Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-08-28

OF business III lCQtldHU, DTdut0u, dLi
several towns In the western part of the
county, and intends to keep look out
for and to. encourage enterprise and ina
provement throughout Rutland county
and vicinity. .....-.. +.
We found on recent visit to ......-...
MIDDLETowN, g..
located about fifteen miles from Rut-
land, that that place is making a very
creditable advance by way of additions
and Improvements.
A. W. GRAY & SOUS HORSEPOWER MANC-
FACTORY
is located here, and is among the most
prosperous manufactures in the State.
This concern now employs about fifty
men, and there is a probability that this
force viii soon be Increased. A. W.
Gray, the senior member of the firm,
invented a power some thirty years ago,
and obtained patent on it. He manu-
featured powers to some extent under
that patent, but they proved too heavy
| and cumbersome for convenient use, and
after years of hard study lac brought out
and secured with letters patent, an
improved horsepower about the year
1885, He then commenced manufac-
turing his improved power in company
with his oldest son, under the form of
A. W. Gray 81 Son, in a small shop.
They were then the proprietors and also
their own workmen. The demand for
the machines soon increasing, in 1857
they purchased the building now occu-
pied by the company, which had been
used as a wooden factory This build
ing gave them more room, and here they
had the advantage of water-power.
They at once PREPARED this building, and
fitted up machinery for their work. The
demand for their machines every year
increasing, Another son of Mr.. Gray was
soon added to the firm. The force Of
workmen was increased from time to
time, until now they employ the number
above named. Their building has been
twice enlarged, and has now SO feet
front, runs back IS feet, with four floors,
including basement, and fire-proof en-
CINE house of 2GX1S feet. A few feet
from the building is large blacksmith
shop for doing their iron work, and near
by are. several buildings attached to the
works, some for storing lumber, and
others for doing a portion of their work
They have very good water-power,
which seldom fails, but with their in
crease of business they found it INSULT
cient, and within the last year procured
a 40-horse-power engine, which is now
running their machinery admirably,
They have made several Improvements
to the power. machine For one they
procured patent in 1872, and another
in July, 1878. III.
What is especially gratifying, and
should be encouragingto Vermonters, this
concern has green up it had not the
advantage of money capital on the start.
The mechanical genius of A. w. Gray
invented the machine, and the only cap
ital to begin the manufacture with was
the skill and industry of himself and
sons. In sixteen or seventeen yearsthey
have built up a good business, put them
selves in comfortable circumstances and
have now sufficient capital to prosecute
their business, actively and independent
ly All this has come from their me
chanical ability, their attention to their
business, and, most of all the merits of
the goods they manufacture @...........
OF the merits of their machine, no one
who has seen. it work can have any
doubt, and the constantly increasing de-
mand is q pretty sure guaranty of their
utility. They manufacture, perhaps,
fifty machines now in the time they
would be making, one during the first
year of their making them.
THEIR USE.
They are used ia threshing, saving
wood, running machinery in wagon
shops, bakeries, grinding apples for cider,
churning, pumping water from mines,
cutting feed for stock, running portable
grist mills, and for other purposes, to
which the power has been successfully
applied The company manufacture
threshers, .separators, cleaners, wood and
circular saw frames, and furnish all, or
any materials, necessary to. accompany
the machine for any kind of work desir-
ed. ..,>.. s...
,'s..f THE RECENT IMPROVEMENTS i
have produced horse power seemingly
as near perfection as such a machine can /
be made. The machines are so con-
structed, running upon friction rollers |
on cast steel rods, that the friction of |
the machines is bat trife, securing.
and applying the whole power of the |
horse to the work to be done The pro-
prietors claim that they have the lightest /
and most durable machine of the kind !
in use, and not without reason. The /
gearing is made mostly of wrought iron,
and the whole is constructed with view /
to lightness, strength, durability, and to I
work with the greatest dispatch. Their /
one-horse power will saw twenty cords |
of four feet wood, twice in two, in a /
day, or thresh and clean from thirty to /
forty bushels of oats per hour. A two
horse power will do more than that. We |.
saw in the st. Adams (Vt.) Messe7aqer.
not long since, a statement from B. M. /
Ballard, of Fairfax, in Franklin county,
VT, that he ''sawed, with one of A. w.
Gray & Sons two-horse power machines,