Books › Ayars, Contributions to the Art of Music in America by the Music Industries of Boston (1937) — the Squier, Farley, Rettberg, Rockwell and Elias Howe matter, 1937 › scan 211
Scan 211
Ayars, Contributions to the Art of Music in America by the Music Industries of Boston (1937) — the Squier, Farley, Rettberg, Rockwell and Elias Howe matter, 1937
10 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 185. See the scan on archive.org.
1discrimination between the ores of the seven metals." [address hidden] Waterhouse adds, "We presume not to say how far those things were known and taught in Philadelphia where there was a Medical School. We speak only of Mineralogy, previous to 1783, as it regards New England, and the history of the mineral cabinet at Cambridge which was the first collection of the kind made in North America." 3
3At any rate Paul Revere was appointed first Major, then Lieutenant Colonel, in the artillery regiment raised for the defence of Massachusetts. He was expected to work out the design of anything mechanical needed for the public good. When requested by Washington, he succeeded in rendering useful by means of a newly contrived carriage the cannon at Castle William whose trunnions had been broken by the British when they left Boston.
5In 1788 after the Revolution he established an iron foundry at [address hidden], now [address hidden], where he cast brass cannon and became interested in the development of copper bolts and spikes as substitutes for iron to fasten the copper sheathing which preserved the bottoms of vessels from worms. After repeated trials he succeeded in manufacturing the article to his satisfaction. The new Republic's need for copper sheets and plates was brought to his attention because he had to import from England the copper sheets for sheathing the ship "Constitution" when this was built. The sheets were held in place by handwrought copper nails he made, however. He then set himself to acquiring a complete knowledge of rolling copper into sheets. His son Joseph went into partnership with him in 1801 and they bought an old government powder factory at Canton, Massachusetts, and installed copper rolling machinery in it. The first sale of copper from this first American copper and brass industry was for the dome of the then new Massachusetts State House. 4 The Government gave Revere & Son a loan of ten thousand dollars for the purchase of the copper which was used in recoppering "Old Ironsides," home for repairs in 1803. The event was recorded in the ship's log for June 26, 1803 thus—"The carpenters gave nine cheers, which were answered by the seamen and calkers because they had in fourteen days completed coppering the ship with copper made in the States." 5
73 New England Magazine. "Early American Artists and Mechanics," by J. T. & E. Buckingham—Original Papers October 1832 No. II Paul Revere p. 307.
84 Paul Revere's "Waste Book" (day book) with this entry is among the Revere Memorabilia at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
95 From a Brief Sketch of the Business Life of Paul Revere by the Taunton-New Bedford Copper Company.
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