Canton Historical Museum Strengthens Its Relationship with Students

After a successful internship with Canton High School graduate Kyle Mullins, the Canton Historical Museum hopes the program will continue in the future. 

Working with English teacher Tena Ruby, 2013 Canton High graduate Kyle Mullins, worked at the museum conducting research for a paper, organizing maps and other materials and more. 

"He's got a great sense of humor, he has an interest in everything and his manners are impeccable," said Cheryl A. Scott, who's husband Don is Canton Historical Society president. 

Mullins said in addition to the tours students take while younger he and friend Ralph Holley came into the museum about two years ago. 

"We really enjoyed it," he said. "You don't have to look far to find something cool." 

Mullins especially enjoyed the machetes and other tools made right in Collinsville. 

"It's so cool that this was the place all this stuff was made and not somewhere else," he said. 

When Ruby suggested the museum, he liked the idea. 

Following is Mullins' Senior Project. 

How did the Collins Company change the way edge tools are made and distributed throughout the world?

In man’s brief existence on Earth, it is apparent that the use of tools and the control of fire are the sole reasons for our survival and adaptations to the ever changing world. Compared to predators like bear, big cats, wolves, raptors, and snakes, humans don’t have much going for them. We have no natural claws, fangs, speed, stamina, or fur to keep us warm. However, the human brain has a capacity for thought, comprehension, reflection, and creativity that is unlike any other known intelligence. While some species are able to solve problems by evaluation, trial and error, and instinct, humans are the only ones who can utilize science qualitatively and quantitatively. We have been so successful as a species because we continually make and improve on technology, essentially making life easier. A new invention or method is just the tip of the iceberg. Real progress comes after advancement; when intellects come rushing to test and improve on the new idea. This is the way it has been since the very beginning. Sticks and stones once were the weapons of mankind, now atomic energy is utilized for great destruction. Trains once crossed the country in all directions, now airplanes can get from New York to California in less than a day. A compass, map and knowledge of the stars once were all that was needed to navigate the seas and the frontier, now GPS’s guide us to destinations as close as the town over. Where there is room to grow and climb, mankind will always strive to reach the top.

If there is any single tool that characterizes exploration, colonization, perseverance, will, and strength, it must be the axe. Eolithic tools are the earliest predecessors to modern axes. Eoliths are stones shaped by nature that are useful for specific functions depending on the shape. They could be used to fight, dig, cut, scrape and hammer. As man realized the utility of eoliths, he also realized how much more effective they would be if they could be shaped and sharpened. Experienced craftsmen were able to make very precise, symmetrical and aesthetically pleasing tools by a process called flaking (Kauffman 5). The most important breakthrough didn’t come from the development of flaking methods, but the addition of handles to these tools. Eoliths with handles were called celts. The next advancement came from the revelation that a smooth tool was more practical. After flaking, celts were ground down. This made it easier for handles to be attached. The method of the American Indian involved making a groove on each side so a split end of a handle could surround it and then be bound by leather thongs. Native Americans never advanced past this stage of tool development (Kauffman 6).

The next development came from the discovery of bronze. Bronze could be pounded into wide and sharp edges. However, the traditional methods of joining the handle to the head no longer worked because these tools were being used for heftier tasks and the impact from chopping could easily knock the head out of line. This problem was fixed by making grooves that ran toward the blade on both sides so a handle could be enclosed around it. These were called palstaves and comes from the old Norse word pállstavr. In latin pall means hoe and stafr means handle (Memidex). Palstaves have turned up all over Europe, on Greek islands, and in China (Kauffman 8). The palstave paved the way for the modern axe that we know today. During the middle ages there was lots of experimentation in axe design. Axes were being used for war, ceremonies, and symbols of power.

