 
 Card-Clothing business. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Anthony, Daniel 12 
 
 Appendix 85 
 
 Arkwright, Sir Richanl . ' 10 
 
 Arnold, Addison 21 
 
 Arnold, Oliver 21 
 
 Bisco & Denny 61 
 
 Brown, Edwin 20 
 
 Card Cloth 22 
 
 Vulcanized Rubber 22 
 
 Card Clothing — Its Early History and Inventions ... 7 
 
 Varieties made 70 
 
 Various Processes in its Manufacture .... 77 
 
 Chittenden, Mr 15 
 
 Chronological Table 85 
 
 Conklin, Woodcocli & Co 63 
 
 Denny, Col. Thomas, Jr i . . 30 
 
 Denny, Henry A., & Sons 62 
 
 Denny, Joseph A 61 
 
 Drury, Emory 56 
 
 Earle, Edward 20 
 
 Earle, Henry 19 
 
 Earle, Jonathan 19, 60 
 
 Earle, Pliny 17, 18, 19, 58, 59 
 
 Earle, Plinv, & Bros 19, 32 
 
 Earle, Rutl'i 19 
 
 Earle, Silas 19 
 
 Earle, Timothy Keese 19, 20 
 
 Earle, T. K., M'fg Company . . .19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 66, 83 
 
 Earle, Thomas ..." 20 
 
 Eu-le, William B 83 
 
 Earle, Winthrop 55, 63 
 
 Elliott, Joseph 82 
 
 Evans, Ohver 12, 15, 37 
 
 Hale, Jonathan 27 
 
 Hatch, Clieney 62 
 
 Howard & Eai-nsworth 66 
 
96 
 
 AMERICAN CARB-CLOTHING INDUSTRY. 
 
 Jones, Woods & Co. 
 
 Kaye, John . 
 Knight, Hiram 
 
 Lamh, Joshua Q. 
 Lamb & White . 
 
 Murdock, J. & J. 
 
 New York MTg Company 
 Niles, Nathaniel . 
 
 Paul, Lewis 
 Porter Bros. 
 
 Richards, Giles . 
 Richards, Mark . 
 
 Sarffcnt Card-Clothing Con 
 Sargent, Joseph D. 
 Slater, Samuel 
 Smith, Alphcus . 
 Smith, Eleazer 
 Smith, James 
 Smith, John A., & Co. 
 Smith & Waite . 
 Snow, Edmond . 
 Southgate & Murdock 
 Southgate & Sargent 
 Southgate & Smith 
 Stone, John . 
 
 Waite, B.C. &L.M. 
 
 White, A., & Son 
 White, Alonzo 
 White & Denny . 
 Whittemore, Amos 
 Whittemore, Gershom 
 Whittemore, Henry 
 Whittemore, Samuel 
 Whittemore, Timothy. 
 Whittemore, William 
 Whittemore, W. & J. 
 Wilkinson, Jeremiah 
 Woodcock, John 
 Woodcock, J. & L. 
 Woodcock, Knight & Co. 
 Woodcock, L., & Co. 
 Woodcock, Smith & Co. 
 Wyatt, John 
 
 pany 
 
 47, 48, 
 
 13 
 
 PAGE 
 82 
 
 9 
 56 
 
 61 
 63 
 
 G5 
 
 49, .")1 
 12 
 
 10, 24 
 83 
 
 14, 15 
 14 
 
 66 
 
 60 
 
 16-19 
 
 56, 59 
 
 24-36 
 
 56, 59 
 
 56, 59 
 
 60 
 
 16 
 
 64 
 
 60 
 
 59 
 
 61 
 
 60 
 63 
 61 
 62 
 37-54 
 51 
 51 
 
 50, 51 
 50 
 
 29,30 
 
 65 
 
 12,27 
 
 55, 56 
 63 
 57 
 64 
 
 56, 57 
 
 9 
 

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