Saturday, September 29, 2012

Hudson in 1905: Part 33

The following is an excerpt from the booklet Illustrated Hudson, N.Y., published in 1905.

R. I. KINGMAN & COMPANY--Stoves, Etc. No. 557 Warren street. This concern is one of the recent additions to the general business interests of the city, but in its establishment of some three years' duration, has gained a decided success. The premises comprise a large store, well equipped with all the conveniences suited to the management of a business conducted on such an important scale. This store contains everything in the line of stoves, ranges, general hardware, cutlery, tinware, churns, copper, woodenware, dairy supplies, etc. Two shops flank the rear of the store, where all kinds of repair work is carried on. Special attention is called to the excellent line of plows on sale, leading among them the Columbia Chilled Plow. Mr. Kingman is a business man of great ability, and manages this store with a view to the best treatment of his patrons, giving them the benefits of the lowest prices for the most improved stock. Orders are attended to with care and promptness, and deliveries are made within the city limits.

557 Warren Street today--someday to be Quadrille



Gossips Note: A search to discover information about the Columbia Chilled Plow discovered these two items for sale on eBay: a teacup, probably given by the company as a premium to its customers, and a trade card for the Columbia Chilled Plow.

 The trade card describes the Columbia Chilled Plow in this way: 
It is made entirely of the best quality selected Charcoal Iron. It is a model of perfection in shape. It is light in weight. It is very light draft. It clears perfectly in soil where other plows fail. It wears better than any other iron or chilled plow made. It prepares and pulverizes the soil. It runs level and steady, making it an easy plow to hold.
The Columbia Chilled Plow was manufactured at the Copake Iron Works.

The "chilled plow" was patented in 1868 by James Oliver, a Scottish immigrant who had settled in South Bend, Indiana. Oliver devised an ingenious method of cooling the wearing surfaces of a plow more quickly than the body of the plow. As a result, part of the plow that came in contact with the soil had a hard, glassy surface while the rest of the plow was tough iron. 

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