We used to make things in this country. #63: Frost & Wood Co., Smiths Falls Ontario

I recently discovered this old monkey wrench at a thrift store:

I wasn't familiar with "Frost and Wood" and assumed initially that it was probably a small tool manufacturer and that I would find little information on the Web.  How wrong I was.

Frost & Wood was the first Canadian manufacturer of agricultural implements. In 1839 Ebenezer Frost moved from Vermont to Smith's Falls, Ontario to found a blacksmithy and foundry. They manufactured plow tips, stoves, and plows. In 1846 he and Alexander Wood formed a joint company, Frost and Wood, to oversee the Smiths Falls Foundry and Agricultural Works.  They used the Rideau Canal to ship their products, but the railway came to Smiths Falls in 1859, allowing them to vastly expand their markets. By 1860, there were around 46 farm implement companies in Canada.  Frost & Wood's 1864 product line consisted of over 750 agricultural machines, plus "Drag and Cross-cut Sawing machine, Stumping Machines, Shingle Machines, Grist and Sawmill castings..."  In 1906, a fire destroyed much of the factory, which took a year to rebuild at considerable cost.  For this and other reasons, the company accumulated a great deal of debt and, to stay afloat, in 1909 it was arranged for the Cockshutt Plow Company of Brantford, Ontario to purchase 27 percent of the shares of Frost and Wood. Subsequently many of their tractor implements were made by F&W. Cockshutt Plow earned distribution rights for F&W products west of Peterborough, Ontario, while Frost & Wood took over distribution of Cockshutt offerings east of that city. In 1924, Cockshutt assumed complete control, and renamed F&W their "Harvester Division."  In the next few decades both companies prospered (F&W became the biggest employer in Smiths Falls), but both also began losing market share to American firms, especially after tariffs on American imports to Canada were reduced. During World War II, Frost & Wood production was turned over to making bolts and bushings for Lancaster bombers, artillery shells and hand grenades, so much so that the company became the largest munitions manufacturer in eastern Ontario. A very important contribution was Flax Lifter, part of which was Tow Scutcher which pulled flax fibres apart, allowing them to be spun into linen which was then used to cover aircraft wings.  After the war, the company's fortunes declined, to the point where employees began calling it "Fret and Worry."  In 1955, when it was announced that the factory would be closing its doors, many employees broke windows and tossed their tools down into the Rideau Canal below.  The factory was completely demolished in 1961, and its site was redeveloped as a shopping mall and hotel. 

The Heritage House Museum in Smiths Falls and the Virtual Museum of Canada have jointly developed a virtual exhibition:  The Legacy of Frost and Wood:  Outstanding in Their Field.

I actually visited the Smiths Falls museum, to learn that the wrench above would have been supplied with an agricultural implement made by the company, and not sold separately.

Jean S. McGill.  A Pioneer History of the County of Lanark.  Bewdley, Ontario:  Clay Publishing Co., Ltd., 1968, 1979.

1906

 Above, "Simplex" rotary lawn mower.

Above, lid for implement tool box.



Above, a scuffler seen at a local fair. 

 Above, seat for horse-drawn implement.  This was said to be one of the most important improvements in agriculture, since the farmer could now do his work seated and concentrate on controlling his horses and implement.

Cast iron toolbox

This cast iron toolbox came off a Frost and Wood (previous Frost and Wood post here) farm implement of some sort, I will find out what 941 signifies. Seen at the antique store, the latch mechanism was seized up, painted in place so the lid wouldn't open. I have to admit part of the reason I bought it was the challenge of getting it open!

 

Take Me To Your Ruler : Murray-Black Co., Springfield, Ohio

Wall Paper Tools (Straightedges, Cutters, Trimmers, Knives, Scrapers, Seam Rollers) Kitchen Knives and Mini-Jogging Trampolines

I think the thing that appealed to me most about the advent of plastic rulers was the visibility advantage you enjoyed with clear plastic. Extensive use did wear down the straight edge of a wooden ruler, but the same occurred with plastic as well. My favourite wooden rulers for a crisp straight line were the ones that had a brass or metal strip that ran along one edge to ensure a longer life and truer line. I have several Acme rulers (made in Canada), one with the brass strip, and these were well described a few years back by The Duke in a post here 

