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NECESSITY is the mother
of invention," and the necessity of finding a solution for a problem
has in more than one case put Decatur's name before the world.
Many inventions have been worked out by Macon county citizens.
Each of them would make a romantic story in itself, for the tale of
how they came about is full of absorbing interest. Robert
Faries was obliged to work in a dark corner many years ago.
It was too dark to do justice to his work, and something had to be
done about it. So he rigged up a fixture by which a light
could be placed over his work bench. Light fixtures of various
kinds became in later yeas one of the chief outputs of the Faries
Manufacturing company. H. W. Hill was so disgusted with the
rooting done by one of his hogs one day that he picked up a piece of
wire and jabbed it through the nose of the big porker. It
worked. With that wire in his nose the hog had to retire from
the rooting business. Mr. Hill put the idea to work. He
made the hog ringer and rings which born his name, and the
manufacture of which was a leading industry in Decatur for years and
built him a fortune. When John Beall, millwright, back in
the '60s was installing corn shellers - shellers which wouldn't work
properly when they were installed - he was sort of disgusted too.
He had his own ideas as to how those corn shellers should be made.
He made one according to his idea. It worked and has been
working ever since. It is the corn sheller which has brought
business from all over the world to the Union Iron works. An pesky
fly continually bothering R. R. Montgomery one day when he
was trying to take a nap. The rascally "critter" laughed in
glee, no doubt, when Mr. Montgomery tried to lay it low with
a folded newspaper. A fan, a magazine, were tried, but the fly
always made his getaway. Next, Mr. Montgomery tried a
piece of wire screen. Then it was his turn to laugh at his
tormentor. The screen caught the fly, and Mr. Montgomery
realized why - it had not made the gust of air which warned the
fly of its approach. Mr. Montgomery patented the fly
swatter in 1900, and maufactured it for a number of years. He
called it the King fly swatter, naming it after his father-in-law,
Dr. Joseph King, one of Macon county's first physicians.
Eventually Mr. Montgomery sold the business to the U. S.
Manufacturing company, which today ships fly swatters all over the
world. Many other interesting stories might be told, if space
permitted. Inventions of Decatur men may he found everywhere.
Soda fountains, invented by Caleb Smith, went all over the
country. W. H. Bramble, C. C. Burroughs, H.
Mueller, G. D. Haworth, and other Decatur inventors, as
told elsewhere in this volume, have brought out widely known
products. A. W. Cash valves are found everywhere.
Decatur has a record of being first in many manufacturing lines.
The Decatur Coffin company, which was the first industry of that
kind west of Indiana, was the first to make burial clothes which set
a standard for the world. Others, taking up the new fashion,
said, "As good as Decatur's". Bixby, Pitner and Company began the
manufacture of burial shoes here. Decatur occupies a place as a
leader in the making of women's garments. First in the field
was the Home Manufacturing company. Then came the Osgood
& Heiner company, now Osgood & Sons; the Decatur
Garment company, and more recently, the Gregg Garment company.
Wire mats, made in Decatur, have traveled to all corners of the
globe, being used on the vessels of the United States navy.
They are made by the U. S. Manufacturing company.
At home and abroad can be found products of the Staley, Mueller,
Walrus and Williams Sealing company factories. Many other
things manufactured in Decatur are widely circulated over the
country, and one can scarcely travel anywhere without coming upon
some reminder of the home town.
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