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John Tibbets Slocomb

W

woody 73

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 14, 2009
Messages
11,545
Location
The Great State Up North
I am sure a name that most machinists are familiar with, but just in case a few of you might not have ever heard his name before, this is his story.

For the most part I thought I found his date of birth in New Brunswick, Canada as most of the research points to July 21,1864; that is till I had to find his date of death and Ancestry.com decided it was July 21,1863. They said his date of death was in 1932 (aged 68-69) in Taunton, Bristol County, Massachusetts.

"It was said that the old Indian Sqaw who officiated on that occasion-July 21,1864-received a pound of salt pork for her compensation. Mr. Slocomb received a common school education and he received his first in the plant of Brown & Sharp Mfg. co., later he worked the shops of the Bangor Foundry & Machine Co. and the Brainerd Milling Machine Co., until he founded the J.T. Slocomb Co., in 1891 in Providence, RI." From American Machinist Who's Who Vol. 47 No. 26 Dec. 27th, 1917.

His Company lasted for 23 years before he sold it to JH Drury in 1914. Drury was the sales Manager for the Union Twist Drill co.,which continued using the Slocomb name.

In 1914 that must have been a very busy year because Mr. Slocomb was 50 years old when he married Sarah Esther Greenman on October the 6th, 1914. From what I found Sarah was only 20 years old at the time and she gave birth to a son three years later in 1917, to John T. Slocomb Jr. in Rhode Island.

From 1914 till just after the second World War the Company fortunes began to go downhill. They entered receivership in 1952 and were sold in 1953 to E. John Gregory, the owner of Green Machine Company in Glastonbury, Connecticut. This lasted till about 1992, when the Company made a bounce from bankruptcy and they were able to hold on a little bit longer till they went under in the late 1990's.

In the following tool set I picked it up in an old antique store, I so hope you will enjoy the pictures, the links, (I will post a few more in part two) and his story for you tonight on this nice October night.


https://wrenchwiki.com/j-t-slocomb/

https://archive.org/details/JTSlocombCoCatalogNo18

http://cofes.com/Portals/0/cofes_2012/cofes2012_micrometers.pdf

http://www.datamp.org/patents/search/xrefCompany.php?id=1088

http://thesaltysailor.com/rhodeisland-philatelic/rhodeisland/commercial47.htm

http://www.datamp.org/patents/displayPatent.php?id=13016

http://www.datamp.org/patents/displayPatent.php?id=13016

http://www.datamp.org/patents/search/xrefCompany.php?id=2358

http://waywiser.fas.harvard.edu/peo...y;jsessionid=CB6BDA6792606B43AD6842748B6FCFB4

http://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2016/12/vanished-tool-makers-jt-slocomb-co.html
 

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M

MShaw

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 2, 2015
Messages
1,013
Location
York, Pa.
I lived in Glastonbury during that era. I had friends that worked for Slocomb. I also remember when the factory was the Matson Mills making textiles.
Slocomb tools were regarded as a reasonably good product at a reasonable price. I had a 1.00" mic that I owned for over 50 years and just gave to my son. The buildings decayed to that point that they have been mostly collapsed or demolished and only a few walls and a historical marker mark the site.
 
S

Slocomb

New member
Joined
Jul 5, 2022
Messages
1
Well, this was fun to stumble upon! I am John’s great granddaughter. I can fill in some facts for you regarding the end of the company that I think are pretty interesting, and some information on what happened as a result (which may be far more backstory than you were looking for). John was an inventor of more than just machinist tools. He also manufactured an early version of the pressure cooker. His version was included a pressure gauge in the lid and was all cast iron and other dense metals. He made millions on his machine tools and invested heavily in the new design. However, someone copied the design but produced it in aluminum (or so John claimed, and based on the images and the prototype we still have, there is reason to believe this is the case) which was ultimately lighter and cheaper to produce and debuted it in 1938 in NY to fantastic success. John lost his fortune as a result, and fell into a deep depression. He died a few years after that, leaving his young wife and young son penniless. Sarah started a B&B in Providence, and was a loving mother. Eventually, she remarried and had a happy life as far as I know. Her only son, the progeny of John, went on to study biology and later forestry at Yale. He became a surveyor for the B&O railroad and had a long career there. He met another college student while he was studying biology in undergrad, Evelyn Parker, who shared his interest in the natural world. They were married and had two sons. They were deeply in love and were together 75 years before they passed within months of one another at age 93. They were strange and wonderful people. Jack was the kind of 90 year old man who liked to perform songs and one man shows at the local retirement home “for the old folks.” He was known for carrying a karaoke machine with him on all trips, and repaired everything with duct tape (which I’m sure would have horrified John!). He was the kind of man who invited Mormons going door to door to come in and discuss religious philosophy, and hours later they would be eager to leave after he exhausted them with his intellectual curiosity (he did this many times). I could go on for hours with hilarious stories about him, as he was a uniquely quirky man and I loved him. Anyhow, this is far more information than you are likely interested in, but this was a lovely way to help their memories and stories remain alive. It has been a lovely surprise to stumble upon your post!
 
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