ARCHER, PANCOAST & Co. Manufacturers of GAS FIXTURES, Coal Oil Lamps, Chandeliers, &c. MANUFACTORY AND WAREROOMS 9, 11, 13 Mercer Street, NEW YORK. This house, founded in Philadelphia in 1841 by the senior partner, E. S. Archer, possessed a branch in Broadway until 1859, when the increasing distribution of their goods required from the commercial center, rendered it advisable to make an entire change of location in favor of New York City. The rapid growth of this enterprising firm not only compelled this step, but has now necessitated the enlargement of their facilities, still further to enable them to keep pace with the demand for their wares. To this end, additional six story buildings are about being constructed from the rear of the present premises, through the entire block, thus furnishing a double front-on Mercer and Green streets,—a distance of two hundred feet. Their principal products may be classed as follows: Chandeliers and Gas Fixtures, Brackets, Hall-Lights, Table Hand-Lights, Lamps and Lanterns, Bronze Ornaments and Portable Gas Works; and a true conception of the importance and magnitude of this complicated branch of manufacture can only be formed upon an inspection of the various and interesting departments required in its prosecution. The establishment can be viewed from Broadway and is most ellegibly located for both their wholesale and retail trade. The ground floor embraces a spacious salesroom, the offices, a tool shop, and a compact engine-room in the extreme left corner; the powerful occupant of these latter quarters, under the guidance of an experienced engineer drives the requisite machinery, which is of the most improved and expensive description. Three men are constantly employed in the tool-shop making tools for the factory. Part of the second floor comprises a showroom, well adapted for the display of the classic, unique, and recherche specimens of Chandeliers, &c., in gold plated, and gold inlaid, as well as bronze and gilt; and it is not surprising that Messrs. Archer & Pancoast should rank as the "leaders of fashion" in their particular sphere when articles of such intrinsic beauty and original design are here to be seen, criticised, and compared. The Modeling Room, and Bronzing and Gilding Department, are also on this floor-the former under the superintendency of Mr. Travis, who is acknowledged to be the best living artist in his line; in the latter, experienced female artists are employed in "Embellishing;" and the high reputation of this house for elegance and excellence of finish, is mainly attributable to the especial care and attention paid to this important process. The department for the manufacture of the Bronze Ornaments, for which the firm are justly celebrated, is situated on the fourth floor. The remaining portions of the factory are devoted for the "Casting Shops and other uses of minor significance. Three large floors in Nos. 17 and 19 Mercer street, also appertain to this establishment, being required to relieve the overburdened factory. Leading features also in the products of these works, are portable Gas Works and Coal Oil Lanterns for railroads, farmers, &c.; of the former, Messrs. Archer, Pancoast & Co., have secured the letters-patent, and they are now in successful operation in many places, among which may be mentioned the Continental and Stetson Hotels at Long Branch, each using one thousand burners; of the latter, such is the extent of their business, that upwards of 150,000 lanterns have been sold in less than four months. REMARKS. The eminent success of the firm of ARCHER, PANCOAST & COMPANY, can be traced to the following causes: Long experience, marked ability, and ample means in catering to the wants of a critical and appreciative public; a perfect and military-like system in the subdivision of labor, personally inaugurated and maintained by Mr. George Pancoast; the employment of none but the most skillful artists of Europe and America; the strict and upright yet liberal principles adhered to in all their business transactions; the worthy desire and determination to raise the reputation of their American manufactures to the highest standard attained in the old world; and lastly, the sound judgment evinced in following the business thoroughfare into the heart of the great city, where talent, industry, and integrity secure their reward so much more rapidly than in the other large cities of our continent. FAIRBANKS & Co., 252 Broadway. THE FAIRBANKS SCALE was invented in 1829 by THADDEUS FAIRBANKS, who, while engaged with his brother in manufacturing plows, stoves, &c., in Vermont, was applied to to build a hemp-dressing machine for a company in Lamville County. After completing it, they decided to build one for themselves and go into the hemp-dressing business. When the farmers began to bring in their hemp, there was at once a want of some arrangement to determine its weight while upon the wagon, so as to save time and labor. The active brain of Thaddeus was called in requisition, and he finally succeeded in perfecting a rude contrivance for weighing the hemp, but containing essentially the principles now used in the Scales. From this trifling circumstance one of the greatest triumphs of American genius has been achieved, and with a small beginning the establishment for manufacture has grown to mammoth proportions, and at the present time FAIRBANKS' Scales are used throughout the civilized world. Before 1830, Platform Scales were nearly unknown; most transactions by weight being confined to the even Balance-the Dearborn Beam, and the Steelyards of the Romans. They have wrought a revolution in almost every department of business requiring measurement of quantities in the sale or exchange or transportation of heavy bodies. From more than one hundred different varieties we glance at a few : (1.) WEIGH LOCK SCALES-in use on the great canals; the boat enters the lock, and the instant the water leaves, the weight is told. (2.) RAILROAD-TRACK SCALES, IMPROVED IRON FRAMES.