The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-09-26
Birth of Brass In
 Waterbury Revived
Early Development to Be Shown in Hartford Exhibit
 in OctOber-JOhn H. GOss Exposition Chairman

HHrt1OIQ m OCtODer tuer0 VIII pc graphic presentation of the dram- atic saga of the brass industry. The evolution of the metal win be shown from it's earliest stage of acidental birth in the Copper Age to it's present high technical de- veiopment whereby Connecticut produces more than half of the nations manufactured brass supply represented by more than half a million different products.
 This important product traces a lineage through one of its ele- ments, copper, to prehistoric days, to ancient Egypt in the reign of the Pharaohs, to Crete, Greece, Rome. medieval monasteries, and early craftsmen. Today the Nauga- tuck Valley may justly be called the center of the worlds brass in- dustry with a history rooted deep in the lives of industrial giants possessed with remarkable fore sight and courage.
 Waterbury is now known as the Brass City and rightly so, for it houses many of the industry's leading manufacturers. As a vil- lage called Mattatuck 1t supplied the early Americans with brass buttons, then the latest vogue. The miraculous thing about the birth and early development of the brass industry in the Naugatuck Valley is that It's founders had nothing but obstacles facing them, with a few favorable factors for the promotion of such an enter prise. When the General Assembly purchased tract from the Indians of 10 by IS miles which now in- cludes Waterbury, Watertown, Ply mouth and parts of Middlebury, Wolcott Oxford and Prospect, it was thought capable of supporting only 30 families. Today the popu- lation is in the hundreds of thou sands.
 With no natural resources at hand in the early days, no tariff for protection, few skilled work men, and practically no knowledge of manufacturing methods or tools whereby to develop methods, the leading brass center in the United States was established. England, with its industrial center at Birm- fngham, held supremacy and jeal- ously guarded centuries old guild secrets. It was only after a con- stant battle against these adverse circumstances that the Connecticut Yankee gained a foothold in the brass manufacturing industry.
 shiny Buttons Popular.
 Southern gentlemen on spacious plantations with tremendous acres of tobacco or cotton under cuIti- vstion were fond of stylish clothes and clothes accessories, including shiny brass buttons of broadcloth coats. Yankee peddlers set out from Waterbury with wagons or packs of notions" including clocks and brass buttons. These early buttons were cast in bullet moulds and were considered a great luxury in the South. Often, brass buttons were bartered for the rice or in- digo of the Carolinas, and the Yankee peddler returned with a variety of agricultural products as well as money. Brass button manufacturing was largely a house. hold affair in the farmers dwellings of the Naugatuck valley, all of the butons being made individually and shaped by hand. Three alternatives faced these early settlers - emil grafton to the west, tilling of their own limited acres, or entrance into new commercial or industrial en- terprises.
 The earliest American brass was cast in the foundry of John Win 5throp in 1644 at Lynn, Massa- chusetts, and the products of his concern were brass cannon, stills and kettles which were made be- fore and after the Revolutionary War by his successors. In 179O Henry Grilley and his two brothers began the manufacture of pewter buttons in Waterbury as the firse step beyond the household indus try. The Connecticut brass indus try really started when Abel and Levi Porter came to Waterbury from Southington. associated, them selves with the Grilleys, and sold out to Leavenworth, Hayden and Scovill in 1911. This latter con- cern was the first on the American continent to make brass by the di- rect fusion of copper and zinc, and to roll brass for manufacture.
 Copper was obtained by pur- chasing old stiNs, kettles, and ship sheathing, while all the raw ma terial was imported. Ingots were rough rolled in Litchfield and fin- ished in Waterbury between steel rolls two inches in diameter which were driven by horse power and a treadmill. Buttons for uniforms and garments were the chief brass articles in demand and England was large competitor for the American market.
 The English buttons were favor ed because of a gold plating proc ess which gave the buttons a su- perior gild and shine. James Croft, an Englishman, was secured by a Waterbury concern and he revealed the British method of making golden" by introducing machinery and an expert toolmaker from GSAi6 IIOH 4oEV LO 1oOV tne brass industry passed through the experimental stage with industriali- zation, and a consequent factory system and division of labor, sup planting the household pewter but ton industry. In 1923 Aaron Bene- dict, pioneer developer in what was later the American Brass Company, associated himself with the brass industry and also used English la- bor and machinery.
 Clever Smuggling.
 Some of the cleverest industrial smuggling in American history occurred when Israel Holmes, a former employe of Scovill and founder of six brass companies, secreted laborers and skilled ma- chinists in wooden kegs. The work men were placed in casks in Eng land until on board ship. and re- AnfAPoA fhnun nnnfatnnva 4,,uf hn-