Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1902-04-16
A SUCCESSFUL ENTERPRISE.
The Southern Shuttle and Bobbln Factory
Grows Larger all the Time.

If there is any one th;pg which, more
than another, has given Westminster a
reputation abroad it is the Westmins ter
| shuttle
This insignificant little piece of pol
ished persimmon, the shuttle, has grown
to be very powerful sort of proposition
in the South, as little thing as It is. In
fact 1T has come to pass that where there
are no shuttlos in the South, there is no
enterprise, the word shuttle having come
to be synonymous with progress and de-
veiopment
Westminster is the birthplace of the
Southern shuttle; here it first saw light;
here it had its earliest struggle for fife |;
| here it braved the senseless prejudice of
Eastern makers, who for a while, won
dered at the nerve of the modest little
South Carolina town; wondered and then
wept, as it were, when, after repeated
out of the business, they were forced to
acknowledge its superiority and bow to
its merit. To-day the Westminster shut
tie finds its way into every State in the
Union, and is regarded as the best arti-
Gle on the market
| But the Southern Shuttle and Bobbin
Company, bright though its past has
been, is scheduled for a still greater de-
velopment, for its output has been or is
being doubled. Mr.. j. Elwood Cox, the
new owner, has consolidated tho Pied
mont Shuttle Factory, a small North
Carolina concern, with the home plant.
Thus the shuttle factory is in the
hands of the block-stock king of America
Mr.. Cox virtually controls all the stock
only the Eastern, but very large per
cent of the foreign manufacturers, make
their sbuttles. Mr.. Cox is from High
Point, N. c., where he makes his home,
but his business of corrallng the dog
wood, persimmon and other hard woods
of the country keeps him pretty nearly
all the time on the road, so that it comes
about that the present management of
the shuttle factory falls largely upon the
shoulders of Mr.. III. b. Worth, secretary,
and also owner of good slice of stock.
Mr.. III. A. White, of High Point, N. c.,
is the other new stockholder, and these
gentlemen constitute the board of direc-
tors. Mr.. II. j. Norris, the efficient
superintendent, and Will Brown, fore
man, are the only other stockholders,
Mr.. w. p. Anderson, who may properly
be called the father of the Westminster
shuttle, having disposed of his holdings
to Mr.. Cox.
With the doubling OF the capacity of
the plant, the shuttle output will aver
age 1000 dozen a: month, and in the
neighborhood of about 100000 spools
per year. These products and their at
tachments, Wrappers, skeiners, ETC., have
heretofore been the only manufacture,
but the present management, with its
increased capitalization, will at once
begin the manufacture of the bObbin
also, a line which will add very mate
rally to tho enterprise.
To accommodate this new work a
detached brick structure of ample pro-
portions will be constructed, to be
devoted to the forge and machine shop,
the additional machinery thus finding
floor room in the main building. These
improvements are all under Roadway,
and will soon be completed.
The capital stock has been increased to
$4,000, and the fact that Mr.. Cox can
have the pick of The block stock of the
country to manufacture from, argues a
lot for still greater celebrity for the
Westminster shuttle. It's superiority
will be improved, if indeed such thing
can be done.
When the Westminster shuttle first
made its bow to the weaving world in
| 1S05, or thereabOuts, it met cold recep-
ton. The Eastern shuttle's nose turned
up to an angle of 45 degrees, and they at
first secuted at the idea. But by and by
the Westminster shuttle, after few
hundred dozen had found their way into
the factories of the country, began to get
a hearing-to find a welcome. War was
declared against it by the combined
shuttle factories of the country, which,
just about this time, 1893, had organized
into a combine, and the modest, but
brave, little Westminster shuttle was
swept fore and aft by the big guns of
competition, entrenched, as they sup
posed they were, behind the strong fox
tifications of prestige, wealth and long
| establishment. For while there was
bombardment to cheat the band," as the
| ga hut l,a to,, .l,, a.
was not annihilated. When it all blew
away the Westminster shuttle was still
on the high ground of merit, flying the
unscarred flags of excellence.
That flag has been there ever since, for
it is merit that has made the Westmin-
stor shuttle famous.
The first folks who conceived the idea
of the shuttle factory, in 1894, were
Messrs. Y. e. Pitts and @. e. Gray, of
| our town. A year or so later they inter-
ested Messrs. Spaulding and Duff, two
strangers, who seem to have had indif.
fer"nt success. In 1903 Mr.. w. P. Ander-
sor, who had some capital all the while
invested in it, took hold Of the thing,
capitalized it at $35, 900, and went into
shuttles to win. That he has won is
attested by the fact that to-day the de-
mand for the Westminster shuttle is
greater than the capacity of the plant,
even with that capacity doubled, as it
| now is.
| Westminster is proud of its shuttle
factory, for, like all our other manufac-
| foriaa r 10 ha nf -.