These letters are the only records of the Brandon Iron Co. of Brandon, VT that seem to have survived. They are in the special collections of the Clements Library at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, but the catalogue entry does not explain how or why they ended up there. As they are original letters rather than letterbook copies, they must have come from the recipient, the Worcester, MA merchant Henry W. Miller, rather than anywhere else; but how they ended up in Michigan, or why the Clements Library acquired them, remain mysteries (until, at least, I ask them; there must be an archival record about some of this).
I have transcribed the letters without making any changes to capitalisation, spelling, punctuation, etc. () indicates a (sic), (indec) = indecipherable, and material in square brackets [] is my clarification of something that might need it. // marks a change of page -- they are not numbered. All of the letters are from the firm of C.W. [Chauncey Washington] and J.A. Conant until number 18 in October 1837, after which they are from J.A. Conant as Agent of the successor firm, the Brandon Iron Co., Chauncey having left the partnership. Explanatory notes are added after each letter, as required; they are more numerous and also denser for the earlier letters, both because they are more interesting and also that, as the correspondence became routine, themes tended to recur.
For Conant's father John (b. 1773), his iron furnace, and his other stoves, see this blog post; for the younger John himself, the biographical account in John Caldwell et al., American Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 1994), Vol. 1, p. 235, accompanying his portrait (below). Miller shows up in the 1845, 1850, and 1855 Worcester city directories as a leading merchant, stove maker, and hardware dealer (The Worcester Almanac, Directory, and Business Advertiser, for 1845 [Worcester: Henry J. Howland, 1845] -- ad., p. 145; 1850, esp. p. 174 [advertisement]; 1855, p. 199), who in 1841 helped the inventors of the Coes wrench to get their start in business. In 1848 he was still selling and promoting "Stanly (sic)'s Rotary Cooking Stove," "The best rotary we have seen." But otherwise I know little of him except that as recently as 1829 he had been a chairmaker, by 1832 he had entered the tinware and stove trade, and that he was a man whose household purchasing habits and lifestyle depict him as having become a very solid member of the local middle class.
For Conant's father John (b. 1773), his iron furnace, and his other stoves, see this blog post; for the younger John himself, the biographical account in John Caldwell et al., American Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 1994), Vol. 1, p. 235, accompanying his portrait (below). Miller shows up in the 1845, 1850, and 1855 Worcester city directories as a leading merchant, stove maker, and hardware dealer (The Worcester Almanac, Directory, and Business Advertiser, for 1845 [Worcester: Henry J. Howland, 1845] -- ad., p. 145; 1850, esp. p. 174 [advertisement]; 1855, p. 199), who in 1841 helped the inventors of the Coes wrench to get their start in business. In 1848 he was still selling and promoting "Stanly (sic)'s Rotary Cooking Stove," "The best rotary we have seen." But otherwise I know little of him except that as recently as 1829 he had been a chairmaker, by 1832 he had entered the tinware and stove trade, and that he was a man whose household purchasing habits and lifestyle depict him as having become a very solid member of the local middle class.
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Head and shoulders crop, portrait of John Adams Conant by William Dunlap, 1829; original image from the Met.
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#1 -- 28 March 1835
Mr Miller.
Sir, Your Letter of 21st inst is before us -- We should be pleased to send you a Sample () our Rotary Stoves, but fear there will not be an opportunity very soon -- the Roads are becoming bad, and untill () merchants send for Goods after the wheeling shall improve, there will not be any team that we now know of going to Boston. [NOTE 1.1]
We make as yet only two Sizes of Rotary Stoves -- viz No 2 & 3. and our Terms are 20 pcnt () disct [discount] from $24 & $28. We deliver on Seaboard - say Boston. Cash 1st April, or Int [interest] after. 4 pcnt less Cash down -- or on the delivery of the Stoves. Our $28 Stove corresponds in size with Stanleys () $30 -- or $40 & trimmings -- our oven makes good all that Stanley sells for the ten dollars, except a Sad Iron heater & Tin Roaster, both worth perhaps two dollars -- and the Stove decidedly better. [NOTE 1.2]
Stanley had his Stoves in Concord NH early in the season, and after 15th Sept we had an order for a Load of ours by Land, which were soon sold and on the 1st Feby 70 of our kind had been sold and six only of Stanleys. We sold a large number in Augusta Maine, & then obtained $30 for No 3 -- // which we think would be a fair price with you at retail -- Stanley as we know does not intend reducing prices, which of course will aid the sale of ours.
We do not use Crank & pinion to motion () the Top with, but construct so as to have the bearing in the center, raised equal to the thickness of a thin washer, and move by aid of a short handle which may be attached to the outer edge of the Top on opposite sides in the fashion of a dove tail, is very simple and decidedly preferable to the crank.
With this difference and the oven (which by the way bakes any kind of Bread & equal to any kitchen oven) the Stove exactly resembles Stanleys () -- The draft is regulated by a damper in the rear which if raised permits the fire or heat to pass under the oven, if the contrary -- all the heat is thrown upon the boilers.
We have manufactured Stoves for fifteen years and have never seen a Stove that the public are so well pleased with, no one so far as we have any knowledge using them, desire to change for other kinds. [NOTE 1.3]
Our castings you will like when you see them, & we should be pleased to sell you or some one in Worcester // from two to four hundred -- If you should do a considerable business in the sale of our Stoves will pay charges from Boston to your place, and allow 4 perct extra on all you sell to dealers -- if you should have occasion so to do -- It is not our wish to have more than one customer in your place or section and would therefore like to have you come to a conclusion soon, having had word (emph. in original) from another House in your place, that a supply would be wanted. [NOTE 1.4]
We are your &c
C W & J A Conant
Note 1.1 -- It was about 150 miles by turnpike road from Brandon to Worcester, and transporting stoves by wagon was quite possible, though expensive (see below, Letter #9), but not in the "mud season" at the end of winter. The cost and practical limitations of overland transportation, particularly before the coming of the railroad, made water transport the normal choice for stoves and other non-perishable cargoes without a high value-to-weight ratio.
