Announcement of new Akron Insulator & Marble Co. Plant

A NEW FACTORY

THAT WILL ADD LARGELY TO AKRON’S WEALTH AND PROSPERITY

The Akron Insulator and Marble Co. – Immense New Plant – Arrangements Being Made to Work 250 Employees.

The Akron Insulator and Marble Co., incorporated last week, is practically a new manufacturing enterprise for Akron, and one that will be a substantial addition to the wealth-gaining business of the city and its working people.

The incorporators, stockholders and directors of the company are the following gentlemen: President, A.L. Daniels of Northeast, Pa., a practical electrician of wide experience, and a salesman acquainted with the electrical trade from one end of the country to the other; vide-president, A.L. Bowman; treasurer J.P. Loomis, secretary, Jas. Hemphill; superintendent and manager, S.C. Dyke. The capital of the company is $20,000, of which $15,000 is paid up.

The inception of the concern was the Akron Marble Co., organized several years ago to make marbles, toy jugs, etc., with S.C. Dyke as superintendent. The gentleman, the inventor of all the practical machinery now in use for making toy marbles, etc., from clay and stone, in his experiments discovered chemical processes for treating clay that made it a valuable resister of electrical currents, and naturally the suggestion followed to utilize clay treated by these processes in the manufacture of goods used by electricians, to take place of the porcelain goods heretofore used, because much cheaper, and Mr. Dyke’s inventive genius was directed toward the origination of the necessary machinery, therefor, and he was soon successful.

Since February the company has been making insulators of the new process, and later they commenced the manufacture of a tube, to be used where electrical wires come in contact with wood, or other combustible material, that will resist an electrical force of 10,000 amperes. The success of both articles was instantaneous – the national board of underwriters sealed them with their approval, and electrical outfitters everywhere commenced to use them.

The result is that from a little one-story factory, 24 x 60, employing 6 or 7 people, an enlargement has already been made to accommodate 65 or 70 hands, and this morning ground was broken to increase the factory building to a frontage of 315 feet, with a depth from 24 to 110 feet, and within 60 days it is expected to increase the number of employees to from 200 to 250.

In addition to the above improvements, two 22-foot down-draft kilns (making three in all) are now in process of construction, a kiln capacity capable of handling an immense quantity of the articles burned in them. The factory is located on the corner of Steiner and Sweitzer avenues, in the South End, and in a few weeks will be a hive of industry worthy of a visit from all citizens interested in the prosperity of Akron.

The superiority of the Akron clay insulator over the porcelain, which has heretofore been in general use, lies in its strength. A porcelain insulator, dropped a few feet, will break in pieces – and Akron clay insulator thrown against a brick building will rebound like a chunk of rubber; they are practically indestructible. The basis for the new articles is the Akron clay, which has made this city known all over the world for its clay manufacturers, but it is chemically treated in the process so as to make it obtain the properties essential for the uses to which it is put.

The Democrat wishes the new concern unlimited prosperity, and judging from all appearances, it will surely attain that desired end.