| Comments:
At the time of the above
entry, Ezekiel Smith had recently moved to Smithfield, RI. having left
Rehoboth
sometime in 1849. The information found in this
entry offers a rare window into at least one planemaking
business during the mid 1800's.
With a capital investment
of $3000.00 and six employees, which may or may not have included Ezekiel,
a
total of 4000 "carpenter's planes" with an estimated
value of $5000.00 were produced in one year. If these
figures are correct, the planes were averaging
out at $1.25 per plane. Consider that thirty-two years earlier in
1818, Aaron Smith sold one jointer and one smoothing
plane with double irons for $4.25.
The third and forth columns
show us that after his annual labor cost of $1800.00 ( 12 x $150 per month),
his next highest cost was for "English &
American hardware" at $650.00. We believe this hardware might have
consisted of approximately 90% plane irons and
10% plow plane skates & plane adjustment screws, etc.. His
lumber cost is $500.00 and his misc. materials
and items $200.00. We have no way of knowing what he is using
the $25.00 amount of iron and steel for. What
we assume to be 3 tons of coal might have been for heating or smelting.
It's very possible Ezekiel was forging at least
some of the iron plane parts he needed.
Water is shown to be the major
source of power along with hand saws and lathes. If Ezekiel had purchased
an
existing water powered business on the banks
of the Moshassuck, it's possible that the above mentioned lathes
were already there, as the only purpose we can
see for a lathe in planemaking would be for thread armed plow planes,
which to our knowledge were not made by this
planemaker.
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