RUFUS N. MERIAM was born in Oxford, Mass., Jan. 14, 1818, and descended from a race of farmers who had for seven generations resided in that town. He worked on the farm until he was nineteen, at which age he entered the academy at Leicester. He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1844; meanwhile teaching school at Spencer, Oxford and Millbury, to defray the expenses of his education. During his college course, he contributed articles to the Saturday Rambler and other papers. After graduation, Mr. Meriam found it necessary to give up the prospect of a professional career, and set to work learning the trade of a carpenter. In 1853 he entered the service of a branch house of the firm of J. A. Fay & Co., manufacturers of wood-working machinery, at Worcester. This firm had been established Since 1836.
Mr. Meriam here found opportunity to pursue the study of mechanics, for which he had taste, and made some improvements in the mechanical appliances of the establishment. He was promoted to be superintendent of the wood-working department, and remained with the firm, in this capacity, until 1861. The Worcester branch of the concern was given up in that year, and the business was concentrated at Norwich, Conn., and Cincinnati, Ohio. This Opened the way to the formation of a new company at Worcester; and such a company was organized, in April, 1862, including Horace A. Richardson, Rufus N. Meriam, William B. McIver and Samuel F. Bond. These gentlemen formed a partnership under the firm-style of Richardson, Meriam & Co. They bought out G. Barrett & Co., and established themselves at what was called the "Junction Shop," a stone building owned by the heirs of Col. James Estabrook. Each of the partners had been connected with J. A. Fay & Co.; Mr. Richardson as a member of the firm, Mr. Meriam as superintendent, and the others as operatives. Their beginnings were modest; and two of the partners, McIver and Bond, soon after enlisted in the war. The business grew, however; and, in busy periods, the firm employed one hundred men; the annual value of their profits being about $250,000. A warehouse was established at No. 107 Liberty Street, New York, and these products were distributed to every part of the world.
Most of the machines held under patents by the firm were drafted by Mr. Meriam, who also superintended their construction. In September, 1864, he patented the improved Daniels planer arm, in which the cutters, fastened with hook bolts, are passed through the ends of the arm, and the edges are so adjusted as to permit the planing of the full-rated width. He devised what is called the "Champion Molding-machine," a piece of mechanism adapted to all sizes and styles of molding, which will work from sides; both side-heads can be set to cut any angle, and adjusted either horizontally or vertically, without changing the angle. This machine was patented April 19, 1868. In November, 1867, he patented a matcher attachment, a device attached to the lower part of the matcher arbors, so arranged that half a turn of a crank will lower the arbors below the bed-plate, and a reverse motion will raise them. Another patent was granted to him Nov. 9, 1869, for a belt-tightener, which is automatic, and capable of preserving an equal tension on a tenoning-machine. In February, 1874, Mr. Meriam patented an improvement in expansive gear, for feedrolls of wood-planers and other machines. This consists of a novel connection of the intermediate gear with the main gear of the rolls, including a. vibrating stud for one of the intermediate gears; whereby the usual straps are dispensed with, and a nearly solid movement is obtained, which restricts the wear to the journals, pivots, and a slightly vibrating stud. One of the gears is made double, and a gear of larger diameter than the feed-rolls may be used on the latter.
In 1876 the firm of Richardson, Meriam & Co., was dissolved; and was re-organized under the firm-style of McIver Brothers & Co., in whose employ Mr. Meriam has since remained. Mr. Meriam has resided in Worcester for more than a quarter of a century, and for some years was an active member of the school committee. During all the years of his business career, he has employed himself, more or less, in literary work; and, while recovering from an accident which befel him in the spring of 1878, he wrote a volume of poems, which he intends, soon, to publish.