I was able to chat with a couple old F&S hands at the local American Legion, one career machinist the other a machinist & heat treat guy, both worked at F&S from the late 30's on. I asked them about morale and injury, both guys emphasized that it was a happy shop and injury rates were low. They mentioned that had trouble keeping some hands who having been apprenticed at F&S never had any trouble finding jobs elsewhere. Both guys went thru their apprenticeship there, the first I spoke with worked 30+ years there, first as a machinist on all the machines in turn, then an "Expediter", then a "Router". The latter two jobs involved moving production runs thru the shop and planning jobs, respectively. Both guys said they'd corner the last known living F&S foundryman to get some more details about that side of the operation. The F&S foundry closed approx 1970 because of cost of operations, projected cost of upgrade and "promises" of castings from Italy which became very expensive and slow to arrive- this was after White owned the operation. Both guys suggested that F&S lost a lot of its capacity & capability when the foundry was shut down- a lesson there for us all I think.
The modern siding on the building dates from the White era, where it was added w/ insulation to help manage the building over winter- I imagine modern production techniques demanded a better internal climate.
F&S did not have their own railroad siding. Although a cupola is shown I believe their primary foundry used a blast furnace which could pour well over a ton of cast iron. Coke arrived by train, unloaded north of the facility and trucked to the F&S building. Some of the building photos show some of the foundry equipment from the outside. In the late 30's+ nearly all freight in and out of the building came by truck, only one machine they built was large enough to be shipped by rail. The foundry only worked cast iron, everything else was by stock. The employees were permitted to do little side projects (fry pans, doorstops) as part of the workflow, but only in cast iron. I have photos of several of these momentos- some were made for Oddfellows fundraisers etc.
A item which I suspect I will regret not reproducing was an employee log from 1917-1918 containing notes from most days he worked. I decided not to because its <long>, and it was suggested his family (decendents) might not desire to have his personal details published in this way. If there is a lot of demand for it I'm sure something can be worked out.
One amusing story- Rick (my contact at the Historical Society) mentioned that a lady he knew worked in the office at F&S and she really disliked going out to the foundry because it and it's denizens were so filthy. Apparently the crew were entertained by the rats that would tunnel into the building thru the piles of moulding sand so they could pop out at lunchtime to beg/steal food from the foundrymen. As dirty and horrible as foundry work is I can well imagine the workers getting a kick out of something as mundane as rats tunneling thru the sand...
F&S was definitely not a job-for-life place, the workforce grew and shrank according to the work. The crew in 1916 was huge (I have photos and scans of those pictures), but during the depression it had shrunk to maybe a dozen. The late 30's saw a huge increase in personnel, but the operation held together throughout.
Looking through these pics I kept thinking of the Bull Of The Woods cartoons, and how they might relate. Mr Fay was clearly a Bull, Mr Gould the shop super (generally post 1910 I believe) looks a little dapper in these shots to be one. My two guys above said in their time at F&S all machinists cleaned and serviced their own machines, no sweepers or stock movers for them.
Regards,
Greg