St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1886-04-15
DEATH OF SIR THADDEUS
FAIRBANKS.
The Inventor.---The Benefactor.---Th'
Man.

The Inventor.---The Benefactor.---The
The tolling of the South church bell
on Monday morning last, announced
to this community the death OF Its
loved and respected citizen, Sir Thad-
deus Fairbanks. This event which
had been expected for several days
past occurred at his home at 80 a. m.
after painful illness caused by his
falling down in the vestibule of his
house nearly two weeks ago. 1t was
hoped at first by himself and his friends
that he would rally from the effects OF
this accident, but these hopes were
destined to be disappointed. The
shock to his system was such as to in
duce IA complication of diseases from
which he suffered intensely much OF
the time, growing weaker and weaker
till the end. He became conscious OF
his situation during the last days and
expressed implicit and joyful conf
dence in God, and a desire to depart
and be with Christ. Though called so
unexpectedly, his work was done, and
his life closed in perfect peace, as he
fell asleep in the Lord, and entered
upon the abiding rest beyond. "Pre-
ciOus ia the sight of the Lord is the
death of His saints"
The story of His Life.
Thaddeus Fairbanks was born al
Brimfield, Mass, January IL, 1896.
His parents, Joseph and Phoebe Fair
banks, with their children, removed to
st. JOhnsbury in 1915 when Thaddeus
was 10 years old. Joseph Fairbanks
united the occupations of farmer and
carpenter, thus the son was early made
acquainted with the use of tools and
was brought up to life of activity
The father aided by the son at once
erected saw-mill on Sleeper's river
utilizing the power that has since been
used by the scale company, adding
thereto soon after Il grist-mill. The
buildings completed Thaddeus began
second floor of the mill and continued
in the business alone from 1915 to
1924, when his brother, Erastus, be-
came a member of the firm under the
firm name of E. 81 II. Fairbanks. The
following year the manufacture OF
stoves and cast iron plOws was add
ed to the business, all the patterns be
ing made by Thaddeus. Cast iron
plOws were new things in those days
and the farmers were 10th to adopt
them fearing that they would break
when used, but this prejudice was soon
overcome. His next invention was
the Haynes machine for dressing hemp
and a building So 25 was erected
where the scale shop now is, in which
to build these machines, and two other
buildings, one for dressing hemp and
the other for storing it, were also built
under his direction.
THE FIRST PLATFORM SCALE.
But all these movements were only
stepping stones to the final invention
that made the name of Fairbanks a
household word the world over. In
1880 the hemp industry occupied the
minds and the hands of the people.
Entire farms in this county were de-
voted to raising this product. The St.
JOhnsbury Hemp company was a nat
ural OutgrOwth of it all and Thaddeus
Fairbanks was it's manager. This COM
pany and E. 81 Il. Fairbanks were the
principal buyers of the product in this
section and it became necessary to
provide for weighing the hemp-straw,
the best of which was worth SIS ton,
and accurate weighing was matter of
some Importance. The only scales in
use in those days were the eventual
ance, and the Roman steelyard. The
only device for weighing carts was a
lever Ga stick of timber) suspended
high up from a gallows-frame, from
the short arm of which chains hung
that could be hooked around the cart
axle, and from long arm platform
on which weights could be placed.
Thaddeus at once made a rude plat
form arrangement which, however,
answered the purpose very well, so
much so that his brother Erastus, con-
ceived the idea of making them for
sale as town scales for weighing hay.
An agent had been engaged to go on
the road and sell them. He was to
take the stage at o'clock on certain
morning. While sitting up that he
might call the agent Mr.. Fairbanks
spent the night in thinking how the
scale might be improved and it was
while thus engaged that the principle
upon which the scale of to-day is built
came to his mind. The agent was
called up and told that he might delay
his trip n few days and the wife was
told that there would be no early
breakfast to get that morning, for,
said Mr.. Fairbanks to her, 81 have dis
covered a principle that l wouldn't
take a thousand dollars for.- Within
a fortnight scale that was patented
early in 1881 had been made and test
ed, and the problem was solved.
These first scales were built largely
to supply the call for weighing hay
and bulky articles. There began soon
to he "A demand for better article and
a greater variety of scales for other
purposes. The platform scale was