This
cache is part of my Local Wheeling History Tour Series. Enjoy the
local history of this proud factory.
The present LaBelle
mill was built in 1852 by Bailey, Woodward & Co., the firm
consisting of 22 men, prominent among them being Messrs. Bailey,
Woodward, Linch, Freeze, Spaulding , Doty, Wallace, Harden, and
Glass, whose names are so familiar with the nail industry of this
section. It had 25 nail machines, eight boiling furnaces and two
heating furnaces, and cost $60,000. It had grown by degrees until
it numbered 142 machines in its factory. Its buildings were
convenient and extensive, the original two-acre site of the mill
having expanded into a much more roomy property and the original
buildings into mill, forge, and warehouses giving capacity for
manufacturing and storing at least six times as many nails as where
started. It had a capacity of about 1,340 kegs of nails per day.
With the advent of the steel nail its boiling furnaces, greatly
increased in number, were abandoned, but it has a complete plate
mill, and is one of the solidest and most completely appointed
mills in its time.
The Labelle Company
was one of the first to decide that it is a wholesome idea to
diverge from the timeworn path and seek
a new and shorter route to the
goal. They determined to adopt the Lauth method, and contracted for
a new mill, which included the 24-inch Lauth three-high plate
train. The train had two rapid-working steam lifts, one of which
would raise the billet from the lower to the upper roll at the rate
of sixteen passes in thirty seconds. The other would raise the
small middle roll at the same rate of speed, up and down against
the upper and lower rolls, as the billet passed crosswise between
the bottom and middle rolls alternately, in being widened to the 13
inches to which it is made, preliminary to the three final passes
lengthwise, which is given to finish it. The top screw of the
housing was operated by power.
The Lauth process makes it possible to
produce steel nails from old steel rails. By using this raw
material the company secures a cheap supply and avoids the
necessity of investing in a costly steel plant, as all the other
nail factories in the city and vicinity have done. At the LaBelle
works in Wheeling, cut nails have been manufactured continuously
since 1852. Wheeling LaBelle cut nails are used widely in the
building industry of hardwood flooring and building block
construction.Premium La Belle stainless steel cut nails were
developed to meet the special needs of outdoor projects especially
pressure treated wood decks, docks, patios, piers, and similar
applications. Stainless cut nails will not rust and ruin the
appearance of the project. They are non-corrosive, making them
ideal for a variety of marine projects. And they hold
tighter and last longer
than any common nail.Cut nails: what's the point? The point is no
point. The blunt end of a La Belle Stainless Cut Nail displaces
wood fibers as it is driven and minimizes the chances of splitting.
Once driven, the wood fibers grip and hold, prevent the nail from
working loose. A round shanked nail invites splitting, and even
slight movement or stress will cause it to work loose and pop up.
(A common nail can lose up to 50% of its holding power within days
of being driven.) Drive a La Belle Stainless Cut Nail and its down
and done. La Belle Iron Works represents a period in history
when manufacturers in the Wheeling area dominated the national cut
nail industry. La Belle survived the “great nail
strike” of 1886, when the wire nail began to overtake the
market and manufacture of the cut nail declined. The three original
1852 brick Italianate structures are still an integral part of the
plant. The iron truss building, constructed in the mid-1890s,
highlights the change in construction techniques that allowed large
open expanses for factory floors. Cut nails continued to be made at
La Belle Iron Works with its 150 year old process, it is the
largest cut nail factory still in operation in the
nation.A Wheeling landmark,
the Wheeling LaBelle Cut Nail Company, continues to thrive under
the new ownership of Denis McMorrow of D-Mac Industries in Geogia.
Many of the 35 workers are second or third generation of their
family to work at the plant.