The first axe to become widely used in America was the French trade axe. The design of the French trade axe is essentially a hatchet. Traders would exchange it with Native Americans for furs and other goods (Biscay). The Native Americans treasured these items because of the shininess, the strength of iron, and their utility in cutting wood for their traditional home, the wigwam. Records show that these axes were being brought to America “by the Spanish as early as 1520's - 1540's; the French from about 1560-1750's; and the British from 1674 -1690's” (Biscay). However, the trade axe did not have the design or versatility to handle the variety of terrain and challenges that lay waiting for new Americans.

Before axes are discussed in detail, it is important to know the four basic parts. The bit is the chopping section where the blade is. The poll is the opposite end, or the butt end of the axe. The eye is the opening where the handle goes through. Of course the handle is also a very important part because it would be rather painful and inefficient to try chopping anything without leverage. A fifth part not included in all axes is the wedge. Since axes can’t be forged around a wooden handle and it would be difficult to have a handle fit perfectly, the wedge is driven through the top of the handle so it displaces the wood to the walls of the eye and makes it snug.

The development and specialization of axes as we know them today began in America because “the Europeans who came here had never before been confronted with such huge virgin timber as stood here” (Kauffman 1). European axes were more prepared to carve and shape wood, but colonists needed an axe that could fell trees. As more people began coming to America, “the blacksmith was undoubtedly the most important craftsman” (Kauffman 16). The artisans were in high demand to make, repair and sharpen axes. Axes can be made with relative ease by an experienced blacksmith. Essentially it begins by taking a “bar of iron slightly less than twice the intended length of the axe” (Kauffman 20) and thinning the middle section slightly with a hammer. With proper heat from a forge, this strip of iron could be folded around a mandrel, a tool used to shape the eye. The iron strip is folded equally around the mandrel with both edges closing in on each other. Before they are fully closed, a strip of steel is placed where the ends will meet. Then the metal is forged together from around the mandrel, forming the eye. However, to weld two different metals together requires a flux, a substance that promotes melting. For welding steel to iron, “a glass-like composition of borax with sal ammoniac… [and] well-dried and finely powdered white potter’s clay, moistened with salt water” creates a strong enough attraction. The strip of steel became the edge of the axe. Since iron is softer than steel, it made more sense to have a steel edge that would be more durable and remain sharp longer. Although the directions for making an ax seem fairly straightforward, it would take many attempts working with metal before this process could be mastered. Certain steps of this process require the metal to be at certain heats. Although thermometers were in existence as early as 1724, smiths relied on their knowledge of the color metal turns at certain temperatures. Smiths were essential to colonizing America.

As people began moving south and west, blacksmiths began making new axes in response to the demand in new terrains. This “was the beginning of very high specialization” (Kauffman 3) that attributed to many varieties of axes. The demands of efficiently beating back the unpredictable elements of nature in hopes of creating a foundation for a new society forced colonists to improve their tools and the methods in which they were made. Craftsmen were trained by traditional European methods, but new frontiers required new innovation. This caused colonists to make “tools which were not only different but better” (Kauffman 22) than their European counterparts.

One such modification that proved to be ingenious came from the use of the poll as a hammer. Axes made from the traditional method of wrapping a metal bar around a mandrel produced a rounded poll, so some craftsmen modified it by hammering the poll into a square shape. As this became popular, the poll eventually became enlarged. The enlarged poll improved the balance of the axe and made it more efficient chopping down trees. This also allowed for a new method of producing axes. It requires two slabs of iron each half the width of the intended axe.  A groove the size of the handle is made towards the back on one side of each slab. The slabs are aligned so the grooves match. When the pieces are welded together, the two grooves will form the eye. A steel bit is also added on the end opposite the eye. After all these parts come together it is finally hammered into the classic axe shape. This type of axe is called the American felling axe. This advancement occurred sometime in the late 1700s because advertisements in a 1789 Pennsylvania newspaper show “that the American felling axe was fully developed at that time” (Kauffman 23).

