Millers Falls Company: 1873-1879

The Langdon miter box

George E. RogersIn 1872, the Millers Falls Company became sales agent for the Langdon miter box, a marvelously designed tool that enabled carpenters to accurately saw a piece of stock at any one of a series of pre-set angles. Patented by Leander W. Langdon on November 24, 1864, the cast iron miter box with its lockable adjustments was the first tool of its kind to enjoy widespread acceptance. The Langdon miter box was manufactured in Northampton, Massachusetts, by the Northampton Pegging Machine Company, a manufacturing operation whose primary business involved the fabrication of hand-operated machines that attached soles to shoes with wooden pegs—a process cheaper than stitching.

When the creditors of the Northampton Pegging Machine advised it to go into bankruptcy in 1875, the treasurer of the operation, D.C. Rogers, formed the Langdon Mitre Box Company and moved the operation to Millers Falls.(1) His son, George E. Rogers, became secretary of the Millers Fall Company four years later. With George Rogers serving as an officer in both the Millers Falls Company and Langdon, the relationship between the two firms was cozy. Millers Falls continued as sales agent for the Langdon products, the miter boxes were manufactured at the Millers Falls plant and George Rogers eventually became the treasurer, and later, vice-president and general manager of the Millers Falls Company. Interlocking directorates were commonplace, and the arrangement must have been profitable for the principals of the Langdon Mitre Box Company, for it was not until 1906 that the Millers Falls Company acquired complete control of the operation. The reputation of Langdon miter boxes became so well established that Millers Falls Tools was still capitalizing on the name in 1971 when it featured a Langdon miter box in its hand tools catalog.(2)

Drills

In 1873, Millers Falls added a breast drill to its offerings; hand drills followed two years later. Forty years after these events, the company would boast that it had been the first to add a chuck to a breast drill and that it had invented the hand drill. The breast drill claim was overblown, based on little more than being the first to add a Barber-style chuck to this type of tool. The firm had much to be proud of, however, its breast drills were very well designed and Millers Falls salesmanship made them the first to enjoy large scale market penetration. The company's success with its hand drills was based on Henry Pratt's securing a patent for a two-jaw, springless chuck that held smaller, round-shanked bits securely. The chuck's small size made it ideal for use on eggbeater-style hand drills. With many of its tools geared to the home hobbyist, the firm was ideally positioned to market smaller drills, and the new tools sold very well. As was the case with its breast drills, the firm's claim to have invented the eggbeater drill was an exaggeration. Factory-produced eggbeater drills had been in use for at least three decades prior to the introduction of the M-F products. The company would have been on firmer ground had it stated that it had developed and marketed the first eggbeater drill to enjoy mass market success. The Millers Falls Company labeled the new two-jawed bit holder as the 'Star' chuck, and, as it had with the Barber chuck, sold it individually, for use on lathes.(3)

Foot-powered treadle saws

Lester scroll sawThe mid-1870s were a time of tremendous energy and creativity at Millers Falls. The firm had added bracket saws to the line in 1873, and sold 50,000 of them in the twelve months between August 1874 and August 1875. Its success in marketing hand-held saws provided inspiration for the development of the firm's first foot-powered model in 1875. The new saw was a serious piece of equipment, weighing in at fifty-six pounds, able to operate at one thousand strokes a minute and capable of cutting through stock of up to three inches thick. The foot-powered scroll saw did well, but it was not until light-weight, amateur models were added to the catalog that the company stumbled onto a gold mine. Similar in principle to treadle sewing machines, the saws were a boon to weekend woodworkers, transforming the often tedious task of cutting decorative scrollwork into a pleasant diversion. The smaller saws were safe enough for older children to use without supervision, a happy circumstance that rendered them capable of providing endless hours of entertainment to an entire family. Originally intended as a 'fill-in' product to keep workers busy during the traditional fall downturn in sales, the saws were popular with hobbyists who created handicrafts and delicate scroll work during the winter, so demand picked up as the weather grew worse.