Note 1.2: It's always interesting to see manufacturers' terms of trade set out so clearly. $24 and $28 were Conant's regular prices, with a 20 percent discount for a trade customer. These prices included water transportation all the way to the customer's nearest port.
All sales were made on credit, so Conant had to cover all costs of production, distribution, and credit risk for a minimum of several months before expecting payment -- in this case, Miller was being invited to order his stoves for the 1835-36 sales season, which peaked in the Fall, when farmers had harvest cash to spend and Winter to prepare for, and would not have to start paying for them until almost a year from receiving this offer. It was realistically anticipated that many customers would be slow paying even then, so the seller would be compensated by getting interest on bills still unpaid after that date. The cash discount of just 4 percent for payment with order or on delivery seems to be an underestimate of the cost and risk involved in credit sales. The necessity of running such long credits, having to finance all costs upfront and then waiting many months for cash to flow back, was probably the biggest headache for manufacturers like Conant aiming to sell costly consumer durables to a non-local market. All stove trade business correspondence that I have read is dominated by the issues of credit and payment. The best account of this system is in Rowena Olegario, A Culture of Credit: Embedding Trust and Transparency in American Business (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 2006), esp. Chs. 1-2.
Note 1.3: Conant's rotaries did not have the cachet and could not include all of the unique and useful features of Stanley's, as he spells out -- no easy crank-handle motion, not such an airtight design of the stove top; his disregard for Stanley's patent rights was not total. So he had to compete on cost and, he claimed, build quality and customer satisfaction instead: he could undercut Stanley by just $2 (7 percent) on a bare stove or, he argued, up to 30 percent on a stove with "trimmings." Stanley's stove came with essential extras including a "tin kitchen" (reflector oven) and other hollow ware required to make it fully useful. Conant claimed that his integral cast-iron oven made them redundant and thus almost valueless. Note how well-informed he was about the state of the market, including his rival's determination not to compete on cost. Sharing this sort of information between manufacturers and trade customers was routine. He did not just share these arguments with individual dealers by letter: he broadcast them to all consumers in his hometown newspaper:
#2 -- 13 April 1835
[same salutation]
"We received your Letter of 8th inst this morning -- Should be pleased to sell you some of our Stoves, but must decline in all cases sending them out on commission. [NOTE 2.1]
The name of the individual we alluded to, we have forgotten, not having had any Letter or his name in writing, but think it was Newcomb. [NOTE 2.2]
It is not our object to multiply customers in the same place, and we should advise you & your present competitor to avoid by all means running in prices -- which you understand all about, without our suggestion.
If you desire, we can forward you a Stove -- by way of N[ew] York to Boston on the 1st of May -- we sold [i.e. bartered] two Stoves to a Mr Sears, or Simon Seaver, of Prescott, for Brooms. You could no doubt see those Stoves with little trouble. Our Stoves will be in good order, fitted // complete -- large plates loose, & small ones Boxd () -- [NOTE 2.3]
I should be pleased to answer your orders if sent in, before we have contracted for all we make.
Yours Respectfully"
Note 2.1: With sales on commission, title to (and responsibility for) the goods sold by a dealer remained with the manufacturer until they were bought by a consumer, at which point the sale price (less commission) was supposed to be paid by the dealer to the manufacturer. Such a risk-free arrangement was obviously popular with dealers, but understandably rejected by manufacturers unless they were desperate to dispose of goods with some prospect, however small, of generating a return, or perhaps wishing to break into a new market. Standard stove trade terms were that title passed when the goods were delivered off the ship at the port of arrival, i.e. manufacturers only bore the risk of breakages in transit -- a real problem with thin cast-iron plates -- for the safest though longest portion of the journey from factory to market.
Note 2.2: Caleb Newcomb was one of Worcester's two workers in tin, sheet-iron &c., according to the 1828 Worcester Village Directory. At the town's cattle show in 1832 he had "presented a Tin Drum or cylinder of his own manufacture, which was highly approved by manufacturers." (Worcester Talisman 1 [1828], p. 209 & New England Farmer 10 [1832], p. 141.)
According to the McLane survey that same year Worcester's tinsmiths were just Newcomb's firm and another partnership, Rice & Miller (our guy, who had moved out of chair-making). Real estate, buildings, and fixtures for the two of them were worth $1,800; Tools, Machinery, and Apparatus, $500; average Stock in hand and in process of manufacture, $900; Raw Materials $435 US-sourced, $4,503 imported; Payroll Output Value $8,950 including 17 tons of iron manufactured into stoves, stove furniture, and stove pipe $4,700. Two working proprietors were assisted by five workers over 16 and a boy, and total wages amounted to $2,015. These were, in other words, classic artisan businesses, using hand tools and muscle-powered machinery, and not very value-adding. Even in 1832 the stove trade made up more than half of their business.
The 1837 Commonwealth of Massachusetts industrial census (its and indeed any state's first) reported three tin shops in Worcester by then, employing 14 hands, and doing $18,300 worth of business, i.e. considerably more than just five years earlier. By that time Worcester was growing and industrializing rapidly -- its population increased by 80 percent in the 1830s, a growth rate second only to Lowell (221 percent) in the state -- and most households would need one or more stoves. It was thus an important market for Conant (and Miller) to tap into.
