In his own Words - William D. Wallace

[Codger_64]

Here is an article written in 1953 and published in the Camillus Digest. William D. Wallace was an important figure for many years at Camillus cutlery.

YESTERDAY AND TODAY
Progress in Producing Cutlery
By William D. Wallace

Cutlery manufacturing is a comparative newcomer among American industries. Before 1900 only a very small proportion of the cutlery used in this country was made here. Nor was cutlery steel produced in the U.S. even as late as 1915.

Until the turn of the century, the few small American plants that were making knives followed the English method of production, but soon afterward Camillus and one or two others adopted the German method. The main difference, and it was vital, lay in the breakdown of operations.

An English cutler not only made the knife parts, he assembled and finished the knives. In contrast, the German cutler had the benefit of progressive production: the parts were fashioned for him; he did their final preparation and the assembly, and then the knives were finished by other skilled workers.

The skills compounded in a single, old-style cutler were necessarily manifold. In the English-type plant he forged the blades, heat-treated the blades and springs, and punched the holes. He shaped the tangs with a file. Usually he ground the blades on a large imported sandstone, lying prone on an elevated platform over the wheel to reach the point of operation. With crude hand dies and files he next prepared the bolster scales and handles, and after the knife had been assembled he shaped or "hafted" the handles. Sometimes he had help with the finishing, but mostly he did all the direct labor on a completed knife by himself.

Camillus started out with the German method. Blades were blanked by means of the simple hand dies and punch presses then available. Hot forging of the blanks was an art in itself, requiring a keen eye to judge the right temperatures and a deft hand to strike properly at the right speed to prevent spoilage. Fortunately, the S. & C. Wardlow steel that Camillus imported from Sheffield, England, was derived from about 8o percent pure Swedish iron ore; wide variation in heating did not injure it.

Blades were heat-treated in oil-fired furnaces, and here again the workman knew only by eye when the proper temperature had been reached for quenching. One blade at a time. This was standard procedure. Thanks to his experience and the high quality of the steel, he produced a fairly good uniform blade.

With the introduction of Hemming grinding machines (composition wheels), Camillus at once adopted them to replace sandstones. This step not only gave better production, it eliminated the greatest hazard to health in the industry silicosis, commonly called "grinder's consumption." That was more than 40 years ago. No apprentice in the plant of Camillus Cutlery Company has ever been subjected to this risk.

After grinding, many other highly skilled operations on the blades improved their appearance. On a two bladed pocketknife there were about 100 operations. Most three-bladed knives took 20 to 30 more. Practically everything was done by hand, with the aid of simple mechanisms. The number of man-hours- and they were man-hours, for hardly a woman was employed in the industry then was five times the amount needed today, skilful though the old-timers were. Hourly wages were less than one-sixth of current wages.

Why is it that the best pocketknives (considering the deflated purchasing power of the dollar) now sell for less than they did 35 years ago? Today every operation is simplified. With special machinery, these operations are performed better and more uniformly. Utilizing research and engineering, Camillus is able to build a finer, more useful product.

Camillus pioneered. The first cutlery steel produced by Crucible Steel Company of America was developed for Camillus around 1919. Steel is now purchased in coils at a saving of much handling. Progressive dies, working with close tolerances, insure uniformity of parts. Scientific heat treatment and close inspection give long life and proper hardness to the blades. Grinding machines designed and constructed by Camillus make uniform edges a certainty. Quality and value are thus built into our cutlery.

Handles, well designed, of proper materials, are shaped and polished by machines which Camillus has specially made. Knives are chemically cleaned and reach the customer free of rust.

In the old days knives went out into the world with little thought as to packing and display. As long as the jobber and retail stores received them in good condition, they were considered satisfactory. In modern practice the package is so designed as to facilitate handling and selling. Handsome display cases attract the consumer. A flair for merchandising vies with product engineering in importance.

While it is true that Camillus produces cutlery to sell, the welfare of our employees has been paramount over the profit motive. We have a plant which is clean and comfortable and free of safety hazards; our low insurance rates attest to this. We have built a community of happy Americans. We have benefited by paying high wages with a Profit Sharing Trust Fund. In constructing homes for sale and rent at reasonable rates, we have been assured of the right caliber of labor.

