Tillotson and E. S. Greeley & Company

THE E. S. GREELEY & CO. FROM 1866 TO 1892

Nothing affords a more striking exhibit of the progress of electrical engineering during the past quarter of a century, than a comparison of the trade catalogues issued by prominent supply dealers then and now. In 1866 the firm of L. G. Tillotson & Co. then well-known manufacturers of railway supplies, decided to add a department of electrical goods to their business. The catalogue and price list issued at that time, now lies before us. It is a modest little pamphlet, 4 inches by 6, containing 20 pages, of which the last three are more than sufficient to accommodate the electrical department. As a contrast to this, the new catalogue of 1892, just sent out by the E. S. Greeley & Co., successors of the Tillotson house, is a thick book of no less than 450 pages, 5-1/2 by 8-1/2 inches, of which the index alone, closely printed in small type, occupies more than five times the space of the old catalogue. Only about thirty different articles are to be found on the original list, mostly telegraphic supplies, as in those days electricity was considered available for little else. The latest list embraces some thousands of different articles of every conceivable description, and more are being added every week, so that it is scarcely too much to say that a catalogue is out of date now-a-days almost before it can be got into print.

No less remarkable is the reduction in the prices of goods, which has been made possible by manufacture on a large scale, with improved and special machinery, and with studied reference to simplicity and effectiveness of design. In 1866 the price of the best Morse key was $7; a better one is now listed at $2. Relays were $22, not as good as now sold for $5. The sounder that cost $12 then, can be had for $3.50 now, and the reduction in other articles throughout the list is as great or greater than in the case of the apparatus mentioned.

At the time Tillotson & Co. embarked in this line of manufacture, there was only one other establishment of the kind in New York, and this one went out of business many years since. The old firm, and it successor, The E. S. Greeley & Co., have always maintained a leading position in the trade, and though they have made several removals, have always remained within a few doors of their original location at 26 Dey street. We venture to say that they will be found doing business at the old stand or in its immediate vicinity, 25 years hence, but how large a volume their catalogue will have expanded to by that time, is beyond the power of our imagination to undertake to prognosticate.