Ashton Valve Company

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What job did you have in the Mill?

The first summer I helped with a project testing new control equipment. The remaining summers I was a mill hand. They were summer jobs between college years at Washington State University (Go Cougs!) in Pullman.
 
The Ashton air brake gauge.
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Ashton Valve also offered engine room clocks for ships. They provided the clock bodies and the clock works were supplied by companies such as Chelsea , Howard,or Seth Thomas.
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The Ashton Sanitary Bubbler.
It may seem hard to believe that a little over 100 years ago, people drank from public water fountains with a COMMON CUP. Sickness and death soon followed and the Ashton Valve company and others soon had a much safer solution on the market. Railroads were one of the first industries to react by offering paper throw-a-way cups.

https://safedrinkingwaterdotcom.wordpress.com/2012/10/29/100-years-of-outlawing-the-common-cup/

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/history-of-water-fountains_n_6357064
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Good afternoon Rick, Hope all is well. Recently we had the passing of my father in law who was a 5th generation boiler contractor and welder. With him went the business, while cleaning out the ware house we found a Ashton Inspectors testing and proving outfit, he would use this for his license tests including the R code. It’s been in the family for years, past the 1970’s. We’re reaching out to see if you would be interested or if you know of anyone who would be, for it’s age it’s in amazing condition and all pieces are there. Including the pictures we just took this morning. You can contact me Jonathan or my wife Jackie at ph# 305-310-3165. Thank you.
 

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In the early days of refrigeration, ammonia gas was a deadly side effect.
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Ashton Valve devised a few items to help make people safer from the gas. Here are a few of the items they developed and the Mass law about the problem.
 
The company's first "home" was at 138 Pearls Street, Boston. In less than a year they were burned out by the Great Boston fire of 1872. The next few years they were at various locations in Boston. After another fire in 1879 they settled in at 271 Franklin Street, Boston where they remained for 27 years. 1907 saw the company outgrowing Franklin Street and building a much larger facility at 161 First Street, East Cambridge, where they were until 1948 when they moves to Wrentham ,Ma with the Crosby Valve Company. That was the final home of Ashton Valve.

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Many factories were purchased by the War Department during WWII and used to manufactures materials for the war effort. The Ashton Valve company was one of those. The continued to make gauges and safety valves, but now exclusively for Naval ships.

The Defense Plant Corporation was the branch of the government assigned to this task. Here's a link to more information about them and a couple of letters that show the Ashton Valve's involvement.

http://what-when-how.com/the-american-economy/defense-plant-corporation-dpc/

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Albert Ashton....his son
Columbus Dill....salesman and complete character!
Fred Casey ......long time employee
J.R. Motherwell..another long term manager
Harry Ashton....also Henry's son
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I especially like some of the caricatures that were regular features in some of the journals.
 

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Association member photos. Many of the Ashton Valve executives and sales force belonged to industry groups.
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In the 1896 catalog there are a few items that were not produced by Ashton Valve but are related to the industry. Here are pages of a few of them
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