Beaver Falls Cutlery Company
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Beaver Falls Cutlery Company,
Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania Beaver Falls is a city in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 9,005 at the 2020 census. Located 31 miles (50 km) northwest of Pittsburgh, the city lies along the Beaver River, six miles (9 km) north of its co ...
, is a former company which manufactured steel
cutlery Cutlery (also referred to as silverware, flatware, or tableware), includes any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in Western culture. A person who makes or sells cutlery is called a cutler. The city of Sheffie ...
,
razor A razor is a bladed tool primarily used in the removal of body hair through the act of shaving. Kinds of razors include straight razors, safety razors, disposable razors, and electric razors. While the razor has been in existence since before t ...
s and pocketknives. The company was founded as Binns & Mason in 1866 by skilled cutlers from
Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
,
West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...
, England, as a small enterprise making pocketknives in
Rochester, Pennsylvania Rochester is a borough in central Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located northwest of Pittsburgh, it is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 3,480 at the 2020 census. Like many places around Pittsburgh, ...
, then it briefly became The Pittsburgh Cutlery Company. It was purchased in 1867 by the
Harmony Society The Harmony Society was a Christian theosophy and pietist society founded in Iptingen, Germany, in . Due to religious persecution by the Lutheran Church and the government in Württemberg, the group moved to the United States,Robert Paul Sutto ...
, brought to Beaver Falls, and developed for
mass production Mass production, also known as flow production or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. Together with job production and batch ...
, to employ 300 people and to cover a two-acre site. In 1872 it suffered a
labor dispute A labor dispute is a disagreement between an employer and employees regarding the terms of employment. This could include disputes regarding conditions of employment, fringe benefits, hours of work, tenure, and wages to be negotiated during ...
which was resolved by the employment of up to 225 Chinese workers. In 1876 it produced the "largest knife and fork in the world," of its time, for display at the
Centennial Exposition The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the ...
. The company closed in 1886.


Foundation

The company was founded in 1866 as Binns & Mason, by Edward Binns and Samuel Mason, for the manufacture of pocket knives in nearby
Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...
. Mason, inventor of an improved
tang Tang or TANG most often refers to: * Tang dynasty * Tang (drink mix) Tang or TANG may also refer to: Chinese states and dynasties * Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...
for iron-handled knives, patent 89059, was originally from
Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
,
South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...
, England, a steel town. Mason brought steel workers from his home town of Sheffield to start up the company. The ''Beaver Falls Courier'' (1875–1879) confirmed that in 1866 Binns and Mason established the company, whose capital, it said, was then a million dollars. It continued: "A few years ago the spot which is now occupied by the town was a barren and desolated tract of land. The upper part was a forest, within whose rocky barriers scarcely a house was seen." Of the company's symbol at the factory it said:
"The trade mark of the company is one of the finest pieces of carving in wood we have seen, yet it is only typical of the trades of the Company. There is represented the
American eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...
flapping its wings in triumph over the British lion, and the latter is struggling in the last agonies of death. So the English manufacturers of cutlery have been supplanted in their trade by American establishments ... Then in addition to the trade in Europe the trade in this country is very great. The works are continually pressed for orders."