Tinners and whitesmiths like these men were the most common group of artisans from whom stove retailers were recruited, in the 1820s and 1830s and for decades afterwards -- they already supplied household needs, including for kitchen utensils, and had the skills required for e.g. fabricating stove pipe, assembling stoves from the collection of loose plates and other parts that were shipped, installing stoves in customers' houses, and providing a repair service. Conant was subtly telling Miller that if the latter decided not to accept Conant's terms, he would be equally happy to deal with his rival Newcomb.
Note 2.3: Finding a way of safely shipping fragile, increasingly thin cast-iron plates hundreds or even thousands of miles was one of the challenges the stove trade had to overcome in its search to build a region- and eventually nation-wide market. When Conant said his stoves were "fitted," what he meant was that they were trial-assembled ("mounted") at the factory so that any defects could be identified and rectified, joints filed for a good fit, holes drilled in plates for hinges and catches, etc., and then disassembled for transit. Loose plates were usually packed in straw in barrels or sacks, small plates boxed not just to protect against breakage but also simply being mislaid en route. Stove distributors like Miller or retailers like Newcomb were absolutely essential to the industry's market expansion, particularly because of the need for skilled final assembly, installation, and after-sales service. A relatively complex, novel, and costly consumer-durable good did not fit easily into established patterns of wholesale trade, so had to develop its own.
#3 -- 28 August 1835
[usual salutation]
"We loose () no time in saying to you that as we expected your information of Albany trial through Mr Newcomb was incorrect.
The Plaintiffs Dana & Chard {?} did not obtain an injunction against French, but failed in the attempt. It was plain that the Court leaned strongly to the side of Plffs () -- & did everything for their protection, and after {indec} the Court to do something a decision was procured putting French under (not $50,000) but Two Thousand dollars bond, not that he should refrain from vending but that he should truly account to the Court if required the number he should make & vend, that if Stanley did ever find himself able to maintain an action he should know how many, or how much damages to claim -- all amounting to nothing. The same facts could at any time be proved by his furnace -- any one of his clerks -- & in various other ways, but this year, a few suits must be had to enable Stanley to
sell his Stoves. All those facts we have recd () from a personal interview with a gentleman of our acquaintance resident in // Vergennes Vt. who attended the trial, & being deeply interested in the result was carefull () to know all about it, & a Mr Flower {?} during the interval of an adjournment of the Second trial went to Connecticut and gave the facts in the case as sworn to on both sides (by the way the Testimony does not clash much), and took Rogers M Shermans () opinion of the case in writing, a copy of which we have, this opinion is able, clear, and unequivocally against both Stanley & Town, & makes the principle of the Rotary Top Stove common property, the case stands so clear now that we have no hesitation in engaging to defend you jointly with yourself as far as cost and time of Counsel goes & pay full amount of damages ourselves if any are secured. In consequence if any thing you may {indec} in the way of buying & selling our Stoves. {indec name -- evidently a lawyer} of Rockingham this State have given an opinion {indec -- exactly??} corresponding with Mr Shermans (). [NOTE 3.1]
It was allowed at the Albany trial that If () French would not use a crank {?} the Court could not notice him at all but so clear is he that the case will turn out to Stanleys () discomforture () that he will not give an inch.
We are in Great haste
Yours &c."
Note: This is a fascinating account of what was obviously one of the preliminaries to the Stanley v. Hewitt case later in the year, in which the distinguished Connecticut advocate Roger Minot Sherman, nephew of one of the Founding Fathers, led the team representing Hewitt on behalf of, and with the support of, Stanley's other patent violators.
Church & Dana were Stanley's agents (wholesalers) in Troy, who had made a $12 profit on each of the 5,000 of his rotaries that they had sold over the previous two years, so were obviously almost as interested in defending his patent as he was himself.
Maynard French was the maker of the principal rival to Stanley, the Town stove, and certainly his main legal opponent. (See this post for French and the Town and other rotary patents.) Conant's stove was evidently different in operation from Town's, more of an independent copy of Stanley's but without the rack and pinion mechanism, so his interest in the patent suits was different, as was his preferred outcome: that the rotary principle should be determined to be unpatentable per se. Conant was so confident that Stanley's patent would not stand that he did not confine his assurances to customers to his private business correspondence, he spread it all over the papers.
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| Vermont Telegraph ad., 12 Oct. 1835 onwards -- note also the continuing emphasis on his product quality and sideswipe at Stanley's price. |
Roger Minot Sherman, 1773-1844, was a prominent lawyer in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and a politician and judge in his home state. "To a mind of the highest order, at once brilliant and profound, he added the embellishments of literature and science and the graces of Christianity." "American Obituary for 1844," The American almanac and repository of useful knowledge, for the Year 1846 (Boston: James Munroe & Co., 1845), p. 319.
