Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/515

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAXD COUNTY.

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��one thing in the way of material can be singled out as going to make up the world-wide reputa- tion of The Aultman-Taylor Thresher, it is the unapproachable quality of the lumber used in it. 2. Its central location and rail- road facilities. A glance at the map of the United States will sei've to show how well located the factory of The Aultman & Taylor Company is with regard to the shipping facili- ties its now immense business requires, for, to- day, comparatively little business between the East and the ^Yest, or between the great prairie regions of the Northwest and Europe, but passes through Mansfield, where the three great American S3Stems of railway (the Baltimore & Ohio, the Pennsylvania and the Erie) greet each other, while the only two other routes of importance pass at short distances to the north and south. Having decided to build the factory at Mansfield, it only remained to get conven- iently located lands, which were secured near all the depots, where the shops were built and so arranged that machinery can be loaded upon ever}' railroad entering Mansfield without leav- the grounds of The Aultman & Taylor Cora- pan}'. The next thing was to see to the pat- ents. This was the special business of Mr. Aultman, whose familiarit}' with patents marked him as the proper person to attend to this delicate branch of manufacturing. He soon discovered that the patents owned by some friends, and which the firm expected to use, were really of no importance, if, indeed, of any actual value. So, setting himself to it, he bought, consolidated, re-issued and com- pleted the entire vibrator patent system, grant- ing to several shops in Michigan and in Miss- ouri, and one in Southern Illinois, the privilege of using the line of patents which are known as the vibrator patents. Of course, all this was attended with great expense, and, some years afterward, a ^lichigan compau}^ paid The Aultman & Taylor 3Ianufacturing Company for, and became half owner in, the patents as

��they existed at that date. They are particular in giving this scrap of historj' because others have, without proper regard for the truth, or carelessly perhaps, and overlooking the conse- quences of their misstatements, somewhat fool- ishly claimed to be the original inventors of the vibrator style of machines. The truth is that no one now engaged in the business can be so considered ; but the public can very easily see to whom the honor of secur- ing, consolidating, re-issuing, adding to and completing the vibrator patents belongs, if it can be said to belong to any one. While all this has been true, they call the attention of the buying public to the fact that, while the}' have occasionally felt it their duty to briefly

���THE VIBRATOR STYLE OF THRESHING M.VCHINE BEFORE IT BEGAN TO BE BUILT BY THE AULTMAN & TAYLOR COMPANY.

speak of the risks run l)y farmers in Ijuying any vibrator stjde of thresher not authorized to be built under the consolidated patents, they have always depended upon the merits of their goods to sell them, and never had a customer who bought because they frightened, forced or blackmailed him into purchasing.

After getting the patents fairly under way, the next thing was to improve what was then known as the vibrator style of machine, and which was Iniilt b}" several concerns of consid- erable prominence. This required so many changes in general and in detail before it Ije- came " The Aultman-Taylor," that the}' are not named for fear of wearying the reader. Suffice it to say that those who remember what this style of machine was l^efore they commenced

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