Thaddeus Fairbanks

Thaddeus Fairbanks
Born	(1796-01-16)January 16, 1796 Brimfield, Massachusetts
Died	April 12, 1886(1886-04-12) (aged 90)
Resting place	St. Johnsbury, Vermont
Nationality	American
Occupation	inventor
Known for	Fairbanks Scales
Spouse	Lucy Peck Barker (1798–1866)
Children	2

Thaddeus Fairbanks (January 17, 1796 – April 12, 1886) was an American mechanic and inventor of warming furnaces, cooking stoves, cast iron steel plows, and other metal related items. He invented and manufactured platform scales called the Fairbanks scale that allowed the accurate weighing of large objects. This technology came about because of his farming and processing large quantities of hemp. His successful scales were sold extensively worldwide and he received honors and awards from world leaders for the technology he developed. He was a co-founder with his brother St. Johnsbury Academy, a school for children.

Biography

Fairbanks was the elders of three sons of Joseph Fairbanks and his wife Phebe (née Paddock) Fairbanks. He was born in the town of Brimfield, Massachusetts, on January 16, 1796. In 1815, Fairbanks moved with his family to St. Johnsbury, Vermont, and made a woodworking shop above his father's sawmill and gristmill on Sleeper's River that was used for power. There he manufactured carriages alone until 1924. He then constructed an iron foundry and with his brother Erastus—who later became Governor of Vermont—joined him in the establishment of the new business partnership E. & T. Fairbanks to make heating furnaces, cast iron plows, and farm implements. In 1826, he patented a cast-iron plow that was extensively used.

In 1830, Fairbanks and Erastus took up an interest in the growing and processing hemp as a farm product. Fairbanks, being mechanically minded, made and patented a hemp-and-flax-dressing machine at this time called a Haynes machine. He became the general manager of Saint Johnsbury Hemp Company that was in a new building 25 feet by 55 feet. There he built mechanical scales that would accurately weigh large loads of hemp; there was no accurate measuring scales for this important task at the time. Upon building these scales that turned out to be popular, his brothers advised him to produce and sell these as town scales. Fairbanks obtained an agent to attempt this and said:

While sitting up watching for the time to call him, the principle upon which we now build our scales suddenly came into my mind. I told the agent that he must wait a few days until I could make plans and patterns in accordance with my new discovery, and said to my wife that I had just discovered a principle that would be worth more than a thousand dollars.

St. Johnsbury, Vermont 1884

The platform scale for accurately weighing heavy objects became Fairbanks' most famous invention; it is commonly known to the public as the Fairbanks Scale, for which he patented a design in 1830. Before its invention, accurately weighing of particularly heavy objects required hanging them from a log beams; as a result, these heavy and awkward objects could not be precisely weighed with any reasonable degree of accuracy.

A platform scale, built large enough, could weigh an entire loaded wagon. By placing a fully loaded wagon on the platform scale for weight measurement, removing the load, and then bringing it back onto the platform scale when empty, it became possible to accurately calculate the weight of just the load and then determine the value of the farm products of the load. In 1834, Fairbanks with his brothers formed an enterprise to manufacture and sell these platform scales. The unique scales became popular all throughout in the United States and its popularity spread worldwide. The company doubled in volume every few years and made these scales from 1842 to 1857. There was a temporary cease in manufacturing during the American Civil War but the business recovered after the war. In 1874, the business partnership incorporated into a Fairbanks Scale Company and sold on a large scale.

The platform scale revolutionized the weighing of large loads and has been in use since its inception. Platform scales are found in many hardware stores, doctor's office, and factories in the United States. Fairbanks was granted the first railroad-track platform scale patent on January 13, 1857, and received number 16,381. In 1916, the E. & T. Fairbanks Company was taken over by Fairbanks, Morse & Company. Ownership of the company has since changed hands several times but Fairbanks platform scales are still made in Saint Johnsbury, Vermont.

Patents and awards

In 1826, Thaddeus Fairbanks was granted a patent on a cast-iron plow and a refrigerator. In 1830, he was granted a patent on the platform scale, which became known as the Fairbanks scale worldwide. The Fairbanks family was involved in numerous charitable and civic endeavors, including the 1842 founding of St. Johnsbury Academy, in St. Johnsbury and nearby towns.

Fairbanks received many foreign awards, was knighted by the Emperor of Austria, and received honors from the Bey of Tunis and the King of Siam. The chief honor was awarded to the United States at the 1873 Vienna World's Fair for Fairbanks technology. With his brother Erastus he created St. Johnsbury Academy, a school for his children and other children in the county. A painting of Fairbanks can be seen in the lobby of Colby Hall at the school.

Personal life

Fairbanks in 1820 married Lucy Peck Barker, who died in 1866. They had five children, two lived to adulthood. His daughter Charlotte, wife of Reverend George N. Webber, died in 1869. His son Professor Henry Fairbanks cared for Fairbanks in his last years of life and survived him.

He received over forty patents in his lifetime, the 43rd one being his last one was granted to him at the age 91. He died on April 12, 1886, and was buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in St. Johnsbury.

Gallery

Fairbanks, Morse & Company national headquarters building

Fairbanks Historical Marker

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  Very large Fairbanks scale
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  Fairbanks Scale at home
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  Fairbanks platform scale
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  Various Fairbanks scales

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  Fairbanks track scale
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  Fairbanks Cotton Scale
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  Fairbanks-Morse scales
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  Fairbanks butcher's scale

Sources

• Chisholm, Hugh (1911). Encyclopedia Britannica, Edition 11, volume 10. Cambridge University Press. OCLC 266598.

• Duffy, John J. (2003). The Vermont Encyclopedia. University Press of New England. ISBN 1-58465-086-9.

• Ingham, John N. (1983). Biography Dictionary Business Leaders of American. Greenwood Press. ISBN 9780313239076.

• Moody, John (1923). Moody's Analyses of Investments. Moody's Investors Services. OCLC 930258712.

• Ullery, Jacob G. (1894). Men of Vermont. Transcript Publishing Company. OCLC 1048796062.