Samuel Mason

Samuel Mason, one of the founders of the company, was born in
Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
,
West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...
, England, around 1812. His wife was Jane Mason (b.ca.1820), and they had two sons born in England. The second son was Henry (b.ca.1842).United States Census 5 July 1870. New Brighton ward 2, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, dwelling 205. On 30 March 1844 Mason left for America with his family, arriving in New York "pennyless (''sic'') and friendless" after a journey of 105 days. He remained in America for 31 years, becoming an American citizen in 1860, and returning to Sheffield in 1875. His first American employment in 1844 was with William Wild who had previously manufactured cutlery in Sheffield. In November of that year he obtained work with a cutlery manufacturer in
Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
. He does not say where he was working between 1844 and 1866, but his highly-detailed description of the mass production at Lamson and Goodnow's Cutlery works at Shelburne Falls, founded by Lamson in 1844, implies personal experience of the place. Mason and his wife had two more sons in Massachusetts: William (b.ca.1844) and Joseph (b.ca.1846), so it is possible that Mason was recruited to Lamson and Goodnow when the company was founded. Mason was director of Binns & Mason for three years between 1866 and 1869. When he and Binns started the company, recruitment of skilled workers from their home town of Sheffield was facilitated by the
Sheffield Outrages The Sheffield Outrages were a series of explosions and murders by a small group of trade unionist militants carried out in Sheffield, England in the 1860s. Sheffield's early success in steel production had involved long working hours, in condition ...
. That was the term for the strife between cutlers and management due to cramped and dangerous conditions. It also described the murder of some non-union workers in 1854 from which worker unrest escalated into the blowing up of houses with gunpowder in 1866. Following Harmony's takeover, Mason continued at Beaver Falls Cutlery Company as superintendent of cutlery. In 1870, his three younger sons Henry, William and Joseph were also working at the plant as foreman, machinist and worker respectively. In that year his personal estate was valued at $5,000. Mason was against slavery, and said on the subject: "I gave my first son, who for four years combated the enemy on the battlefield. I am not sorry for the act." In 1875 he returned to Sheffield where he lived at 120 Westbar, and by 1876 was regularly writing letters to English newspapers on the subject of cutlery manufacture in America, and on the virtues of
trade protectionism Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations ...
by America. In 1875 Mason became a boot and shoe dealer, running the American Shoe Store at 120 Westbar, Sheffield. On 11 June 1879 he filed a petition for
bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
, having liabilities of £800. His date of death is unknown, however there was a meeting of his creditors on 1 July 1879, declaring his debts of £537 14s 6d, and assets of £91 11s.


Growth

By 13 October 1866, Binns & Mason was a
chartered company A chartered company is an association with investors or shareholders that is incorporated and granted rights (often exclusive rights) by royal charter (or similar instrument of government) for the purpose of trade, exploration, and/or coloniz ...
. It lacked capital and needed investors from Pittsburgh, so it consequently became the Pittsburgh Cutlery Company. The investment was insufficient, so the Pittsburgh Cutlery Company was merged with the
Harmony Society The Harmony Society was a Christian theosophy and pietist society founded in Iptingen, Germany, in . Due to religious persecution by the Lutheran Church and the government in Württemberg, the group moved to the United States,Robert Paul Sutto ...
's new firm, which was based at Ambridge. The Harmony Society had already bought the town of Beaver Falls in 1849. At this point, Henry Reeves became president while Samuel Mason was still director, and John Reeves was secretary and treasurer. In April 1867 the knife-making business was moved to a two-acre site at
Beaver Falls, PA Beaver Falls is a city in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 9,005 at the 2020 census. Located 31 miles (50 km) northwest of Pittsburgh, the city lies along the Beaver River, six miles (9 km) north of its c ...
, in "the lower end of town, near the river," where 300 people were eventually employed (following another recruitment drive in Sheffield, England) making it one of the largest companies of its day. It was later called the "cutlery property," because Harmony expanded it to make table cutlery besides other knives. The factory complex was founded in 1868 between Second Street and Third Street, off Seventh Avenue. By early 1868 the firm's name was Beaver Falls Cutlery Company. The organisers of the 1867 expansion were Pittsburgh men: Dr C.G. Hussey, General Thomas M. Howe and James W. Brown. This is based on The majority of shares were purchased by the
Harmony Society The Harmony Society was a Christian theosophy and pietist society founded in Iptingen, Germany, in . Due to religious persecution by the Lutheran Church and the government in Württemberg, the group moved to the United States,Robert Paul Sutto ...
, and it became a
joint-stock company A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's capital stock, stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their share (finance), shares (certificates ...
with a capital stock of $400,000 in 1870, under the leadership of John Reeves. The Harmony Society had been successful manufacturers, but their numbers had declined, and they were becoming business
investor An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future Return on capital, return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some specie ...
s instead. "At its peak (the works) employed 300 workers who turned out 1200 dozen finished products per day." In 1876, Samuel Mason described the company: "The ... Company when in full blast run three turbine water wheels of 82-horse power each, and one engine 125-horse power, so you may calculate the amount of cutlery turned out by this firm." He mentions that America was making steel cutlery while Sheffield was still using iron.