#4 -- 6 September 1835
[usual salutation]
"Since wrote you hastily, we have given the subject of Stanley () chance for recovery in action for damages for alleged infringement of his Patent rights, a thorough investigation, and find that he was signally defeated in the trial with Town. In that case & while before the Court, Stanley was advised by the Judge that in order for them to grant an injunction the Plff () must make out a good & valid title to the priviledges () claimed in his Patent. -- The result was that an injunction was refused afterwards. The Court being hard pressed to do something for Stanley -- on application to have French put under Bond to the amt. of $50000 -- did without being able to see or explain for what or by what principle of Law require French to give bond for the sum of Two Thousand Dollars. (There is no mistake here) -- requiring him to render a true account of the number of Stoves made & Sold when called upon, or should Stanley ever substantiate his claims, all this amounts to nothing & was a signal defeat for Stanley -- but we have ascertained the existence of testimony & of a character not to be disputed that will be fatal to Stanleys () pretensions, setting every other defence asunder. So says Roger M Sherman of Fairfield Town -- who has been counselled in the case & will no doubt aid in the trials in this State //
Under these circumstances & knowing what the result must be, we feel no further hesitation in agreeing to indemnify & save harmless any and all who buy, sell & use our Stoves. --
Under these circumstances & knowing what the result must be, we feel no further hesitation in agreeing to indemnify & save harmless any and all who buy, sell & use our Stoves. --
Should you think proper to order more or less we will {indec} them as before named for your acceptance at 6 mos for one half the amount, leaving the bal. to be paid at a year or when the question is decided as to Stanleys () Claim. In this manner you will be safe to do such a business as
you shall find yourself able to do. [NOTE]
We are Respectfully Yours"
15-16 No. 1 -- 16.80 -- 40 Spider & Kettles 1.00 15.80
18-19 2 -- 20 " " 1.00 19.00
21-22 3 -- 24 1.22 " " 1.25 22.75
Note: Conant offers a further inducement to Miller to buy a load of stoves which might, if Stanley won his case, incur a penalty charge: a very substantial improvement on the standard credit terms.
#5 -- 9 October 1835
[usual salutation]
"We take this early opportunity to give you a Statement of the result of the trial of Town vs Stanley 6th inst at Rutland.
A model of Towns () Stove as well as Stanleys () was before the Jury -- and although not exactly alike, they resembled each other in the important particular of the horizontal circular motion, and Stanleys () Council distinctly admitted that they did not claim the Rotary Motion as their invention but conceded to Town the originality of all that.
And what did they claim do you think, why the invention of the Rotary Cap as they have it, Town had a Round Cap, a Cap with boiler holes on top, a centre pinion on which it turned as they admitted all that to be true, there was no need of the Testimony of numerous Witnesses in attendance to prove what was admitted, but Stanley claimed such a Top as he has made, and wherein does it differ from Towns () -- It differed in being situated much nearer to the plate next beneath it, and in having raised collars for boilers and griddles to rest on, and ankers {?} connecting those collars, and crank &c. Now the question arose was Stanley the inovater () of these parts which distinguished his top from Towns () -- to prove that he // was not, testimony tending to show that the raised Collars & ankers were used by Gold () [Gould Thorp] & others long before Stanleys () Patent & that there was no difference in principle between turning the cap by Crank & the methods used by Town which certainly are not more dissimilar than Stanleys method & ours, we say that testimony of this sort was about to be introduced on the part of Town which was objected to by Stanley, as not being within the existing state of the pleadings. The Court decided that as the pleadings stood the defendant had a right to object to the testimony but that such testimony properly belonged to the Case, and on application the Court granted an extension of ground, but as Stanley affected surprise &c the Court ordered the Plaintiff to pay defendant the cost of the term {?}, and the defendant said he could not go on with the trial but must have it put over which was granted
Roger M Sherman of Connecticut was counsell () for Town and said that the case was a clear one against Stanley and always would be, and that it would be utterly impossible for Stanley to receive a dollar damages of any one.
You can go on harmless {?} & safe
We are Yours Truly"
#6 -- 11 January 1836
[usual salutation]
"We learn by Mr Moore verbally that he neglected to take on board at {indec -- named port?} the Legs for the last of Stoves & that something else was wanting, did not remember what. If you need any thing before you could get it from here, we have requested Ketcham of Boston to send you what you may want, as he has returnd () upon him the lot of Stoves that were wreckd ()
Will you allow us to draw on you for any part of our bill, before the full time shall run. If so please name the sum, & time of payment & other particulars. This request is made, thinking that, you might prefer to pay a part some time from April to June, and further as we are short for Cash, hang {?} out // the largest out of this years () Sales {all of this is a bit scrawled}
We have a good pattern nearly finished for a No. 1 Stove, retail price will be $20 which will be billd() to you next year if you have any in proportion with best terms made to you.
We are yours Truly"
Notes:
Micah Ketcham was a stove inventor, maker and dealer resident in Boston, for whose 1839 rotary cooking stove patent No. 1159 see this blog. In The First Exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, at Faneuil & Quincy Halls, in the City of Boston, September 16, 1837 (Boston: Dutton & Wentworth, for the Association, 1837), p. 18, he exhibited "Stevens's Cooking Stove, for anthracite, with two fires; an improved Rotary Stove, and Wilcox's improvement on Stanley's Patent Parlor Stove, coal burnt in clay cylinders."
The paragraph about payments refers to another essential detail of the credit system: when customers received their goods, they would send the seller a note, i.e. an I.O.U. for the full sum due at the agreed payment date. Commercial paper like this was negotiable: the holder could sell it to a banker, broker, or speculator at a discount for cash, or use it as collateral against his own debts, even before the due date. There was infinite potential here for the note issuer to lose contact with the current owner of his financial obligations, and to find himself "embarrassed" as a result. So good business etiquette was to keep the issuer advised of whatever the holder was minded or compelled to do with the note, and ideally to have his permission. Conant is I think going beyond this, giving Miller the opportunity to pay him in stages, which later became their normal practice, rather than leaving him forced to discount Miller's note.
