The manufacturing world of Pittsburgh produces many articles of various uses, and not the least interesting are the metal toys which comprise the output of the D. N. Carlin Company's factory, at No. 127 Dennison street. David N. Carlin, the head of this company, was born in Pittsburgh, Nov. 4, 1883, and is a son of William J. and Harriette A. Carlin. William J. Carlin (now deceased), was for many years president of Thomas Carlin's Sons Company, manufacturers of heavy machinery, with factories in Pittsburgh.

      The Thomas Carlin's Sons Company

An Illustration of what can be accomplished under the most trying conditions by energy and hard work was furnished this year by the Thomas Carlin's Sons Company, who operate large foundry and machine shops on River avenue, Allegheny, Pa. On the night of February 17 the entire plant, with the exception of the foundry, was completely destroyed by fire. The less embraced the machine shop, warehouse and office building, pattern shop, and, in fact, everything with the single exception of the foundry. Work was begun at once, and. incredible as it may seem, it is a fact that in spite of the almost complete destruction of the plant, only one order was canceled. This was for grinding machinery, the buyer having waited several months, and was finally compelled to place the order elsewhere. The wreckage left by the fire was cleared away as fast as possible, and on May 2 a contract was placed for the erection of a warehouse, 60 x 118 feet, containing three stories and basement. The contract called for the completion of this building in 60 days, and it was turned over on July 6, only four days late. This warehouse is a brick building and the walls are 24 inches thick, with 3 Inches air space, and are heavy enough to support two more stories. The floors are 10 inches thick and of slow combustion construction. It is equipped with fire doors on each floor and is practically fire proof. The first floor and basement are used for storage and small tools, the second floor for temporary machine shop and offices and the third floor for pattern shop. Power is furnished by electric motors on each floor, and a fire proof vault is also provided on each floor.

Machine Shop

      The contract for the machine shop building, which is 118 x 200 feet, was placed with William B. Scaife & Sons Company of Pittsburgh. It is a one story building, constructed of steel and brick, and is practically Are proof. Careful attention was given to ventilation and light, and in these respects the shop is admirably equipped. The building is provided with a gallery on each side, 25 feet wide, and is commanded by two 20-ton and one 30-ton electric traveling cranes, with 50-foot span. The galleries are supported on 12-inch beams, capable of carrying a weight of 500 pounds to the square foot. These 12-lnch beams rest on 20-inch beams, which are supported by steel columns resting on concrete foundations. The machine shop is equipped with a large amount of modern iron working machinery, among which are six planers, ranging in size from 36 inches to 8 feet; five boring mills, from 27 inches to 27 feet in size; two floor boring mills, and about 25 lathes, ranging from 20 to 60 inches in size. In one end of the machine shop is the blacksmith shop, which contains six down draft forges and a 1500-pound steam hammer. The floor of the machine shop is paved with brick. The galleries are provided with projections, so that the cranes can land material right on the floors. A railroad track on one side of the machine shop Is served by a 15-ton traveling crane for the loading of machinery on cars.

The Foundry

      The construction of the foundry building is unique in many respects and the methods of handling and storing materials are decidedly original and are probably not duplicated in any other foundry in the country. This was made necessary by the fact that the tracks of the West Penn Railroad are close to the building and prohibit the storing of materials, except within the building itself. The foundry is 100 x 200 feet in size and of steel construction. On one side are provided second and third floors for the storing of supplies. These floors rest on 10-inch beams spaced 16 inches apart. The second floor is made of 3/8-inch steel plates and is capable of storing 1000 tons of pig iron. This iron is delivered on an elevated railroad track supported by a steel trestle. The third floor is capable of storing ten cars of coke, one car of fire brick, one car of facing and additional materials, if necessary. The coke is hoisted to the third floor by a coke elevator, run by an electric motor. These floors are supported by heavy iron pillars, which are separated from the columns for the traveling crane. There are two projections to these floors that allow delivery of materials to them. The projection extends all along the second floor and is commended by the cranes. The foundry is equipped with one 90-inch and one 76-inch cupola, the largest heat ever poured from one cupola, being 90,000 pounds. There are three core ovens provided with steel roller doors, the core benches, that together with shelving in front of them, being made of steel plate. The core ovens are fired with natural gas. The cupolas are so constructed that they can be operated together, or independent of each other. They are equipped with Westinghouse motor and Root blower. Power for the entire plant is furnished by two 150 horse-power Russell engines and Westinghouse generators. Immediately after the fire the company placed mail and telegraphic orders with different machine tool shops and soon supplied themselves with a number of lathes, planers and boring mills, which permitted them to carry on business. They have recently placed contracts for a large number of additional iron working tools, which are now being installed.

Products Made

      The principal products of the Thomas Carlin's Sons Company are bar and billet shears, grinding machinery and contractors' supplies. The company also operate a separate boiler shop for the manufacture of boilers and heavy plate work. The company have facilities for making bar and billet shears from 4000 pounds up to 120,000 pounds in weight. In the heaviest shear they make the lever weighs over 16 tons and the bed 56,000 pounds. At the time of our visit to the plant the company had on the floor a large number of shears in process of manufacture, aggregating 400 tons, two of these being of the largest size, weighing 120,000 pounds each. In grinding machinery was noticed on the floor two 12-foot pans for grinding powder, equipped with rolls weighing 8 tons each, one 8-foot pan made entirely of wood, to be used for grinding dynamite, one 8-foot pan for grinding sand, and a 7-foot pan for grinding emery. In contractors' machinery, work on the floor included a 5-drum hoisting engine and derrick equipped with a clam-shell bucket, a 7x10 double drum engine with boiler, one of these being for shipment to Japan. The company make a complete line of hoisting machinery and concrete mixers, which they ship all over the United States and abroad. They have shipped three of these mixers to the Japanese government within the last two months. At the present time the site of the plant has a frontage of 464 feet on River Avenue, but additional ground has been purchased, which will give a total frontage of 700 feet, or a total of 108,000 square feet, most of which is covered by buildings. The business of the Thomas Carlin's Sons Company was originally established in a small way in I860, under the name of Thomas Carlin, but was incorporated four years ago under the name of Thomas Carlin's Sons Company, with a capital stock of $200,000. The officers are W. J. Carlin, president, and W. C. Scott, secretary and treasurer.

Information Sources

• History of Pittsburgh and environs, Volume 1 pg 296 By American Historical Company 1922
• Iron Age Magazine 07 Jan 1904 pg 48 By David Williams Co. 1904
• American Steam Engine Builders: 1800-1900 by Kenneth L. Cope, 2006 page 49