Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham Part 48

_Hydraulic Machinery_ is the specialite almost solely of Messrs. Tangye Bros., who established their Cornwall Works in 1855.

_Jewellery_.--A deputation from Birmingham waited upon Prince Albert, May 28, 1845, at Buckingham Palace, for the purpose of appealing to Her Majesty, through His Royal Highness, to take into gracious consideration the then depressed condition of the operative jewellers of Birmingham, and entreating the Queen and Prince to set the example of wearing British jewellery on such occasions and to such an extent as might meet the royal approval. The deputation took with them as presents for the Queen, an armlet, a brooch, a pair of ear-rings, and a buckle for the waist; for the Prince Consort a watch-chain, seal, and key, the value of the whole being over 400 guineas. The armlet (described by good judges as the most splendid thing ever produced in the town) brooch, ear-rings, chain and key were made by Mr. Thomas Aston, Regent's Place; the buckle and seal (designed from the Warwick vase) by Mr. Baleny, St. Paul's Square. It was stated by the deputation that 5,000 families were dependent on the jewellery trades in Birmingham. The "custom of trade"

in connection with jewellers and the public was formerly of the most arbitrary character, so much so indeed that at the Great Exhibition of 1851, the Birmingham jewellers did not exhibit, except through the London houses they were in the habit of supplying, and the specimens shewn by these middlemen were of a very unsatisfactory character as regards design. It is almost impossible to describe them without appearing to exaggerate. Construction in relation to use went for nothing. A group of Louis Quatorze scrolls put together to form something like a brooch with a pin at the back to fasten it to the dress, which it rather disfigured than adorned; heavy chain-like bracelet, pins, studs, &c., of the most hideous conceits imaginable, characterised the jewellery designs of Birmingham until about 1854-55, when a little more intelligence and enterprise was introduced, and our manufacturers learned that work well designed sold even better than the old-styled ugliness. A great advance has taken place during the past thirty years, and Birmingham jewellers now stand foremost in all matters of taste and design, the workmen of to-day ranking as artists indeed, even the commonest gilt jewellery turned out by them now being of high-cla.s.s design and frequently of most elaborate workmanship. At the present time (March 1885) the trade is in a very depressed condition, thousands of hands being out of employ or on short time, partly arising, no doubt, from one of those "changes of fashion" which at several periods of our local history have brought disaster to many of our industrial branches. It has been estimated that not more than one-half of the silver jewellery manufactured in Birmingham in 1883, pa.s.sed through the a.s.say Office, but the total received there in the twelve months ending June 24th, 1883, amounted to no less than 856,180 ounces, or 31 tons 17 cwt. 4 lbs. 4 oz., the gold wares received during same period weighing 92,195 ounces, or 3 tons 7 cwt. 12 lbs. 3 oz., the total number of articles sent in for a.s.saying being 2,649,379. The directory of 1780 gave the names of twenty-six jewellers; that of 1880 gives nearly 700, including cognate trades. The fashion of wearing long silver guard-chains came in in about 1806, the long gold ones dating a score years later, heavy fob chains then going out. The yearly make of wedding rings in Birmingham is put at 5,000 dozen. Precious stones are not to be included in the list of locally manufactured articles, nor yet "Paris pastes," though very many thousands of pounds worth are used up every year, and those anxious to become possessed of such glittering trifles will find dealers here who can supply them with pearls from 6d., garnets from 2d., opals from 1s., diamonds, rubies, emeralds, amethysts, &c., from half-a-crown, the prices of all running up according to size, &c., to hundreds of pounds per stone.

_Latten_, the term given to thin sheets of bra.s.s, was formerly applied to sheets of tinned iron.

_Lockmakers_ are not so numerous here as they once were, though several well known patentees still have their works in the borough. The general trade centres round Willenhall, Walsall, and Wolverhampton.