#7 -- 19 January 1836
[usual salutation]
"Your two favors of 12th & 13th inst came to hand this morning, before this you will have recd () our Letter advising you that you could have a Lot of Stoves for Kitchens &c. but in consequence of the various parts that are wanting to make your Stoves even we have thought best to send the Stoves
you order from here direct, and shall extraordinaries excepted start them off Wednesday morning & they will probably reach you Saturday night
Something has been said to Stanley about having his Stove entirely, & we have in anticipation of such an event made a cast {?} which we think decidedly better than his, what it will amount to we do not now know, Stanley has brought numerous suits, has not won/been beat in {?} one, and in consultation {?} that all these should be closed as we used the portion opposed even to you unnoticed/go unmolested {?} for what they do to 1st July 1836. We shall continue making Rotary Stoves, that will please customers, & should be happy to sell you another year // no doubt a generous arrangement will be made that is beneficial to manufacturers & dealers in Rotary Stoves, & permit them to be benefitted by their earnings rather than divide it up among Lawyers &c
Something has been said to Stanley about having his Stove entirely, & we have in anticipation of such an event made a cast {?} which we think decidedly better than his, what it will amount to we do not now know, Stanley has brought numerous suits, has not won/been beat in {?} one, and in consultation {?} that all these should be closed as we used the portion opposed even to you unnoticed/go unmolested {?} for what they do to 1st July 1836. We shall continue making Rotary Stoves, that will please customers, & should be happy to sell you another year // no doubt a generous arrangement will be made that is beneficial to manufacturers & dealers in Rotary Stoves, & permit them to be benefitted by their earnings rather than divide it up among Lawyers &c
Whatever Step we do take in the end we intend shall be a safe one, -- knowing the facts in the case before, we fervently {?} postifly {?} & the Result was as we said expected.
We are yours Respectfully"
Note: Though Conant continued to advertise his willingness to indemnify any buyers of his rotaries against any claim by Stanley, in fact he seems to have been looking for another way of dealing with the problem, after Stanley's partial victory in the Hewitt case in December and successful surrender of his defective (over-claiming) original patent and resubmission of a valid amended version. It sounds as if he contemplated negotiating terms with Stanley allowing him to make an exact copy rather than just a near-imitation.
#8 -- 29 January 1836
[usual salutation]
"We shall draw on you for five hundred dollars payable at Worcester Bank 1st June, for the liberty to do which we are much obliged to you.
In regard to another years business, we shall discourage any & all applicants from your vicinity, but perhaps it would not be best for us to wholly refuse to sell, but offer terms like 12½ percent off or something like what you would do yourself with dealers.
It is not our object to multiply customers in the same neighbourhood (), but prefer to have one House alone, in the same place or center of business purchase of us for the whole trade. If you think best to take some of the Stoves with Ketcham, what you do not sell before 1st April may be considered as sold to you on 1st Sept next. If the course that // Mr Stanley takes, shall in the end as well as trying have the effect to limit the manufacture of Rotary Stoves to those already engaged -- we shall not regret his very singular course. It would trouble any one ignorant of the facts to oppose him, but we know them too well for him to think of competing with us ... and all he may do will be to keep up appearances, as the thing now stands.
We do not know H {U?} B Smith, nor have we ever had a Customer in Hartford. The Stove he has are no doubt of the {indec - Veryan?} Manufacture
Reducing {?} prices is bad business -- it is a loss to the retailer, as very few will get such terms as you are offered by us for next season. [NOTE]
Reducing {?} prices is bad business -- it is a loss to the retailer, as very few will get such terms as you are offered by us for next season. [NOTE]
We shall not fail to do every thing we can to give & secure to you the whole field in your vicinity.
Respectfully Yours &c"
Note: the further discussion of the proto-agency relationship with Miller -- Conant did not want to say a hard no to other Worcester customers, but would only offer them a price which meant that Miller remained competitive as a local jobber of Conant stoves, and Conant's direct customers could not afford to undercut Miller's retail prices either.
Note: the further discussion of the proto-agency relationship with Miller -- Conant did not want to say a hard no to other Worcester customers, but would only offer them a price which meant that Miller remained competitive as a local jobber of Conant stoves, and Conant's direct customers could not afford to undercut Miller's retail prices either.
#9 -- 21 March 1836
"Sir, Your favor of March 10th is received, we have written to Mr French with a view to have him take other ground and leave Worcester County to us, provided you buy of us, as we have already made arrangements of the kind with Mr Haven of Vergenes (). [NOTE]
We should like to sell you all the Stoves you want, and will put you No. 1 -- $15 . 2 $18 . 3 -- $21 -- & deliver to you, payable 1st April or interest after, for all delivered by water, after navigation closes, we must charge you $10 per ton for transporting on 6 mo.
If you make your purchases of us we shall refrain from selling to any others in your vicinity when we can avoid it.
The Stoves you had of Ketcham you may pay him for for () if he desires it or pay to us otherwise. We shall not charge them to you unless we learn from Mr Ketcham that he is willing. It has cost us considerable () sum of money to secure the Rights we now enjoy -- & there is no doubt but Stanley
will prosecute any who have not already an interest in the business if they are found to be making Rotary Stoves. If we have never paid a dollar in the business & never made a stove of the kind we should now be better off. A M Wheeler of Worcester has written to us on the subject of Patterns for
Rotary Stoves, & we at one time offered him 3 Patterns & the right to use in one Foundry for $1800 -- we then supposed we had the right to sell, but find we have not, which you will not regret, probably.
