Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1921-09-13

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chine to print table cloths. This was
the first machine of the kind ever
built and Sampson bought the patent
rights to it from his relative. Two
large buildings. each four stories
high, were added to the plant and
they were so constructed that the
printing machine was placed in a
connecting wing between the two
The reason for this was to expedite
the handling of material. The ma,
chine, though about rs feet long. was
constructed on pivot and turned to
deliver the finished product in each
building. The printed cloth was run
into one building until the dry rooms
were filled; then the machine was
turned to fill the other.
Alton Pope, who had taken over
the business from his father, sold his
interest to Sampson, his partner, in
1850. Under the ownership of the
latter, the business grew rapidly and
goods were shipped to markets all
over the United States. Many young
men were employed in the factory
and itkwas not surprising that some
of them would recognize the i'm
portance of the industry. The result
was that some of them opened fac
tories for themselves in different
parts of Maine after learning the
trade from Pope and Sampson. But,
as the number of factories increased,
the market also grew for the sales
country.
The idea of manufac turinS oiled
floor cloth originated under the own
ership of the Pope family. John
Pope experimental with burlap sacks
at first and discovered the advantage
of this kind of a floor covering over
the hand loom product, especially in
parts of the house where use was
greatest. After experimenting to his
own satisfaction, he felt out the mar
ket through his statesmen and found
his new floor covering ready seller.
Manchester dropped out of the oil
table and floor cloth business in 1860
when the factory of Alden Sampson
was entirely destroyed by fire. For
awhile, Sampson considered rebuild
ing on the ruins of his industry, but
later decided he would take adj
vantage of the misfortune of others.
OF the many who had learned the
business in his Manchester factory,
not all had been successful. He
found several closed factories in sec
lions of Maine and Immediately
leased the best site for his new enter
prise. But this lasted only a short
time when he moved to Mispah, near
Brooklyn, n. Y, and there erected his
permanent factory.
Since 1860 the only remembrance
of the once thriving business. that
meant so much to the town and made
it one of the liveliest in, the state in
that day, is an occasional block or
frame for printing that turns up
among the ancient relics in the Man
chester attics, though few, if any,
can be found today. The site of the
big factory is now a hay field
When John Pope dropped out OF
end his industry building at Man
chester. He had another son of true
Yankee instincts. Jacob by name,
who was anxious to get into some
thing for himself He did not take to
the oil-cloth industry, but was more
mechanically inclined. John Pope
had placed the oil cloth business on
a sound basis when he sold out in
1888, two years after starting, and in
another. two years had done the same
trick with hay forks In 1888, now
ing machines, horse rakes, patent hay
leaders and horse forks We're idle
dreams. Haying was a mans job.
All mechanical devises, scythes and
hand forks, were constructed for
power and weight. The more labor
there was attending the handling of
hay, the better.
John Pope thought the hand forks
were too heavy. Up to the time he
began to NEEDLE with the old system
of handling hay, the more iron a
manufacturer could get into the two
tines of a fork the greater was the
value in lifting power. Pope thought
better While he continued the idea
of making forks by hand. as was the
custom, he experimental with tenn
pering the tines. He soon found he
could reduce the Size and weight Of
the fork. For days and weeks he and
his son pounded out forks by hand
and tempered them. Then he started
out to market
Right there, when he met the users
face to face, he found his first set
back. The fellow who had used a big
and cumbersome fork all his life
one that weighed about as much as
the hay he could lift on it-knew the
lighter one would not be strong
enough to answer the purpose. Pope
was rebuffed, but not discouraged.
He took his new fork out into the hav
field and gathered many backac hes
demonstrating that he could lift as
much on it as with the old style.
When he could not demonstrate in
the field, he laid the fork down on the
barn floor and jumped on it to prove
it would neither bend or break.
Either of these experiments served to
prove his claim and the new fork be-
came so popular that the factory at
Manchester became busy place.
Pitchfork making was not a pleas
ant task in those days. The metal
parts were pounded out by hand.
For handles. small hornbeam trees
were gathered from the nearby tim
her 1ofs and fashioned into sb,r>