Not surprisingly, well-made wooden rulers were also produced in the USA and in Europe. One ruler (it is properly a straightedge, but it does have measurement units inscribed) that I have and use on an infrequent to semi-occasional basis is a Murray-Black Co. wall paper hanger’s straightedge. It was likely 72 inches in length originally, but someone who owned it before me cut it down to 48 inches in length. I must confess that although I remember my parents putting up wall paper when I was a child, I have never hung any myself. The brass end cover of a wall paper hanger’s straightedge is there to provide a good clean straight line along which a blade can be run. This device has a track-trimmer slot that runs the length to allow for specialty wall paper cutters to slice a straight path along the brass edge. The Murray-Black Co. of Springfield, Ohio doesn’t appear to exist today, but nearly a century ago it seemed to have been a well known manufacturer of numerous tools associated with hanging wall paper. I have stitched together some of the origins for the company, but the fine details remain a little clouded, and there are many gaps. Please comment if you know more than what I have found.

If you went looking for wall paper hanging tools in the late 19^th or early 20^th centuries, Ridgely Trimmer Co. of Springfield, Ohio was a well reputed name in the business. Charles Telghman Ridgely (born Feb. 15, 1856 to Joshua T. Ridgely and Elizabeth Geisinger Ridgely) was an accomplished wall paper hanger, and undoubtedly an expert at his craft. He was also a prolific inventor of tools related to wall paper hanging. Between 1888 and 1932 he was issued an impressive 26 patents from the US Patent office. He may even have an extra patent in that mix if the patent assigned to Nellie A. Ridgely of Springfield, Ohio in 1897 is viewed as a submission from Charles under his first wife’s name (it is for a wall paper trimmer). Over half of the patents are assigned directly to the man, but several reveal his involvement with companies he was associated with. These were:

1902 Ridgely Trimmer Co

1905 – 1907 Standard Trimmer Company

1915 Ridgely Murray Company

1930 Ridgely And Dugdale Company

When you look at his creations and their timing, you get a sense that he was a great inventor, but not necessarily a great businessman (sales, marketing, etc.) and that he sought partners for commercializing his ideas. Control of the Ridgely Trimmer Company shifted from Charles Ridgely to a Jerry K. Williams in 1900 (and it flourished until it went bankrupt in 1957). He took his proceeds from that sale and invested in a hotel (the grand Bookwalter Hotel) as well as a news and cigar stand. He returned to the wall paper business with the Standard Trimmer Company, but then seemed to have left wall paper tool inventions and improvements by 1916 when he started applying for vehicle wheel related patents. He submitted nothing to the patent office for the period of 1919-1930, but then has another go at wall paper tool development with a last couple of patent applications in the early 1930s. Now, what does this Charles T. Ridgely character have to do with the Murray Black Co.? Ah, well you see there was that patent submitted in 1915 from the Ridgely Murray Company. That was a brief partnership between Charles T. Ridgely (prolific inventor) and Laban H. Murray (salesman, businessman) that would sow the seed for the emergence of the Murray Black Company.  

Laban Haughey Murray was born on Dec. 30, 1881 to James C. Murray and his wife Anna (Larkin by birth). Laban was an educated man. He belonged to the Alpha Tau Omega Palm fraternity, having gone to Ohio Wesleyan University for his Bachelor’s degree (1904), then to Harvard University for a Master’s degree (1905). He was likely related to Laban W. Haughey who was the first President of The Bank Of South Charleston. Laban Murray married Harriet S. Rogers (born in 1882), of Springfield, on October 1, 1909. They had a residence initially at 230 S. Greenmount Ave., but later relocated to 309 E. High St. (both in Springfield). At that time, he was traveling for the Frost-Johnson Lumber Company. At some point in the next few years (possibly 1912 and no later than 1915) he teamed up with Charles T. Ridgely to form the Ridgely Murray Company. This would have been a great score for Murray since Ridgely, whatever his challenges as a businessman (a fondness for gambling and horses may have been a factor), had an already established record of producing well designed and built tools for the wall paper hanging business. Laban’s wife Harriet died in 1916 at the age of 34. The corporate union of Murray and Ridgely was altered sometime in this same period. As early as 1921, the company was operating as the Murray-Black Company with Joseph W. Black as the new corporate name partner in the business. Neither Black nor Murray appear to have had the technical and innovative skills of Ridgely. Murray had only a single patent granted in 1923, and it was a relatively simple cutter improvement when compared to designs that Charles Ridgely had patented. I found no evidence that Joseph Black had any technical inclinations at all (not by the patent record anyway). The Black surname is, however, well tied to successful businessmen and politicians who served in that area for the century prior. But Murray and Black were quite good at sales and marketing. Consider that right up until the early 1930s the company presented itself on its letterhead as “The Murray-Black Company, formerly the Ridgely-Murray Company”. That goes to show how much the new entity wanted to ride the goodwill that Ridgely had established for himself for several decades earlier. It is perhaps no coincidence that Ridgely’s return to wall paper industry tool design (as evidenced by his 1930’s patents for wallpaper tools with Ridgely And Dugdale) falls in line with the Murray-Black Company decision to discontinue advertising itself as the “former Ridgely-Murray Company”. On May 28, 1929, Laban Haughey Murray died (survived by his second wife Glee Holverstott, born Feb. 26, 1899, graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University 1921, OWU Alumni Award 1956, died Nov. 12, 1990) and this event triggers some amount of shuffling in the ownership and / or management ranks of The Murray-Black Company. In January 1930, Joseph W. Black is listed as the company President and (the now deceased) Laban H. Murray as the Manager and Treasurer. By July 1930, Murray is no longer listed with a position at the company. Indeed, no one is listed as Treasurer and Manager for the company. In 1931 J.W. Black has shifted to the positions of Treasurer and Manager, and Earnest A. Twitchell now appears as the President of the company. Twitchell likely enjoyed a long run as President as he was still listed in that position in 1946.

