Ralph Gray Hemingray

COVINGTON INDUSTRIES.

The Way Wire Nails Are

Manufactured.

The Only Factory of this Kind In the U.S.

Even in so small a thing as a nail, the inventive genius of the world has tried and expanded itself, and as the years roll on toward the oblivion of eternity new and varied improvements are made in this simple little instrument.

The old "cut nails" are as familiar to us as our commonest household words, but it is only of late years that another kind of nail has begun to be extensively used in this country. Even yet the trade in it has amounted to but little over two hundred thousand dollars per year, and the bulk of this trade is in imported nails, made in Germany and France. We speak of the 'wire nail," the only manufactory for which in the United States is situated in this city, occupying the lot, seventy by one hundred and ninety feet, on the south-west corner of Madison and State streets. The nucleus of this manufactory was single machine brought here from Germany by a German priest, Father Goebbels, of the Augustinburg church, in the early part of 1875. This machine was operated by hand in the back room attached to the saloon of Mr. Meibers, on the south west corner of Madison and Willow streets, for a short time, while a frame building sixty by ninety feet was being erected for its reception, on the west side of Washington street, south of Willow. In August, two more machines were brought over from Europe, and the name :Kentucky Wire Nail Works" adopted. With these last machines came Mr. M. Baackes, a gentleman who had been the foreman of a silk factory in the old country, and whose active, enterprising spirit and inventive faculties made him of great value to the gentleman having the success of the infant enterprise in hand. He was made general manager, and the business rapidly increased until in November, when a stock company was formed, with an authorized capital of $100,000, divided into shares of $100.00 each.

"The American Wire and Screw Nail Company," as the stock company was to be known, took possession of the works on the 3rd day of January, 1876, when the location was changed to the building now occupied. The removal was made with four machines, one manufactured at the works, the other three imported. Steam was first applied when the removal was made.

The officers and directors at this time were: Jos. Goebbels, President; M. Baackes, General Manager; J. B. Mecklenborg, Secretary and Treasurer; Jos. Goebbels, H. Weweler, Chas, Eymann, B. Biestmann, C. L. Dengler, J. B. Mecklenborg and M. Baackes, Directors.

Early in 1877 a large amount of stock changed hands and all the purchasable shares were bought up by young and enterprising men, who saw the bright future in store for the company, and on the 12th day of February a meeting of the stockholders was held and the company re-organized under the name of "The American Wire Nail Co."

The following gentlemen were elected officers and directors for the ensuing twelve months: J. L. Stephens, President and Treasurer; H. Terlau, Vice President; J. B. Mecklenborg, Secretary; M. Baackes, General Manager; J. C. Ernst, R. G. Hemingray, H. Terlau and B. Biestmann, Directors.

Now the Company has ten machines in operation, all but three made at their works under the direction of Mr. Baakes, who remained with the institution through these several changes, and by the master mechanic, Mr. Henry Meyers. These ten machines range in size from the largest, through which wire is worked from a thickness of three-sixteenths of an inch to three-thirty-seconds of an inch, to the smallest, which is capable of working wire from one eighteenth of an inch to one thirty-second of an inch in thickness; the length of the nail manufactured by either machine being regulated by a guage.

FACILITIES.

The company is prepared to make six hundred different varieties of nails, among them the "Eureka cigar-box nail" and the "barbed nail," for which they have applied for patents. An engine of fourteen horse power furnishes the motive force for the whole establishment, yet every piece of machinery used, with the single exception of casting, is made on the premises; even the wooden shipping cases are made by the company's carpenter. The wire used is purchased principally from Messrs. Roebling & Sons, Trenton, N. J., some small lots being brought from the Globe Rolling Mill of Cincinnati. Quantities of wire all the way from 500 to 2,000 pounds per day pass through the machines of the company; the larger machines making one hundred nails per minute, and the smallest, one hundred and eighty per minute. The modus operandi of preparing the wire for screw nails is very simple, with the facilities that the company can now command. The different sizes of wire go through almost the very same process but are prepared by different machines. A coil of thicker wire is thrown over a neat but simple wooden spool turning on a pivot in an upright stand. One end of the wire is fed into what is called the "screw threading machine," where a somewhat complicated combination of cogs and pistons revolves round it gradually drawing it through, when the end is fastened to another spool which then turns in unison with the machine winding the wire off as it comes from the machine threaded; that is, with a groove running through it like that of a screw. The "screw threading machine" although improved to that degree that it presses the wire in, instead of chipping it out as when first invented, works slowly, having the capacity to prepare only several hundred pounds of wire per day, while the smaller machine, the "notching machine," an invention of Mr. Baackes, can prepare 800 pounds. The "notching machine," through which the finer wire is prepared is altogether different from the other in construction. It is simply a series of wheels and levers that mold or press the wire into grooves or notches as it passes through taking nothing from it but rather adding to its strength and durability by compressing it.