Labor dispute, 1872

In 1872 the company was stable and Harmony was making a profit. At this point the largely English skilled workforce took the opportunity to initiate a
labor dispute A labor dispute is a disagreement between an employer and employees regarding the terms of employment. This could include disputes regarding conditions of employment, fringe benefits, hours of work, tenure, and wages to be negotiated during ...
and
strike Strike may refer to: People * Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...
for higher wages. The director John Reeves refused the demand. Instead he closed the factory, then he gave a five-year contract to 225 Chinese workers gradually brought in from
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
and
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster.
; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...
. With them was Madam Chow, the wife of Chow Hung and the only Chinese woman at Beaver Falls at that time. ''The Beaver County Times'' has suggested that it was she who brought the antique manuscript of ''
Dream of the Red Chamber ''Dream of the Red Chamber'' (''Honglou Meng'') or ''The Story of the Stone'' (''Shitou Ji'') is a novel composed by Cao Xueqin in the middle of the 18th century. One of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, it is known for ...
'' which was discovered at Beaver Falls in 2019. Reeves brought in the Chinese with some difficulty, travelling for fifteen days to
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
to find only reluctant travellers, then riding the new railroad to New Orleans to gratefully collect his first seventy Chinese men who had been working on the railway. Another thirty men followed them to Beaver Falls the following week. A further influence in this matter was the
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...
minister Reverend Dyer, a
missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
who knew that the Chinese worked hard and did not drink. It was not an easy transition though. The Chinese were met off the train by an angry mob of workers, and saloon keepers who had discovered that the Chinese did not drink. The local policeman, assisted by John Reeves and Judge Henry Hice, had to keep order for some weeks. The Chinese workers resided in The Old Mansion House, built in 1875 with a cookhouse, dining room and sleeping quarters, at the corner of Third Street and Seventh Avenue. The contract for the Chinese workers was with San Francisco merchant Ah Chuck, who had the responsibility of returning their bodies to China should they die in American employ. The contract provided for rice, sleeping quarters and a
gold dollar The gold dollar or gold one-dollar piece is a gold coin that was struck as a regular issue by the United States Bureau of the Mint from 1849 to 1889. The coin had three types over its lifetime, all designed by Mint Chief Engraver James B. Longa ...
a day for each man. Ah Chuck also provided an interpreter, Lee Ten Pay. At first there was a settlement with the company workers, following a delegation from the Beaver Falls community. Management agreed as follows: "All cutlery workers were paid each month with the privilege of leaving if dissatisfied, and if they would leave the Chinamen alone and permit them to remain, the strikers would be reinstated with pay and all profits from the cutlery would be used for the community for seven years." The Chinese were satisfactory workers; their appearance attracted tourists who in turn brought good custom to the factory. However the Chinese had been brought in to reduce theft and to reduce the payroll. The payroll dropped from $13,000 to $5,000 per month. Beaver Falls residents resented the Chinese, pushing them from the wooden walkways onto the muddy streets. Some Chinese workers died after such attacks, and were buried at the far end of town in a specially dedicated cemetery, near Twenty-Eighth Street and Fifth Avenue on College Hill. Their bones were then "removed and carried away in sacks." Although rumour had it that a mysterious benefactor paid for the removal of the bodies, which were exhumed and returned to China for traditional burial rites, another story suggests that a developer wanted to build homes on the land. Over the years, half of the Chinese left the company, and in 1877 the other half left, their fare to San Francisco being paid by the company, as per their contract. Local residents returned to work at the plant. The background to the use of Chinese labor was the immigration of 60,000 Chinese to the
Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
Coast and
Rockies The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...
between the
California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...
and 1869. With the completion of the
First transcontinental railroad North America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the " Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line constructed between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail netwo ...
in 1869, the Chinese began to move east, and potential employment at Beaver Falls made it one of their first eastern destinations. The local controversy following the strike at the cutlery company took the notice of
Pennsylvania General Assembly The Pennsylvania General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The legislature convenes in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. In colonial times (1682–1776), the legislature was known as the Pennsylvania ...
and
Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
, in the context of the contemporary ''Chinese question'' debate about
immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
. "In some measure it contributed to the eventual passage of the
Chinese Exclusion Act The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. The law excluded merchants, teachers, students, travelers, and diplom ...
" of 1882.


