Industry | Manufacturing |
---|---|
Founded | 1856 |
Founder | Delos Filer John Stowell |
Headquarters | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
Area served | United States |
Filer and Stowell is a company based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the United States of America. [1] Founded by Delos Filer and John Stowell in 1856, the company has produced equipment primarily for the lumber industry, largely for lumber mills but also in the past stationary steam engines, marine steam engines and even steam locomotives for logging lines.
Filer and Stowell produced a line of steam locomotives from the 1880s for the logging industry. They were simply constructed, tough and easy to maintain, and employed oscillating cylinders, an extreme rarity in locomotive practice. "A large number" were produced, mostly for customers in the southern and south-eastern United States. [2]
Filer and Stowell produced large Corliss engines, both simple and compound, originally for lumber mill power but also for other applications.
Filer and Stowell produced marine steam engines for a number of years, and were one of fourteen engine manufacturers to produce the triple expansion steam engines for the World War II Liberty ships. [3]
Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Although British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Mass-produced on an unprecedented scale, the Liberty ship came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output.
A geared steam locomotive is a type of steam locomotive which uses gearing, usually reduction gearing, in the drivetrain, as opposed to the common directly driven design.
The Shay locomotive is a geared steam locomotive that originated and was primarily used in North America. The locomotives were built to the patents of Ephraim Shay, who has been credited with the popularization of the concept of a geared steam locomotive. Although the design of Ephraim Shay's early locomotives differed from later ones, there is a clear line of development that joins all Shays. Shay locomotives were especially suited to logging, mining and industrial operations and could operate successfully on steep or poor quality track.
A steam donkey or donkey engine is a steam-powered winch once widely used in logging, mining, maritime, and other industrial applications.
The Roaring Camp & Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad is a 3 ft narrow-gauge tourist railroad in California that starts from the Roaring Camp depot in Felton, California and runs up steep grades through redwood forests to the top of nearby Bear Mountain, a distance of 3.25 miles.
The Arcata and Mad River Railroad, founded in 1854, was the oldest working railroad in California. It operated on a unique narrow gauge until the 1940s when standard gauge rails were laid. Service ceased in 1983 due to landslides. It is California Historical Landmark #842.
B. Hick and Sons, subsequently Hick, Hargreaves & Co, was a British engineering company based at the Soho Ironworks in Bolton, England. Benjamin Hick, a partner in Rothwell, Hick and Rothwell, later Rothwell, Hick & Co., set up the company in partnership with two of his sons, John (1815–1894) and Benjamin Jr (1818–1845) in 1833.
An oil burner engine is a steam engine that uses oil as its fuel. The term is usually applied to a locomotive or ship engine that burns oil to heat water, to produce the steam which drives the pistons, or turbines, from which the power is derived.
The Joshua Hendy Iron Works was an American engineering company that existed from the 1850s to the late 1940s. It was at one time a world leader in mining technology and its equipment was used in constructing the Panama Canal, amongst other major projects. The company went on to serve many different markets during the course of its existence, but is perhaps best remembered today for its contribution to the American shipbuilding industry during World War II.
Willamette Iron Works was a general foundry and machine business established in 1865 in Portland, Oregon, originally specializing in the manufacture of steamboat boilers and engines. In 1904, the company changed its name to Willamette Iron and Steel Works, under which name it operated continually until its close in 1990.
The Mason Machine Works was a machinery manufacturing company located in Taunton, Massachusetts, between 1845 and 1944. The company became famous for an early invention by its creator, William Mason, the self-acting mule, first patented in 1840. The company also later produced locomotives, rifles during the American Civil War, and later printing presses. However, the production of textile machinery would remain the company's core business during the late 19th century, until its decline in the 1920s.
Bucksport was a town in Humboldt County, California. The original location was 2.5 miles (4 km) southwest of downtown Eureka, on Humboldt Bay about 5 miles (8 km) northeast of entrance. at an elevation of 16 feet (4.9 m). Prior to American settlement a Wiyot village named Kucuwalik stood here.
