Hinkley & Williams Locomotive Works

Allgemeines

FirmennameHinkley & Williams Locomotive Works
OrtssitzBoston (Mass.)
StraßeAlbany Street 439
Art des UnternehmensLokomotivfabrik und Kesselschmiede
AnmerkungenBis 1861 [Hinchman] unter der Firma "Boston Locomotive Works" (s.d.); lt. [Wikipedia] bis 1859. 1861 - 1864 für drei Jahre unter der Firma "Hinkley, Williams & Company" mit Daniel F. Child und Adams Ayer als weitere Teilhaber. [Wiley]: nur "Hinkley & Williams". 1874: Präsident, Adams Ayer; Leiter der Finanzen, F. L. Bullard; Leiter, H. L. Leach. Adresse auch: Harrison Avenue. Ab 1872 als "Hinkley Locomotive Works" (s.d.); [Hinchman] gibt dafür schon 1870 an, im Adreßbuch jedoch noch 1872 als "Hinkley & Williams" verzeichnet, dort für 1875 als "Hinkley Locomotive Works". Nach Bankrott (1880) als "Hinkley Locomotive Company" [Wikipedia].
Quellenangaben[Wiley: American iron trade manual (1874) 26] Wikipedia [Hinchman: Holmes Hinkley, an industrial pioneer (1913) 25] [Bishop: History of American manufacturers 3 (1868) 297]




Unternehmensgeschichte

Zeit Ereignis
1828 Holmes Hinkley mietet ein altes Gebäude an der Lenox street, Boston Neck beginnt als Maschinenbauer. - Später arbeitet er zusammen mit Mr. Freeney unter der Firma "Hinkley & Freeney".
1840 Das Ursprungsunternehmen von Holmes Hinkley beginnt an dieser Stelle den Lokomotivbau.
1848 Gründung des Vorgänger-Unternehmens "Boston Locomotive Works" durch Umwandlung aus "Hinkley & Freeney". Hinkley wird Präsident und Superintendent.
Frühjahr 1861 Jarvis Williams, der vorher eine Gießerei in Biddeford, Me., betrieben hatte, kommt nach Boston, um wieder eine Gießerei zu betreiben. Er entschließt sich, sich mit Hinkley zu vereinigen und einen Teil der früher im Besitz der "Boston Locomotive Works" befindlichen Anlagen zu erwerben. Es wird eine Co-Partnerschaft gebildet, die aus den Herren Holmes Hinkley, Jarvis Williams, Daniel F. Child und Adams Ayer besteht, unter der Firma "Hinkley, Williams & Co.", zur Herstellung von Lokomotiven, Kesseln, Tanks, Gußwaren und Maschinen.
04.1861 Nachdem Hinkley die "Boston Locomotive Works" bis April in kleinem Maßstab weitergeführt hatte, wird er für drei Jahre zum Partner von Daniel F. Child, Adams Ayer und Jarvis Williams.
1863 Hinkley sieht die künftigen Wünsche der Eisenbahnen voraus und schlägt seinen Partnern die Erweiterung des Werks vor und bietet ihnen sogar die Errichtung einer Lokomotivwerkstatt auf eigene Rechnung vor. Der Plan führt zur Gründung der "The Hinkley & Williams' Works".
04.1864 Gründung als Nachfolger der "Boston Locomotive Works"
18.04.1864 Umwandlung in eine Aktiengesellschaft unter der Firma "Hinkley and Willams Works". Holmes Hinkley erhält 80.000, Daniel F. Child, Adams Ayer und Jarvis Williams erhalten jeweils 40.000.
08.02.1866 Tod von Holmes Hinkley an Bauchfellentzündung. - Die Unternehmensleitung setzt sich danach zusammen aus: Adams Ayer, Präsident; Jarvis Williams, Finanzleiter und Geschäftsführer; Henry L. Leach, Betriebsleiter; er bildet mit Daniel F. Child und Francis L. Bullard das Direktorium.
1866 Jarvis Williams übernimmt nach dem Tod von Holmes Hinkley allein die Firmenleitung. [Vergl. Eintrag zum Tode von H. Hinkley]
1870 Tod von Jarvis Williams
1872 Umwandlung in "Hinkley Locomotive Company"




