In 1920, Kingman Brewster, a lawyer who had served as vice-president at Greenfield Tap & Die, replaced Edward P. Stoughton as Millers Falls Company president when Stoughton moved on to become chairman of the board. Brewster's tenure at the Tap & Die works had not been a lengthy one. A fractious relationship with his new board of directors resulted in a stay that was just as short. (He was active in the president's role for less than a year.) Rogers family tradition has it that the incident triggering Brewster's departure involved Chairman Stoughton's displeasure at the purchase of a carload of golden oak furniture for the factory offices at Millers Falls. Stoughton, on one of his frequent trips to Europe, learned that Brewster would be traveling to the continent and arranged for a meeting where he asked for Brewster's resignation. The golden oak office furniture, anything but luxurious, remained at the plant in Millers Falls until it was closed in the latter 1960s.(1)
George Rogers' son, Philip, assumed the responsibilities of company president in 1920. Philip Rogers had earned a degree in mechanical engineering at the Sheffield Scientific School, a semi-autonomous unit within Yale University. After his graduation in 1910, he began working for the Millers Falls Company, taking a position in the heat and dirt of the foundry core room. He soon became a machinist in the Automatic Screw Department and moved from there to the Tool Room, where he became head draftsman. In 1915, Philip Rogers was promoted to head of the firm's Production Planning Department, a position he left in 1917, the year that the United States entered the Great European War. Rogers enlisted in the armed forces, served a two-year stint, and returned to the factory in 1919. Prior to ascending to the presidency, he served for a time as assistant plant superintendent. Philip Rogers' term as president would be the longest in the company's history, forty-two years.(2)
In 1920, with an eye toward the burgeoning automobile repair market, the Millers Falls Company acquired the National Jack Company of Brattleboro, Vermont. National Jack's primary business involved the manufacture of car and truck jacks, but its acquisition added such tools as rim wrenches and valve grinders to the company's list of products as well. Although Millers Falls did some initial work improving the National Jack products, it chose not to invest heavily in the development of an extensive line of tools for the automotive mechanic. After 1929, the Brattleboro plant no longer rated a mention in the company's catalogs, and it is appears to have been closed in 1932.(3) Millers Falls catalogs continued to list automotive jacks through the Second World War.
Millers Falls acquired a second firm in 1920—the West Haven Manufacturing Company of West Haven, Connecticut. The purchase was precipitated by a decision by Clemson Bros., of Middletown, New York, to terminate its long-standing agreement to supply hacksaw blades to Millers Falls. A younger generation of Clemson managers had concluded that the company would be better off marketing the blades itself. Millers Falls was unprepared for the decision; it considered itself Clemson's best customer and had been marketing Clemson blades under the "Star" trademark for decades. The arrangement was so well-established that the companies had not signed a contract in years.(4)
West Haven Mfg. was logical buyout target as the company had been producing hacksaws and blades under the popular "Universal" brand name since its incorporation in 1902. The blades were stamped with an easily recognized globe trademark, and consumer recognition of the brand was such that Millers Falls would continue to associate it with parts of its hacksaw line for the next three decades. As an added benefit, the takeover brought with it West Haven's line of high quality punches and nail sets. The West Haven branch was closed in 1931, and its equipment and general manger, William H. Shortell, were moved to Greenfield.(5) John Owen, president of Millers Falls in the early 1960s, would later remark, "The best thing to come out of West Haven was Bill Shortell." Shortell became manager of the company's Hacksaw Blade Department and pioneered the use of molybdenum in the firm's blades—creating the firm's outstanding Blue-Mol product. The metallurgy in the Millers Falls Company's highly profitable molybdenum, tungsten, and high speed steel blades was second to none. Shortell's sons, Edward and Robert, would later join the company and contribute much to the operation. Edward Shortell would go on to become General Manager of the Millers Falls factories; Robert Shortell would make his mark in standards work.
The loss of the Clemson Star-brand blades necessitated a change in the Millers Falls Company trademark. The five-pointed star that had been, in one form or another, part of the company's logo since at least 1905 was dropped. It was replaced by a small red triangle containing the words "Since 1868." The new trademark, a joy to behold, would remain in use for the next four decades.(6)
The Millers Falls Company re-entered the wooden level business when it bought the Accurate Level Company of Detroit, Michigan, in 1926.(7) Millers Falls had offered wooden levels until the end of the nineteenth century—selling Stratton Brothers Levels for most of the 1870s and 1880s, then marketing its own brand for several years around 1890 before offering the Stratton products again through most of the 1890s.
The initial Millers Falls re-introduction, a modest one, appeared late in 1926 and consisted of three model numbers. By the time the company's 1929 catalog was published, the firm had parleyed its investment into a line of levels that included thirty-nine model numbers in twelve distinct styles, with bodies manufactured of air-dried mahogany, air-dried white pine or aluminum. Masons' levels also made their appearance—a first for the company. There is no indication in Catalog No. 40 (1929) that Millers Falls had continued to operate the Accurate Level plant at Detroit.
Electrical tools were introduced in the same year as the levels. The company was well on its way to abandoning the strategy of marketing dozens of variations on almost identical products. Its lines of braces and drills were undergoing pruning, and additions to its offerings increasingly reflected a concern with adding new types of tools to the lineup. The about face was necessary as a number of the manufacturer's old standbys had become increasingly hard to sell. The development of inexpensive electrical jig saws and lathes sounded the death knell for foot-powered hobbyist machinery. Boring machines were becoming obsolete due to changing in techniques for building barns and bridges and the competition from power tools. The Goodell and Lanfair spoke shaves were dropped; the miter planer would soon be abandoned; the power hacksaws had become antiquated; there was no longer a need to sell a half dozen hand-operated drill presses. The firm's new electric tools, its new levels and a new line of hand planes represented good strategic moves on the part of management.
The company came to the manufacture of hand planes relatively late in the game. The introduction of the planes in 1928/29 was a large scale, well-planned endeavor. Rather than introducing several planes and gradually expanding production, forty-six numbers—twenty-one of them block planes—were simultaneously brought to market. The planes were copies of existing Stanley production and of excellent quality. Castings for the beds were aged prior to machining; fit and finish were top notch. The move was a bold one considering that the Stanley Works, having purchased most of its competition, thoroughly dominated the market for hand planes. It is a testimony to the quality of the Millers Falls products and the company's skill in marketing that the new tools were a success. A great deal of thought had gone into the appearance of the planes, of colorful sales displays and of visually pleasing promotional material. The bench planes, with nickel-plated lever caps, red frogs, and rosewood totes, were stunning. Company executives must have been pleased with the results. A flashy, attention-grabbing appearance was to characterize the roll out of a number of products over the next several decades.
The bench planes were also promoted on the basis of their jointed lever caps. The standard lever cap used by competitors applied pressure to the chip breaker/cutter assembly at two points—one at the point of contact with the cap's cam lever, the other along the lower edge of the cap where it made contact with the hump of the chip breaker. The hinged cap was designed to apply force to the chip breaker/cutter assembly at third point, just above the chip breaker hump. Three points, rather than two—the company advertised the arrangement as a method for 'preventing chatter.' The jointed lever cap was was developed by Charles H. Fox, a Millers Falls employee who assigned the patent to the company.(8)
Illustrations:
Factories: Catalog No. 40: January, 1929. Millers Falls, Mass. : Millers Falls Co., 1929.
Level: Wood and Aluminum Levels. Millers Falls, Mass. :
Millers Falls Co., [undated brochure, ca. 1927].
Plane: Catalog No. 40: January, 1929.
Millers Falls, Mass. : Millers Falls Co., 1929.