F. S. Lovell circular sawmill

Frank S. Lovell, a native of Worcester, MA., was superintendent of Parker Machine Co. in Clinton, Mass. (a maker of woolen machinery) for seven years. He came to Fitchburg about 1882; After being burned out in 1884 he moved in 1885 to 87 Boutelle Street.

In 1888, Lovell bought out the late C. M. Flint's business, including his line of sawmill machinery. Lovell had already been making sawmills, and this continued after purchasing the well-known Flint sawmill line. By 1891 Lovell was operating as theF. S. Lovell Machine Co., employing 15 to 25 men, but he was destroyed by fire in 1894. His largest model of circular sawmill was capable of sawing a log five feet in diameter and fifty-five feet long. 1891 and 1901 ads give the firm name as F. S. Lovell Machine Works.

Information Sources

• Thanks to Benjamin Campbell for first bringing this maker to our attention.
• 1883 directory ad.: "Engine Lathes, Hand Lathes, Warren's Patent Planer Chucks, and Improved Planer Centers, Jack Screws, Willow Street, at Snow St. extension."
• Inland Massachusetts Illustrated by Elstner Publishing Co., 1891, has the following writeup.

  F. S. Lovell Machine Co.

  F. S. Lovell — Manufacturer of Lever-Set Circular Saw-Mills — Dealer in Portable Steam Engines, Boilers and Water Wheels, and Saw-Mill Outfits—No. 87 Boutelle Street.

  Mr. F. S. Lovell is an experienced and successful machinist, formerly located on Wilson street, whence he removed to No. 87 Boutelle street in 1885. In 1887, after the death of Mr. C. M. Flint, the famous saw-mill inventor and builder, Mr. Lovell bought the business from the executors and has continued to improve the construction until now he has the most accurate set and the best dogging device applied to any mill in the market, and he will continue to manufacture a full line of this class of machinery under more favorable auspices and with better results than attended the labors of the founder, Mr. Flint. The Flint patent mill and a new board and timber planer are illustrated herewith. Early in January Mr. Lovell completed and shipped to Colon McKenzie of Ellsworth, Me., one of these mills—the largest single saw-mill ever constructed in Massachusetts, and perhaps the largest ever made in New England — capable of cutting a log five feet in diameter and fifty-five long and of sawing from 20,000 to 50,000 feet of lumber per day. In addition to saw-mill machinery Mr. Lovell manufactures quite a line of gingham machinery, such as spoolers, quillers, beaming appliances, loom temples, etc., and also does much fine work in the construction of electric light and plating dynamos, under contract for J. W. Colburn of this city. He is, besides, an extensive dealer in water-wheels, circular saws, mill supplies, engines, boilers, etc., and is general agent for T. M. Nagle of Erie, Pa., manufacturer of portable, stationary, agricultural and vertical engines and boilers. Mr. Lovell is an agreeable gentleman and a master machinist, having learned his trade at Worcester, where he spent his youth and was educated, going afterward to Clinton, where for seven years he was superintendent of the J. B. Parker Machine Company's works. His shops on Boutelle street occupy a one-story frame building 40 x 125 feet, are fitted up with steam power, electric lights, iron and wood-working machinery, furnishing employment to from fifteen to twenty-five skilled workmen. The leading specialties embrace the Flint patent lever-set circular saw-mill and sawmill machinery in general, the output averaging about twenty-five complete mills per annum.

• THe 1891 Fireside Legends has ad advertisement for "F. S. Lovell Machine Works / Manufacturer of Flint's patent / Saw-Mills and Saw-Mill Dogs, / Shingle and Automatic Box-Board Machinery / F. S. LOVELL, 87 BOUTELLE STREET, FITCHBURG".
• The January 1901 issue ofThe Wood Worker has an ad from this firm for "Flint's patent lever set circular saw mills".
• American Lathe Builders: 1810-1910 by Kenneth L. Cope, 2001, page 99.