Produkte

Produkt ab Bem. bis Bem. Kommentar
Gußeisen 1874 [Wiley: American iron trade (1874)] 1874 [Wiley: American iron trade (1874)] Vorgabe: Iron foundry
Kessel 1874 [Wiley: American iron trade (1874)] 1874 [Wiley: American iron trade (1874)] Vorgabe: boilers
Lokomotiven 1861 Umfirmierung 1872 Umfirmierung Vorgabe: Locomotives
Maschinerie 1874 [Wiley: American iron trade (1874)] 1874 [Wiley: American iron trade (1874)] Vorgabe: machinery
Tanks 1874 [Wiley: American iron trade (1874)] 1874 [Wiley: American iron trade (1874)] Vorgabe: tanks




Firmen-Änderungen, Zusammenschüsse, Teilungen, Beteiligungen


Zeit = 1: Zeitpunkt unbekannt

Zeit Bezug Abfolge andere Firma Kommentar
1872 Umbenennung danach Hinkley Locomotive Works  
1861 Umbenennung zuvor Boston Locomotive Works  




Allgemeines

ZEIT1868
THEMAFirmenbeschreibung
TEXTLocated on Harrison Avenue, are entitled to rank among the great Iron Works and Machine Shops of Boston. The organization of the Company, under its present corporate title, dates only from April, 1864, but it may be called the successor of the "Boston Locomotive Works", which was incorporated in 1848, and the works occupy a site where Locomotives have been built since 1840. The buildings are very extensive, and, with the yards, cover an area of five acres of ground. They are erected in two parallel ranges, which are connected by a building sixty by thirty-five feet, and used as a Copper and Sheet Iron Shop. The Machine Shop, which is new, is two hundred and ten feet long by sixty feet wide. All the shops are provided with appropriate tools of modern construction, and, in busy seasons, furnish employment to several hundred men. These Works are a monument to the energy, foresight and practical genius of their founder - Holmes Hinkley, Esq., the late President of the Company. His history is the record of an eventful life, abounding in remarkably successful achievements, mechanical and financial, and equally unexpected and startling reverses. The son of very poor parents, he was early inured to hardship. At an age when others are at school, acquiring the rudiments of an education, he was compelled to go out into the world, and seek his own means of sustenance. He first learned the trade of carpenter, and, in early manhood, plied the implements of that craft. Subsequently, he was employed as a patternmaker of machinery for factories, and here acquired a sufficient knowledge of mechanical principles, to venture upon the construction of machinery. Accordingly, in 1826, he rented an old building on Lenox street, Boston Neck, and, with his accumulated earnings - a capital of two hundred and fifty dollars - he began his career as a machinist. His first bars of iron, he carried on his shoulders from the store, where they were purchased, to his place of business. Among his early attempts at Machine-making, was the construction of a Stationary Steam Engine, which, when finished, was the third one built in the State of Massachusetts. It was an entire success, and the demand for his engines so rapidly increased, that, previous to 1840, he had constructed a larger number than any other machinist in New England. In 1840, he undertook to build a Locomotive upon a somewhat different model from any then in use. His friends sought to discourage him from the undertaking, while there were not wanting those who sneered at what they termed his "reckless attempt." But he worked on, cheered only by his own faith in ultimate success. When this machine was completed, it was difficult to find a purchaser; but, finally, the Eastern Railroad bought it, and placed it on the Portland end of the line. He proceeded at once to build four more; and before they were completed, the success of the first Locomotive was so well assured, that all of them were ordered, and, in two years, ten were contracted for and delivered. From this time until 1848, Mr. Hinkley, in connection with Mr. Freeney, under the style of Hinkley & Freeney, made the building of Locomotives his principal business. During this period, the Hinkley Engine attained a reputation and popularity second to none in the country. In 1848, a Company was organized and incorporated under the title of the "Boston Locomotive Works", with Mr. Hinkley as President and Superintendent. The buildings were greatly enlarged, the Locomotive shop was extended to a length of more than four hundred feet, and the business so rapidly prospered, that, in 