If you should think best to order stoves of us -- we should like to hear from you in April if convenient, and we should prefer to send you a moderate assortment at first & ship the bill {?} 1st Sept.
We are Yours Respectfully"
Notes:
- "$10 per ton" extra for overland transportation, payable in 6 months, equated to a little less than a dollar per stove.
- Note the frankness about restraints of trade, with gentlemen's agreements among makers not to compete against one another in particular markets, and between makers and dealers to give the latter effective local monopolies too.
- Further evidence here about increased respect for Stanley's patent right.
- Wheeler was also a Worcester stove dealer, and became a Conant customer; in 1839 he patented a cook stove jointly with Ketcham, no. 1419; see blog post. In the 1845 Worcester Directory he was still listed as stocking and selling Conant's Vermont Parlor stove, p. 138
#10 -- 18 May 1836
"Sir,
Your favor of 14th inst is recd, we shall ship the small lot of Stoves ordered, say 8 No 1 15 No 2 & 5 No 3 very soon --& the remainder in July.
If you should want a larger number we should be under the necessity of increasing the price, as the present high price of labor & living -- including increased rates of freight render it impossible for us to fill any order of the kind except we were under just such obligation as we are to you.
Your first order answered we shall feel that we have fulfilled on our part, we make the early avowal of the present state of things that you may be benefitted in sale of your first lot & be prepared for an advance hereafter.
Our prices are now $21 $25 & $30 20 off
We should however sell to you at One Dollar advance on such {?} stove, The best offer we shall make any of your neighbors will be rates first named above, & deliver on sea board, which will vary 6 per ct () at par -- price you will pay hereafter beside transportation. You need have no fear of
being undersold this season, the City dealers must ask higher prices than we do & in fact we have agreed not to sell under 21 - 25 & 30 20 less except when we have made offers, () We can sell you a good article & should be glad to sell you a large lot at the advanced price, should there be a further advance before you order we can not fill your order, but will do all you order, within our means () If the market remains as it does now, //
We do not furnish any thing like boiler & spider & you will find where it is done the price is higher but we will fix the damper as you desire
Can you allow us to draw on you say a month ahead at 3 mo for more or less, If so please write as the amt () & time, we are very much troubled to raise money, & obliged to ask for favors that we do not ordinarily trouble our customers about
We are very Respectfully"
Notes:
- The "Panic of 1837" was preceded by a period of sharp inflation, notably in the price of pig iron, which had to be reflected in stove prices, because otherwise iron would be worth more sold as pigs rather than cast into stoves. Conant would fulfil existing orders at the agreed price, but would not accept new orders except at a higher price (including a small loyalty bonus for a repeat customer -- a slight discount, $1 off regular rates) and could not even promise to stick to that price if market pressures required.
- Even during this period of exceptional market turbulence, note Conant's transparency about his non-compete agreements with other makers not to sell below a certain floor price. This sort of collaborative price-fixing was as normal as it was unreliable under pressure.
#11 -- 1 June 1836
"Sir
We have this day drawn on you for five hundred dollars payable 15th Sept next which you will please accept, pay & charge to us.
In regard to Rotary boilers we are not supplied with Patterns, and our engagements are such for Iron that we can not get them made in our Furnace this season --
Should be pleased to sell you a good lot of Stoves in Sept & October if you do not purchase better of others. We shall take the liberty to send you a new Parlor Stove as a sample, pay for it if you use it.
We have also a new Cook Stove nearly out can send you a sample if you desire it, 1½ month, will be as early as we can complete castings from it
Yours respectfully"
#12 -- 3 February 1837
"Sir,
We this day send you the Stoves by Team & bill accompanying.
You will please accept of our draft for $215 payable 1st April in favor of R M Sherman esqr, We take the liberty to draw for this amount, and apology is that we find it difficult to remit such a sum to a remote part of Connecticut, and also that we are very short for funds.
Our draft is dated 1st Feby payable at the Bank of Worcester, two months from date,
We should like to see a Stove of the kind you allude to, If you could procure one for us, & send by our Team, we should like it, a small size will do, We have no intercourse at this season of the year with Albany. Stoves must come higher next // season than they were sold for last, but we intend to supply our old customers on as good terms as can be afforded by any manufacturer in the country.
We are yours very Respectfully"
Note: both of these routine letters help illustrate the
Note: both of these routine letters help illustrate the
- workings of the payments system -- the "means of exchange" necessary to supplement the banking system, always very inadequate but especially after the impact of recent federal and state policies. Conant is paying his share of Sherman's bill for legal representation by drawing on his credit with Miller, i.e. in effect he is requiring Miller to settle the bill for him, and knows he is "tak[ing] a liberty," but at least he is informing him if not exactly seeking his permission.
- Albany was only a little over a hundred miles south of Brandon, but with the Champlain Canal frozen it was quite inaccessible for freight, though apparently the turnpikes to Worcester were still open.
- note the way in which dealers' knowledge of what their market required fed back into makers' decisions about what to produce. Conant is probably referring to an attractive new model of stove which he could copy -- his firm did not invent or patent its own products.
#13 -- 4 March 1837
Sir,
The reason why we address you at this time, is that we are disposed to sell some one in Worcester County a lot of Stoves this season, and prefer to sell to you in preference to any other person if you want, and unless with your consent should refuse to others except on terms that would give you
the preference with them, Your neighbours Messrs N & B [Newcomb & ??] have called on us, and expressed a desire to purchase, but we feel disposed to give you the preference, & have not agreed to furnish them with any -- When we last wrote you, we intimated that prices would be higher
this season, & we are fully assured that such must be the case, although the present state of high prices does not affect us as much as it must those who melt Pig Iron.
