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Description:
Beautifully engraved certificate from the Hydraulic - Press Brick Company issued in 1891. This historic document has an ornate border around it with a vignette of men surveying land. This item is hand signed by the Company’s President ( E. C. Sterling) and Secretary and is over 112 years old. The certificate was issued to Willis N. Graves and signed by him on the verso.
Certificate Vignette THE HYDRAULIC-PRESS BRICK COMPANY From: The Clayworking Plants of St. Louis In: BRICK. SPECIAL ISSUES ON ST. LOUIS, MAY AND JUNE 1904 May, 1904, p. 235-239. At the junction of Manchester Ave. and King's Highway are located the machine shop and yard II of the Hydraulic-Press Brick Co. It is not the purpose of this article to give a full description of all the enterprises of the company, as that would take us into many other states, for the company's press brick plants are well distributed and their influence far reaching. On the other hand we will endeavor to give a brief history of the birth and progress of the company and present a resume of the equipments and methods of operation of its yards within the city limits of St. Louis. It is difficult to say which was the first – The Hydraulic-Press Brick Co. or the hydraulic-press. It is the old case of the hen and the egg. Did the hydraulic-press produce the enterprise or are we to consider that the Hydraulic-Press Brick Co. was in posse in the mind and life of E. C. Ster!ing and T. W. Sterling, who purchased the first press, and with it manufactured their way to the eminence they now have attained? Be that as it may, the company and the press must be associated, and Furthermore, the press is indissolubly connected with Willis N. Graves, who operated the first hydraulic brick press and has been connected with the company as general superintendent until January 1st, 1904, and is still an important stockholder. Prior to the invention of the hydraulic dry press, it seems there was a lever dry press in existence which had been invented about the year 1833. Mr. Duty, of Cleveland. O., a practical brickmaker, requested W. Rodgers, mechanical engineer of the Cuyahoga Steam Furnace C., Cleveland, O., to go with him to New York and inspect a lever dry press with the object of either purchasing one or making a press capable of performing the same work. Mr. Rodgers' opinion was that he could build a better press, and in 1856 he produced the first crude hydraulic brick dry press. This was operated at Cleveland for two years, and then was partly reconstructed, and was sold to some one n Nashville, Tenn., in the fall of 1850 commencing operation in 1860 and running successfully to the outbreak of the war. The war stopped all industry, the brickyard closed down after having furnished material for the Maxwell House, still standing in Nashville, and in good condition. During the turbulent scenes in Nashville the building that covered the machine was burned down and the machine was melted down to make bullets and ordnance for Zollicoffer’s brigade. Referring again to that lever dry press we understand that there is a church on Plum St., in Cincinnati, build of dry press brick made on that early machine. Mr. Duty. of Cleveland, had by 1850 secured from Mr. Rodgers, an improved hydraulic brick machine. It may be noted that Mr. Rodgers was a very prominent hydraulic engineer of the day and he planned and operated the first hydraulic draw bridge across the Hudson River. On the 4th of July, 1860, Willis N. Graves arrived at Indianapolis from Cleveland, with the second hydraulic press, en route for Memphis, Tenn. Some trouble was experienced in Indianapolis, as the heavy machinery had to be transferred from one railroad car to another, as the track gages were different in those days on different lines. On the 7th of July the outfit arrived in East St. Louis where the line terminated and the machinery was dumped in the sand two miles from the river. E. C. Sterling had by this time secured two small steamboats for the river transportation. It must be remembered that the equipment weighed 33 tons, and could not be handled in those days very easily by one small boat. The journey to Memphis occupied four days and the machine was then set up and has been in operation ever since. It, however, has not been without history during all of this time. It has killed two men and has cut off the right hand of another, and is now supposed to be haunted by the negroes who work around it, for they declare they hear distinctly the voice of the first man killed, a negro, and the second. a white man, arranging the valves and movements so that no other negro will ever get hurt. Furthermore, they assign that as the reason for the machine running so steadily (as for years until some alterations were made in the minor movements, the machine had given considerable trouble in ships and breakages), and they call working on the machine. "Let the black mare rule you,” and when it breaks down or stops, "De black mare has done stuck a nail in her foot.” Last year this machine made 8,000,000 bricks in 11 months, which is a pretty good record for a press that has been in operation for over 40 years. At present it is undergoing its usual annual overhauling. It is of peculiar construction, inasmuch as the old walking beam attachment, common to river steamers, has been used for its operation continuously. The yard on which it is now operated is owned by the Tennessee Brick Co., of Memphis, Tenn. O.H.P. Piper is the president of the company. R.A. Speed is the vice-president, and John J. Bishop secretary and manager. From Mr. Bishop we secured many interesting details concerning the machine. The third hydraulic dry press machine was built at the same time, as the one that was sent to Memphis, and came to St. Louis, being placed in operation at what was known as No. 1 yard at Mississippi and Chouteau Aves.
| Status: For Sale |
Reference#: hydpresbricc |
| Condition:
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