1857, the property of the Company was valued at upwards of a half million of dollars. At this time, Mr. Hinkley resigned the superintendence of the details of the business into the hands of younger men, who, however, were found inadequate to the task of piloting the vessel through the breakers of that stormy period. Almost in an hour, he saw the structure which he had reared by years of faithful labor, overwhelmed and buried in a mass of ruins. He was now sixty-six years of age; and few men of that age would have had the courage to undertake the task of remedying the consequences of so great a disaster. With true Yankee "pluck", however, which cannot fail to excite respect and admiration, he determined to make the attempt. He took a lease of the works from the assignees, and associating his son-in-law, Rev. Adams Ayer, with himself, he proceeded to gather up, by a slow and toilsome effort, the scattered threads of business. And now the advantage of an unsullied character, and a life of sturdy integrity, became manifest. When the iron merchants, with whom the corporation had dealt, and who had suffered largely from its failure, were asked to open a line of credit, they cheerfully assented; and one firm freely offered to supply whatever was needed, at a discount from the regular prices, in order to aid, as they said, so deserving a man. The managers of the various railroads in New England, who, in the meanwhile, had carried their orders elsewhere, brought again their work of repairs to his shops, and the close of the year showed a very successful business. In the Spring of 1861, Mr. Jarvis Williams, who had formerly carried on the Foundry business in Biddeford, Me., and who had won for himself an honorable name for enterprise and integrity, came to Boston to re-establish himself in the same line of business. A survey of the prospects, in connection with the works then in operation, induced him to unite with Mr. Hinkley in the purchase of a part of the premises, formerly owned by the Boston Locomotive Works, when a copartnership was formed, consisting of Messrs. Holmes Hinkley, Jarvis Williams, Daniel F. Child, and Adams Ayer, under the style of Hinkley, Williams & Co., for the manufacture of Locomotives, Boilers, Tanks, Castings, and machine work generally. Soon after the formation of the copartnership, the attack was made upon Fort Sumter, which inaugurated the war of the rebellion, and caused a general stagnation in business. For many months, the prospect was very dark. It was not long, however, before it became manifest that the Government would need all the assistance it could obtain from all the foundries in the country, and the firm mentioned accepted a contract, from the Naval Department, for two thousand shells, though, at that time, it was not expected that the order would be increased. Accordingly, preparations were made, by putting up new furnaces, and the erection of additional buildings, to supply ordnance and projectiles as they might be needed. The war proved to be of longer duration than was expected, and, during its existence, the firm supplied upwards of fifty thousand shot and shell, and more than one hundred guns of ten and eleven-inch calibre. In 1863, Mr. Hinkley, foreseeing the future wants of the Railroads, proposed to his partners an extension of their works, and even offered to erect a Locomotive Shop on his own account. The wisdom of his proposition was not at once perceived; but, after a time, an arrangement was made to carry out his plan, which resulted in the organization and incorporation of "The Hinkley & Williams' Works", April, 1864. Since that date, the managers of the works have confined their operations to the manufacture of Locomotives, Boilers and Railroad Machinery. They construct a Boiler, invented by Mr. Hinkley, which is very favorably spoken of for its great economy in the use of fuel. Their Locomotives, to the number of several hundred, are in use on many railroads; and, in point of workmanship, are equal to any made in this country. Mr. Hinkley was chosen the first President of the new Company, and held that position until his death, February 8tb, 1866. Since his decease, the organization is as follows: Adams Ayer, President; Jarvis Williams, Treasurer and General Manager; Henry L. Leach, Superintendent; who, with Daniel F. Child and Francis L. Bullard, constitute the Board of Directors.
QUELLE[Bishop: History of American manufacturers 3 (1868) 297]