Even with advancements in the production and efficiency in axes, blacksmithing operations were still very small scale up until the late 1820s. Before this, “axes were [still] crudely hammered out by local blacksmiths and sold without an edge” (Yankee 49). Even though they had the steel bit as a blade, they were sold unsharpened. This forced the buyer to take at least a few hours to grind the axe to be sharp enough for use. This process took lots of time and elbow grease. Grinding an axe required a stone wheel to be turned consistently with constant pressure applied from the axe blade. A picture of this process shows an old man with a beard holding the axe to the wheel and a young boy cranking it (The Collins 11).

The inefficiency of production and the high demand by farmers to frontiersmen for a good ax caught the attention of two ambitious brothers from Hartford. Separated by three years of age, Samuel Watkinson Collins (the elder) and his brother David C. Collins had been involved in the iron business since there teenage years. Their father died when Samuel was thirteen years old. After his death Samuel “had immediately gone into the employ of his uncles, Edward and David Watkinson, iron merchants in Hartford” (The Collins 9). David became employed by their uncles just a year or two after Samuel. Samuel learned a about managing and operating a business during this time. He worked very hard and by the time he was twenty-one years old, he had become a junior partner in his uncles’ firm. David’s work led him to become skilled as an engineer. Samuel described his younger brother as “too sanguine to be cautious” (The Collins 10). In other words, his energy and optimism led him to take chances that others would think twice about. One such idea was to “mass produce axes at wholesale” (Henry 12). He knew that real quality axes were very hard to come by, and the best quickly made a name for themselves. A blacksmith named Morgan from Somers bought his steel from the iron business that the brothers were employed in. His axes were sought out far and wide (The Collins 11). This must have given David the idea that a fortune could be made through the mass production of quality axes.

In 1826 a copartnership was “formed between S.W. Collins, D.C. Collins and William Wells of Hartford, under the firm name of Collins And Company” (Collins). They each invested $5,000 and purchased a mill on the Farmington River originally used for grinding grain (Yankee 49). They chose that location in South Canton because the section of the river was very wide and would provide ample waterpower. However, the area was also subject to periodic flooding (Henry 12). In 1827 they began constructing buildings with a heavy stone wall between them to prevent the river from over running and flooding their work (Collins). Grindstones six feet in diameter and one foot thick were ordered from quarries in Bay de Chaleur, Nova Scotia.  They were delivered “by ship to Long Island Sound and up the Connecticut river to Hartford, then hauled by four and six ox teams over the hills to Canton” (The Collins 10). From the start they realized that to make a quality final product, all the processes that led to the end result had to be high quality as well. The Nova Scotia grindstones can still be found abundantly throughout Canton. They are used in gardens, as foundations for houses and decorations outside of many businesses in Collinsville. It is evident they saw lots of use because most can be found only about three feet in diameter

In the beginning, business went very slow for several reasons. Blacksmiths were hard to find in the barren farm country, far from urban areas. Training men to become skilled in the delicate operation of working with hot metals proved to be very difficult. There were few places for men to live even if they were eligible to work. Tools were rudimentary at best and they had to establish a market for their product. Their dedication to making well-balanced, sharp, strong axes firmly established themselves as the most reputable axe maker around (The Collins 11). In 1828 they began using trip hammers, this allowed each worker to forge and temper about eight axes per day (The Collins 12). The hammer is raised by a cam, a wheel that changes rotational motion into linear motion, and gravity gives it force when it is released. With the introduction of a few pieces of machinery, the amount of axes that were being made in a day exceeded the amount a good blacksmith could make in a month.

The year after brought another advancement that was uniquely Collins. Up until 1829, furnaces were heated with charcoal. The Collins Company began importing coal from the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania. As coal mining operations began popping up all through out Pennsylvania in the early 1800s, coal became more practical because it yields the same fuel value per pound as charcoal is denser, therefore taking up less space per pound (Coal). Also, purchasing coal through a single company is consistent while collecting charcoal from the surrounding forests could yield different results. Although charcoal had been in use in Europe for at least a hundred years, “Collins and Company were the first edge tool makers in the world to use coal” (The Collins 13).

