Allaire Iron Works

James Peter Allaire founded his first company, a brass foundry, at 466 Cherry Street, New York, in 1804. In 1807, Allaire received an order from steamboat pioneer Robert Fulton for brass fittings for the North River Steamboat, the world's first commercially successful steam-powered vessel. Allaire and Fulton struck up a friendship, and Allaire provided fittings for later vessels built by Fulton.Swann, p. 5.

File:Steam packet Chancellor Livingston (entering the harbour of Newport) PY0156.jpg

Following Fulton's death in 1815, Allaire leased his plant and equipment from the Fulton and Livingstone families, and entered a partnership with Fulton's chief engineer, Charles Stoudinger. Allaire and Stoudinger built the engine and boiler for the last steamboat contracted for by the Fulton shop, the Chancellor Livingstone, which was completed about a year later.

Stoudinger himself died shortly after completion of Chancellor Livingstone, after which Allaire decided to move Fulton's equipment from its location in New Jersey to his brassworks at Cherry St., New York. With the consolidation of his business at the Cherry St. plant, Allaire renamed it the Allaire Iron Works.Dayton, Chapter 19.

File:SS-Savannah.jpg

In 1817, the Allaire Iron Works supplied the engine cylinder for Savannah, the first steamship to make a transatlantic crossing. The cylinder, one of the largest then built, had a diameter of {{convert|40|in}}, while the piston had a stroke of 5 feet.Report of the U.S. National Museum During the Year Ending June 30, 1890, Government Printing Office, Washington 1891, page 618. Savannah was not a commercial success, and following her return voyage from Europe, her engine was removed and sold to Allaire.

In 1819, the Allaire Works supplied the engine for Robert Fulton, the first steamship to enter service along the United States coastline (as opposed to working the inland waterways). This engine had a {{convert|44|in|cm|adj=mid|-diameter}} cylinder and a stroke of 5 feet. Robert Fulton helped to demonstrate that steamships were capable of reliable seagoing service. Other engines built in this period by the Allaire Works include those for United States—a 140-foot steamer said to be the first American steamboat to issue tickets (rather than "way-bills") to passengersMorrison, p. 341.—and for James Kent, North Carolina, South Carolina and other Hudson River steamers.Dayton, Chapter 19.

{{main|Howell Works}}

As Allaire's business grew, he found it increasingly difficult to source adequate amounts of quality pig iron from which to manufacture his engines. The best quality pig iron was imported from Britain, but high tariffs made it uneconomic to use. The pig iron industry in the United States was at this time still in its infancy, and producing neither the quality nor quantity of pig iron required.Swann pp. 5-7

The only solution was for Allaire to become a manufacturer of pig iron himself. In 1822, in response to a recommendation from a friend, Allaire purchased {{convert|7000|acre|km2|0}} of land in Monmouth County, New Jersey, which contained a furnace used for manufacturing pig iron from the natural resource of bog iron. Allaire renamed the furnace the Howell Works, and over the next 20 years used it to source most of his pig iron, during which time Howell Works grew to be a substantial and largely self-sufficient community, complete with its own church, school, company store and farmland.

In 1824, the Allaire Works built the engine for the steamboat {{ship||Henry Eckford|1824|2}}, the first steam vessel in the world fitted with a compound engine. The high-pressure cylinder was {{convert|12|in}} in diameter and the low-pressure cylinder {{convert|24|in}}, with both having a stroke of 4 feet. In the same year, the Allaire Works also supplied a compound engine for a 200-ton towboat called Post Boy,Morrison, pp. 214-215. and another for a small steamer, Linnaeus.

Other vessels equipped with compound engines from the Allaire Works to 1828 included Sun, Commerce, Swiftsure and Pilot Boy. The Allaire Works built compound engines decades before the advantages of such engines became widely recognized in the shipbuilding industry.

File:Side-lever engine 1849.jpg

In the 1830s, the Allaire business empire reached the peak of its expansion. The Howell Works in New Jersey was producing a surplus of pig iron, enabling Allaire to diversify into the manufacture of household goods in addition to his production of marine engines in New York. Ships supplied with Allaire-built engines in this period included Frank, New Haven, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Massachusetts, then the largest ship operating on Long Island Sound, was driven by a pair of beam engines.