MAKING THE NAILS.

When the wire is threaded or notched it is then ready to be made into nails. This is done, just as nails are made from wire not threaded or notched. A coil is placed over a spool in the engine room, similar to that used in the barbing or threading room. An end of the wire is directed into one of the machines, to which appropriate dies have been fixed, according to the thickness of the wire, and on which the gauge is set for the required length. The machine is then set in operation and feeds itself, clamps drawing the wire in from the revolving spool and the dies holding it at a certain distance from the end, while a hammer, worked by the tremendous force of a stout wooden spring of the hardest material, makes the head of the nail with one blow on the slightly protruding end of the wire, when the clamps open and clasp the wire farther off, drawing it in as before, as a pair of shears shut to with crushing force, pointing the headed nail at the proper length, and cutting it off, when an iron snapper descends on the nail throwing it into the box below. All sizes of nails are made by the same process, the machines being adapted to the working of different kinds of wire, proper dies being set for each thickness and the gauge for each length.

THE FINISHING PROCESS.

When the nails first come from the machine they are very greasy, the wire having passed through an oiled rag to make it run easy, and there are besides jagged ends or corners at the point of the nail that have to be removed. The nails are accordingly placed in a revolving iron box, where they are allowed to remain just long enough for the rough edges to be removed without the point being blunted by contact with the sides of the box. But a few minutes suffice, and the nails are removed with the jagged ends or "whiskers" as they are called, all taken off. The nails are still greasy and dirty, however, and they are placed in a wooden box similar to the iron one, and likewise called a "cleaner." Here a quantity of saw dust is thrown on them, and after a few revolutions they are taken out, saw dust and all and poured into a hopper on the top of a kind of fanning machine, somewhat like those used in cleaning grain. Here the nails are separated from the saw dust and dirt, and come forth bright and shining, ready for packing.

All these machines are run by steam and require but very little attention. The preparing machines and the manufacturing machines are all self-feeders. The fireman of the engine attends to both preparing machines, and three machinists and one boy manage the ten nail makers. The cleaner and the separator, of course, have to be fed, but one good sized boy can attend to them all, cleaning 3,000 pounds of nails in one day. The "whiskers' are saved and sold back to wire makers.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.

In packing, the nails are put up in pound packages, something after the style of the common iron tack, then shipped in wooden cases, the very largest size, as the fence nail and the lightening rod nail; being packed in kegs as usual.

The Company prides itself considerably on the two kinds of nails mentioned above and the "Eureka" cigar box nail. The fence nail, they claim, is bound to supercede the common cut nail almost altogether, for although it is sold at half as much again on the pound as the cut nail; it numbers twice as many to the pound, and then its durability and strength for exceed those of the cut nail. The lightening rod nail can be driven into a brick without its being bent in the least, and the "Eureka" cigar box nail is far superior to the nail now in general use in every particular. The company are also at work on a machine for twisting for-cornered wire into shape resembling lightening rods, and as soon as perfected they intend covering it with a patent.

The principal orders received by the "American Wire Nail Co.,"are from New York, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Chicago, ranging in amount in the order named. They also ship some of their wars as far as San Francisco.

The Company are rapidly increasing their facilities and expect before another year to have at least twenty machines in operation. Mr. Baakes, the general manager, starts for Europe in a few days and will, on his return, bring back new and improved models for different kinds of nails and specimens of machinery.

The future of this company is indeed bright. With young and energetic men at the head of it there can hardly be such a word fail in their rapid progress, and we venture the opinion that it will not be long until the American Wire Nail Company is known all over the world by its products.