After 1829, “output increased steadily as the men gained experience and methods were perfected” (The Collins 13). The year 1831 was very notable in the company’s history. Axes cost $20 a dozen and the steadily increasing order of axes caused a greater demand for workers. Twenty-one duplex houses, the first of many, were built to house the new stream of migrants. Many of the houses still stand today on both sides of the river. However, the most important development that year, and arguably in the company’s history, was the hiring of Elisha King Root. He began work at the firm “as a journeyman machinist in [the] machine repair shop” (Reminisces). He had a knack for machinery. He grew up in Chicopee, Massachussetts and began work “at the age of ten working as a bobbin boy in the textile industry. At fifteen Root served as an apprentice at a machine shop in Ware. He then honed his industrial skills in a machine shop in Chicopee” (How). Good machinists were invaluable to the Collins Company. With such high demand for axes, they couldn’t afford to have broken equipment. Root had a two year contract with the Collins company. He would be paid $546 a year; a tremendous amount of money considering that the factory paid newly hired smiths $14-$16 a month (Yankee 53).

Elisha Root proved to be instrumental in the development of the young company. Among the most important innovation he had for the company, and the manufacturing world, was the process of “die casting”. Die casting is when molten hot metal is injected into a mold at extremely high pressures, when it hardens it is ejected from the mold (Khara). There are a few reasons for its greater utility in mass production. For one, less metal had to be shaved or ground off the product since it could be tailored very precisely. More importantly however, axe heads and other product could be made consistently to the same dimensions and specifications. The introduction of die casting into the manufacturing world led to interchangeable parts.

Another method developed by Root changed the way axes had been being made for hundreds of years. The classic method of wrapping metal around a mandrel to form the eye of the axe could be precise if performed by an experienced blacksmith, but Root developed a machine that actually punched out a hole for the eye. His method required ‘two chisels, at the same time… made to operate simultaneously on the opposite sides of the iron, so as to meet each other in the body thereof… The combined action of the two punches compresses the heated iron less, and divides it more exactly and equally into opposite cheeks… and leaves a better shaped eye” (Palstave 472). With a few relatively simple inventions, Root re-conceptualized the creation of the axe.

It is important to realize how profound the advancements made by the Collins Company were. Their dedication to making the best axes on the market exposed many previous flaws in axe making and made new breakthroughs inevitable. The Collins Company had its beginning towards the end of the Industrial Revolution. They had the unique opportunity to use and improve on the technology that had been developed in the previous sixty years. It is hard to conceptualize how progressive this time was because so much is taken for granted today. An interchangeable part is something that can be swapped out because it has exact specifications that allow it to be replicated. Without the breakthroughs that led to interchangeable parts, a replacement part for anything would have to be custom ordered from an artisan. One example of this is a carpenter’s nail. Prior to interchangeable parts, people made their own nails and examinations of them show that there isn’t much consistency. Today nails can be bought by the thousands and they all are exactly the same. Elisha Root’s re-conceptualization of the production of axes laid down a template for the efficient mass production of any product since.

Since the Collins Company were selling reputable axes at wholesale, merchants saw that there were markets for these high quality tools all over the world. In 1845, an importer from Cuba concluded that the machetes he imported from Europe were of poor quality compared to the precision product coming out of Connecticut (Henry 15).  He came to the Hartford office with a sketch of a machete he wanted made. That marked the beginning of the Collins machete trade. The machete received such satisfactory reviews that it wasn’t long before “strange, often crude native implements, wooden models, and sketches began to come into Collins with the question ‘Can you make one like this?’ [and] the company reproduced them in the most workmanlike manner” (Henry 15). Collins machetes of all types, shapes, sizes, densities, handle specifications, and even color were being exported to some of the more primitive areas of the globe. The greatness of Collins is evident when it becomes a “common thing… to have plantation men in a dozen countries come to the shops and ask for a ‘Collins’” (The Collins 27). No matter how educated one is, a truly superior product will always stand out over inferior ones. The name Collins gained approval quick in Latin America since all people would prefer to be as efficient as possible at work as to leave time for enjoyment afterwards.