Allaire had also accumulated considerable interest in steamships by this time. In 1836, a ship in which Allaire was part-owner, William Gibbons, ran aground and was destroyed. In the same year, the Howell Works furnace blew out and production there temporarily ceased. The following year, the Panic of 1837 plunged America into a severe recession, and later that year, the steamboat Home, wholly owned by Allaire and largely uninsured, sank with the loss of 100 lives, damaging Allaire's reputation and leaving him short of capital.Swann, pp. 9-10.

Allaire had up until this point in his career been able to borrow to meet cash shortfalls, but with the recession affecting demand for his products, he was obliged to look elsewhere for working capital. In 1842, he sold shares in the Allaire Iron Works, which was incorporated for the sum of $300,000. Shipping magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt and Allaire's brother-in-law John Haggerty were thus able to eventually gain a controlling interest in the company.[http://www.allairevillage.org/visit/bios/allaire.html James P. Allaire] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206155535/http://www.allairevillage.org/visit/bios/allaire.html |date=2012-02-06 }}, Allaire Village website.

With the capital infusion from incorporation, the Allaire Iron Works remained productive through the 1840s. In this period, engines were supplied for steamboats such as Isaac Newton in 1846, C. Vanderbilt in 1847, and Commodore in 1848 (the names for the latter two reflecting Vanderbilt's growing influence in the company). Engines were also supplied for the sister ships Bay State and Empire State in 1846–47, the former of which was the fastest boat on Long Island Sound for some years. In 1849–50, the Allaire Works supplied the engines for two of the original four Collins Line steamers, {{SS|Pacific|1849|2}} and {{SS|Baltic|1850|2}}. The engines for these two vessels were of the side-lever type, with Pacific having a {{convert|95|in|adj=on}} cylinder and 9-foot stroke, and Baltic a {{convert|96|in|adj=on}} cylinder and 10 foot stroke.Morrison, pp. 411-412. Both ships were to become Blue Riband winners by setting speed records for transatlantic crossings.[http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/1996/3/1996_3_8.shtml "The Thrall of the Blue Riband"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070219180256/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/1996/3/1996_3_8.shtml |date=2007-02-19 }}, by Robert C. Post, Invention and Technology Magazine, Winter 1996, Volume 11, Issue 3, reproduced at American Heritage website.

File:Cornelius Vanderbilt Daguerrotype2.jpg gained control of the Allaire Works in 1850 ]]

In 1850, James P. Allaire retired from the Presidency of the Allaire Iron Works—according to one report, through the machinations of his brother-in-law John Haggerty, who may have been scandalized by the former's marriage to a young woman 26 years his junior in 1846. Cornelius Vanderbilt subsequently gained control of the company,Naval Contracts and Expenditures (to accompany Bill H. R. No. 884), House of Representatives Report No. 184, 35th Congress, 2nd Session. appointing T. F. Secor, former proprietor of T. F. Secor & Co., as its manager.[http://dsecor.familytreeguide.com/getperson.php?personID=I02108&tree=sicard&PHPSESSID=6227e94372f412ae1963a04113526f37 Theodosius Fowler Secor], dsecor.familytreeguide.com.

After the Vanderbilt takeover, an increasing percentage of the company's contracts came from Vanderbilt himself, who from this point had most of his new steamboats and steamships engined there, just as most of his shipbuilding contracts went to the same firm, that of his trusted nephew, Jeremiah Simonson. Vanderbilt brought his own ideas to the field of marine steam engineering. Defying the prevailing wisdom, he began powering oceangoing steamships with American walking beam engines, believing that their relative lightness of construction, economy of operation and low maintenance requirements made them preferable to the low center-of-gravity, but more complex, British-designed side-lever and oscillating types.Stiles, pp. 199-200. Other American marine engine manufacturers quickly followed his example, and walking beams became the preferred engine type for oceangoing American sidewheel steamships until the introduction of the much more economical surface condensing compound engine in the early 1870s.{{efn|Ridgely-Nevitt 1981. p. 301. Also see, for example, the manufacturing records of the Morgan Iron Works (Baughman, pp. 242-245), or of other major U.S. marine engine manufacturers.}}

During the 1850s, the Allaire Works supplied engines to such notable ships as Buckeye State in 1850—only the second ship on the Great Lakes to be fitted with a compound engineMorrison, pp. 376-377.—and the 3,360-ton Vanderbilt, whose twin {{convert|90|in|adj=on}} cylinder beam engines were believed to make her the fastest oceangoing ship operating from New York upon launch in 1856.Morrison, pp. 429-431. Other ships fitted with Allaire powerplants in this period include North Star (1853), a transatlantic ocean liner, St. Lawrence (1853), built for operation on the Great Lakes, and the Long Island Sound steamer Plymouth Rock (1854).Morrison, pp. 308, 375, 429.

