The following article appeared in the Lykens Standard, November 28, 1902, describing the Mossop Hosiery Mills of Wiconisco, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.
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A GREAT INDUSTRY
Hosiery Mills of Issac Mossop & Company, Oldest and Best Equipped in the Valley
Among the leading manufacturing industries in this valley is that of Isaac Mossop and Company, hosiery mills, established May, 1889. This is the pioneer mill of the valley for the manufacture of men’s seamless half hose. When they began they employed about twenty-five hands. They now number about one hundred and thirty. Then each machine required the constant attention of an operator. So great has been the improvement in the knitting machines that now one hand can attend from two to ten machines, the automatic action of which makes them appear to be endowed with intellectual faculties. Indeed, there are few inventions that show more of man’s inventiveness genius than those you see in the work of making seamless hosiery. These labor-saving machines are being constantly improved.
Mr. Mossop kindly showed us the action of some of the latest which are seen in but few places near us outside of his establishment. There are 147 machines in the knitting department, which turns out five hundred dozen pairs of stockings a day; that is, six thousand pairs, or taken singly, twelve thousand stockings each day. one can not help comparing it with the old fashioned method of our grandmothers’ knitting needles, and noting the rapid strides in a few years in the making of stockings.
The material must pass through twenty sets of hands including dyeing, before the stocking is finished. The pay roll runs about five hundred dollars a week. Some young girls do not make more than $1.75 per week, while many experienced girls make $1.20 per day. The community ought to appreciate the value of such a plant, bringing, as it does, so much money into the families, and stores, and consequently furnishing many material comforts.
The plant has been recently improved by adding to the structure a building 40 x 40 feet, three stories high. The entire building is now, 90 x 80 feet, three stories in height. Goods are sent to points from Maine to California. Fifteen percent of the work is sold to the government, some of which is sent to Porto Rico, to Cuba and other American possessions. The company has a forty horse power engine and a sixty horse power boiler. They make their own electricity. A one hundred and fifty light dynamo sends the light to all parts of the building. When the beautiful and powerful lights are turned on the darkness is turned into day. The building is thoroughly equipped for fighting fire. In addition to a chemical engine always ready, hose pipes reaching to all parts of the building are so arranged as to be brought into operation very quickly. The process, which is equivalent to the ironing of the stockings, is by a pressure of sixty tons. In the year 1896 this company established the dye works, under the name of the Wiconisco Dyeing Company. They do the dyeing for about nine mills besides their own. Ten men are employed in this establishment.
About two hundred and forty tons of coal a year are used in the knitting mill and twice that amount in the dye works. Obviously their close proximity to the mines is a vantage point for the company.
Isaac Mossop, to whose talents and energy the plant owes its continued prosperity, is an esteemed citizen, who wins his successes only by honest dealing and legitimate business enterprise. The appearance of the mill inside and out is in accordance with his refined tastes and excellent sense of the fitness of things. He is kind and considerate to those in his employ, freely conceding a just remuneration for labor. You do not see here pale checks, and sallow complexions, but girls rosy-faced, bright-eyed and apparently happy. The writer was pleased with a recent visit to the mills, and the kind treatment received at the hands of the gentlemanly proprietor and manager.
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News article obtained through Newspapers.com.
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