----- Original Message ----- From: "Elida" <elida@signature.cc> To: <PABERKS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, September 11, 2000 8:35 PM Subject: [PABERKS] COPE surname - Carol's look-up request > Today's Inquirer > Monday, September 11, 2000 > Industrial advances mixed with rural sights > By Catherine Quillman > INQUIRER SUBURBAN STAFF > > In the 1800s, Chester County was overwhelmingly rural and agricultural, but it also had pockets of industry dotting the landscape. > > A case in point was the Brandywine Machine Works, a family-run operation also known as E.T. Cope & Sons that overlooked the east branch of the Brandywine in East Bradford Township. > > In early postcards, the focus was typically on the scenic Cope's Bridge, which still crosses the creek at Route 162, near Marshallton. > > The collection of frame buildings stood unobtrusively among a grove of trees on the east bank of the creek. Crossing the bridge, one might see two large signs that ran the length of the buildings. They read "Turbine Waterwheels" and "E.T. Cope and Sons, Machinists." > > The "E.T." was Edge T. Cope, the father of 10 children who came from a long line of inventors and machinists. Two of his sons, Emmor and Ezra, worked in the business that began sometime in the early 1830s and developed many of its major products. > > During its peak in the late 1880s, the Cope firm turned out a range of patented equipment, from items as small as sausage cutters to professional creamery churns, steam engines and cast-iron water troughs. > > There were also a few sideline businesses, such as making farm fertilizer from "ground bones," which was sold in barrels for $42.50 a ton in 1861, according to one newspaper notice. > > Although the company seemed to dabble in everything, its best-known products were two very different items: the turbine waterwheel and the "Buckeye" Mower. > > In 1875, Emmor B. Cope had obtained a patent for a new turbine waterwheel used in mills. It was described as having "a series of chutes and buckets" and the design reduced the water resistance and also worked in combination with several "water-tight" gates. > > An extensive catalogue, complete with "various tables showing dimensions," as one paper noted, offered the mechanical-minded buyer a look at Cope's turbine waterwheels for dairy, flour and paper mills. > > Occasionally, a newspaper notice would report the "enterprise" that went into moving a new waterwheel from the factory by horse-and-wagon. > > A wheel ordered in 1881, for instance, traveled to Cheyney on wagons pulled by two four-horse teams, "so extensive were the wheel and attachments," the paper reported. > > Cope's Buckeye Mower, an improved version of what was called the first circular-knife mower in the country, was described as being made of "white oak" and "Norway iron" for "light-draft" mowing. > > In an illustration on the company letterhead in 1880, the "Buckeye" resembles a small riding mower. It required only two horses to operate, unlike the previous six horse-powered mowers. > > E.T. Cope & Sons apparently suffered no work stoppages, fires, or what was called slow trade in the late 1880s. In fact, judging from descriptions of its buildings and operations, it's a wonder things went so smoothly at "Copetown." > > One newspaper story in 1879, for instance, described a workplace that was almost a land mine of potential disasters, with overhead cranes hoisting buckets of melted ore and automated "tilt-hammers" pounding metal in the "smith shop." > > Apparently the churning of the waterwheels, which operated the plant, the hissing of the steam-heating equipment, and a "large grindstone" that constantly turned in the basement, had no effect on the peaceful Brandywine surroundings. > > The writer describes the sounds of gurgling water and the quiet stretch of Brandywine Creek that disappeared in a sharp curve beyond the bridge. > > But as the turn of the century neared, there were sporadic signs of some trouble in Copetown. > > By 1890, there were reports of a sheriff's sale and employees losing their "accumulated savings," which the company apparently held, but no subsequent notices that the company was sold. In fact, there was a report of "increasing trade" of the "celebrated" turbine waterwheel in 1895. > > It is unclear exactly when the company closed its doors, partly because some of its products were gradually phased out. But by 1907, a reporter wrote of empty rooms strewn with old pamphlets and buildings and machinery "falling into decay." > > An estimated "hundred tons of iron and steel" that had been in storage in the foundry had been removed, its "roof timbers" sold to a builder in Coatesville and much of the machinery was destroyed "with dynamite" and hauled "to West Chester," the reporter noted. > > Although there was talk of converting the buildings, with their turbine waterwheels into a "power house," E.T. Cope & Sons seemed to disappear as gradually as it had been established. > > Only Emmor B. Cope continued to appear in the news. In 1893, he applied his engineering skills on an unprecedented project. He was appointed by the U.S. secretary of war to design "gateways" and "markers" for the Gettysburg Battlefield Commission, a paper reported. > > Catherine Quillman's e-mail address is > cquillman@phillynews.com >