 In 1849, Samuel Colt intended on opening a firearms manufacturing factory in Hartford. He wouldn’t have been successful without the “ablest machinists and managers of the day, especially Elisha K. Root, the mechanical genius” (Grant 190). Samuel Colt “lured him away from the famous Collinsville machete company… offering the then-unheard-of salary of $5,000 a year” (Grant 192). That salary made him the highest paid mechanic in New England. A few years later, Colt would put Root in charge of designing, constructing and installing the Colt Armory and all of the equipment inside. His early work at the Collins Company built him a reputation of “quiet but firm leadership, one that despised sham and sought perfection” (Grant 192). Perhaps he would have done more for the Collins Company if he had stayed there until his death in 1965, but he left the Collinsville operation with enough innovations to last them for over one hundred years.

The loss of Root couldn’t strip Collins of its world famous quality. All tools that leave the shops are stamped with an arm coming out of a crown, clenching a hammer. Underneath is the word Legitimus, the Latin word for legitimate. Since Collins were taking every opportunity to improve their product, “the ‘Collins’ stamped in the steel means far more than it did in the beginning” (The Collins 31). As their popularity grew, they became recognized by people all over the world. It is no wonder “that its trademark… had been copied many times and thirty English manufacturers doing so were sued successfully” (Henry 16). Today there are internationally recognized corporations like Pepsi, McDonalds, Nike and Google. The Collins Company may have been the first business to ever have influence and recognition over multiple continents. Foreign firms trying to make knock off Collins tools means that they had a market oversees that recognized and respected Collins. It is amazing that in such a short time, the little manufacturing village from the hills of the Farmington River valley dominated the world stage in edge tool making.

Although humans are always working hard to add and improve what exists, the goal is to never make something more complex. As the great bass player Charles Mingus said, “Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.” The Collins Company is a prime example of the creative spirit of mankind. Anyone can argue that their company only got more complex as they continually added new tools to their production, or entered new markets in foreign, but this argument forgets the single most important principle that the Collins Company stands on. The Collins Company always kept it simple. From the beginning, the Collins Company set out to do none other than produce the finest edge tools in the world. The dedication to continually improve and always succeed is as simple as it gets. It is hardwired into all humans, for it is inherent that we strive to try new things and reflect on past experiences in pursuit of fulfillment and success. The Collins Company proudly did just that one hundred and forty years. No other organization in the world can proudly stamp a product with the crown and hammer. Only the work of Collins is “Legitimus!”

“It meant the best then, for none could do better, and it means the best today under modern scientific methods.” The Collins Company, 1926

Annotated Bibliography

"BISCAY BAY TRADE AXES." Fur Trade Axes and Tomahawks. N.p., n.d. Web.

Mark Miller has been a collector of tomahawks and hatchets for 23 years. He has extensive knowledge of the use and history of trade axes. He specializes in identifying the unique markings left on axes by their maker. He is often consulted as an authenticator for transactions involving historical axes. His website covers the history of tomahawks and hatchets in America. Native American history, culture, and geography is a key part of the history of the axe trade. His website also includes ways to determine if an axe is authentic or not.

"Coal and Charcoal :." Coal and Charcoal. N.p., n.d. Web.

Anvil fire is an online forum for blacksmiths. The majority of the website is used for discussion by smiths about ratios of fuel, heating techniques, metals, and to share design plans or photographs of projects. Directions on how to make charcoal include different recipes and techniques. Along with this is a history of the use of different fuels for forging throughout history. The Collins Axe Factory is mentioned on the website.

