The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1879-02-15
OUR INDUSTRIES, No. 5
The Fort Allen Foundry.

For the consideration of an enterprising
Mauch Chunker who, with most com.
mendable intention, urges the business men
of that borough to form stock company,
with capital of 100000, to start shoe
shop for the manufacture of miners shoes,
we present this week brief glance at the
history and present operation of the Fort
Allen Foundry, which covers, with its sew
oral buildings, an extensive area Of ground
in Weissport, near the site of the old historic
block house and fortifcation, in memory of
which the foundry was named.
Five or six years ago, just at the COM
meHcement Of the commercial depression
which has so distressed business of every
kind, two enterprsing young men, brothers,
William and c. D. Miner, both practical
moulders and skilled in the various details
Of the making of castings, but with a capital
so small that men with less courage would
have shrunk from the undertaking even in
/ Prom!1tAs t!mcs, determined to establish
foundry, with iull faith in labor, which
would absorb their own time and talent and
give them an opportunity to use up some of
me natural resources Of the LehIgh Valley
/ to their advantage. There was no halluci-
nation in the prospect that lay before them.
They were brought up and had learned their
trades in the locality where they now pro-
posed to try their fortunes as partners in
/ business venture.
That which staggcrs every new venture
IN the field of manufacturing, in this coun-
try, Is not so much the making of the wares
as the finding ready market for them by
which the original cost with margin can
be realized to the manufacturer. If he COM
mences business with a small capital, he
hnds himself at once beset with a network
OF the most trying difliculties-hs current
expenses, the payment of salaries to en-
ployees and imperative bills and duns from
dealers in the stock which he has used in
his busincss-all these cast their shadows in
his pathway to try his nerve, and make
him wish with Shakespeares dranatis pc,-
So"r, "Would it were night, Hal, and all
We're we'll" One of the first large orders
which the young proprietors of the Fort Al
len foundry executed was for the patentees
and manufacturers of the Bunting Car Seat
Framesj and this proved disastrous, as the
company making the frames came short in
meeting their obligations, and finally, we
believe, suspended. This inconvenienced.
The projectors of the Fort Allen Foun-
dry, but they steered firmly and safely
through it, kept their credit good, and fin.
ally recovered all that the suspended COM
| pany owed them.
/ One Of the secrets of their success lies in
TIE lact tina. the two brothers are both prac-
teal mechanics and business men. work
hard every day with their employees. in the
various departments of the foundry, en-
/ ploy no clerks, bookkeepers, agents or other
sineeures to eat up and wear out the profits
OF the concern, keep sharp eye on the iron
trade and on the markets consuming and
/ needing their manufactures and when anv
current in trade looks promising to them,
/ William, the elder brother, laws aside for the
nounee his foundry uniform, dons his "sun.
/ day-go-to-meetings," patronizes the village
/ barber who twirls the ends of his nous.
tache, and hies away to the marts of trade;
and he seldom, if ever, returns without a
fresh supply of orders. As a consequence,
during the recent panic, when hundreds of
ioundgies run by corporations and stock
companies, all over the country, have closed
their doors for lack of remuneratiye orders.
the Fort Allen Foundry has been kent
steadily going, and at the present writing is
turning out plumbers castings, pumps
and fancy fountains, the castings for a half
dozen different sewing and knitting ma
chine companies, while from one to three
men are kept constantly employed on mis-.
eellaneous home orders or Job work. No
piece Of work leaves the foundry until il bos
been thoroughly inspected by one of tbe
. ptoprlelors and found perfect.
IA. a sample of telegraphie news
sensations, or rather exaggeratlon, the
recent announcement that meteor had
fallen upon and killed man in Ind ana.