Titanic Steel Barrels

[Dean Romig]

I wonder if Parker Bros. or their suppliers in England or Belgium sourced their fluid pressed steel barrels from this Titanic Steel company. That would certainly fill in some blanks.




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[Drew Hause]

Titanic Steel Works closed in 1871. It is certainly possible that another producer used that name later, but I haven't found it.

Report on Duties on Metals and Manufactures of Metals
By United States Congress. Senate. Committee on Finance, 1912
Testimony regarding the Payne-Aldrich and Dingley Tariff Bills
http://books.google.com/books?id=QDk...AJ&pg=PA879&dq

THE TESTIMONY OF W.A. KING REPRESENTING PARKER GUN CO.
Mr. King: I can speak only for our own company in so far as wages go. For instance, on the question of barrels, Mr. Hunter informed your committee that some years ago some of the manufacturers of this country attempted to make barrels. We made some barrels: we built an addition to the factory, put in some up-to-date machinery, and brought some men from Belgium to show our blacksmiths how to do it. (probably reference to the Twist and Laminated Steel Parker barrels produced c. 1877-1880) We had to pay our blacksmiths not less than 32 cents an hour, up to 40 cents, and we gave it up, because the highest wages paid the Belgian blacksmiths for exactly the same grade of barrel are 11 cents per hour. That is what is paid to the highest-priced man employed.
Senator Smoot: In Belgium?
Mr. King: In Belgium: yes, sir. That is where all of our barrels are imported from, with the exception of our very high-grade Whipple (probably a typo for Whitworth) steel barrels.

[Christopher Tombs]

I've come across this thread while searching for information on my g-g-grandfather's foundry called the Titanic Steel Company in Manchester, England that operated from 1885 until about 1895. I'm trying to find out what he and his business partner Joseph Elton Bott (who we know was involved in munitions manufacture and, in about 1883, was president of the Titanic Steel Casting Company in the US) were actaully doing in the Manchester factory. They did describe their castings as Titanic Steel in one UK publication. If anyone can shed light on this or if this is of interest to anyone on this forum, please let me know (I do have some more information about Bott and my ancestor Samuel John Hackney).
Many thanks,
Chris Tombs

[Drew Hause]

Welcome Christopher.

1883 Titanic Steel Casting Co. given permission to add to their building in Philadelphia
https://books.google.com/books?id=kQ...=RA2-PA257&lpg

1886 exhibit at the Manchester Exhibition
https://books.google.com/books?id=st...AJ&pg=PA36&lpg

B.M. Jones importers of "Extra Best Titanic Steel" ad 1906
https://books.google.com/books?id=CW...g=RA2-PA25&lpg

There might be mention of the company and officers in the archives of the Philadelphia and Manchester newspapers of the period.

[Christopher Tombs]

Thanks for your help Drew. I've found an interesting lead I'd not seen before in one article that talks about a "special cupola foundry design". The Titanic Steel Co. partners had a patent on a furnace design and fitted new furnaces at the outset. I know very little about steel manufacture, but I'll follow that lead up to see if I can make sense of what it all means. Family anecdotes tell us that the pair were developing a superior steel but couldn't get the temperatures as high as required. Without more details, which I suspect are just not to be found anywhere in the record, I think this will be like looking for a needle in a haystack! I'll carry on for a while though. Thanks again for your help, Chris