In 1877, the company introduced the light-weight Lester Saw and sold thousands of the tools within months. Designed by Edward Lester, the plant superintendent, the Lester scroll saw also included a diminutive circular blade, an emery wheel, a drill chuck and a small lathe, all of which could be mounted to its frame and powered by the treadle. A cheaper version of the saw, without the lathe and circular saw was offered as well, and as time passed, improvements multiplied. The frame was redesigned, a small blower was added to disperse sawdust, the breakable wooden treadle was replaced with cast iron, and the saw clamp was improved. With the improvements came changes to the name. The saw became the 'New Lester Saw' and later, the "Lester Improved Saw." A cheaper model without nickel-plated components was labeled the "Lester No. 2." A display model with silver-plated trim was manufactured for the window of Tallman, McFadden & Company. The deluxe finish proved to be a failure. The display saw tarnished too easily and was soon replaced by one with nickel-plated components.(4)

Rogers scroll saw The Lester saw proved so popular that other foot-powered, gadget-laden tools were added to the catalog. Edward Lester left the company shortly after developing the tool. In 1880, he joined A. W. Lyman in organizing the Lester & Lyman Manufacturing Company. The new enterprise set up shop along the Millers Falls canal in the building that once housed Charles Amidon's baby coach factory. The business manufactured garden tools, household cutlery, and strangely—harmonicas. The partners relocated to Greenfield in 1884.(5)

The Millers Falls Company brought out its first Rogers treadle saw in 1878. Named after George E. Rogers and designed to sell for less than the Lester, the saw had no provision for attaching a lathe or circular saw. Wooden components were painted rather than varnished, and trim was polished or japanned rather than nickel plated. Available for less than a third the cost of a Lester, advertisements noted:

It is not as good as our Lester Saw, but it is much better than any other cheap machine in the market.

The Rogers saw was replaced by the firm's New Rogers fret saw a year after its introduction. The New Rogers, with it its stylish, horseshoe-shaped front legs, deserves special mention in that it became the most widely sold foot-powered jig saw of the era. Selling in the three to four dollar range and well-made for the price, the New Rogers hit a sweet spot in the market, and retained its leading position for decades. Although the Millers Falls Company advertised the New Rogers as the 'best cheap saw in the business,' it went on to develop an even even cheaper model, the Cricket. The Cricket was eight pounds lighter than the New Rogers, lacked a dust blower and sold for two dollars and fifty cents. Designed for the home market, the Millers Falls Company's lightweight foot-powered saws got little respect from professional woodworkers and, indeed, were seen by one contemporary writer as fit only to "sell to boys and ministers of the gospel."(6)

New Rogers scroll saw As the years passed, the company would exploit the bracket and scroll saw market in every manner possible. Starter kits with drills, gouges, hand-held fret saws and blades were sold for those not wanting a full blown treadle machine. Project patterns were added to the catalog and soon sold well enough that separate price lists with upwards of a thousand designs by firms such as Farrington & Co., Adams & Bishop, and Hope & Ware were published. Among the miscellaneous items that would eventually make an appearance in the specialized lists were feeding cups for mounting on intricately sawn bird cages and statuettes of the crucified Christ destined for elaborate scroll work crosses.

The Boston office

In the latter 1870s, the Millers Falls Company established a branch office in Boston. Located at 31 Oliver Street, the office was managed by R.C. Graves, an indefatigable salesman who traveled the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada in search of new accounts and was brother-in-law to company treasurer Levi J. Gunn. A packet of forty-seven letters from Graves to the Millers Falls factory has survived.(7) Although most of the documents are simply orders for additional stock, Graves did not hesitate to criticize the merchandise, and his inherent impatience is evident in his frequent use of the phrase "Send me at once." Among his comments:

We do not get any Rogers Saws yet ordered the 27th by telegram. We might as well be in China as here so far as getting goods is concerned. What is the trouble? (10/1/78)

Why don't you send the O.S. Coach Vises I ordered more than a week ago. (6/5/79)

And if you are going to continue to use cast iron thumb screws on the clamp of Rogers Saw you might as well send me a gross. But I think you had better make a good screw on the start and save trouble. (10/1/78)

letterhead for Millers Falls' Boston officeThe hardware trade was competitive, and Boston was a regional, rather than national, center. R.C. Graves didn't dare let grass grow under his feet if he wanted to make his rent and pay his office assistant, John Mahoney. The network of wholesalers that was to dominate the twentieth century hardware trade did not yet exist; so building a dealer network was a laborious process done one client at a time, on a city-by-city basis. More than willing to leave New England if the trip meant additional sales, Graves convinced the home office to set up a saw exhibit at the Cincinnati Exposition of 1879. The company agreed to do so on the condition that Graves work with a local dealer who would be willing to take on the display merchandise after the show and work up the trade. On Henry Pratt's recommendation, Graves arranged for a current customer—J.J. Watrous at 38 Arcade Street in Cincinnati—to take delivery of the goods and serve as agent for the sales generated. Graves traveled to Cincinnati to set things in motion, and Watrous staffed the display.(8)

The Millers Falls Company's Boston office was discontinued in the early 1880s, and it would be decades before another regional office was opened. It is likely that the office was set up to take advantage of the energy and talents of R.C. Graves (Royal Church Graves) and that it was closed when he left to pursue other interests.

Illustration credits