The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-07-21
THE LATE HIRAM ". HAYDEN.
One Of Waterbury's Leading Manufac-
 turers for Many Years.

turers for Many Years.
 The following sketch of the life of Hiram Washington Hayden, of Water bury. is taken from the History of Wa terbury, and was written by one who
 had a keenly appreciative sympathy with Mir. Hayden's artistic side: Hiram Washington Hayden, son of
 Joseph Hayden and Ruhamah (Guil- ford) Hayden, and of the eighth gene ration in descent from John Haiden, founder of the Braintree branch or the family, was born in Haydenville, Mass,
 February 10, 1920, and came to Water
 bury with his parents when an infant.
 He received a common eschool educa ton at the old Waterbury academy.
 When the firm of J. M. l. & w. H.
 Scoville was seeking some one to chase
 or engrave metal buttons-at that time an unknown art in this country MT.
 Hayden was induced to try the work,
 as he had even at that early period de- veloped the love for art which has since become his distinguished characteristic. He found the work too confining and
 abandoned 1t but was afterward in- tduced to resume 1t, and thus it hap pened that lie made the first chased buttons manufactured by the Scovills, which were probably the first made in the United States. He removed to
 wolcotville in 1888. to i'll an engage nfent with Wadhafns & Go. button manufacturers, but returned to Sco- will & Co. in 1S4f, where he made all the important dies for buttons and medals until 1853.
 While In Wolcottville his attention was drawn to the manufacture of brass kettles by the eold-fashioned copper smith method Ca speciality of the Vol lcottville Brass Company, and he soon devised more effective way of mak- ling them. Iii the old method there was l a tendency to make the metal thinner at the angle formed by the bottom and 1 sides of the kettle, where really the greatest strength was needed. Tn MT.
 Haydens process the metal at this 1 point is the thiekest. He patented his invention December IS, 1851, and sub sequently sold 1t to the Waterbury
 Brass company. This discovery com pletely revolutionized the manufacture of brass and copper kettles and is at the present time the only method in l use.
 In 1858 MT. Hayden joined Israel
 Holmes, John c. Booth and Henry H.
 Hayden in the organization of the com- l pany known as Holmes, Booth & Hay dens. He had been connected with the
 company, chiefly in it's manufacturing department throughout its history, and since it's formation has never been ab- Isent from the stockholders annual meeting.
 I MT. Hayden has taken out remark fable number of patents in the United States and in Europe, a large majority
 of which have been assigned to Holmes,
 Booth & Hayden. Among his many Inventions may De mentioned breech-
 loading rifle, magazine rifle and a
 breech-loading cannon, which, although
 not adopted by the government, were lextremely practical, the principles they embodies being found in the arms of to-day. A machine for making solid material tubing, which he invented, was sold to parties in Pittsburg,
 l His love for art. which showed itself
 lat an early age led him into the devel- opment of the daguerreotype. While
 engaged in this way the idea occurred to him of taking pictures on paper. A scientific article on this subject, written
 by him in 1851, but never published, en- l titles him to the, honor of being an in dependent discoverer of the photo Igraphic process. The Waterbury
 American of February 14, 1853, con- tained the following notice of his dis coyery:
 l Hiram Hayden, ingenious artist of
 this village, has shown us three land-
 scape views taken by the usual da-
 guerrean apparatus upon a white pa- per surface, all at one operation. This lis the first successful attempt to pro-
 duce positive picture by this extraor- Idinary medium. The pictures exhibit
 the effect of light and shade, similar to a fine engraving, bringing out the most
 delicate minutiae with the fidelity of
 the ordinary daguerreotype. For many
 purposes this improvement will be of great importance, as it will enable the Operator to produce views and portraits ofiany size that may be required and lat a cheap rate. We understand that MT. Hayden has made application to secure patent upon a mode of prepar- ling the paper previous to it's use
 I His studies in photography have been lmast continuous since this early peri