into fine numbers of iron wire. The entire process 

 at that time was of the crudest character. The wire 

 rods, instead of being rolled as at present, were made 

 from slabs forged at some one or other of the Penn- 

 sylvania charcoal furnaces, taken to a mill on Chester 

 creek, rolled into flats, passed through slitting rolls 

 made for slitting nail rods, leaving them about '/' 

 square and not over 6 feet in length. 



Grandfather induced the proprietor of this slitting 

 mill to erect a furnace for reheating these rods and 

 to have some grooves turned in his plate rolls, 

 thinking that by passing two or three times through 

 these grooves would give a good round wire rod; 

 but it was not a success, the slit rods were rough and 

 irregular on their corners; on passing through the 

 rolls corner pins were driven into the rods not per- 

 fectly welded, so that the wire drawn from them was 

 full of flaws. For a long time the process pursued 

 was to take short heats on these slit rods on an open 

 hearth, and draw into round rods in half round 

 swedges under a light quick-stroke trip hammer. 

 The long and frequent exposure to the air caused a 

 very hard scale to form on the surface, that had to be 

 removed before passing through the wire plates. 

 This was done by quick light strokes of a hand 

 hammer, and by scraping; a tedious process requiring 

 great care, for if the scales were not all removed, in 

 the first drawing through the wire plate, they would 

 either be indented into the rod or thrown off, and so 

 fixed in the hole of the plate as to cause deep and 

 unsightly scores in the wire that all after drawings 

 could not entirely remove. 



The drawing of rods into wire of about %2-inch 

 diameter before using wire blocks or drums was all 

 done by short pulls by nippers or linked pincers, 

 operated by cams or studs on a water-wheel shaft 

 against a wooden lever to which the chain to the 

 nippers was attached; this lever was kept in contact 

 with the shaft by a chain connecting it to a strong 

 spring pole. Each stroke gave a pulling motion to 

 the nipper of about 12 inches. The draw-bench was 

 set at such an inclination that the nippers would 

 return for a fresh grip by their own weight, opening 

 their jaws sufficiently to allow them to slide under the 

 wire down the incline, being kept in position by a 

 stud on their under side that slid in a well-lubricated 

 groove in the draw-bench, the wire remaining between 

 the jaws, that were so shaped as to allow it to pass 

 over the arms of the nippers, allowing time for them 

 to close and take hold of the wire. The 12-inch 



stroke gave about 11 -inches pull through the wire 

 plate. 



Although this alternate pulling process had gone 

 out of use long before my time, the old machinery 

 had not been removed, and my grandfather fully 

 explained the manner of its use. The plan was simple 

 enough, but very defective, not only losing the time 

 of the return of the nippers, but they would frequently 

 fail to take hold of the wire, and always at every bite 

 they would leave the marks of their teeth on the 

 wire. This plan of drawing wire must have continued 

 in use in England for the coarser kinds long after 

 it had been supplanted in America by powerfully 

 driven iron drums or blocks, for I well remember the 

 tooth marks on imported wire, and so close together 

 as to show their pulls were not over 3 or 4 inches long. 

 It is hard for us of the present time to imagine the 

 long continuance of this crude, jerking process 

 before the adoption of the simple expedient of 

 constantly revolving drums, especially when we 

 consider that the revolving wire block had long been 

 in use for drawing the fine numbers of wire, and its 

 adoption for the coarser wires was only a question 

 of power and strength of the machinery. 



If I am not greatly mistaken, the credit of this ad- 

 vance is due to Josiah White, to whom we are also 

 indebted for the introduction of anthracite coal, the 

 opening of the mines on the Lehigh, and its improve- 

 ments to admit of running small coal barges. 119 He 

 created a wire mill at the falls of Schuylkill with a 

 train of small rolls to run billets into round wire rods, 

 and cast iron drums or blocks on which the wire was 

 drawn, after having given a few pulls with the nippers 

 to give length to clamp to the blocks. This was not 

 invention but simply adopting by increased strength 

 and power, what was successfully working on fine 

 wire to the drawing of the largest. But had it not 

 been for this advance, simple as it was, what would 



119 Josiah White (1 781-1850), merchant, wire worker, builder 

 in 1 816 of a wire suspension foot-bridge 410 feet long and 2 or 

 3 feet wide at the Falls of the Schuylkill, and developer of an- 

 thracite coal and of waterways to deliver the coal to a market. 

 There are two slight biographies: Richard Richardson, 

 Memoir of Josiah White (Philadelphia, 1873), and Elizabeth 

 G. Stern, Josiah While (New York: Stephen Daye Press, 1946). 

 The former is useful for an engraved portrait and a short 

 physical description of White. Both are based upon the same 

 autobiographical manuscript: Josiah White's History Given by 

 Himself (Philadelphia, 1909), privately printed from the pri- 

 vately held manuscript. 



92 



