The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-03-15
FARRELL PLEASED
WITH COMMERCIAL
CONDITIONS HERE
Head of New Enterprise Tells
Why He Located in
Bridgeport

William H. Farrell, president of
Bridgeport Screw Co., one of the lat
est of the new industries to settle
in Bridgeport. delivered an interesting
address at the annual meeting of the
Board of Trade last evening. He
pointed out the natural advantages of
Bridgeport, and it's commercial ad-
vantages in that it depended not up
on specialized line of commercial
activity sbut~a wonderful diversity OF
products. He went into the subject
of the manufacture of screws, detail.
ing the history of the development OF
the industry.
Following is the address of Mr.. Far
reil:
Mr.. President and Gentlemen of the
Board OF Trade:
your very able and energetic pres
ident, Mr.. Enos. has invited me to
make some remarks relative to the
manufacture of wood screws.
'.As a preamble, wish to state that
il gives me q great deal of pleasure
TO meet you in the board room to-
night You. az manufacturers and
merchants. have the interest of
Brdgepore at heart, and very deserv-
'sYou have a large and diversified
line of manufactured goods. which
always goes to make a city elastic
and resilient and even in dull Pc
RODS there il a large percentage of
your citizens employed solely through
this diversity Of manufacture.
You also have many natural ad-
v0UtRgeS over other communities, such
al water and rail shipping facilities,
and your large markets are close at
hand. and. approximately, you have
within a. radius of 400 miles 100000
600 people who are buyers and con-
sumers Of your various lines of manu-
facture.
Bridgeport Fortunate.
Divine providence has been more
than generous in creating natural con-
ditions. These conditions may be &C.
CELEBRATED and have been-largely
through athe untiring efforts of your
president with the cooperation of the
members Of the board of trade, for,
after all, it is the lieutenants and rank
and file that achieve the results.
The greater part of my manufac-
turing career has been spent in COM
munities which specialized ON one line
of manufacture. While this may
work out well, you have always the
conditions confronting you of dull pc
RODS, which in such communities fall
. entirely on the whole people, making
these periods most distressing both to
the manufacturer and merchant, and
to the smaller retailers who have to
carry their customers through the de-
preston
From my observation of Bridge
port these conditions are to a great
extent obviated by what / have be-
fore stated-diversity of manufacture
which you enjoy to a greater extent
than cities of a much larger popula-
tion.
Now. as to the manufacture Of
screws. When screws were first made
and put into use is unknown.
The early method was to forge the
blanks. then to make the heads by
pinching while red-hot between dies
and filing to form threads. -,.e.-.
Three Machines Used.
The first application of machinery
to the making of screws on record
was made in France by Besson who
constructed a screw cutting gauge to
be used in a lathe. This device was
further improved by Hindley watch
maker of York, England. in 1S41, and
for many years was in general use by
watchmakers in that country for max
ing the small screws used in their
work.
The first patent was granted to
Job and William Wyatt, of England,
in 1860.
Three distinct machines were used
one for banking, one for slotting
or nfcking the heads. and the other
for cutting threads.
Between that date and 1910 some
10 patents were granted in England
The only successful patent granted
during that period was the one grant
ed to Miles Berry in 1887, which waS
for a gimlet pointed screw. 1t was
of mechanical value owing to the
principle which he evolved in the ma
chine. The product from this ma
chine was of no commercial value