Decline

The company gradually declined from 1877 to 1886 when it could no longer make a profit and was closed. In 1890 the Champlin family purchased the knife-making equipment to start up their Cattaraugus Cutlery Company in
Little Valley, New York Little Valley is a town in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. The population was 1,672 at the 2020 census. The town is named after its local geographical setting, a relative comparison of two tributaries (the other being the neighbor ...
. The Beaver Falls Cutlery Company buildings were subsequently occupied by the Metric Metal Works, The Eclipse Bicycle Company, The McCool Tube Company, the New York Pittsburgh Company, The Shelby Steel Tube Company and the Beaver Falls Car Works.


Products


Tableware and various knives

The company produced "all kinds of knives and tableware ... These products ranged from finely crafted bone-handled knives to an austere, but sturdy wood-handled utensil. The former displayed a delicately etched logo "''Beaver Falls Cutlery Company'' in a scroll with flowered ornamentation on the blade while the latter had a plain 27 mm stamp ''Beaver Falls Cut. Co.''" The 26-page BFCC catalogue of the 1880s lists table knives, carvers, ivory carvers,
screwdriver A screwdriver is a tool, manual or powered, used for turning screws. A typical simple screwdriver has a handle and a shaft, ending in a tip the user puts into the screw head before turning the handle. This form of the screwdriver has been repla ...
s, cigar knives, butchers' knives,
stickers A sticker is a type of label: a piece of printed paper, plastic, vinyl, or other material with temporary or permanent pressure sensitive adhesive on one side. It can be used for decoration or for functional purposes, depending on the situation. ...
, skinner knives,
hunting knives A hunting knife is a knife used during hunting for preparing the game to be used as food: skinning the animal and cutting up the meat. It is different from the hunting dagger which was traditionally used to kill wild game. Some hunting knives a ...
, scissors and
shears Shears may refer to: Cutting devices * Scissors, also called shears * Hair-cutting shears * Blade shears, typically used for shearing animals * Grass shears, for lawn trimming * Kitchen shears, scissors used in the kitchen for food preparation * ...
. It lists many
penknives Penknife, or pen knife, is a British English term for a small folding knife. Today the word ''penknife'' is the common British English term for both a pocketknife, which can have single or multiple blades, and for multi-tools, with additional too ...
: iron-lined, with
redwood Sequoioideae, popularly known as redwoods, is a subfamily of coniferous trees within the family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affini ...
, brass-lined, and with German silver bolsters. It has a
lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
of the factory and of the American eagle
trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...
. Beaver Falls Historical Museum has a set of BFCC table knives with carved
ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals is ...
handles and metal
inlay Inlay covers a range of techniques in sculpture and the decorative arts for inserting pieces of contrasting, often colored materials into depressions in a base object to form Ornament (art), ornament or pictures that normally are flush with th ...
s, dating from the 1870s to 1880s. Another set also has ivory-handled knives, but includes three- tined forks. The knife blades carry a trademark showing the
American eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...
overcoming the British
lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...
. The company also produced
pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...
-handled and wooden-handled tableware, and exhibited a
pocketknife A pocketknife is a knife with one or more blades that fold into the handle. They are also known as jackknives (jack-knife), folding knives, or may be referred to as a penknife, though a penknife may also be a specific kind of pocketknife. A ty ...
with 365 blades at the
Centennial Exposition The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the ...
. Regarding quality, Samuel Mason said this:
"The forks are made from good quality of sheet steel, and hardened in oil with a spring temper, and beautifully finished; the prongs of the forks are well glazed inside and arched at the top; the fitting of the handle and bolster is flush and true, no plus 1-16th of an inch out of the handle; the blade of the knife is equally well ground and finished; every blade tested by being bent to a half circle; the prongs of the forks are twisted in like manner."


