1857. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



39 



THE AMERICAN SHOVEL. 



The shovel is a potent agent of civilization, with 

 out which society would retrograde rapidly towards 

 barbarism. Consider the ubiquitous usefulness of 

 the shovel, or imagine the annihilation of the shov- 

 el, and the truth of our proposition will be demon- 

 strated. Who made the first shovel, history, so far 

 as we know, refuses to tell — and tradition is like- 

 wise silent. In all likelihood, however, it was the 

 antediluvian "instructor of every artificer in brass 

 and iron." For this supposition, there is at least 

 poetic authority : siiK;e Burns puts into the cata- 

 logue of Captain Grose's collection of antiquities, — 

 "Auld Tubal-Cain's fire-shool and fender." 



Be this as it may, clearly the shovel is a legiti- 

 mate child of the "mother of inventions," — a pro- 

 duct of necessity : it is so diflRcult to conceive of the 

 time when it was not needed and not known. But 

 w-e have, at present, a better purpose in view than 

 the indulgence of unprofitable speculation, peering 

 into the dim twilight of the primitive ages. We 

 have a story, all compounded of fact, of our own 

 day aTid own land to relate — a story slightly won- 

 derful and by no means unsuggestive or uninterest- 

 ing. 



In the last century, most of the shovels in use, 

 hereabouts, were of wood — shaped out by the far- 

 mers and then "shod" or edged with iron or steel, 

 by the blacksmiths. About four score years ago, 

 in Bridgewater, we think it was, Mr. John Ames 

 began the manufacture of shovels. He used Ameri- 

 can iron, and the bars were brought from neighbor- 

 ing forges by his own son, carrying the load before 

 him on horseback — say two bars at a time. The 

 rolling, shearing, hammering, &c,, was done at his 

 shop : the handles were made by cabinet makers. 

 At this period a Mr. Dyke was also engaged, in 

 North Bridgewater, in the same business. During 

 the Revolution, there was a great demand for guns, 

 and Mr. Ames contracted to furnish these weapons 

 of war to the Continental army, and abandoned *jhe 

 making of the implements of peace. After the 

 struggle was over, he turned his ingenuity to the 

 fabrication of knives and forks and scythes, then 

 much wanted. 



It was about 1800 that the youngest son of John, 

 Mr. Oliver Ames — who, though more than three 

 score and ten, is still hale and active, and the head 

 of the firm we shall refer to presently — recommenc- 

 ed the making of shovels at Bridgewater. He 

 changed his location several times, having his shop 

 in Bridgewater, Plymouth and Easton, respective- 

 ly, until 1814, when he settled permanently in the 

 latter town. From 1814 to 1820 he turned out 

 from 8 to 10 dozen per diem. In 1821-22 there 

 were but two shops. A want of water led to an in- 

 crease of the number ; and privileges were obtain- 

 ed, and a shop built in Braintree in 1822, in West 

 Bridgewater in 1829, and in Canton in 1848. 

 These, carrying nine trip-hammers and five grind- 

 stones, still belong to the concern, being, as it were, 

 tributary colonies to the great central establishment. 

 In 1845 Mr. Ames took two of his sons, Oliver and 

 Oakes, gentlemen now widely known and highly 

 respected, into partnership. Several of the third 

 generation are employed as clerks and overseers ; 

 so that the manufactory is a sort of "family affair," 

 end no small affair either; since it is managed with 

 consummate system and skill, and is made, indi- 

 rectly at least, to produce something besides mate- 



rial wealth. Of its character and magnitude we 

 will now endeavor to give our readers some idea. 



The village of North Easton, in population and 

 prosperity by far the largest part of the town to 

 which it belongs, is situated in BristoUcounty, about 

 22 miles from Boston. The natural scenery is pret- 

 ty, the soil fair, but there is nothing specially at- 

 tractive about the place, as such ; and the editor of 

 'Harper's Gazetteer of the World" appears to have 

 been lamentably ignorant of its chief glory. That 

 reliable (?, if this is a specimen of its accuracy) work 

 speaks of saw-mills and grist-mills, without saying 

 a syllable about the shovel factory — the part of 

 Hamlet left out with a witness. As a matter of fact 

 here is a thriving community, of some 2000 souls, 

 quite homogeneous, comfortable and independent — 

 made what it is, with its cotlages, churches, schools, 

 &c., almost entirely by the wise enterprise, the tru- 

 ly philanthropic mechanical skill and business tal- 

 ent of a single "house," or "household," perhaps 

 we should say. 



The main building of the factory — called the 

 "Long Shop" — is two stories high, 525 feet in 

 length, with an L 95 feet and an engine room 40 

 feet, built of stone obtained hard by. Then there 

 is another stone edifice, recently erected, where ten 

 trip-hammers are put in operation by one of the 

 finest steam engines (250 horse power) we have 

 ever seen — and the same may be said of its rival, 

 somewhat less in size, in the "Long Shop." Be- 

 sides these main structures, there are six hammer 

 shops (all the hammer shops give 21 trip-ham- 

 mers,) one grinding shop with five stones, and one 

 shearing shop. 



Within the "Long Shop," principally, are the va- 

 rious machines, invented and arranged by Mr. 

 Ames, senior, and his son Oliver. These are full 

 of interest, both on account of their labor-saving 

 value and the nicety of their operations. Here 

 knives cut iron and steel plates, rapidly and smooth- 

 ly as Salladin's scimetar cut the silken scarf, dies 

 shape the blade with a single pressure, punches 

 pierce and counter-sink holes for the rivets, groov- 

 ed wheels lay the straps to the handles — and nu- 

 merous other contrivances perform numerous oth- 

 er operations, with great rapidity and very perfect- 

 ly. A detail of these contrivances and the work 

 done by hand would be tedious and not very intel- 

 ligible on paper ; the system must be seen "in ac- 

 tion" to be understood. Suffice it to state that it 

 takes 24 different processes to complete a first quali- 

 ty cast steel shovel. All these processes are per- 

 formed on the premises, except the making of the 

 handles ; these, of white ash, are made in Pennsyl- 

 vania and Maine — the wood from the latter State 

 being preferable from its closer grain. The advan- 

 tage derived from machinery and the divison of la- 

 bor may be judged of, from the fact that a shovel 

 is finished in about one hour and a quarter ; and 

 300 men being employed, shovels are produced at 

 the rate of one per every fifteen seconds, or 200 

 dozen a day ; that is 2400 shovels in ten hours — 

 750,000 in a year ! 



To use an "Hibernianism," one-sixth of the num- 

 ber of shovels are spades ; and of shovels proper 

 there are seven diff"erent qualities — among which is 

 the long-handled, pointed-blade shovel, preferred 

 by Californians. The stock used in one year is as 

 follows : 



Best Swedish Iron 900 tons. 



Cast Steel 400 " 



