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One of the most recognized companies to manufacture equipment for the slate industry, Flory Manufacturing was also well known throughout all industries which dealt with large scale lifting and hauling.
Image Source: Google Patents
The drawing used for the patent application by Samuel Flory and Andrew Bruce for a new system for excavation.
"Our invention relates to excavating apparatus of that class in which carriers travel upon a cable or aerial way, being moved back and forth by an endless rope or. cord and carrying a receptacle which is lowered or raised in order to receive the material to be excavated."
The Flory family was a big name in the region. Solomon Flory was a very industrious man having his hands in a variety of different efforts in the region. He started the manufacturing company in 1878, but also opened the Northampton quarry in 1885 with a group of other partners. Owning a quarry made him that much more knowledgeable about the equipment needed to run an efficient quarry, as an entrepreneur though he capitalized on the needs of the community.
A Maker of Equipment
First established in 1878 in Bangor PA, S. Flory Manufacturing was very proud of its location in Bangor and its proximity to the slate quarries of the region. In their promotional literature, they made a point of stating that they "are within a few minutes walk of some of the largest slate quarries in the country. Our location being superior to any other manufacturer in the United States, enables us to study the needs and requirements for the successful and economical operation of quarries and mines where the cableway is practicable." 1. Flory Manufacturing was also very proud of its place in the mining industry as a whole and while Flory was started in Bangor, clearly to serve the local slate industry, it manufactured equipment for the slate industry as a whole, as well as a variety of other industrial fields and its influence and reach cannot be overstated. Their influence was wide enough that information about changes in the company business structure appearing in other industry journals such as The Coal Industry, and their advertising and equipment reviews were found in places like "The Valve World" and the "Shipbuilding Cyclopedia" of 1920 where they were mentioned for having built winches for the U.S. Navy.
The Company had such a broad reach globally at one time, that in March of 1917, Czar Nicholas Romanoff of Russia contracted with Flory Manufacturing for 25 steam hoists for a total value of $71,568. Due to the Russian Revolution though which started in March of 1917, the contract was never realized. A legal claim by the company against the Czar was issued a year later on March 16th of 1918 since of the 25 hoists originally contracted for, 23 had been delivered and paid for. The claim issued by the New York Supreme Court was to force the Czar to pay the remaining $9,090 for the last two hoists. Four months later the Romanov family would be executed. 2.
Image Source: Library of Congress
A view of the Flory Manufacturing facility in Bangor, taken from the border of a 1918 aeroview of Bangor. Directly behind the building farthest in the distance is the location of the Bangor Union quarry which would be no more than 100 yards beyond. Click on the image to see it in a larger view.
Fire Destroys the Factory and More
While the global reach of Flory Manufacturing was great, it was not the only business owned by the family. In addition to the Manufacturing company was the milling company which produced flour as well as feed for animals. This company was actually one of the largest businesses in the region at times employing more than 500 people. In August of 1913, a massive fire destroyed both the Flory Manufacturing Company building along with the Flory Milling Company which when combined, resulted in the total loss assessment of $650,000.
As was quoted from a local paper of the day,
"A fire that caused losses estimated at nearly three-quarters of a million dollars swept through one of the busiest industrial sections of the bustling borough of Bangor last night and this morning. Practically the entire plant of the S. Flory Manufacturing Company and the mill and elevator of the Flory Milling Company, and one side of a double dwelling house, owned by Edward Gumm, were destroyed.
Image Source: Ebay
While Solomon Flory turned over the manufacturing company to his son Samuel, he turned over the milling company to his son Milton in 1883 . Milton was responsible for the construction of Flory's Dam, which provided power for the Milling Company and which is the source of the name of Flory Dam Park in Bangor. Milton Flory died in 1946. His funeral notice is available on line.
About 400 men are thrown out of work. The origin is not known. The S. Flory Manufacturing Company is one of the most prosperous concerns in this section of the country. It manufactured a large variety of iron and steel work but its specialty was the Flory hoisting engine, the fame of which is known the country over. The company did practically all the repair work for the slate quarries in the entire district. A call for assistance was sent to Easton and the automobile chemical engine went up, but could not get into service because the couples would not fit those on the Bangor fire hydrants." 3.
Immediately after the fire, there was concern about the resources that might have been lost as a result. Beyond the buildings, there were the records of the company including the actual drawings which had been stored in vaults inside the company. An article written at the time stated that the records and books were salvageable but there was added concern about the technical drawing so important to the Flory business.
The Catalogs
By 1919 when the company put out a new catalog it stated that "the plant is complete, having been rebuilt, comprising up-to-date engineering, machinery, foundry, pattern and erection departments."
