In 1848 Thomas Wallace and his sons, John, William and Thomas, began the business of wire drawing at Birmingham, Conn. Their cash capital was $500. Their lmowledge of their trade enabkd them to increase their business and in a few years they built a factory at Ansonia, which has been greatly enlarged and is now owned and operated by the Coe branch of The American Brass Company.
The Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury succeeded the firm of J. M. L. & W. H. Scovill and was incorporated in 1850 with a capital of $200,000, which has since been increased to $5,000,000. They now manu facture brass, German silver, etc., and are extensive rernanufacturers of metal. __ The Coe Brass Manufacturing Company of Torrington, Conn., was founded by Lyman W. Coe in 1863, and succeeded the Wolcottville Brass Company. Lyman W. Coe, the son of Israel Coe, was the president of the corporation, which began business with a capital of $100,000. Their capital has been increased from time to time and they are now merged in The American Brass Company.
In 1844 Anson G. Phelps purchased ex tensive lands in the vicinity of what is now the city of Ansonia, which was founded by him and named in his honor. He constructed a dam across the Naugatuck River, a canal, large reservoirs for water power and built a mill for rolling copper. The firm of Phelps, Dodge & Company had for some years prior to 1844 operated a copper rolling-mill at Birmingham, Conn. The water privilege at Ansonia is now owned and operated by the Ansonia Land and Water-Power Company and is the source of water power for the city of Ansonia. Mr. Phelps brought from the Wolcottville works J. H. Bartholomew and George P. Cowles, who managed the business at Ansonia under the name of the Ansonia Brass and Battery Com pany, the term abatteryo being indicative of the process by which brass kettles were ham mered from metal blanks. This method of making kettles was in use until 1851, when it gave place to a patented process for spinning kettles from circular blanks of metal. The business of the Ansonia Brass and Battery Com pany was conducted by the firm of Phelps, Dodge & Company of New York. A brass mill was built, and later a wire-mill. The com pany afterward engaged in the manufacture of docks. In 1869 this manufacturing enterprise was incorporated under the name of the An sonia Brass and Copper. Company. In 1877 the manufacture and sale of clocks had in creased to such an extent that it was decided to form a new joint-stock corporation under the name of The Ansonia Clock Company, which began business on 1 Jan. 1878. The location of this company's business was transferred to Brooklyn, N. Y., where large factories were erected and are now in operation, producing clocks and watches which are marketed in every part of the world.
The American Brass Company, incorporated under a special charter from the State of Con necticut, with a capital at present of $15,000,000, — which may, under their charter, be increased to $20,000,000,— began business in January 1900. It is a merger of the Coe Brass Manufacturing Company, The Ansonia Brass & Copper Com pany, The Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing Company, The Waterbury Brass Company, The Holmes, Booth & Haydens Company, The Chi cago Brass Company.
Taking into account the capital employed and the magnitude of its operations in brass and copper this company is the most important brass manufacturing enterprise in the world and the largest single consumer of copper, giv ing employment to about 15,000 persons.
During many years brass manufacturing was conducted on what would now be regarded as a very small scale, and, although the methods pur sued at the present day are substantially the same as at the beginning, great progress has been made in cheapening these methods and improving the quality of the articles manu factured. It is stated that in the early forties it was customary for the manufacturers at Waterbury annually to appoint a committee to make the long journey to Baltimore for the purpose of purchasing copper for the season's supply. At that time the purchase of 500,000 pounds of copper was sufficient for a year's supply for these manufacturers. At present that quantity would not supply the demand of the Naugatuck Valley for one day.
Copper and spelter being the metals from .which brass is made, a brief account of the sources of supply from which these materials are obtained will throw some light upon the development of the business of brass and copper rolling. The first copper mine worked in the United States was the Simsbury mine at Granby, in Connecticut. The record of this mine extends back to the year 1705. It was worked until 1770, but was not profitable, and only a small quantity of ore was taken out. During the War of the Revolution it was used as a prison. About the year 1719, the Schuyler mine, near Belleville, N. J., was opened and became one of a number of small mines which were worked in that section of the country for a series of years following. The Gap mine, in Lancaster, Pa., was started in 1732. The production of copper from all these openings, however, was of very little commercial importance, and until the Lake Superior region became a source of sup ply, the consumers of copper in the United States had to procure their raw material in Chile. It was brought to this country in the form of pigs, and refined near Boston, at Balti more and at other points along the coast. In 1844 the Cliff mine, near Eagle River, Lake Superior, was opened, and in 1845 regular rec ords of production were begun. The great development of the copper-mining industry at Lake Superior soon placed the United States in the front ranks of the copper-producing countries of the world, and the product of these mines, being of a quality much finer than the copper produced abroad, naturally took the place of the foreign product for home consump tion. Copper production in the United States from 1845 to 1880 kept pace with home con sumption, a comparatively small quantity being exported up to the last-named period, so that the record of the copper produced in the United States between the periods named will indicate the progress made in manufactures of brass and copper. Beginning in 1845 with a product of 100 tons (which was much less than the quantity required for home consumption), the record for periods of 10 years is as fol lows: 1850, 650 tons; 1860, 7,200 tons; 1870. 12,600 tons ; 1880, 27,000 tons ; 1890, 130,000 tons; 1900, 303,000 tons. In 1917 production reached 970,000 tons, valued at $540,000,000.