Circa 1842: The 1884 book "History of Bedford, Somerset and Fulton Counties, Pennsylvania" states, "About the year 1840, Daniel Washabaugh (an active business man in his day, a brewer, distiller, likewise a noted militia officer) erected the foundry buildings, but they remained unoccupied some two years, when a firm composed of Daniel Washabaugh, William Howser and Michael Bannan began work as founders and machinists..."
1851: The 2001 book "Gunsmiths of Bedford, Fulton, Huntington, & Somerset Counties" indicates that gunsmith Daniel Border manufactured 200 apple peelers for William Hartley in 1851 and made a scale model of a mowing machine for William Hartley as a sales model. I suspect that to accomplish these tasks, Daniel Border (then about 25 years old) either had access to machine shop equipment or employed the services of a machine shop. The apple peelers may have also required the services of a foundry.
1853: The following excerpt is from the 1853 map of Bedford. I added a red dot to show the eventual location of Daniel Border's shop, advertised one year later as "one door west of the residence of Major Washabaugh". In 1853 the building was owned by Washabaugh, and was located nearly midway between Peter H. Shires' machine shop and Major Washabaugh's machine shop and foundry.
1854: An 1854 newspaper advertisement indicates that Daniel Border moved his gun shop one door down from Washabaugh's residence in the east end of town. Washabaugh lived on the lot where the machine shop and foundry were located. I suspect that a desire for handy access to machine shop equipment, or the use of the services of the machine shop, influenced Daniel Border's decision to move his shop to be right across the street from Washabaugh's machine shop and foundry.
1855: In an 1855 newspaper advertisement, Daniel Border announces he is a clock and watch maker and now has a jewelry shop near the Bedford Hotel. I am not sure how one would make clocks and watches without some knowledge and use of machinery. The ad also indicates that Daniel border is still in the gunsmithing business, and has a good and competent worker employed at his regular gun shop location. Based on information included below, I suspect this worker was his younger brother John Border, who was then about 24 years old.
1857: In an 1857 newspaper advertisement, John Border indicated that he was a gunsmith in the east end of Bedford. In my opinion, he was at Daniel Border's old gun shop. That same year, a newspaper article indicates that the excellent mechanics Daniel and John Border installed a new $500 to $600 town clock in the courthouse. An 1899 newspaper article indicates that John and Daniel Border made the town clock in addition to mounting it in the courthouse. I have my doubts that they could have made a large clock without the use of some type of machinery.
1858: Regarding the foundry and machine shop, the 1884 book states it was taken over by new proprietors in 1858: "About 1846, Howser withdrew, and Washabaugh & Bannan continued until 1855, when Washabaugh retired, renting his interests to Bannan. This condition of affairs existed until 1858, when Peter H. Shires and John R. Jordan, the present proprietors, purchased the fixtures and business at public sale. They rented the real estate until 1870, when that, also was purchased. Messrs. Shires & Jordan are manufacturers of and general dealers in all kinds of farm implements, steam engines, separators and sawmills, threshing-machines, mill-gearing, stoves, cord-binders, reapers and mowers, hayrakes, grain-drills, plows, iron railings, etc., etc., and repair to order."
1859: In 1859 John Border advertised that his gun shop was one door down from Washabaugh's. To me, this is definitive proof that John Border was working in Dan Border's gun shop.
1860: Click here to see Shires' 1860 "Bedford Machine Shop" advertisement.
1861: Washabaugh's foundry and machine shop are identified across from Daniel Border's shop on the 1861 Walker map of Bedford County.
1863: In 1863 John Border again advertised that his gun shop was one door down from Washabaugh's.
1864: According to an 1864 article in the "Bedford Inquirer" newspaper, the "skillful and ingenious" John Border made models of farming implements for William Hartley, and was killed by a May 19, 1864 train wreck while returning from a Harrisburg business trip that was related to the models. An obituary in the "Bedford Gazette" newspaper states, "As a worker in steel he had but few superiors anywhere. He was one of those men of whom we speak as being a genius. He had just completed two models of machines manufactured by parties in Harrisburg, and at the time of his death was on his return from that place..." John Border lived in the post-industrial revolution era, when metal-working machine tools were common. To me, the high praise in his obituary, ranking him as superior to most metal workers, suggests mastery and innovative use of machine tools.
1878: Daniel Border's U.S. Patent No. 199,023, for which a physical example exists, shows a mechanism (especially the hollow key) that would be difficult and probably impossible to make without machine shop equipment.
Conclusion: The information included above makes me suspect that Daniel and John Border employed machinery in some aspects of their gun, model, clock, and watch building.
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