Jacob Perkins Newburyport, MA building: 2nd floor by Dick Hancsom May, 2010
- Check your coin jar
- Historic mint is restored, reopens this weekend
- Jacob Perkins Printing and Engraving Building
- From American Journal of Numismatics, Volume XXVII, Page 25
- Jacob Perkins, An Early New England Die Cutter.
One of the most ingenious of engravers and one of the earliest to attempt to engrave medallic dies, was Jacob Perkins, whose medal of Washington, bearing an urn and the inscription, "He Is in Glory, the World in Tears," is well known to collectors. He was born in Newburyport, Mass., July 9, 1766. His father was a tailor, and carried on his business in that quaint old town on the banks of the Merrimac, which at that time was a prosperous municipality and the home of many distinguished men. On its principal street stands the church where Whitfield lies buried, the well-known friend of the Wesleys and the Countess of Huntingdon, and to whose fervid sermons on his journeys through the colonies Franklin occasionally listened. Jacob's father had a numerous family, and brought them up in much of the strictness which characterized the period; but Jacob was somewhat disposed to resent the rigor of the parental rule, and it is related that on one occasion having been sent to his chamber for some trifling misdemeanor, his father repaired thither shortly after, determined to apply the rod of correction, but was astonished to find only an empty room; the boy had discovered some balls of the "listing" torn from his father's woolens, and, extemporizing a rope, had made his escape. Whether this ability of taking care of himself led to the immediate result of his leaving home, history does not relate, but soon after, at the age of fifteen, we find him at work as a goldsmith, and assuming a large share of the responsibility of the business. At the age of twenty-one he is said to have made his first attempt at gutting dies for striking coins. A letter from Mr. Matthew A. Stickney, in the Journal for September, 1868, (p 36), says that he "executed beautifully a silver pattern for the first coinage of United States dollars," an impression of which, obtained from a nephew of Mr. Perkins, is in the Stickney cabinet, who esteems it as among the choicest pieces in his possession, and who remarks that it was rejected because it bore the medallion head of Washington.
On the 11th of February, 1800, a Masonic procession was held in which the Grand Lodge, Samuel Dunn, Grand Master, and 1600 Brethren participated, many of them wearing a Medal struck for the occasion from dies cut by Jacob Perkins. The obverse has a bust of Washington to left, in uniform, and surrounded by a wreath of laurel. It bears the legend, "He Is in Glory, the World in Tears," which was suggested by the Hon. Dudley A. Tyng, who was at one time collector of the Port of Newburyport. The reverse has an inscription in four concentric lines and a skull and crossbones at the bottom.
Washington funeral medal, c 1800 Private Collection Picture from American Silversmiths
Advertised in the Providence Journal (Providence RI), 5 Feb 1800, by David Vinton offering the Washington funeral medals produced Perkins.
Eleven days later a civic procession marched through the streets of the same city, and another medal, having the same obverse, but a different reverse, with an urn, etc., the dies of which were also cut by Perkins, was worn. These medals were struck in a three-story wooden building which stood for many years in Market Place, Newburyport, and perhaps is still there; it was just below the Ocean Bank.
The "pattern silver dollar" referred to in the above extract can hardly
be classed as a pattern coin. An "impression from the die" would be a better designation, for it appears that Mr. Perkins cut
only one die—the obverse. Only one of these impressions is known, which
was offered in the sale of the Stickney collection by Mr. Henry Chapman
in 1907, where it was described as follows:
"(1793) Dollar. Bust of Washington in military
costume facing left, on a plain field surrounded by concentric bands of
various designs; in the outer one at the top in incused letters is the
word 'Washington.' Struck on a thin silver planchet, the reverse being
the same design as obverse incused. Silver. Extremely fine and perfect.
Size 2 6. Unique and unpublished, unknown to everyone—not even in
Baker's 'Medallic Portraits of Washington, 1885.' It is wrapped in a
piece of old paper and inscribed in Mr. Stickney's handwriting—$10
Pattern dollar, 1793, by Jacob Perkins of Newburyport, given me by his nephew—very rare.'"