_Looking-gla.s.ses_.--Messrs. Hawkes's, Sromsgrove Street, is the largest looking-gla.s.s manufactory in the world, more than 300 hands being employed on the premises. A fire which took place Jan. 8, 1879, destroyed nearly 12,000 worth of stock, the turnout of the establishment comprising all cla.s.ses of mirrors, from those at 2. a dozen to 40 or 50 each.

_Mediaeval Metalwork_.--Mr. John Hardman, who had Pugin for his friend, was the first to introduce the manufacture of mediaeval and ecclesiastical metal work in this town, opening his first factory in Great Charles Street in 1845. The exhibits at the old Bingley Hall in 1849 attracted great attention and each national Exhibition since has added to the triumphs of the firm. Messrs. Jones and Willis also take high rank.

_Metronome_, an instrument for marking time, was invented by Mr. W.

Heaton, a local musician, about 1817.

_Mineral Waters_.--The oldest local establishment for the manufacture of aerated artificial and mineral waters is that of Messrs. James Goffe and Son, of Duke Street, the present proprietors of the artesian well in Allison Street. This well was formed some years ago by Mr. Clark, a London engineer, who had undertaken a Corporation contract connected with the sewers. Finding himself embara.s.sed with the flow of water from the many springs about Park Street and Digbeth, he leased a small plot of land and formed a bore-hole, or artesian well, to check the percolation into his sewerage works. After boring about 400 feet he reached a main spring in the red sandstone formation which gives a constant flow of the purest water, winter and summer, of over 70,000 gals. per day, at the uniform temperature of 50 deg. The bore is only 4in. diameter, and is doubly tubed the whole depth, the water rising into a 12ft. brick well, from which a 4,000 gallon tank is daily filled, the remainder pa.s.sing through a fountain and down to the sewers as waste. Dr. Bostock Hill, the eminent a.n.a.lyst, reports most favourably upon the freedom of the water from all organic or other impurities, and as eminently fitted for all kinds of aerated waters, soda, pota.s.s, seltzer, lithia, &c. The old-fashioned water-carriers who used to supply householders with Digbeth water from "the Old c.o.c.k pump" by St. Martin's have long since departed, but Messrs. Goff's smart-looking barrel-carts may be seen daily on their rounds supplying the real _aqua pura_ to counters and bars frequented by those who like their "cold without," and like it good.--Messrs. Barrett & Co. and Messrs. Kilby are also extensive manufacturers of these refreshing beverages.

_Nails_.--No definite date can possibly be given as to the introduction of nailmaking here as a separate trade, most smiths, doubtless, doing more or less at it when every nail had to be beaten out on the anvil.

That the town was dependent on outsiders for its main supplies 150 years back, is evidenced by the Worcestershire nailors marching from Cradley and the Lye, in 1737 to force the ironmongers to raise the prices.

Machinery for cutting nails was tried as early as 1811, but it was a long while after that (1856) before a machine was introduced successfully. Now there are but a few special sorts made otherwise, as the poor people of Cradley and the Lye Waste know to their cost, hand-made nails now being seldom seen.

_Nettlefold's (Limited)_.--This, one of the most gigantic of our local companies, was registered in March, 1880, the capital being 750,000 in shares of 10 each, with power to issue debentures to the vendors of the works purchased to the extent of 420,000. The various firms incorporated are those of Messrs. Nettlefold's, at Heath Street, and Princip-street, Birmingham, at King's Norton, at Smethwick, &c., for the manufacture of screws, wire, &c., the Castle Ironworks at Hadley, Shropshire, and the Collieries at Ketley, in the same county; the Birmingham Screw Co., at Smethwick; the Manchester Steel Screw Co., at Bradford, Manchester; Mr. John Cornforth, at Berkeley Street Wire and Wire Nail Works; and Messrs. Lloyd and Harrison, at Stourport Screw Works. The purchase money for the various works amounted to 1,024.000, Messrs. Nettlefold's share thereof being 786,000, the Birmingham Screw Co.'s 143,000, the Manchester Co.'s 50,000, Messrs. Cornforth, Lloyd and Harrison taking the remainder. The firm's works in Heath Street are the most extensive of the kind in existence, the turnout being more than 200,000 gross of screws per week, nearly 250 tons of wire being used up in the same period.--See "_Screws_."