File:USS Vanderbilt cropped.jpg, but she never located her prey.]]

The Allaire Iron Works made a substantial contribution to the Union cause during the American Civil War, providing the engines for at least seven warships, while at least another ten merchant ships with Allaire engines were purchased or chartered by the U.S. Navy and converted into warships.

In 1861, the Allaire Works built the engines for two of the 700 ton {{sclass|Unadilla|gunboat|4}} or "90-day" gunboats, {{USS|Penobscot|1861|6}} and {{USS|Winona}}. The following year, the company supplied the engines for the 1,533-ton screw steamer USS Lackawanna, and for two of the 1,173-ton Sassacus class double-ended sidewheel gunboats, {{USS|Mackinaw}} and {{USS|Mattabesett|1863|6}}.Bauer and Roberts, pp. 67-68, 73-74, 80-81. In 1864, the Allaire Works supplied two {{convert|100|in|adj=on}} cylinder, 4-foot stroke vibrating-lever engines for the 4,912-ton monitor {{USS|Puritan|1864|6}}; however delays in supply of the ship's {{convert|20|in|adj=on}} Dahlgren smoothbore cannon prevented the vessel from seeing wartime service.Bauer and Roberts, p. 44.

The Allaire Works also supplied the engines in 1864 for the 4,215-ton Wampanoag class screw sloop {{USS|Madawaska|1865|6}}. Intended to be a very fast ship, Madawaska was fitted with experimental vibrating-lever engines designed by Navy architect John Ericsson. The engines proved a failure, delivering a cruising speed of only 12.73 knots, well under the specified speed of 15 knots, and they were later replaced with a more conventional power plant.Bauer and Roberts, pp. 57-58.

In addition to the engines directly contracted for, the Navy also requisitioned a number of merchant steamships powered by Allaire engines and converted them into warships. Some of these vessels had been built prior to the war, while others were built during the war and requisitioned by the Navy as they entered service.

The largest and most impressive of these ships was the 3,360-ton oceangoing sidewheel steamer Vanderbilt, launched in 1856, and gifted to the U.S. Navy by Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1862. With her 14 knot speed and long operational range, Vanderbilt was an ideal candidate for a pursuit ship, and after being fitted out with a formidable battery of cannon, the newly commissioned {{USS|Vanderbilt}} was employed in a year-long hunt for the notorious Confederate raider CSS Alabama, but without success. Other Allaire powered ships commissioned by the Navy included {{USS|Harriet Lane||2}}, {{USS|James Adger||2}}, {{USS|Magnolia|1854|2}}, {{USS|Rhode Island|1860|2}}, {{USS|R. R. Cuyler||2}} and {{USS|Western World||2}}, all built before the war, and {{USS|Fort Jackson||2}} and the ferries {{USS|Clifton|1861|2}} and {{USS|Shokokon||2}}, built during the war.Bauer and Roberts, pp. 87, 88, 91, 92, 95, 96.

The Allaire Works also continued to produce engines for commercial vessels during the conflict, such as City of New London, built in 1863, and St. John, which was built in 1864 and used as a hospital ship.Morrison, pp. 126, 146, 334.

Shortly after the end of hostilities, the U.S. government dumped more than a million tons of unwanted shipping onto the market, driving down prices and depriving the shipbuilding industry of new orders. The slump lasted several years, and many ship and marine engine builders were driven to bankruptcy in this period.Swann, p. 23.

By 1867, the Allaire Iron Works had only one engine and one boiler on its books. The company soldiered on until 1869 when Cornelius Vanderbilt sold its plant and equipment at auction, which were bought by John Roach at scrap metal prices. Vanderbilt was wealthy enough to survive the slump, but had apparently decided to move his assets into railroads by this time. After the auction, the property of the Allaire Works was divided into a tombstone factory and horse stables.Swann, p. 26.

Roach, one of the few marine entrepreneurs to survive and prosper in the postwar period, took the best of the Allaire Works tools, along with its best former workers, and employed them at his newly acquired plant on the East River, the Morgan Iron Works.