Charles Telghman Ridgely died in 1940 at the age of 84. He originally had married Nellie (Stark) Ridgely and produced two sons (Charles and Roderick). He was again later married to Ada Leah Pipes in 1914 and produced several more children including a William D. Ridgely, and a Richard L. Ridgely. The Ridgely and Dugdale Company (partner was W. H. Dugdale, a prominent military veteran, lawyer, and member of the Democratic Party) did not appear to have a significant impact on, or duration in, the wall paper tool manufacturing industry. It may be that the patents were used only for licensing purposes.

It would seem that the Murray Black Company largely operated in cruise control for the decades that followed. William H. Starrick filed a patent on behalf of the company in 1937 for an extensible work support structure. The company re-structured and began producing tools under the brand name “Embee”. Garth Q. Briggs filed a patent in 1973 for a wood graining tool on behalf of the company. Finally, in 1983, Andrew J. Mounts filed a patent for a combined foot rest and toe heel shifter mechanism for a motorcycle. Murray Black was not exactly an innovation hotbed, and the glory days of wall paper tools were well behind it. One former employee from the 1960s recalled that he worked there for a wage just a small bump over minimum wage and that the machinery was largely turn of the century vintage with notable safety deficiencies. In 1980 the Murray Black company received a trademark approval for a mini-jogging trampoline “Ener-Jog”. In 1988, the company ended up in the hands of Betty S. Burrows (widow of former owner William F. Burrows), who reportedly was well considered among the employees. She passed away in 2012 and there is no record of any continued operations of the company since. Several sites in Springfield are identified as being production locations over the course of the company history, but the 552 West State Street (now also 552 Johnny Lytle Ave) seems to best represent the company as what it once likely was. Metal Stampings Unlimited now operates from that address. An immediately adjacent property (on the other side of where railroad tracks once lay in service of the community) was likely part of the company at one time, but is now just a dilapidated series of buildings. Chimney stacks of what likely would have been a foundry lie nestled in the ruins. The railway tracks that once served a myriad of manufacturers from this former industrial hub have been replaced with a pathway for bicycles and joggers.

Mic

Update Feb, 2024 Vinny found a full 72" ruler in the rafters, here are some pictures, the logo seems older than the one in this post.

Thanks, Vinny!

And July 2024. A reader sent this image in, some sort of holster, I would guess. The diaper pins are an odd touch. Any idea what it could be for?

Close only counts in horsehoes and hand grenades. Part 1

In an earlier post, the history of the Frost & Wood Company was summarized.  During World War II, the company made over 100,000 No. 36 hand grenades per month, and their products continued to be used by the Canadian forces into the 1950's.  Interesting, two of the employees who worked on the grenade assembly line during the war were brothers, both of whom were blind!  

The Legacy of Frost and Wood:  Outstanding in Their Field

The photos below were taken last fall at the F&W exhibit at the Heritage House Museum in Smiths Falls, Ontario:

Above, it should read "fulminate" (not "foamite") of mercury.  Below, a table lamp with a base made with a F&W hand grenade.  Be careful which chain you pull to turn it on!