Ad from Tuesday, April 24, 1810 Paper: Poulson's American Daily Advertiser Philadelphia, PA
Ad from Tuesday, April 24, 1810 Paper: Poulson's American Daily Advertiser Philadelphia, PA
Elias Davis JR born June 11 1782 son of Elias Davis SR and Phoebe Woodman Elias Davis Sr was son of Job Davis and Thomasina Greenleaf Elias JR married Joanna Coffin on November 1 1831
His master died three years afterwards; and Perkins at fifteen, was left with the management of the business. This was the age of gold beads, which our grandmothers still hold in fond remembrance — and who wonders ? The young goldsmith gained great reputation for the skill and honesty with which he transformed the old Portuguese joes, then in circulation, into these showy ornaments for the female bosom.
Shoe- buckles were another article in great vogue ; and Perkins, whose inventive powers had begun to expand during his apprenticeship, turned his attention to the manufacturing of them. He discovered a new method of plating, by which he could undersell the imported buckles. This was a profitable branch of business, till the revolutions of fashion drove shoe-buckles out of the market. Nothing could be done with strings, and Perkins put his head-work upon other matters.
Machinery of all sorts was then in a very rude state, and a clever artisan was scarcely to be found. It was regarded as a great achievement to effect a rude copy of some imported machine. Under the old confederation, the State of Massachusetts established a mint for striking copper coin; but it was not so easy to find a mechanic equal to the task of making a die. Perkins was but twenty-one years of age when he was employed by the government for this purpose; and the old Massachusetts cents, stamped with the Indian and the eagle, now to be seen only in collections of curiosities, are the work of his skill. He next displayed his ingenuity in nail machinery, and at die age of twenty-four invented a machine which cut and headed nails at one operation.
In 1795 Perkins setup a nail-manufacturing company at the falls in Amesbury that used water power to drive the machinery. Today the shaft that was connected to the water wheel can still be seen. Photo by Wayne Chase
This was first put in operation at Newburyport, and afterwards at Amesbury, on the Merrimac, where the manufacture of nails has been carried on for more than half a century. Perkins would have realized a great fortune from this invention, had. his knowledge of the world and the tricks of trade been in any way equal to his . mechanical skill. Others, however, made a great gain from his loss: and he turned his attention to various other branches of the mechanic arts, in several, of which he made essential improvements, as fire engines, hydraulic machines, &c. One of the most important of his inventions was in the engraving of bank bills. Forty years ago counterfeiting was carried on with an audacity and a success which would seem incredible at the present time. The ease with which the clumsy engravings of the bank bills of the day were imitated, was a temptation to every knave who could scratch copper; and counterfeits flooded the country, to the serious detriment of trade. Perkins invented the stereotype check-plate, which no art of counterfeiting could match ; and a security was thus given to bank paper which it had never before known.
There was hardly any mechanical science in which Perkins did not exercise his inquiring and inventive spirit. The town of Newburyport enjoyed
the benefit of his skill in every way in which he could contribute to
the public welfare or amusement. During the war of 1812 his ingenuity
was employed in constructing machinery for boring out old honeycombed
cannon, and in perfecting the science of gunnery. He was a skillful pyrotechnist, and the Newburyport fireworks
of that day were thought to be unrivaled in the United States. The
boys, we remember, looked up to him as a second Faust or Cornelius
Agrippa; and the writer of this article has not forgotten the delight
and amazement with which he learned from Jacob Perkins the mystery of compounding serpents and rockets.
About this time a person named Redheffer made pretensions to a discovery of the perpetual motion. He was traversing the United States with a machine exhibiting his discovery. Certain weights moved the wheels, and when they had run down, certain other weights restored the first. The experiment seemed perfect, for the machine continued to move without cessation; and Redheffer was trumpeted to the world as the man who had solved the great problem. Perkins gave the machine an examination, and his knowledge of the powers of mechanism enabled him to perceive at once that the visible appliances were inadequate to the results. He saw that a hidden power existed somewhere, and his skilful calculations detected the corner of the machine from which it proceeded. " Pass a saw through that post," said he, " and your perpetual motion will stop." The imposter refused to put his machine to such a test: and for a sufficient reason. It was afterwards discovered that a cord passed through this post into the cellar, where an individual was stationed to restore the weights at every revolution. The studies, labors, and ingenuity of Perkins were employed on so great a variety of subjects, that the task of specifying and describing them must be left to one fully acquainted with the history of the mechanic arts in the United States. He discovered a method of softening and hardening steel at pleasure, by which the process of engraving on that metal was facilitated in a most essential degree. He instituted a series of experiments by which he demonstrated the compressibility of water, a problem which for centuries had baffled the ingenuity of natural philosophers. In connection with this discovery, Perkins also invented the bathometer, an instrument for measuring the depth of the sea by the pressure of the water; and the pleometer, to measure a ship's rate of sailing.
