Thomas Hill: Quincy elevators, Electric Wheel and the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair
- By Robert Cook
- source
Quincy has long been a community of industry and industrial innovation. Think of Elmer Wavering and the Motorola facility. Parker Gates and the Gates Radio Company. R.W. Gardner, who invented a governor for motors and established the Gardner-Denver Co.. Harold Knapheide Sr. and the Knapheide Mfg. Co. developed technology that made the farm truck body industry. Thomas Black and his son William Black (Black White Limestone Company) developed calcium products. W.J. Brower came up with basic ideas for the incubator and brooder industry. Oscar Brinks developed cartography and color photography to become a leading supplier of maps. And there is more, including Moorman Manufacturing, Michelmann Steel and Comstock-Castle.
A leading inventor and industrialist was Thomas Hill (1840-1914). Hill was born in Wales and came to America in 1861. During the Civil War he worked on government boats on the river in St. Louis. He moved to Hannibal, Mo., and then to Quincy in 1866 or 1867, where he found employment at the Gardner-Robertson machine shop at Fifth and Ohio, later called the Gardner Governor Works. In 1874 Hill joined the firm of Smith-Hayner & Co., also located at Fifth and Ohio. The firm had been established in 1870 by Ceylon Smith and Levi Hayner. In 1888, a new corporation was formed, the Smith & Hill Foundry and Machine company, which employed 75 to 100 men.
An article in the Quincy Daily Journal described the work of Smith-Hill & Co.:
“In addition to the work of a general machine shop, they are meeting with the highest success in the production of architectural iron work,” with projects in Utah, Kansas City, Des Moines, and scores of other cities. “Their second specialty is the manufacture of the best elevators ever put on the market. They have sold these elevators from Miller’s Falls, Mass., to South Pueblo, Colo. Wherever they have gained a footing, they have not failed to get other orders. … For speed, safety and economy of space this elevator is unequaled.”
Hill obtained a number of patents for his inventions: “Steam-Hammer,” May 2, 1876; “Power Elevator,” June 12, 1883; “Steam Pump,” Feb. 14, 1888; “Metallic Wheel,” March 19, 1889; “Machine for Heading Spokes,” March 8, 1892; and then “Elevator Controlling Mechanism,” May 16, 1893. The “Elevator Controlling Mechanism” was a significant device. It locked an elevator in place when there was a power failure, and prevented it from falling to the bottom of the shaft. Elisha Graves Otis (1811-1861) had obtained a similar patent in 1861. Smith-Hill Co. eventually dropped all machine work and devoted itself entirely to the manufacture of elevators.
Smith-Hill Co. had an exhibit at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, the Chicago World’s Fair. An Exposition Flyer refers to “Smith-Hill Co., manufacturers of Electric Steam, Worm-Geared and Hand Power Elevators.” The exhibit was awarded a medal, and Thomas Hill was presented a diploma for his skill as designer and inventor in the production and perfection of the exhibit.
Erik Larson’s 2003 novel, “The Devil in the White City” tells us about other new devices and concepts encountered by the Fair’s visitors:
“They saw even more ungodly things — the first zipper; the first-ever all-electric kitchen, which included an automatic dishwasher; and a box purporting to contain everything a cook would need to make pancakes, under the brand name Aunt Jemima’s. They sampled a new, oddly flavored gum called Juicy Fruit, and caramel-coated popcorn called Cracker Jack. A new cereal, Shredded Wheat, seemed unlikely to succeed — ‘shredded doormat,’ some called it — but a new beer did well, winning the exposition’s top beer award. Forever afterward, its brewer called it Pabst Blue Ribbon … And most spectacularly, Chicago’s Answer to Paris, the Ferris Wheel.” (The Eiffel Tower had just been completed in Paris, in 1889.)
With its elevator improvements and patent rights, Smith-Hill Co. became a very valuable asset. On Jan. 1, 1899, Hill, now the sole owner, sold the company to the Otis Elevator Co. Hill moved to Chicago with Otis, but remained there for only two years. While in Chicago, Hill formed the Quincy Engine Co. He returned to Quincy, taking an option from Otis on his old location at Fifth and Ohio. However, on Feb. 6, 1902, he sold the old Smith-Hill plant, and took options on 320 acres of land near 30th and Chestnut streets, giving rise to the birth of Quincy’s Walton Heights District. Quincy Engine Works erected a 50,000-square-foot factory at the Walton Heights location. However, there was a labor strike and lockout from 1903 to 1905, and Quincy Engine Works sold the factory to Otis Elevator in 1910. Gardner-Denver acquired the factory in the 1940s.
At the same time the Quincy Engine Works plant was constructed, the Ellington Manufacturing Co., with Hill as president, and the Electric Wheel Company, with Hill as vice president, moved from Fifth and Ohio to Walton Heights. The Electric Wheel Company is now the Titan Wheel division of Titan International.
The Electric Wheel Company was incorporated April 24, 1890, by Charles G. Comstock, Thomas Hill, and Samuel H. Emery Jr., with John A. Stillwell as secretary and manager. Replacement of wooden wheels by metal ones was a big help for farmers and farm implements. The wheels were made by drilling holes through circular steel bands into which heated spokes were inserted, then riveted into place. Hill invented a machine for heating the ends of the spokes electrically, rather than in an oil-fired forge, receiving his March 8, 1892, patent, “Machine for Heading Spokes.” The company took the name Electric Wheel from Hill’s process, thought to be a major advancement in wheel manufacturing. Eventually the electric wheel method was discarded, but the company kept its name.
Thomas Hill died in Quincy May 27, 1914, in his home at 2102 Jersey. His great-granddaughter, Ann Sosnkowski, still lives in the family home with her husband, Alex.
Hill’s obituary in the Quincy Herald states:
“Mr. Hill was a mechanical genius with remarkable inventive ability. … As a man he commanded the esteem of all who had dealings with him, and the city feels that in him it has lost one who did more than his share toward making Quincy an industrial center. He was a self-made man, beginning at the bottom of the ladder and working himself up to a position of prominence, solely through his personal ability and superior mentality. He is survived by his widow, with whom he spent more than 50 years of happy married life, four daughters, Mrs. A.Q. Davis of Ontonagon, Mich., Mrs. Fred Luhrs of Chicago, Mrs. Joseph Piggott and Miss Susan of Quincy, and one son, Willis Hill, of New York City.”
Robert Cook recently retired as a justice of the Illinois Appellate Court. He is a member of the Historical Society.
Sources
Peoples History of Quincy, pp. 354, 360, 370.
Obituary, Thomas Hill, Quincy Herald, May 28, 1914.
Carl Landrum, The Birth of Quincy’s Walton Heights District, Quincy Herald-Whig, April 21, 1991.
Smith, Hill & Co., Machinists and Foundrymen, Eagle Foundry, Corner Third and Ohio Streets, Quincy Daily Journal, June 4, 1887, special edition, p.1.
Gardner Denver: 150 Years of Industrial Innovation, 2009, pp.16, 86.
A Big Enterprise, Incorporation of the Electric Wheel Company, The Quincy Daily Whig, April 27, 1890.
Electric Wheel, Discarded invention behind firm’s name, Quincy Herald-Whig, February 10, 1980.
Carl Landrum, From Quincy’s Past, Early growth of Walton Heights, Quincy Herald-Whig, May 17, 1970.
Erik Larson, The Devil in the White City, 2003, pp.247-48.
Quincy Strike and Lockout Settled, The Iron Trade Review, April 20, 1905, pp.42,43.
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