We can deliver you in Boston or Providence
No 1 Rotary $16 6 plate Stoves, with or without boiler hole
2 do $18 with carved cover for 3 smallest sizes
3 do $21 & a griddle for two larger at for No 1--15.00 12
2 12.00 9.60
two patterns 3 9.00 7.20
4 7.00 5.60
5 5.00 4.-
20 perct less --
We shall have 3 sizes of the Stanley parlor, Improved from the sample you saw last year, The Top will be raised, the slide hearth fitted so as not to draw entirely out, the front door either as they now are, double, or a single door with a slide on the inside to open or close one half of its size, showing the fire if desired. We shall sell them at $8- 10 & 12 20 perct off
To you we will vary the No 3 - 4 - & 5 6 plate, so as to have the nut/rest {?} as at Boston -- $7 - 5½ - 3⅞, and the Parlor at $9. 7½ & 6 -- the No 1 & 2 6 plate we can not vary --
Should you think it any object to make an order // for your main lot of Stoves such as we make, we should be glad to receive it & have it large enough to answer your trade, in the beginning. It will be impossible for us to think of doing any thing at these prices very late on/or {?} by land transportation,
It is quite uncertain whether we shall be able to get up patterns for any thing like the Rathbone Stove, you could perhaps get some of them to make up your assortment from Albany. It is not very convenient to make a larger variety of Stoves than we now make.
Our Terms for payment must be the first of April, or say 1/3 1st Jany 1/3 1st April & 1/3 1st July after
We shall be two months earlier, than last year in manufacturing Stoves, & can consequently fill orders earlier & to better satisfaction.
We shall be two months earlier, than last year in manufacturing Stoves, & can consequently fill orders earlier & to better satisfaction.
Should you have patterns that you wish castings made from, we will do it, If the patterns are so we can do it to advantage.
We should like to hear from you soon
Respectfully yours"
Notes:
Notes:
- even without a formal agency system, Conant makes clear his preference for keeping Miller as his exclusive Worcester distributor, on favourable terms.
- "those who melt pig iron" -- a reference to the growing competition for established rural iron furnaces like Conant's from urban foundries (using either the old air furnace or the newer, more economical cupola as their melting technology), whom Conant claimed to be at a disadvantage given the state of the pig iron market. In fact their prices would soon be more than competitive, and the old stove-making furnaces would be driven out of the market within a few years.
- Conant is quite open about the fact that his parlor stove is simply an improved version of Stanley's, but as Stanley had not patented this design (yet) copying was not problematic, as it was in the case of the rotary. The Rathbone stove might have been the one referred to in the previous letter, and Conant's reluctance to copy it may not have been because of not wishing to add to the diversity of his furnace's product line but because it was patent-protected (No. 8677X, an attractive step-stove) and Joel Rathbone was the largest stove maker and wholesaler not just in Albany but in the entire United States, and could be expected to object.
#14 -- 27 March 1837
"Sir,
We wrote you some days since on the subject of Stoves, another season & not having any answer, we have thought it possible that your Letter might have been lost in the mail at Walpole recently
Should you be desirous of doing any thing with us in the way of purchasing Stoves hereafter, or of the Brandon Iron Company, which will soon succeed us, we should be glad to know it soon,
Since we last wrote we have concluded to build a stove similar to Rathbones, but can not get them out before July perhaps except may be () a sample of one size Should you feel desirous of suggesting any improvement please do so early,
At a former period you have informed us that it had been necessary for you to procure castings & other work, which we should () to know the amt () of & any changes you may have, to enable us to make out our a/c, please give us an early answer
and oblige -- Yours Respectfully"
Note: The reluctance to copy Rathbone was evidently not permanent. Notice, again, the feedback between maker and dealer about how designs could be improved. Dealers were closer to buyers and end users than manufacturers, and their knowledge was a valuable resource.
#15 -- 18 April 1837
"Sir,
We have this day drawn on you for five hundred dollars at three months, hope it will be convenient for you to pay. Also should esteem it a favor if you would still make us a further remittance to the credit of Bank of Rutland with Messrs Dana Fenno & Henshaw Boston or otherwise as you refer
We are yours Truly"
#16 -- 18 August 1837
"Sir,
We shall endeavor to make the arrangement you propose answer our purpose, for the old business.
Should you make an order for Stoves you will address John A Conant agent of the Brandon Iron Company. Their manner of doing business will () same as our () has done.
The improved Vermont Parlor, 3 sizes $8, 10, & $12. retail, is a very desirable article, we will put what you can get by water at 25 off The No 0 oven Rotary will no doubt suit you a very neat Stove retail price $18 wholesale proportioned to the others.
Respectfully Yours"
#17 -- 11 October 1837
"Sir,
Annexed is an invoice of Stoves as per order, which were shipd() on board Canal boat Saturday, the date of the bill, & hope you will receive them safely & in good order.
Respectfully yours"
//
Bought of the Brandon Iron Company
15 No 0 Rotary Cook Stoves -- $14 13 - 210.00
25 " 1 do -- " -- 16 15 400.00
50 " 2 do -- " -- 16 900.00
10 " 3 do -- " -- 21 270.00
4 No 1 6 plate -- 12 48.00 [pencil: 11¼]
8 " 2 do -- " -- 9.60 76.80 [pencil: 9¼]
6 " 2 oval Pat }
} 12 7 6½ 84.00
6 " 2 new do }
15 " 4 do -- " -- 5½ 5¼ 82.50
20 " 5 do -- " -- 3⅞ 77.50 [pencil: 3½]
20 " 1 Vermont Parlor 6 5½ 120.00
15 " 2 do ---------- 7½ 6¾ 112.00
12 " 3 do ---------- 9 8 108.00
--------
$2489.30
Brandon October 7, 1837.