In keeping with the manufacturing standards of the day, Flory assured their customers of the quality and ease of repair of their equipment by stating that their parts were manufactured based on the "duplicate parts system". This was a concept first used by Henry Ford and his assembly line and was used by other progressive manufacturing companies at the time. Flory advertising proudly stated that their equipment was constructed on the "duplicate parts system" which means easy replacement of parts damaged through wear of accident. Not to be mislead though by the suggested significance of the statement, other companies such as the Stroudsburg Engine Works in Stroudsburg PA stated the same thing and in fact in a 1905 text titled "The World's Work ...: A History of Our Time", Volume 11 a section titled "The New Science of Business" it employed the concept of the "duplicate parts system" in an attempt to explain office employment structure.
Image Source: S. Flory Mfg. Co. Suspension Cableways and Improved Logging Systems, 1912, p. 57.
Interestingly the incline cableway system that was so important to the success of The Slate Belt district was originally conceived of by Richard Chapman of the Chapman Quarries fame. Flory was a manufacturer of this system and the 1912 copy of their catalog had a section dedicated to the equipment found at the actual Chapman Slate Company. It stated the following:
"The above engraving represents a 101 H. P. Cableway Hoisting system specially built for the Chapman Slate Company. The hoisting is done on a single line of rope between the carriage and the Fall-block, instead of using three lines as is the usual practice to hoist out of the pit.
The endless rope instead of taking several laps around the drum, is fastened each end to opposite ends of the drum; the drum being large enough to accommodate the full length of the rope on a single coil, and as one line winds up the other unwinds. In paying out the carriage, the revolutions of the drums are regulated by the use of an idler which is placed between two flanges on the drums, especially designed for this system.
The individual load capacity is five tons, and the Fall-rope carriers are connected with a chain known as the “locke patent.”
The advantages claimed for this system:
1. The single rope to hoist out of the pit obviates the common trouble of twisting where three lines are used
2. Attaching each end of the endless rope to the drum insures a positive movement and less wear on the rope and drum
3. The perpendicular hoisting or lift, and the travel of the carriage on the cable are the same speed.
4. The single line rope is conveniently handles by one man in the pit, while the Fall-block system requires several men to take to either side from the perpendicular.
Image Source: S. Flory Mfg. Co. Suspension Cableways and Improved Logging Systems, 1912, p. 54.
From the same catalog, there is reference to other types of systems used in the industry including the tracked inline plane. This system was used for carrying slate blocks to the roofing shanties as well as refuse to the spoil banks The above image shows a Flory incline system taken at the Bangor Excelsior Slate Quarry.
The typical inline plane was operated with a Flory 12-1/4 X 15 Double Cylinder, Double Friction Drum Hoisting Engine. The cable was taken around a sheave at the top of the incline and hooked on the small rail cars, the other end was fastened on the drum of the engine. A system of track switches, like those found on railroads, was provided at the foot of the incline for the empty cars. At this point loaded cars would be ready to be taken up to the shanties or out on the dump. The advantage of the Flory system was the use of a friction drum which allowed the speed of the engine to be adjusted without having to stop the engine and load, in order to throw in a clutch.
Image Source: S. Flory Mfg. Co. Suspension Cableways and Improved Logging Systems, 1912, p. 64.
Other companies exited that manufactured similar types of equipment such as the Lidgerwood Manufacturing Company in Brooklyn, New York, as well as the Roebling Company which manufactured both structural features as well as cable and for which the name was best associated with the design and construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. Even with these other companies in competition, the Flory Company held the largest share of the slate quarrying equipment industry.
Samuel Flory, the founder of the company died on June 10, 1920 at the age of 66 having started the company from modest beginnings, he turned it into one of the best known manufacturing plants for mine and quarrying equipment in the country in just 24 years.
Image Source: The Bulletin of the General Contractors Association 1920
Advertising such as the image above were found in a wide range of industrial publications, not limited to just those associated with the slate quarrying industry
The Sanborn Map dated from 1912 shows the location and size of the Flory Manufacturing Company, the location of which is now occupied by a CVS drugstore. A slider in the view above can be moved from left to right to show the changes of the site from when the manufacturing plant sat on the site.
2. The Nazareth Item. 1918. “Ex-Czar Must Pay Claim,” March 21, 1918, 16 edition, sec. 1.
4. Jordan, John Woolf, Edgar Moore Green, and George Taylor Ettinger. 1905. “Solomon Flory.” In Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. Lewis Publishing Company.
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