The
Atlantic Iron Works began in 1867, under the
management and proprietorship of Alexander, Ashton & Co. When
first started they consisted of four boiling furnaces, one heating
furnace and eighteen nail machines, with a capacity of eight tons of
muck bar iron per day. In 1868 P.
L. Kimberly bought an interest and the firm was known as Kimberly, Ashton & Co. Various
improvements were made up to February 21, 1871, when Col. James Carnes bought
Ashton’s interest. The firm name then was Kimberly,
Carnes &
Co., and so continued for more than ten years, when Carnes sold his
interest to Kimberly and retired from the business. The firm name has
been continued to the present day [1888] as P.
L. Kimberly & Co., the individual partners being P. L. Kimberly, T. M. Sweeney, E. Roberts,
R. F. Wolfkill and William
Roberts.
In
1869 Samuel Kimberly
& Co. built near the rolling-mill the Keel Ridge blast furnace,
which has the capacity of producing thirty-five tons of pig iron daily.
This firm was known under the designation of the Keel Ridge Iron
Company. In 1873 the firm of Kimberly,
Carnes &
Co. bought this furnace and added it to their mill, and it is yet
operated in connection therewith. The Atlantic Works have thirty-two
puddling furnaces, eight heating furnaces, six trains of rolls and
forty nail machines. They use natural gas for fuel, and produce bar,
plate, hoop and rod inn, and nails.
History
of Mercer County,
1888, page 196
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Atlantic Iron Works, 1877
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Read
biography of John Ashton
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