The following table lists merchant ships with engines supplied by the Allaire Iron Works from the company's inception in 1816 until its closure in 1867. Names in small print preceded or followed by an arrow in the "Name" column indicate that the engine either originated from or was later installed in the ship so named. This is an incomplete list.

Legend: Built=year built; Ton.=gross tonnage; Deployment=original location of operation. Where the original deployment is not known, the location is followed by a number, which represents the last two digits of the year in which the vessel is known to have operated at the given location; No.=number of engines; Cyl.=diameter of engine cylinder(s) in inches; Str.=engine stroke in feet; Type=engine type. Types of engine include: AC=annular compound; B=beam; C=compound; CB=compound beam; C=crosshead. Crosshead engines built by this company are almost certainly all of the American "square" type, rather than the Steeple type; DA=direct-acting; DS=double screw; GS=geared screw; HBA=horizontal back-acting; I=inclined; O=oscillating; S=screw; St=steeple; SL=side-lever; V=vertical; VB=vertical beam; VL=vibrating-lever.

The following table lists warships powered by Allaire Iron Works engines. This list is confined to vessels that were designed and built as warships, and does not include merchant ships commissioned into the Navy.

''Legend: Type=ship type. Types include - G=gunboat; SS=screw sloop; DEG=double-ended gunboat; M=monitor; SF=screw frigate. Built=Year of ship launch, or completion where launch date is unknown; Builder=Name of ship builder; Disp.=displacement in tons; No.=number of engines; Cyl.=diameter of engine cylinder(s) in inches; Str.=engine stroke in feet; Type=engine type. Types of engine include: DA=direct acting; DS=double screw; HBA=horizontal back-acting; I=inverted; S=screw; VL=vibrating-lever. See marine steam engine for explanation of various engine types.

• Marine steam engine

== Footnotes ==

{{Notelist|2}}

{{Reflist|2}}

• Bauer, Karl Jack and Roberts, Stephen S. (1991): Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775-1990: Major Combatants, Greenwood Publishing Group, {{ISBN|978-0-313-26202-9}}.
• Baughman, James P. (1968): Charles Morgan and the Development of Southern Transportation, pp. 242-245, Vanderbilt University Press.
• Emmons, Lieut. George F., USN (1853): The Navy Of The United States, From The Commencement, 1775 To 1853, Gideon & Co., Washington.
• Dayton, Fred Erving (1925): Steamboat Days, Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York, reproduced in part [https://web.archive.org/web/20090106181335/http://ulster.net/~hrmm/steamboats/dayton/steam19.html here].
• Frazer, John F. (ed.) (1859): Journal of the Franklin Institute, pp. 62, 345-46, 3rd Series, Volume 38, Whole No. Volume 68, Franklin Institute, Philadelphia.
• Frazer, John F. (ed.) (1861): Journal of the Franklin Institute, Volume 71, Franklin Institute, Philadelphia.
• Heyl, Erik (1953–67): Early American Steamers, Volumes 1-5, Erik Heyl, Buffalo, New York.
• Main, Thomas (1893): The Progress of Marine Engineering, From the time of Watt until the present day, The Trade Publishing Co., New York.
• Morrison, John Harrison: History Of American Steam Navigation reprinted in 2008 by READ BOOKS, {{ISBN|978-1-4086-8144-2}}.
• Morrison, John Harrison (1909): History of New York Shipyards, Wm. F. Sametz & Co., New York.
• {{cite book |last= Ridgely-Nevitt |first= Cedric |date= 1981 |title= American Steamships on the Atlantic |location= East Brunswick, NJ |publisher= Associated University Presses, Inc |page= 301 |isbn= 0874131405 }}
• Stanton, Samuel Ward (1859): American Steam Vessels, Smith & Stanton, New York.
• Swann, Leonard Alexander Jr. (1965): John Roach, Maritime Entrepreneur: the Years as Naval Contractor 1862–1886 — United States Naval Institute (reprinted 1980 by Ayer Publishing, {{ISBN|978-0-405-13078-6}}).
• U.S. Treasury Department (1838): "Steam Engines", Document No. 21, U.S. Treasury Department.

Category:American companies established in 1816

Category:Defunct marine engineering companies of New York City

Category:1816 establishments in New York (state)