The Caspar, South Fork & Eastern Railroad provided transportation for the Caspar Lumber Company in Mendocino County, California. The railroad operated the first steam locomotive on the coast of Mendocino County in 1875. Caspar Lumber Company lands became Jackson Demonstration State Forest in 1955, named for Caspar Lumber Company founder, Jacob Green Jackson.
Lumber and wood products, including timber for framing, plywood, and woodworking, are created in the wood industry from the trunks and branches of trees through several processes, commencing with the selection of appropriate logging sites and concluding with the milling and treatment processes of the harvested material. In order to determine which logging sites and milling sites are responsibly producing environmental, social and economic benefits, they must be certified under the Forests For All Forever (FCS) Certification that ensures these qualities.
Nordberg Manufacturing Company was a manufacturer of steam engines, large diesel engines, pumps, hoists and compressors for the mining and quarry industries located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The Hume-Bennett Lumber Company was a logging operation in the Sequoia National Forest in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The company and its predecessors were known for building the world's longest log flume and the first multiple-arch hydroelectric dam. However, the company also engaged in destructive clearcutting logging practices, cutting down 8,000 giant sequoias in Converse Basin in a decade-long event that has been described as "the greatest orgy of destructive lumbering in the history of the world."
Charles R. McCormick Lumber Company was founded in 1908 by Charles R. McCormick in San Francisco, California. McCormick purchased a mill site in St. Helens, and formed the Helens Mill Company. To feed the mill McCormick's St. Helens Timber Company also purchased 4,000 acres of timber. In 1912 McCormick formed the St. Helens Lumber Company as parent company over Helens Mill Company and the St. Helens Timber Company. In 1912 McCormick expanded the company with a second sawmill, a creosoting plant and shipyard, the St. Helens shipyard. McCormick also expanded into San Diego, California with a railroad ties factory, to supply Santa Fe Railway and the mines of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and northern Mexico. At the San Diego site, he built a dock to unload his timbers. With the Great Depression slow down, McCormick closed dock at San Diego in April 1931.
Polson Logging Company 2 is a 2-8-2 “Mikado” steam locomotive built by Baldwin in 1912. It was originally built for the Saginaw Timber Company to pull logging trains. After that, it went through several ownership changes throughout both the steam era and the preservation era, before it was purchased by caretaker Skip Lichter in 1982. Lichter restored Polson Lumber 2 to operational condition and loaned it to the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom, Wisconsin. The engine was later removed from service in 2000 to undergo a federally-mandated rebuild. Disagreement over who should cover the restoration costs ultimately led to an arbiter finding in Lichter's favor. After a 16-year restoration process, Polson Logging 2 returned to full steam in 2016. It was moved to the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad the next year to operate on the railroad in Garibaldi, Oregon. As of 2023, it is owned by Rick Franklin, and it is stored at the Oregon Rail Heritage Center for use in pulling their Christmas trains in Oaks Park. It was set be moved to the Albany and Eastern Railroad some time in 2023, until a boiler tube leak prompted Oregon Rail Heritage Center to commence the 15-year overhaul of the locomotive's boiler.
The Madera Sugar Pine Company was a lumber company that operated in the Sierra Nevada region of California during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The company distinguished itself through the use of innovative technologies, including the southern Sierra's first log flume and logging railroad, along with the early adoption of the Steam Donkey engine. Its significant regional impact led to the establishment of towns such as Madera, Fish Camp, and Sugar Pine, as well as the growth of Fresno Flats and the formation of Madera County.
The Sugar Pine Lumber Company was an early 20th century logging operation and railroad in the Sierra Nevada. Unable to secure water rights to build a log flume, the company operated the “crookedest railroad ever built." They later developed the Minarets-type locomotive, the largest and most powerful saddle tank locomotive ever made. The company was also a pioneer in the electrification of logging where newly plentiful hydroelectric power replaced the widespread use of steam engines.