The Mid-West Energy Research Consortium's start-up accelerator WERCBench Labs hosted Tom Fehring for a lecture on Milwaukee's role in industrial innovation. The slides are adapted from materials to be used in an upcoming book on Milwaukee’s industrial heritage. "Machines of Milwaukee and the Men who Made Them" Contact Tom Fehring : tfehring@m-werc.org

1. Lessons from
Milwaukee’s Industrial Heritage
Thomas H. Fehring, P.E.
ASME Committee on History and Heritage

2.  Lessons from Milwaukee’s Industrial Heritage
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3.  Lessons from Milwaukee’s Industrial Heritage
 Part One: The City’s Early Industry
 … on the Banks of the Milwaukee River
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4. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
The genesis of industry in
Milwaukee can be traced to
the ill-fated Milwaukee and
Rock River Canal
Milwaukee and Rock River
Canal
 Bryon Kilbourn and
Increase Lapham began
building the canal in 1839
 While never completed,
by 1843 industry was
powered by water, using
the head generated by
the North Avenue dam
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5. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 By 1850 there were at least 25 industries using water
power made available by the canal
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6. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 THE SMITH AND BIRGE MILL
 Henry Smith and Charles S. Birge’s mill was located at
454 Canal
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7. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 THE SMITH AND BIRGE MILL
 Henry Smith and Charles S. Birge’s mill was located at
454 Canal
 LEE’S FIRE ARMS COMPANY moved into this mill in
1864
 James Paris Lee was a watchmaker and firearms
designer, born in Scotland in 1831.
 Shortly after immigrating to Wisconsin he
developed a breech-loading cartridge conversion
for the Springfield Model 1861 Rifled Musket
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8. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 THE SMITH AND BIRGE MILL
 LEE’S FIRE ARMS COMPANY
 Patented breech-loading cartridge conversion for
the Springfield Model 1861 Rifled Musket
 During the Civil War, the US Army ordered 1,000
rifles
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9. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 THE SMITH AND BIRGE MILL
 LEE’S FIRE ARMS COMPANY
 Patented breech-loading cartridge conversion for
the Springfield Model 1861 Rifled Musket
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10. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 THE SMITH AND BIRGE MILL
 LEE’S FIRE ARMS COMPANY
 Lee sub-contracted manufacturing of the barrels to
Philo Remington of Ilion New York
 A misunderstanding caused the barrels to be
delivered with the wrong size bore
 Rejected by the US Army
 Manufactured about 255 rifles – now VERY valuable
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11. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 THE SMITH AND BIRGE MILL
 SHOLES & GLIDDEN ‘TYPE WRITER’
 The initial Sholes & Glidden typewriters were also
manufactured at the Smith and Birge Mill
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12. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 THE SMITH AND BIRGE MILL
 SHOLES & GLIDDEN ‘TYPE WRITER’
 CHRISTOPHER LAPHAM SHOLES was born in 1819 in
Mooresburge, PA
 He moved to Wisconsin in 1837, where he
became a newspaper publisher and
politician, serving in both the Wisconsin
State Senate (1848-1849 and 1856-1857)
and the Wisconsin State Assembly (1852-
1853). Sholes was instrumental in abolishing
capital punishment in Wisconsin
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13. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 THE SHOLES & GLIDDEN ‘TYPE WRITER’
 Sholes, while working as the editor for the Milwaukee
Sentinel, tinkered in Kleinsteuber’s machine shop
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 Kleinsteuber’s was a small ‘job shop,’
providing services to the various
companies located along the near-
by Milwaukee River
 Apparently Kleinsteuber
encouraged would-be inventors to
use the space for their
developments
 Perhaps the earliest example of an
‘incubator’ in the mid-west region.

14. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 THE SHOLES & GLIDDEN ‘TYPE WRITER’
 In the mid-1860s:
 Carlos Glidden was working on
designs for a steam-driven rotary
plow and a mechanical spade.
 Machinist Mathias Schwalbach was
working on a design for sewing
machines, which he patented in
1866, and various designs for
clocks.
 Christopher Latham Sholes had
developed a page numbering
device and a newspaper
addressing machine 14

15. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 THE SHOLES & GLIDDEN ‘TYPE WRITER’
 Initial patent design was impressive, but not very functional
 Only printed on thin paper
 Piano-style keyboard
 Attracted an investor
 James Densmore
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16. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 THE SHOLES & GLIDDEN ‘TYPE WRITER’
 After years of refinement, experimentation, user feedback
and development, the partners started limited production
in Milwaukee
 Plant at 454 Canal
 Mathias Schwalbach
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17. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 THE SHOLES & GLIDDEN
 Construction eventually
outsourced to Philo
Remington of Ilion New
York
 First commercially
successful typewriter
 Sales initially modest
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18. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 THE SHOLES & GLIDDEN ‘TYPE WRITER’
 Eventually revolutionized the marketplace
 Opened the office to women
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19. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 THE SHOLES & GLIDDEN ‘TYPE WRITER’
 Continues to impact keyboard layout
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20. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
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 Soon other industries located along the west bank of the
Milwaukee River – many of which were powered by steam

21. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 One of these companies was Decker & Seville’s Factory
 Founded in 1847 and known as the ‘Reliance Works,’
it produced flour milling equipment as well as
miscellaneous cast iron products such as stoves, cast-
iron store fronts, and general castings for industry.
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22. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 In 1861, Edward P. Allis acquired
the Reliance Works of Decker and
Seville at a sheriff's sale (affected
by the ‘Financial Panic of 1857’).
 Allis moved to Milwaukee in
1846 at age 21 and entered into
the tanning business, before
diversifying into other
enterprises.
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Edward Phelps Allis

23. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 Niels Anton Christensen met EP
Allis in 1893 at the Columbian
Exposition in Chicago
 Relocated to Milwaukee, working
for Allis as a mechanical engineer.
 Observed a streetcar accident
 Developed a braking brake
system for streetcars using
compressed air
 Left Allis to form his own
company
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24. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 Observed a streetcar accident
 Developed a braking brake system for streetcars using
compressed air
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25. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 Niels Christensen formed the Christensen Engineering Company
 Christensen and other early investors sold shares – eventually
became the National Electric Company
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26. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 Niels Christensen:
 Retained the patents in his own name
 Sued by Westinghouse Air Brake Company
 Westinghouse Acquired National Electric
 Renamed it the National Brake & Electric Company
 Re-established his own company
 Outsourced manufacturing to Allis-Chalmers for a time
 Numerous patents for compressed air engine starter
systems.
 Ultimately Won the Patent Battle:
 Fought for 24 years involving three trips to the Supreme
Court
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27. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 Niels Christensen:
 Ultimately left Milwaukee for Cleveland
 After years of testing, Christensen filed a patent for the
O-ring patent in 1937. He was 72 years old.
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28. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 In 1941 Christensen licensed the patent to United
Aircraft. He was set to get rich.
 Then Pearl Harbor!
 The government bought out all the key military
patents and gave them away to manufacturers.
 Christensen got a lump payment of $75,000, and
O-rings belonged to the government.
 He mounted his last great court battle. It ended in
1971, 19 years after his death, with a $100,000
payment to his heirs.
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29. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 What lessons can we learn from this discussion?
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30. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 What lessons can we learn from this discussion?
 Some Thought Starters:
 Importance of ‘collisions’.
 Proximity was/is important – close proximity of companies
helped foster cross-pollination of talent, ideas
 Access to shipping/transportation
 Entrepreneurial spirit was evident from patent activity.
 Outsourcing and innovation don’t always mix
 How to protect intellectual property?
 Advantages of re-inventing the company.
 Risk is significant – rewards can be lasting.
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31. Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage
 Milwaukee’s Menomonee
Valley industry will be part two
of this lesson
 E. P. ALLIS COMPANY
 PAWLING & HARNISCHFEGER
 THE CHAIN BELT COMPANY
 KOEHRING MACHINE CO.
 THE NORDBERG
MANUFACTURING COMPANY
 FILER & STOWELL
 C.J. SMITH AND SONS
 MILWAUKEE HARVESTER
COMPANY
 OBENBERGER DROP
FORGE/LADISH DROP FORGE
 ALLEN BRADLEY
 EVINRUDE OUTBOARD MOTOR
 FALK
 KEARNEY & TRECKER
 GEORGE MEYER
MANUFACTURING COMPANY
 WEISEL & VILTER MFG. CO.
 LOUIS ALLIS COMPANY
 AMERICAN RHEOSTAT/CUTLER-
HAMMER
 THE MILWAUKEE ROAD
 THE LAWSON AIRPLANE
COMPANY
 THE HAMILTON METALPLANE
COMPANY
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33. Questions/Comments?
Lessons from Milwaukee's Industrial Heritage