-They are adopted by all the leading rail-roads in the United States and Canadas. Capacity up to 150 tons, or a train of cars. tons. (3.) R. R. DEPOT SCALES-everywhere in use. Capacity up to six (4.) HAY AND COAL DEALERS' SCALES-constructed of iron, with steel bearings free from damage by water or weather. Over 10,000 in use. (5.) MILLERS' AND TRANSPORTATION SCALES, to be set in the ore-bed, warehouse, or elsewhere. Up to three tons. (6.) CATTLE SCALES-for all cattle, single or in droves. Up to 50 tons. (7.) DORMANT WAREHOUSE-GRAIN SCALES-FLOUR PACKING, of great value in flour mills-WHEEL-BARROW, PORTABLE DOCK, COMMISSARY, FAMILY, GROCERS', COUNTER, FINE GOLD BANKERS' and DRUGGISTS', EVEN BALANCES, IMPROVED LETTER SCALES, adopted by the U. S. Post-Office Department as the Standard Letter Balances. The reputation of few American houses has extended so far. It has spread through the world. Much of their best trade is in Russia, China, Australia, South America. In fact, there is no portion of the world where the implements of civilization can go where FAIRBANKS' SCALES are not in use, and around the globe they are acknowledged as the standard from which even courts of justice admit no appeal. The headquarters of this immense house are at St. Johnsbury, Vt.— the chief manufactory, E. & T. FAIRBANKS & Co.-with efficient branches at 252 Broadway, New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Baltimore, New Orleans, and San Francisco. MARVIN & CO., SAFES, 265 Broadway, New York. Among the most prominent business men of New York is the firm of Marvin & Co., Fire and Burglar Proof Safe Manufacturers, whose Safe now stands without an equal. The business was commenced in 1842 by Mr. A. S. Marvin, who carried it on for about twenty years, when he retired, leaving it in the hands of his son, Walter K. Marvin, who is now the head of the present firm in New York. Within the past few years, Mr. Marvin has materially improved the manufacture of his Safe by the addition of several valuable patents; and the appreciation by the public of their efforts to serve them has been such as to compel them to purchase a very extensive building that will afford them abundance of room and increased facilities for manufacturing Safes in large quantities. They seem to have spared no expense in fitting up their new establishment, which is situated in West Thirtyseventh Street, near Ninth Avenue, and is the largest building of its kind in the United States. Their Safes are constructed of the best refined wrought iron welded together with heavy angle iron corners, imported for their exclusive use, instead of cast iron corners so often used; for nothing but the very best and strongest safes will withstand the heavy iron girders and columns now used in our buildings, when falling during a fire. Among the most important improvements made by Mr. Marvin is the invention for filling safes with alum and dry plaster, thus combining the excellencies of the best two fillings heretofore used in fire-proof safes, at the same time avoiding the defects and injurious qualities of either of those articles used separately. Cement, lime, plaster, marble dust, and similar materials have been used as filling, being put into the safe wet; the moisture combined with them, soon rusts holes through the iron of the safes, renders their interior constantly damp, moulding books and destroying papers. Another serious objection to this kind of filling is, that it becomes dry in a few years, thus losing its fire-proof qualities. This mixture of dry calcined Plaster of Paris with the suitable proportion of alum, as patented by W. K. Marvin, is packed tightly between the inner and outer cases of the safe, where it will remain unchanged for any number of years, unless a fire occurs. At that time the alum is melted, and being fifty per cent. of water held in crystalization, gives off the steam and moisture necessary for the perfect preservation of the contents. The leading chemists and scientific men in the country have pronounced this composition to be the very best in the known world, for the filling of fire-proof safes. The last safe improvement is Marvin's Chrome Iron Spherical Burglar Safewhich is truly Burglar Proof-from its shape being the principle of the double arch; it completely defies the sledge-hammer and wedges, and the Chrome Iron is so hard that it is perfectly impervious to drills or acids. The only hole in the safe when the door is locked and the double bolts thrown, is a small hole in the center of the door made in a conical or tapering form for the spindle that works the lock; this cannot be driven in, nor wedged out, nor drilled into. The Messrs. Marvin feel sure that they now have the best Safe in the world without any exception, and are prepared to furnish them of all sizes at either of their stores in New York, Philadelphia, or Cleveland, or any of their agencies throughout the country. Steinway & Sons, NEW YORK. HENRY STEINWAY, the founder of the house of STEINWAY & SONS, was born in the Duchy of Brunswick, Germany, on the 15th of February, 1797. An inherent talent for music, combined with positive inclination, induced him in early boyhood, to make his own musical instruments, on which he played with marked predilection and taste; these were the Cythera and the Guitar. After having thoroughly studied the art of piano-making, he founded an independent business, and through a long series of years he manufactured Grand, Square, and Upright Pianos. In 1849, a long-cherished idea of emigrating to America resolved itself into a fixed determination, he rightly judging that the free institutions and grand future of this country offered unlimited scope to the labor of an active, intelligent, and perseveringly industrious manufacturer. In that year he sent his second son, CHARLES, to New York, to personally investigate the prospects which the new world offered to the Piano trade, and the probability of success. The report was so highly favorable, that early in 1850 he and his family (with one exception) set sail for America, and settled in this city. HENRY STEINWAY, the father, and his four sons, CHARLES, HENRY, WILLIAM, and ALBERT, on their arrival in the new world, most properly resolved first of all to study its habits and customs, and also to obtain a thorough knowledge of the American system of Piano manufacturing and doing business, and the points of difference with that of Europe. To effect this desideratum, although Mr. HENRY STEINWAY had brought some capital with him from Germany, he, with his sons, worked in different New York Piano factories, and it was only after the lapse of nearly three years, that in the spring of 1853, the father and his four sons commenced business for themselves. That commencement was made with cautious modesty in Varick (a small street of New York), where they rented a rear |