Some folks collect these things:  see for instance the Mills Grenade Collectors Site.  I'll think I'll stick to motorcycles, where the only thing that can blow up is the engine.

We used to make things in this country # 257 Cockshutt Plow Company

This beauty was for sale along the road near Windsor Ontario, I believe it's a 1964 model. The Cockshutt Company, based in Brantford, Ontario started building making ploughs in 1877, becoming a full line implement manufacturer in 1910 with the purchase of the Adams wagon company, Brantford Carriage company and a share of Frost and Wood. Known for a high quality product, by the 1920s the company was a leader in the implement business. Although Cockshutt distributed various other manufacturers tractors in the thirties they did not produce their own tractor until after WW2. In 1945 the Model 30 was introduced, the first tractor built in Canada. It featured the first live PTO, a device which continues to power the implement even when the clutch was depressed.
 In 1958, the company hired industrial designer Raymond Loewy to restyle the tractor line, Loewy did away with the smooth rounded streamlined shapes, changing to a bold squared-off modern look. 
 In a hostile takeover, American farm machinery company Oliver acquired the company in 1962 and promptly discontinued manufacture of tractors in Canada, choosing rather to sell Oliver tractors painted and branded as Cockshutts. Although the tractor above is apparently one of these, it has a serial number tag that indicates it was made in Brantford. I'm sure someone will sort that apparent discrepancy for me. 

Full company history here.

Torpedo Sterns

 
  Lobsterboats are the pickups of the sea, utility boats generally measuring about 25 to 40 feet in length and powered by either diesel or gas engines. The hulls are an evolution of the 19th C sailboats used for the same purpose. Over the years the material has changed from wood planking over ribs to fibreglass, the lines first taken from the nicest shaped wooden boats. The elegant lines have remained despite the changes in materials, higher power engines and the practicality required of the boats, but the nicest hull shapes have to be the torpedo stern or sharpshooter hulls popular in the 1920s.
  There are different theories as to the origins of this design but many people point to the boat builders of Beals Island, Maine and in particular to a transplanted Nova Scotian, Will Frost who settled in Beals after World War I. At first, he built torpedo stern boats of which the Red Wing is the most famous, but changing needs- larger loads of traps being set further off shore, resulted in the square stern boats that have been built ever since.

 Seventy years later Willis Beal of Willis' boats on Beals Island decided he would like to build another wooden torpedo stern boat, he ended up building two. The first was built in 1988 as the Alicia B. for Bradford Bernardo of Rhode Island.  The second, Tatiana was built in 1991 for Julian (Jud) and Tatiana Fischer of Port Clyde, Maine.

 In 2009 the Alicia B was bought by the owners of the Tatiana and renamed O.M.P.  for Mrs. Fischers mother, Olga Monk Pertzoff. Both are currently moored in Port Clyde, Maine. 


from http://www.lowellbrothers.com/

Frost & Wood come-a-long

Boasting two gears and two pawls, it's a heavy duty product from this Smiths Falls firm.  See my previous post.  

Industries in South-Eastern Ontario, 1910, 1937 and 1952

Ontario School Geography.  Toronto:  The Educational Book Company Ltd., 1910.

Ontario Public School Geography.  Toronto:  W.J. Gage & Co., Ltd., 1937.

Donald Putnam (Editor).  Canadian Regions.  A Geography of Canada.  J.M. Dent & Sons (Canada) Ltd., 1952.

Amazing the variety of things that used to be made in my area: agricultural implements, stoves, radiators, carriages, furniture, pianos, locomotives, leather goods, woolen mills, shipbuilding, marine engines, hardware, abrasives, machinery, tools, radios, paper boxes.  Today, pretty much all of these industries are gone. Below, examples of some, with the dates that they closed their doors:

Renfrew Electric & Refridgerator (Renfrew), 1952
Frost & Wood (Smiths Falls), farm equipment, 1955
James Smart (Brockville), tools, castings, equipment, 1967
Canadian Locomotive Works (Kingston), 1969
Canadian Dredge & Dock (Kingston), shipbuilding, 1973
Davis Tannery (Kingston), shoe leather, 1974
Babcock Mill (Odessa), wooden baskets, 1994
Black & Decker (Brockville), lawnmowers, tools, 1998
Nortel (Belleville), telephones, electronics, 2002
Beach Industries (Smiths Falls), tool boxes, 2008
Superior Electrics (Pembroke), electric appliances, 2009

The U.S. has been going through a similar process of industrial decline.  See America in Decline.  The legacy of the "multi-nationals."