Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1896-04-13
THE PERCIVAL MANUFA CTURINC
COMPANY.

! Within the last few years there has
grown up in the village of Barton man
ufacturing enterprise which has become of
much Importance to the village and vicin
ity. A few years since G. T. Percival, who
had been for some time manufacturer
and dealer in furniture, exchanged his
block and furniture store building with j.
P. Baldwin for the saw-miI property on
Water street and partnership was soon
formed consisting of Mr.. Percival Mr..
Baldwin and his two sons, Geo. G. of CAL
ifornia and Charles G. of this village. The
proposition was to manufacture certain
specialties, consisting chiefly of lounges,
chairs and other upholstered furniture.
Mr.. Percival, who owned all the real es-
tate, power, ETC., contracted to make the
frames, and all woodwork by the piece,
delivering the same to the company at
stipulated price. The company finished,
upholstered and otherwise prepared the
goods and put them the market. In
order to meet the requirements, Mr.. Perez
val was compelled at once to erect new
buildings, add new machinery, and from
that day on there has been a constant
adding to the manufacturing plant. The
y
still doing considera BILE business in the
custom line, besides saving the lumber
that goes into the furniture. An additional
story was put on to the mill, large ell
built, a light dynamo put in and facilities
increased sufficient for the employment of
twenty-five or thirty men in this building.
Tracks were laid to the yard, extensive
sheds built for seasoning lumber and
sawdust elevator was erected. Soon after
large boiler was put in for heating the
buildings, a Sturtevant blower being put
in to force the air through underground
conduits to all the buildings, where even
and sufficient heat is had at all times. An
exhaust and blower was also put into the
mill and furniture mandatory, which re-
moves all the shavings, dust and light ma
terial, delivering the same through blow
pipes to the boiler room. A small engine
is run to propel the Sturtevant blower.
! There is a department in the boiler house
where certain ornamental work for the
adornment of furniture is made. Steam
is conducted to the shop buildings to be
used for heating glue and other purposes.
The upper part of the boiler house is used
as dry kiln, where the air dried lumber is
most thoroughly kiln dried, to be removed
to the manufacturing building on truck
cars. 1t is then taken to the cutting up
room where it is suitably cut for the uses
to which it is to be put; from this room
it is carried to another department, where
it is planed and prepared for the second
story rooms. Here the lumber passes
through the hands of several workers, and
a variety of machines, to be turned into
frames for upholstered work or into fur
niture. The machinery in these rooms is
special and performs almost all sorts of
work. There are jigger and buzz saws,
boring machines, formers, smoothers, cary
ing machines and an expensive thing in
the line of ornamenting wood, which en-
bosses any plain hard wood, leaving the
impress of vine, flower, figure or other
character for which cylinder dies have
prepared. The ornamental work from
this machine very pretty and is used
about much of the furniture that is made
in this esta blishment.
1t is the intention to make every piece of
furniture SO strong that it will stand any
ordinary usage without failure in any part;
to accomplish this much extra labor and
material is required; but it has enhanced
the value of the goods among all the deal
ers who have used them.
Passing out of the shop rooms,t the frames
and furniture go to the finish and paint
rooms. Here an experienced man, +. E.
| LiddeII with needed assistants, looks after