Largest knife and fork

In 1875, the largest-known
carving Carving is the act of using tools to shape something from a material by scraping away portions of that material. The technique can be applied to any material that is solid enough to hold a form even when pieces have been removed from it, and ...
knife and fork were those made by Joseph Rodgers & Son of 6 Norfolk Street,
Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
,
South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...
, England. The set was made in celebration of the visit to Sheffield on 17 August of that year by
Albert Edward, Prince of Wales Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...
. It was "A huge pair of carvers about six feet in length, the handles of which are of polished ivory." As a competitive response in 1876, Beaver Falls Cutlery Company made the "largest knife and fork in the world" of its time, at the cost of $1,500. It was designed as a table carving knife and fork. The knife measured nine feet seven inches, the blade being ten inches wide. At eight times the size of a normal knife and fork, it was larger than the Sheffield carvers. The knife handle was created from an elephant tusk, carved with flowers and vines. The Chinese employees and the regular workmen made this with steel forged at Beaver Falls, and it was exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition of Philadelphia in 1876. The etched design on the front of the BFCC carving knife blade included a silver-plated shark, a portrait of
William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...
, the company name, the Pennsylvania coat of arms in complex detail and a portrait of Governor
John F. Hartranft John Frederick Hartranft (December 16, 1830 – October 17, 1889) was the United States military officer who read the death warrant to the individuals who were executed on July 7, 1865 for conspiring to assassinate American President Abraham Lin ...
. On the reverse of the blade was scrollwork, and a picture of a mother with children. The carving fork had a patent spring guard which was etched with vines and clusters of grapes. The etching was by T.C. Moore, and the carving of the ivory handles was by Edwin Clayton. As of 2019, the whereabouts of the Beaver Falls knife and fork set is unknown, although a search was made by a retired Beaver Falls teacher, Sidney Kane, in 1975. Cattaraugus Cutlery Company purchased it along with the company machinery in 1887 following the closure. The set was removed to
Springville, New York Springville is a village in the southeastern section of the town of Concord in Erie County, New York, United States. Springville is the principal community in the town and a major business location in southern Erie County. The population was 4,2 ...
, then returned to Little Valley, New York. Philip Champlin, great grandson of John Brown Francis Champlin of Cattaraugus Cutlery Company, inherited it after his family's firm closed in 1963. He mailed it in a specially-made wooden crate to
Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
around February 1972, and nothing has been heard of it since.


Merchant counter stamps

Two examples of merchant counter stamps on coins have been found. The stamps are 27mm long, and read ''Beaver Falls Cut. Co.'' One is on a half dollar dated 1875.


Museum exhibits

A small display of early tableware, razors and pocket knives made by the company is kept at the Beaver County Industrial Museum at Darlington, Pennsylvania, which also has library resources. The Beaver Falls Historical Society Museum, in the city's Carnegie library, houses a larger collection of artefacts associated with the Company.


Patents associated with Beaver Falls Cutlery

* Thomas Skinner, 24 December 1867, US 72553. Improved method of forming designs upon metals, ivory etc. * Samuel Mason and Edward Binns, 20 April 1869, US 89059A. Improvement in attaching handles to cutlery. * R.H. Fisher, 16 March 1869, US 87767. Improvement in handles for table cutlery.


Notes


References


External links

{{Commons category, Beaver Falls Cutlery Company
American Museum of Cutlery, Cattaraugus, New York
This museum contains some of the equipment which J.B.F. Champlin, founder of Cattaraugus Cutlery Company, purchased from Beaver Falls Cutlery Company after its demise in 1886. Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania Manufacturing companies established in 1866 American companies disestablished in 1886 Chinese-American history Knife manufacturing companies Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1886 American companies established in 1866 Defunct manufacturing companies based in Pennsylvania