_Nickel_ owes its introduction here to Mr. Askin, who, in 1832, succeeded in refining the crude ore by precipitation, previously it having been very difficult to bring it into use. Electro-plating has caused a great demand for it.

_Nuts and Bolts_.--In addition to a score or two of private firms engaged in the modern industry of nut and bolt making, there are several limited liability Co.'s, the chief being the Patent Nut and Bolt Co.

(London Works, Smethwick), which started in 1863 with a capital of 400,000 in shares of 20 each. The last dividend (on 14 paid up) was at the rate of 10 per cent., the reserve fund standing at 120,000.

Messrs. Watkins and Keen, and Weston and Grice incorporated with the Patent in 1865. Other Co.'s are the Midland Bolt and Nut Co. (Fawdry Street, Smethwick), the Phoenix Bolt and Nut Co. (Handsworth), the Patent Rivet Co. (Rolfe Street, Smethwick), the Birmingham Bolt and Nut Co., &c.

_Optical and Mathematical Instruments_ of all kinds were manufactured here in large numbers eighty years ago, and many, such as the solar microscope, the kaleidoscope, &c. may be said to have had their origin in the workshops of Mr. Philip Carpenter and other makers in the first decade of the present century. The manufacture of these articles as a trade here is almost extinct.

_Papier Mache_.--This manufacture was introduced here by Henry Clay in 1772, and being politic enough to present Queen Caroline with a Sedan chair made of this material, he was patronised by the wealthy and t.i.tled of the day, the demand for his ware being so extensive that at one time he employed over 300 hands, his profit being something like 3 out of every 5. It has been stated that many articles of furniture, &c., made by him are still in use. Messrs. Jennens and Bettridge commenced in 1816, and improvements in the manufacture have been many and continuous.

George Souter introduced pearl inlaying in 1825; electro-deposit was applied in 1844; "gem inlaying" in 1847, by Benj. Giles; aluminium and its bronze in 1864; the transfer process in 1856 by Tearne and Richmond.

Paper pulp has been treated in a variety of ways for making b.u.t.ton blanks, tray blanks, imitiation jet, &c., the very dust caused by cutting it up being again utilised by mixture with certain cements to form brooches, &c.

_Paraffin_.--The manufacture of lamps for the burning of this material dates only from 1861.

_Pins_.--What becomes of all the pins? Forty years ago it was stated that 20,000,000 pins were made every day, either for home or export use, but the total is now put at 50,000,000, notwithstanding which one can hardly be in the company of man, woman, or child, for a day without being asked "Have you such a thing as a pin about you?" Pins were first manufactured here in quant.i.ties about 1750, the Ryland family having the honour of introducing the trade. It formerly took fourteen different persons to manufacture a single pin, cutters, headers, pointers, polishers, &c., but now the whole process is performed by machinery. The proportion of pins made in Birmingham is put at 37,000,000 per day, the weight of bra.s.s wire annually required being 1,850,000 lbs., value 84,791; iron wire to the value of 5,016 is used for mourning and hair pins. The census reports say there are but 729 persons employed (of whom 495 are females) in the manufacture of the 11,500,000,000 pins sent from our factories every year.

_Planes_.--Carpenters' planes were supplied to our factors in 1760 by William Moss, and his descendants were in the business as late as 1844.

Messrs. Atkins and Sons have long been celebrated makers, their hundreds of patterns including all kinds that could possibly he desired by the workman. Woodwork is so cut, carved, and moulded by machinery now, that these articles are not so much in demand, and the local firms who make them number only a dozen.

