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Ferracute office building

Ferracute [sharp iron ]. A giant in Turpin's Chronicle of Charlemagne. He had the strength of forty men, and was thirty-six feet high. Though no lance could pierce his hide, Orlando slew him by Divine interposition.

For many years I have driven by a particular building at E. Commerce and Elm Street in Bridgeton, NJ, and wondered what its history was. One day recently Barry C asked me if I knew the history, as the building had intrigued him as well.

Ferracute letter

So with a little research, this is what I found: It is called the Ferracute building, and is on New Jersey's list of Ten Most Endangered Historical Buildings.

The Ferracute Machine Company was built in 1903 by inventor, industrialist, and mechanical engineer Oberlin Smith. The NJ Inventors' Hall of Fame says this about Oberlin Smith:

"The holder of 70 patents, he was the consummate tinkerer, who invented or improved as die presses, can-making devices, looms, locks, a malted milk mixer, a garage door opener, and a device to automatically extract eggs from boiling water at a pre-set cooking time. His greatest contribution, however, was only recently attributed to him. After a visit to Thomas Edison' laboratory in 1877, Oberlin Smith spent ten months developing a reel-to-reel system that passed magnetized wire on magnetic recording. Lacking time to pursue further development of the invention, he placed his device in the public domain. In 1900 his concept was developed into Valdemar Poulsen's Telegraphone. Magnetic recording is the technology that permitted the development of devices such as the tape recorder, telephone answering machine, and computer."

Ferracute

The 1903 complex consisted of an office, which is still standing, in Romanesque Queen Anne style, and a machine shop. The office is brick with a stone foundation. Among those who visited the office on business dealings with Smith were Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone.

The Ferracute Company itself was in business by 1863, though the existing buildings are from 1903. Originally the machine shop made a variety of goods. Ferracute was well known for its presses and soldering machines for tin can manufacture. Making tin cans was originally a very difficult process, and there were craftsmen who specialized in doing this. Presses and soldering machines were used in mechanizing this process in the late 1800s. Because Bridgeton is a port town, Ferracute's machines were easily available to Delaware and New Jersey canners. The Ferracute foot press, first built in 1865, became the industry standard, of which 112 had been built by 1877 (Sim 1951:70).

In 1876, Oberlin Smith came home from the Philadelphia Centennial with a bronze medal for his coin press, and business took off. Oberlin is credited with revolutioning the way coins were minted. A Smithsonian reconstruction of a portion of the Machinery Hall Exhibit from the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876 showcased Ferracute machines. Within the next fifteen years, the sales of his presses increased five-fold. Legend says that a local canner brought a machine to Mr. Smith for repair, and Mr. Smith said, "Repair it?! I can build a better one!" Subsequently, in 1885 and 1886, Oberlin Smith took out two patents; 1885 for tin can soldering machines, and in 1886 for a press for drawing and cutting sheet metal. The Ferracute machines were used throughout the country.

Gradually, Smith began to limit Ferracute to a different type of press: metal and coining presses. His presses were sold to major manufacturing firms and mints. His clients included the United States mint, the Chinese government mint (he established the mint at Chengdu, China), and eventually he also made presses for the United States Armed Forces ammunition. According to Heritage Research, Ferracute was funded by the United States Government during World War II to produce ammunition presses.

Oberlin died in 1926. Ferracute Company was acquired by another firm in 1968, and the buildings have been vacant since then. The pattern house burned down. "A local, non-profit group would like to develop an Oberlin Smith museum on the property, but bankruptcy proceedings involving the current owner and the presence of hazardous materials on the site impede this effort."

Resources

Cox, Arthur J. and Thomas Malim (1985). Cox, Arthur J. and
Thomas Malim. Ferracute: The History of an American Enterprise. 1985.(Bridgeton, NJ: A, J. Cox, 197 p.).

Cumberland County Historical Society

Delaware Department of Transportation: Can Making at Lebanon

Early Tin Cans

Ferracute Machine Co. presses and dies. Bridgeton, N.J.: Ferracute Machine Co., 1899. An illustrated catalogue with large
industrial press machines shown. Available at Rutgers University Library. Libraries
& Collections at Rutgers: Special Collections and University Archives: Sinclair
New Jersey Collection: New Jersey Trade and Manufacturers' Catalogs

Ferracute Office Building

From Poulsen to Plastic: A Survey of Recordable Magnetic Media

Fulton Iron and Manufacturing

Hagley Museum and Library P.O. Box 3630 Wilmington, DE 19807

Ferracute Machine Company Records,
1863-1982. The Ferracute Machine

Company records are not a complete archive,
but rather a series of fragments

assembled by Arthur J. Cox for the
preparation of a company history. The

administrative papers include samples
of executive correspondence, a report on

operations, organization charts
and lists of Ferracute distributors. Advertising

records include drafts
of advertisements; press clippings; a company publication,

Ferracute Field
(1939-40); and press views for Ferracute ads.

Heritage Research Center: Selected Government Funded WWII Industries

Illustrated catalogue and price list of presses, dies & c. Bridgeton, N.J.:

Ferracute Machine Co., 1877.

Members of the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame: Oberlin Smith

New Jersey's Ten Most Endangered Buildings

Oberlin Smith Society.contact:James Gandy.336 Woodruff Road

Bridgeton NJ 08302jgandy8580@aol.com

Our People of the Centery: Oberlin Smith

Post card of Ferracute and East Lake

Preservation NJ: Ferracute

http://www.preservationnj.org/ten_most/ten_most_property_detail.asp?COUNTY=Cumberland%20County&PropID=55

(Note: I accessed this page in
Sept 2004 and it was functioning. It does not appear to be functioning at the moment,
but I have left the link in hopes that it will be back up soon!)

THE RED BARN MUSEUM, Greenwich In the Red Barn, in addition to implements used in gardening and agriculture,
are tools used by 19th century carpenters; tools used by the wheelwright
and the blacksmith; early bicycles, a sleigh, and the wooden patterns used in
the production of precision castings by the Ferracute Machine Works.

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