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FAIRBANKS, ERASTUS (1792–1864)

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 130 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FAIRBANKS, See also:ERASTUS (1792–1864) , See also:American manufacturer, was See also:born in Brimfield, See also:Massachusetts, on the 28th of See also:October 1792. He studied See also:law but abandoned it for See also:mercantile pursuits, finally settling in St Johnsbury, See also:Vermont, where in 1824 he formed a See also:partnership with his See also:brother Thaddeus for the manufacture of stoves and ploughs. Subsequently the scales invented by Thaddeus were manufactured extensively. Erastus was a member of the See also:state legislature in 1836–1838, and See also:governor of Vermont in 1852–1853 and 1860-1861, during his second See also:term rendering valuable aid in the equipment and despatch of troops in the See also:early days of the See also:Civil See also:War. His son See also:HORACE (1820–1888) became See also:president of E. & T. Fairbanks & Co. in 1874, and was governor of Vermont from 1876 to 1878. His brother, THADDEUS FAIRBANKS (1796-1886), inventor, was born at Brimfield, Massachusetts, on the 17th of See also:January 1796. He early manifested a See also:genius for See also:mechanics and designedthe See also:models from which he and his brother manufactured stoves and ploughs at St Johnsbury, In 1826 he patented a See also:cast-See also:iron plough which was extensively used. The growing of See also:hemp was an important See also:industry in the vicinity of St Johnsbury, and in 1831 Fairbanks invented a hemp-dressing See also:machine. By the old contrivances then in use, the weighing of loads of hemp-See also:straw was tedious and difficult, and in 1831 Fairbanks invented his famous See also:compound-See also:lever See also:platform See also:scale, which marked a See also:great advance in the construction of See also:machines for weighing bulky and heavy See also:objects. He subsequently obtained more than fifty See also:patents for improvements or innovations in scales and in machinery used in their manufacture, the last being granted on his ninetieth birthday.

His See also:

firm, eventually known as E. & T. Fairbanks & Co., went into the manufacture of scales of all sizes, in which these inventions were utilized. He, with his See also:brothers, Erastus and See also:Joseph P., founded the St Johnsbury See also:Academy. He died at St Johnsbury on the 12th of See also:April 1886. The latter's son See also:HENRY, born in 1830 at St Johnsbury, Vermont, graduated at See also:Dartmouth See also:College in 1853 and at See also:Andover Theological See also:Seminary in 1857, and was See also:professor of natural See also:philosophy at Dartmouth from 1859 to 1865 and of natural See also:history from 1865 to 1868. In the following See also:year he patented a See also:grain-scale and thenceforth devoted himself to the scale manufacturing business of his See also:family. Altogether he obtained more than See also:thirty patents for See also:mechanical devices.

End of Article: FAIRBANKS, ERASTUS (1792–1864)

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