_Plated Wares_.--Soho was celebrated for its plated wares as early as 1766; Mr. Thomason (afterwards Sir Edward) commenced the plating in 1796; and Messrs. Waterhouse and Ryland, another well-known firm in the same line, about 1808, the material used being silver rolled on copper, the mountings silver, in good work, often solid silver. The directory of 1780 enumerates 46 platers, that of 1799 96 ditto; their names might now be counted on one's finger ends, the modern electro-plating having revolutionised the business, vastly to the prosperity of the town.

_Puzzles_.--The Yankee puzzle game of "Fifteen," took so well when introduced into this country (summer of 1880), that one of our local manufacturers received an order to supply 10,000 gross, and he was clever enough to construct a machine that made 20 sets per minute.

_Railway Waggon Works_.--With the exception of the carriage building works belonging to the several great railway companies, Saltley may be said to be the headquarters of this modern branch of industry, in which thousands of hands are employed. The Midland Railway Carriage and Waggon Co. was formed in 1853, and has works of a smaller scale at Shrewsbury.

The Metropolitan Railway Carriage and Waggon Co. was originated in London, in 1845, but removed to Saltley in 1862, which year also saw the formation of the Union Rolling Stock Co. The capital invested in the several companies is very large, and the yearly value sent out is in proportion, more rolling stock being manufactured here than in all the other towns in the kingdom put together, not including the works of the railway companies themselves. Many magnificent palaces on wheels have been made here for foreign potentates, Emperors, Kings, and Queens, Sultans, and Kaisers, from every clime that the iron horse has travelled in, as well as all sorts of pa.s.senger cars, from the little narrow-gauge vehicles of the Festiniog line, on which the travellers must sit back to back, to the 60ft. long sleeping-cars used on the Pacific and Buenos Ayers Railway, in each compartment of which eight individuals can find sleeping accommodation equal to that provided at many of the best hotels, or the curious-looking cars used on Indian railways, wherein the natives squat in tiers, or, as the sailor would say, with an upper and lower deck.

_Ropemaking_ is a trade carried on in many places, but there are few establishments that can equal the Universe Works in Garrison Lane, where, in addition to hundreds of tons of twine and cord, there are manufactured all sorts of wire and hemp ropes for colliery and other purposes, ocean telegraph cables included. Messrs. Wright introduced strain machinery early in 1853, and in the following year they patented a rope made of best hemp and galvanised wire spun together by machinery.

On a test one of these novelties, 4-1/4in. circ.u.mference, attached to two engines, drew a train of 300 tons weight. To supply the demand for galvanised signalling and fencing cords, the machines must turn out 15,000 yards of strand per day.

_Rulemaking_, though formerly carried on in several places, is now almost confined to this town and the metropolis, and as with jewellery so with rules, very much of what is called "London work" is, in reality, the produce of Birmingham. Messrs. Rabone Brothers are the princ.i.p.al makers, and the boxwood used is mostly obtained from Turkey and the Levant, but the firm does not confine itself solely to the manufacture of wood rules, their steel tapes, made up to 200ft in one length, without join of any sort, being a specialty highly appreciated by surveyors and others.

_Saddlery_.--One of the oldest local trades, as Lelaud, in 1538, speaks of "lorimers" as being numerous then. That there was an important leather market is certain (Hutton thought it had existed for 700 years), and we read of "leather sealers" among the local officers as well as of a "Leather Hall," at the east end of New Street. The trade has more than quadrupled during the last 25 years, about 3,000 hands being now engaged therein, in addition to hundreds of machines.

_Screws_.--In olden days the threads of a screw had to be filed out by hand, and the head struck up on the anvil. The next step was to turn them in a lathe, but in 1849 a Gerimn clockmaker invented a machine by which females could make them five times as fast as the most skilful workman, and, as usual, the supply created a demand; the trade for a few years received many additions, and the "screw girders," as the hard-working la.s.ses were called, were to be met with in many parts of the town. 1852, 1,500 hands were employed, the output being from 20 to 25 tons per week, or 2,000,000 gross per year. Gradually, however, by the introduction and patenting of many improvements in the machinery, the girls were, in a great measure, dispensed with, and their employers as well, Messrs. Nettlefold and Chamberlain having, in 1865, nearly the whole trade in their hands, and sending out 150,000 gross of screws per week. Nearly 2,000 people are employed at Nettlefold's, including women and girls, who feed and attend the screw and nail-making machines.