These folk are our friends and neighbors- the most valuable asset a company can have. Management and personnel have common ambitions. Together we live and work, producing fine cutlery.

 

[Codger_64]

William D. Wallace was a graduate of Norwich University with a degree in mechanical engineering. He was found by Alfred Kastor while he was working for the Consolidated Edison Company in Astoria, Long Island and hired in 1917. Wallace was appointed factory manager upon the death of Mr. Mayer in 1922 and led in the conversion to standardization of parts that had even Henry Ford visiting the plant for ideas to improve his own operations. Under this program of standardization, Camillus went from as many as 1,500 active dies to only thirty two. Mostly because of this and other changes implemented by Camillus under Wallace's guidence, per capita yield of employees went from 376 dozen in 1910 to 579 dozen in 1930, a fiftyfour percent increase in production. He eventually became Vice President of Camillus.

 

[Codger_64]

This was taken from the October 1951 issue of the Camillus Digest, memories of Mr. Wallace.


My First Winter in Camillus
By William D. Wallace

I remember well the winter of 1917-18. Snow had fallen the day before Thanksgiving, and it didn't melt until April. In that era it was customary to jack up your car for the winter. Only sleighs and sleds moved over the state highway. You could snowshoe to the trolley car line about two miles south of the village, but you'd take a chance on freezing while waiting for the trolley's doubtful arrival.

To go shopping in the city required hours of travel. A New York Central train out of Camillus station, due at 10.30 a.m., usually arrived an hour or two late. A train was scheduled to leave Syracuse at 3.30 p.m. and another at 5.30 p.m., but you usually took the earlier one, which could fairly well be depended on to leave by 6 o'clock. Sometimes you thought you were on the later train but found it was the 3.3o - leaving late, as usual.

I remember the local telephone service of that time with a great deal of appreciation. The switchboard, in the owner's home, was manned by a very reliable and well-informed lady. No matter if you couldn't reach your party by phone; a message given to her was as good as talking to your party direct.

Many people did not bother looking up numbers. They asked by name. As she always knew where everyone should be at a given time you would inquire, when the connection was made, where your party was talking from.

This "hello girl" gave the community a service which can never be replaced. In an emergency she would seek aid from neighbors, who would scurry out to golf courses, fishing camps, and places even more remote to reach those who were needed.

Many a humorist has described how party-line subscribers, listeningin on conversations, have turned private calls into social functions. I know this for a fact, that when a local woman phoned her physician one night for medical advice, the doctor answered : "Now if all you other ladies will get off the line, I'll tell Mrs. Blank what to do."

I remember the summer of 1922, when Camillus was headlined as having been washed off the map. On vacation at the time, for the fishing at Thousand Islands, I opened the Sunday paper and saw the startling story. A freak storm had hit this area. Tons of water had torn down our hills, forming ravines, washing out concrete drainage ditches, and rolling boulders down into the village. Tons of silt covered our streets. After putting in a telephone call, I was reassured that Camillus had suffered no real permanent damage and the factory had not been touched.

And I remember the spring of 1924, when Camillus was buried under a 40-inch snowstorm. No traffic moved over the railroad or highways for days. The village ran out of necessities.

M. J. O'Hara organized a group of shovelers and hired a plow from Syracuse. It took about 24 hours to open the main road. Every male employee of Camillus Cutlery Company reported for work with a shovel on his shoulder, and we opened up Main Street as far as the coal bins. Soon we had the factory wheels turning even though we weren't sure if there was enough to eat.


"BILL" WALLACE was born in Palatka, Florida, on Aug.27, 1861, the son of Rev. W. S. and Susie (Dortch) Wallace. Graduated in civil engineering from Norwich University, Northfield, Vermont, he received his master's degree from Norwich in 1914 and worked for Consolidated Gas Co. in New York City as engineer of production. He came to Camillus on Nov. 1, 1917, as assistant manager of the factory; acting manager, 1921; manager, 1922. Vice president for many years, he was elected in 1950 as executive vice president in charge of production.-Married Miriam Hallett of Astoria, Long Island, in 1916. Children: William Dean Wallace, present engineer and vice president of C.C.C.; Robert B. Wallace, doctor of medicine; Sally Albro Murray.