The Collins Company. One Hundred Years. Collinsville: n.p., 1926. Print

Published one hundred years after the partnership between Samuel and David Collins and William Wells; this short leather bound book describes the company’s origins and where it stood in 1926. Forging processes, tool description, a letter from Robert Peary thanking the company for the tools he used, and a list of all company executives up until 1926 are included in the book. It is an interesting account of the Collins Company because most histories of the Company include a description of the flood of 1955 which essentially destroyed the company. This is an account that happened well before the flood, so it describes how operations were at the time and shows pictures of Collinsville and the different departments of workers.

Collins, Samuel Watkinson. Reminisces. Collinsville: n.p., 1866. Print.
In 1866, Samuel Collins sat down to write the history of the Axe factory. He drew upon sale logs, letters, and his own diaries to write the most detailed description of the Company’s beginning years. He says in the journal that his purpose for writing it wasn’t just to describe the Company’s origins, but to be used as a guide by future directors. The early years for the company was very uncertain because of high debts, slow payments by customers and a demand that was higher than they could supply. Collins describes each crisis and the way that they were handled.

Grant, Ellsworth S. Yankee Dreamers and Doers. Chester, CT: Pequot, 1974. Print.

Grant’s book covers the history of CT manufacturing from Eli Whitney’s cotton gin to Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation. It is written in a very fluid way so instead of chapters about certain companies, it is broken into time periods or themes so it transitions flawlessly from one company to another. One moment it could be talking about the manufacture of chairs from Hitchcockville and seamlessly begin talking about the Collins Company.

Henry, Daniel Edward. Collins' Machetes and Bowies, 1845-1965. Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 1995. Print.

Written by an avid collector of machetes, Daniel Henry’s account of the development of Collins machetes includes reasons why certain machetes were put into production, stories from people who were using them, and a basic history of the company from its inception to its closure in 1966.

"How Products Are Made." Elisha King Root Biography (1808-1865). N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2013.

Very little is actually known or written about Elisha Root. It is known that he was a mechanical wizard during the 1800s and the inspiration for the main character Hank Morgan in Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. Most biographies of Elisha Root cover about a page or two and mention his birth, early years of work, the Collins Company, and his work at the gun maker Colt. Most biographies include a story about a young Samuel Colt showing off a torpedo to a crowd. When the torpedo exploded it splashed muddy water all over the crowd. The crowd quickly turned into an angry mob and Elisha Root came to his aid to save him because of his interest in the torpedo. Whether this story is entirely true will never be known.

Kauffman, Henry J. American Axes. Brattleboro, VT: Greene, 1972. Print.

Henry J. Kauffman set out to document the evolution of axes. The title is American Axes because it was the untapped wilderness of America that forced axes to be improved upon until they were perfect labor saving tools. The introduction into the chapter titled American Axes is the history of the Collins Company. He confirms that the Collins Company was the source for true development and perfection in modern axe making. Included in the book is also a list of all existing and previously existing axe manufacturers in America.

Khara, Kanika. "What Is Die Casting." Buzzle. N.p., n.d. Web.

This website provides a basic history and description of die casting. It credits Elisha Root with the invention of die casting in 1830. The website describes the process and lists certain metals that are compatible with die casting. A pros and cons of die casting is also included at the end.

"Palstave." Memidex. N.p., n.d. Web.

Memidex is an online dictionary and thesaurus that specializes in etymology and deciphering latin words. Looking up palstave on memidex gives a brief 100+ word description of what it is, a one sentence definition, the etymology, related words and an audio sample of the pronunciation.

Root, Elisha King. Punching and Forming the Eyes of Axes. Vol. 24. Collinsville: n.p., 1840. Print.

This article is pulled from an edition of the “Journal of the Franklin Institute”. The journal publishes high-quality papers in the field of engineering and applied mathematics. Written by Elisha Root himself, it describes his patent for the invention of a method to punch out the eye of an axe. He did not patent a particular machine, but the idea that the eye of an axe could be punched out from both sides by chisels. He is adamant about describing that his method is more accurate and time saving than making an eye from hammering or chiseling with one tool.