Notwithstanding the really complicated workings of the machines, the making of a screw seems to a casual visitor but a simple thing. From a coil of wire a piece is cut of the right length by one machine, which roughly forms a head and pa.s.ses it on to another, in which the blank has its head nicely shaped, shaved, and "nicked" by a revolving saw. It than pa.s.ses by an automatic feeder into the next machine where it is pointed and "wormed," and sent to be shook clear of the "swaff" of shaving cut out for the worm. Washing and polishing in revolving barrels precedes the examination of every single screw, a machine placing them one by one so that none can be missed sight of. Most of the 2,000 machines in use are of American invention, but improved and extended, all machinery and tools of every description being made by the firm's own workpeople.

_Sewing Machines_.--The various improvements in these machines patented by Birmingham makers may be counted by the gross, and the machines sent out every year by the thousands. The b.u.t.ton-hole machine was the invention of Mr. Clements.

_Sheathing Metal_.--In a newspaper called _The World_, dated April 16, 1791, was an advertis.e.m.e.nt beginning thus--"By the King's patent, _tinned copper_ sheets and pipes manufactured and sold by Charles Wyatt, Birmingham, and at 19, Abchurch lane, London." It was particularly recommended for sheathing of ships, as the tin coating would prevent the corrosion of the copper and operate as "a preservative of the iron placed contiguous to it." Though an exceedingly clever man, and the son of one of Birmingham's famed worthies, Mr. Charles Wyatt was not fortunate in many of his inventions, and his tinned copper brought him in neither silver nor gold. What is now known as sheathing or "yellow"

metal is a mixture of copper, zinc, and iron in certain defined proportions, according as it is "Muntz's metal," or "Green's patent,"

&c. Several patents were taken out in 1779, 1800, and at later dates, and, as is usual with "good things," there has been sufficient squabbling over sheathing to provide a number of legal big-wigs with considerable quant.i.ties of the yellow, metal _they_ prefer. George Frederick Muntz, M.P., if not the direct inventor, had the lion's share of profit in the manufacture, as the good-will of his business was sold for 40,000 in 1863, at which time it was estimated that 11,000 tons of Muntz's mixture was annually made into sheathing, ships' bolts, &c., to the value of over 800,000. The business was taken to by a limited liability company, whose capital in March, 1884, was 180,000, on which a 10 per cent, dividend was realised. Elliott's Patent Sheathing and Metal Co. was formed in.1862.

_Snuff-boxes_.--A hundred years ago, when snuff-taking was the _mode_, the manufacture of j.a.panned, gilt, and other snuff-boxes gave employment to large numbers here. Of one of these workmen it is recorded that he earned 3 10s. per week painting snuff-boxes at 1/4d. each. The first mention of their being made here is in 1693.

_Soap_.--In more ways than one there is a vast deal of "soft soap" used in Birmingham, but its inhabitants ought to be cleanly people, for the two or three manufactories of hard yellow and mottled in and near the town turn out an annual supply of over 3,000 tons.

_Spectacles_.--Sixty and seventy years ago spectacles were sent out by the gross to all part of the country, but they were of a kind now known as "goggles," the frames being large and clumsy, and made of silver, white metal, or tortoise-sh.e.l.l, the fine steel wire frames now used not being introduced until about 1840.

_Stereoscopes_, the invention of Sir David Brewster, were first made in this town, Mr. Robert Field producing them.

