2005-11
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/31/2005
A small archive of (19) manuscript letters, 1849-1859, sent to cotton machinery makers, P. W. Whitin, of Massachusetts. Fifteen of the letters, 1852-59, are from Quaker firm, J. Pusey & Sons of Wilmington. Three of the these letters contain small hand drawn machinery part sketches. They read in small part: 11th mo 3rd 1853 - "The kind of machine [lapper] you describe will suit us; but as we expect to work a very dusty kind of cotton (very low grade & some fly) it will be indespensible to have some way of getting rid of the dust."; "We would like this machine to make a larger lap roll than the one we have - that is to put more cotton on the rollers to avoid changing so often."; 7th mo 28th 1852 - "One of our firm saw yesterday at D. Trainer's Mill near Marcus Hook, a spreader or lapper built at your establishment. The only objection we saw was that the machine did not make the roll hard (solid) enough to bear handling. Cannot the machine be made with this objection removed & if so at what price will you furnish one for 30 in cards…". An 1859 machinery part order from Pusey contains a list of eleven items with pricing data added by Whitin. The archive also contains (4) letters, 1849, from Franklin Manufacturing Co., also of Wilmington. These letters are mostly brief and pertain to the purchase of a "beater spreading" machine. A few letters with dampstaining (text entirely readable). Overall VG.
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