Note: This bill shows the importance of the rotary in Conant's (and Miller's) business -- 71 percent of the total, by value. The remainder were generic 6-plate box stoves for heating and 9-plate stoves for cooking (15 percent) and Conant's new Stanley knock-off, the Vermont Parlor stove (10 percent). The second (lower) per-unit prices, and pencil amendments, are probably those if relevant discounts applied.
#18 -- 27 October 1837
Sir, When we made the invoice of your Stoves, we could not lay hands on your order, having previously took a memmorandum () from it of the kind & number, & we are now unable to find it now, we refer to our offer to fix the prices & supposed we conformed, except in the No 1 Rotary -- which you put at 20 retail which we took to be an error of yours, the uniform policy having been $21 -- this particular we remember, & no further, we feel bound of course to conform to the contract, & desire you to send us a copy of the order, or the prices -- we shall no doubt find the lost paper but wish our book to stand right
You will probably want more of the V.T. Parlor Stoves -- & perhaps some No 0 Rotarys () & other light Stoves, If you should we can send by Land, at 20 pcent () off for retail prices, some Stoves as the cost of transporting now is can not be transported so far ever {even?} at 20 off unless there should be good freighting. [NOTE]
Respectfully Yours
John A Conant Agent"
#20 13 January 1838
"Mr Miller,
Sir,
We have drawn on you for five hundred dollars per month from Aug to Jany () inclusive viz six drafts in all 3 for benefit of C W & J A C & then for the Iron Company --
If the former a/c should be overdrawn the amount can be placed to your credit on the other a/c, or if the ballance () is the other way you can be chgd () with such ballance we have perhaps all the freight bills, or send {?} from Boston, & will soon forward you account, If there is any thing that we should credit you, please advise us soon.
Our Vermont Cook Stove would please you have only No 0 & No 1 out but have progressed with No 2 & 3 as fast as possible, We make Pot Kettle & Spider & bason () this season. Should you need any thing in our line, you will please order, although it will not be convenient for us to forward before 1st
September. [NOTE]
Respectfully &c
John A Conant Agt
and C W & J A Conant
Note: Spring and particularly Summer were the busy manufacturing seasons at the furnace, with the aim of building up a large stock so that boatloads (by canal) and shiploads (down the Hudson to New York, then up Long Island Sound to either Providence, RI (for transshipment up the Blackstone River) or around the Cape to Boston could depart in time to get customers their stock for the busy Fall and early Winter sales seasons.
#21 -- 3 July 1838
"Mr Miller,
Sir, your favor of the 4th April by some accident has been passd () over, unnoticed, we regret it, but on recurring {?} to it we have thought best to write & wait your further orders, In the hope that yo would be disposed to make it larger.
We are now building a No 0 -- Rotary, and shall sell it in proportion with the others.
Should you wish holes in the fire doors please say so. We have a fine lot of Stoves on hand, & think we can do the business good justice this year, even as successors to Messrs -- C.W. & J.A. Conant.
respectfully Yours
John A Conant Agent of the Brandon Iron Co."
#22 -- 3 July 1838
"Our draft of $500 to Mr {or Wm ?} Page fall due 18/20 July and to Messrs Gross {?} & Fordham 24/27 Aug for $445 55/100. please say whether we shall be justified in drawing on you for, say, $500 -- more or less per month at three months, we need cash very much, & we desire to make it as favorable for customers as possible. You will observe that we are succeeded by the Brandon Iron Company in the manufacture of Stoves.
Respectfully Yours,
C W & J A Conant
#22 -- 8 October 1838
"Mr H W Miller
Sir Your Letter of 4th inst is recd () advising that you had drawn for five hundred dollars at three months, without explanation, I presumed that you could not conveniently meet our draft, & took this course as the best alternative, I have accepted
If you find C W & J A Conant account current per statement, you may charge the ballance () due to you by them to the Brandon Iron Company viz $614 31/100 six hundred fourteen dollars & 31 cts on the 1st day of Jany 1839.
Your charge for Rail road Transportation including haulage to your Warehouse, would hardly be correct, The rule in such cases is to deliver on the wharf or at the Rail road depot as the case may be, [NOTE] you will please designate how much of the charge for "Paid Rail road bill & haulage" in both accounts, is for haulage & deduct the same, your charge for rods is rather high, & in fact, I had not supposed anything was missing in last years () Lot.
I only wish that you should charge the Co. what is right & that will be cheerfully paid
Yours Respectfully
John A Conant Agt"
Note: Miller was trying unilaterally to vary the terms of trade by passing the cost of delivery from tidewater by the new railroad on to his supplier.
Note: Miller was trying unilaterally to vary the terms of trade by passing the cost of delivery from tidewater by the new railroad on to his supplier.
#23 -- 16 November 1838
"Mr H.W. Miller
Sir, The late firm of C W & J A Conant are desirous of closing up their old accounts, and if satisfactory to you will place the ballance () if any in your favor in that account to your credit on the Brandon Iron Co. Books.
The ballance due this Co. will be wanted at the rate of five hundred dollars per month
You will please advise me in this business, & whether I shall redraw for the amt () of your draft with () ex [exchange] only added.
Respectfully Yours
John A Conant agent"
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