_Steel Pens_.--Though contrary to the general belief, metallic pens are of very ancient origin. Dr. Martin Lister, in his book of Travels, published in 1699, described a "very curious and antique writing instrument made of thick and strong silver wire, wound up like a hollow bottom or screw, with both the ends pointing one way, and at a distance, so that a man might easily put his forefinger between the two points, and the screw fills the ball of his hand. One of the points was the point of a bodkin, which was to write on waxed tables; the other point was made very artificially, like the head and upper beak of a c.o.c.k and the point divided in two, just like our steel pens, from whence undoubtedly the moderns had their patterns; which are now made also of fine silver or gold, or Prince's metal, all of which yet want a spring and are therefore not so useful as of steel or a quill: but the quill soon spoils. Steel is undoubtedly the best, and if you use China ink, the most lasting of all inks, it never rusts the pen, but rather preserves it with a kind of varnish, which dries upon it, though you take no care in wiping it."--Though Messrs. Gillott and Sons' Victoria Works, Graham Street, stands first among the pen-making establishments open to the visit of strangers, it is by no means the only manufactory whereat the useful little steel pen is made in large quant.i.ties, there being, besides, Mr. John Mitch.e.l.l (Newhall Street), Mr. William Mitch.e.l.l (c.u.mberland Street), Hinks, Wells and Co. (Buckingham Street), Brandauer and Co. (New John Street, West), Baker and Finnemore (James Street), G.

W. Hughes (St. Paul's Square), Leonardt and Co. (Charlotte Street), Myers and Son (Charlotte Street), Perry and Co. (Lancaster Street), Ryland and Co. (St. Paul's Square). Sansum and Co. (Tenby Street), &c., the gross aggregate output of the trade at large being estimated at 20 tons per week.

_Stirrups_.--According to the Directory, there are but four stirrup makers here, though it is said there are 4,000 different patterns of the article.

_Swords_.--Some writers aver that Birmingham was the centre of the metal works of the ancient Britons, where the swords and the scythe blades were made to meet Julius Caesar. During the Commonwealth, over 15,000 swords were said to have been made in Birmingham for the Parliamentary soldiers, but if they thus helped to overthrow the Stuarts at that period, the Brummagem boys in 1745 were willing to make out for it by supplying Prince Charlie with as many as ever he could pay for, and the basket-hilts were at a premium. Disloyalty did not always prosper though, for on one occasion over 2,000 Cutla.s.ses intended for the Prince, were seized _en route_ and found their way into the hands of his enemies. Not many swords are made in Birmingham at the present time, unless matchets and case knives used in the plantations can be included under that head.

_Thimbles_, or thumbells, from being originally worn on the thumb, are said by the Dutch to have been the invention of Mynheer van Banschoten for the protection of his lady-love's fingers when employed at the embroidery-frame; but though the good people of Amsterdam last year (1884) celebrated the bicentenary of their gallant thimble-making goldsmith, it is more than probable that he filched the idea from a Birmingham man, for Shakespeare had been dead sixty-eight years prior to 1684, and he made mention of thimbles as quite a common possession of all ladies in his time:

"For your own ladies, and pale-visag'd maids, Like Amazons, come tripping after drums, Their thimbles into armed gauntlets change; Their neelds to lances."

_King John_, Act v. sc. 3.

"Thou liest, thou thread, thou thimble."

"And that I'll prove upon thee, though thy little finger be armed in a thimble,"

_Taming of the Shrew_, Act iv., sc. 3.

The earliest note we really have of thimbles being manufactured in Birmingham dates as 1695. A very large trade is now done in steel, bra.s.s, gold, and silver.

_Thread_.--Strange are the mutations of trade. The first thread of cotton spun by rollers, long before Arkwright's time, was made near this town in the year 1700, and a little factory was at work in the Upper Priory (the motive power being two donkeys), in 1740, under the ingenious John Wyatt, with whom were other two well-remembered local worthies--Lewis Paul and Thomas Warren. Many improvements were made in the simple machinery, but fate did not intend Birmingham to rival Bradford, and the thread making came to an end in 1792.

_Tinderboxes_, with the accompanying "fire steels," are still made here for certain foreign markets, where lucifers are not procurable.