Perkins continued to reside in his birth place till 1816, when he removed from Newburyport to
Boston, and subsequently to Philadelphia. His attention was now
occupied by steam machinery, which was beginning to acquire importance
in the United States. His researches led to the invention of a new
method of generating steam, by suddenly letting a small quantity of
water into a heated vessel.
After a short residence in
Philadelphia, he removed to London, where his experiments with high
pressure steam, and other exhibitions which he gave of his inventive
powers, at once brought him into general notice. His uncommon mechanical
genius was highly appreciated; and his steam-gun was for some time the
wonder of the British metropolis. This gun he invented in the United
States, and took out a patent for it in 1810. It attracted the notice of
the British government in 1823, and Perkins made
experiments with it before the Duke of Wellington and a numerous party
of officers. At a distance of thirty-five yards he shattered iron
targets to pieces, and sent his balls through eleven planks, one inch
thick each, and placed an inch apart from one another. This gun was a
very ingenious piece of workmanship, and could discharge about one
thousand balls per minute. Perkins continued in
London during the remainder of his life. He never became rich. He
lacked one quality to secure success in the world—financial thrift.
Everybody but himself profited by his inventions. He was, in fact, too
much in love with the excitement of the chase to look very strongly at
the pecuniary value of the game. He died in London, July 30th, 1849. The name he leaves behind him is that of the American inventor. It
is one which he deserves, and which is his true glory. He was entirely
self-educated in science, and the great powers of his mind expanded by
their innate force. For half a century from the hour of his birth he
lived in the town of Newburyport. Here he
grew up, acquired his knowledge, applied his genius to action,
perfected his inventive powers, and gained all his early reputation. At
the present day, when books are in the hands of every man, woman, and
child, and the rudiments of scientific knowledge are presented to us in
thousands of students' manuals, cyclopaedias, periodicals, public
lectures, &c, we can form no adequate notion of the obstacles which
lay in the way of a young man beginning his scientific pursuits at the time when Perkins was
a youth. Imagine the state of popular science in 1787, and some faint
notion may be obtained of the difficulties which the young artist was
compelled to encounter in the preliminary steps of every undertaking.
The exact sciences were but slightly regarded, even by those who made
pretensions to complete learning in those days; and a great proficient
in the mechanic arts could only hope to be considered in the light of a
clever carpenter or blacksmith. Men did not dream of such fame as that
of Watt and Arkwright. It is much to the honor of his townsmen that Perkins was
from his earliest days, held in the highest esteem by them. They fully
appreciated his genius, and were proud to honor him. In the latter years
of his life, when far removed from the land of his birth, his thoughts
and feelings always turned homeward, and he never ceased to express the
hope of returning to lay his bones in his native soil. His wish has not
been gratified, but his memory will remain for ever connected with the
spot."
Hannah Greenleaf Perkins |
Loftus Perkins grandson of Jacob and Hannah
Loftus son of Angier March Perkins (21 August 1799 – 22 April 1881) was a U.S. engineer who worked most of his career in the UK and was instrumental in developing the new technologies of central heating.
- Old Newbury Historical Society
- House Stories: Jacob Perkins from Brick and Tree
- Jacob Perkins by Minor Descent
- Lateral Science
- Genealogy of Greenleaf Family
- Historic mint is restored, reopens this weekend by By Katie Farrell Lovett
- House Stories – Jacob Perkins House – 16-18 Fruit Street, Part III
- DICK HANSCOM VISITS THE NEWBURYPORT JACOB PERKINS BUILDING
- Perking Building Restoration in Newburyport
- History of Newburyport, Mass: 1764-1905, Volume 1 By John James Currier
- Petition of Jacob Perkins, of Newburyport, in Essex County, and State of Massachusetts, for a Renewal of His Patent Right to a Nail Cutting Machine: June 15, 1813.
- The History and Present State of the Town of Newburyport By Cushing Caleb
- The Patentee's Manual: Containing a List of Patents Granted by the United States By William Elliot
- New Scientist Jun 29, 1978
- Jacob Perkins, his inventions, his times, & his contemporaries
- Reminiscences of a Newburyport Nonagenarian By Sarah Smith Emery
- Historical Collections By John Warner Barber
2 comments:
Excellent post! Perkin's money press was repurposed by him in London for use in printing the world's first adhesive stamp, the Penny Black : http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Black
Thanks Jack!
Post a Comment